<p>@2018RiceParent:
Some schools may be lying (won’t be the first time). Some schools may be gaming the system. Some schools tout the 75th percentile of their <em>admits</em> (not matriculants). A large percentage of the student body at Cornell, USC, and many publics (Cal, UCLA, etc.) are transfers and their scores won’t be reported. For a while, Columbia reported only stats for Columbia College, not Engineering. Now they include Engineering but still not General Studies.</p>
<p>That’s why I prefer to look at alumni acheivements: the “American Leaders”, “Student Awards”, and PhDs subcategories of the Forbes ranking as well as a ranking the WSJ did on percentage of the student body who attend certain elite professional schools (while keeping in mind the caveat that achievement is mostly due to the student, not the school).</p>
<p>At least those aren’t gameable or can be influenced by lying.</p>