<p>Well, bclintonk, it’s not really FAIR to the non-costal people to expect them to meet the same academic standards. After all, you’re all rural hicks named Jedidiah, so of course you’re not going to be as smart. That’s why the ACT exists; so the less educated people can still have their representation in our special costal schools.</p>
<p>Ain’t that right Jedidiah?</p>
<p>Y’now, we’ll take our ACT-saturated hickdom and run our underrepresented state hook right to your schools :)</p>
<p>cooljazz:</p>
<p>Your #1 is incorrect. The ACT folks put their “reasoning” questions on the last section, the so-called science section. Moreover, ACT math maybe more straightforward, but it’s also more advanced than SAT math. ACT math includes 4 trig problems, which most high schools teach in precalc. In contrast, SAT-M only includes a handful of Alg II problems.</p>
<p>Your #2 is not relevant, since many colleges still just look at the SAT M+CR.</p>
<p>Your #3-4 are not relevant, without discussion of the scaling of each test.</p>
<p>Your #5 is actually correct; the ACT+W is shorter. But then taking a college “entrance” test is not the same as running a marathon. How many colleges do you know that have four hour finals, that requires EVERY student to use the full time slot?</p>
<p>Your #6 may all be true, but it DOESN’T matter since a college considers a 35+ in the same light as a 2300+.</p>
<p>Your #7 is also correct in that science tests data analysis (as does AP Stats) with reasoning, which I would guess is a good skill to have in college, yes?, regardless of whether you believe it to be “concrete material.”</p>
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<p>This is a no-brainer. The vast majority of kids prefer to attend college close to home, usually defined as a day’s drive. Moreover, the vast majority of kids reside in the NE so they will tend to apply to NE colleges, where the vast majority of highly selective colleges happen to be. Doh!</p>
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<p>cooljazz, you really need to read the posts on this thread more carefully before you reply. I never said that K-State’s undergraduate admissions were on par with undergraduate admission to the nation’s elite colleges and universities, and I never would say that because it’s just not so. What I DID say was that admission to K-State’s college of veterinary medicine (where my daughter is admitted), or to any college of veterinary medicine for that matter, IS on par with or more competitive than undergraduate admission to the nation’s elite colleges and universities. Given that there are only 28 colleges of veterinary medicine in the U.S., and that the admission stats of vet students are on par with those of medical school applicants, my statement is a no brainer. Frankly, the only reason that K-State was introduced into this discussion was because of a derogatory remark that YOU made about the school – something else of which I’m sure you have little actual knowledge. With regard to your last post, I concur with bluebayou – his/her analysis of your logic – or the lack of it – is spot on.</p>
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<p>Projected number of public and private HS graduates by region, 2009-2010:</p>
<p>Northeast 611,511
South 1,137,215
Midwest 758,546
West 801,678</p>
<p>Source: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, "Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity, 1992-2002 (2008)</p>
<p>From this data we can conclude:
a) High School graduates in the Northeast represent less than 20% of the nation’s total.
b) The Northeast produces fewer High School graduates than any other region.
c) The South produces the most High School graduates, followed by the West and Midwest, respectively.
d) bluebayou’s statement quoted above is not only wrong, it is egregiously wrong.
e) All of the above.</p>
<p>[The correct answer is (e)].</p>
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<p>While they may accept them “in lieu of”, that does not mean they are equally valued.</p>
<p>^Nor does it mean that they aren’t – and for clarification, Yale’s statement on its admissions website says that either the SAT I and SAT II OR the ACT with writing will be accepted. It doesn’t say “in lieu of.”</p>
<p>point taken, bc, but I was in a rush and meant to write “most concentrated” population, as in square miles. If egregious, I plead guilty.</p>
<p>WRT to the excellent study you posted, personally, I would not put both Florida and Texas in the same region, bcos I would include TX in a SW region. Nor would I necessarily include Maryland in the South – yeah, it’s below the Mason-Dixon line, but it has more northern tendencies. :)</p>
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Which is why most counselors of the eastern private schools rec the SAT over the ACT?</p>
<p>Counselors at eastern schools reccomend the SAT for the same reason that most counselors in the middle states reccomend the ACT. It’s the test they know best, so it’s the one they feel most comfortable with.</p>
<p>Besides, if colleges don’t consider the SAT and ACT equally, why is it only the private school counselors on the East Coast that are aware of this? Are colleges deliberately conspiring to hide that information, so they can trick people into taking the ACT and then not getting accepted?</p>
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<p>And your authority for this sweeping statement is . . . [insert sound of crickets chirping here]. Sigh . . . this is like trying to herd cats. WHY do you think that virtually every college and university in the U.S. states publicly, on their admissions websites, that they will accept EITHER the ACT or the SAT, and that they express no preference for either? Could it be that they actually consider either test equally useful for comparing and evaluating applicants? For heaven’s sake, this is not rocket science.</p>
<p>Comparing the SAT and the ACT is like comparing two car brands, say, Lexus and BMW.</p>
<p>They’re certainly different, but you can’t definitively say that one is better than the other</p>
<p>I don’t see how simply being different will mean that one test is less capable of assessing ability…</p>
<p>And in regard to how prevalent each test is in certain regions, this makes no sense whatsoever</p>
<p>For example. Microsoft owns about 60-80 percent of the OS market. Does that mean Microsoft is better than Apple? </p>
<p>NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO</p>
<p>And don’t even think about saying these are false analogies</p>
<p>My (now former) private high school on the EAST coast doesn’t really cater to only the SAT or the ACT. Both tests are offered and equally valued at our school. In fact, I’d go so far to say that the majority of the students in my class ended up sending their ACT’s, rather than their SAT’s, to their colleges.</p>
<p>Most studies show that either the SAT or the ACT, standing alone, is a pretty weak predictor of college performance—a moderately good predictor of freshman year grades, but not much better than a coin toss in predicting likelihood of graduation. But either test taken in combination with HS grades is a reasonably good predictor of college performance—HS grades being a better predictor than either standardized test, but grades + standardized test scores being even better. Colleges accept either test because both pretty much suck on their own merits, but either adds something to HS grades in predicting college performance. SAT/ACT scores don’t matter nearly as much in college admissions as many on CC think they do. Weak scores will probably quickly knock you out of contention at the most selective schools. But even perfect scores won’t help you much if the rest of your credentials are weak. And good SAT scores won’t help you any more or any less than good ACT scores.</p>