Ok, decision time.

<p>I'm the one guilty of throwing the 70-90 point spread allegations around. I took those numbers from what I had at hand. The 2003 edition of U.S. News which reported the following 25th-75th percentile numbers:</p>

<p>Swat 1360-1530
Wes 1270-1460</p>

<p>Reducing these numbers down to a 70-90 point gap was clearly not strictly statistically legit, but I thought it was a fair enough distillation. Apparently the gap has narrowed in the past couple of years. My S almost applied to Wes. I'm sure it is a great school. I've always loved their website which is a cut above, for what that's worth, and they sound like they meet the progressive (radical) sniff test (highest per capita consumption of sidewalk chalk) too. </p>

<p>I haven't seen Wes' campus, but from what I've read it doesn't sound like it compares favorably to Swat's, nor does it have Philly and a slew of other great colleges within spitting distance.</p>

<p>JohnWesley:</p>

<p>I just don't view it as a horse-race like that. To me, terms like "momentum" and "closing the gap" imply something that only exists as an artificial construct in the first place. And, frankly, I don't think 20 short years of USNEWS have any particular bearing on a choice between Wesleyan and Swarthmore. Those two schools are what they are and they have both been that way since long before USNEWS got into the business of peddling a college-ranking issue.</p>

<p>The way I see it, they are two excellent schools. Similar in some ways, different in some ways. I don't think I've suggested anywhere in this thread that Moot should choose Swarthmore over Wesleyan. To the contrary, I don't know how a total stranger could offer than advice, especially when there are admissions odds to consider.</p>

<p>All we can really do is point out differences where they exist (size, location, etc.) and let Moot sort out his or her own preferences, expecially after visits to both schools. I can't make a value judgement based on somebody else's criteria. For example, to me distance from Boston is a non-issue between those two schools, but I respect that it may be an issue for somebody else. Conversely, the size and the per student endowments and the diversity would be significant factors in my choice, but might not be for the next guy.</p>

<p>yes, i was one of those students deciding among brown and swarthmore and other colleges at ride the tide. i chose to go to wesleyan. which is not to say there was anything bad about the other colleges (i was lucky to have the choice). it was a combination of things---academics, interests, campus culture, and fit. the point is, my decision to apply to these schools and which one to attend involved a lot of factors that had less to do with just ranking, median SAT scores, and per student endowment and more to do with how much i actually "liked" each school. especially when it was a given that i'd receive a quality education at any of these schools. i'd suggest that moot take a similar approach, if it works for him/her.</p>

<p>i just think the "spreadsheet" approach to choosing a college is really more of a parents thing, than an actual college applicant thing.</p>

<p>visit again if you can, moot.</p>

<p>In my "free" time =)</p>

<p>Actually, I think it was gladdad who used the term "close the gap"; otherwise, I couldn't agree with you more. :)</p>

<p>Actually a 30 point difference for the average amongst a population of 1500 is fairly big (when standard deviation is 30 per section, so 60 overall)...The odds that they actually share the same avg. sat score same if you want to go statistically is 0 (z score -31.0368)...haha, just had to get technical :)</p>

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<p>That's interesting... I'm applying to 3 of those 5 schools along with Swat. I guess I fit the statistic.</p>

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<p>Except, that we're not really talking about the entire population, merely the middle 50%. I'm quite willing to stipulate that Wesleyan probably goes a little further into its pool in order to make the class more friendly for African-Americans and to some extent for Latino/Latinas, and that Swarthmore has an edge among high scoring Asians, as far as URMs go. :)</p>

<p>I'm willing to put forth the idea that some of the most brilliant people I know have SATs in the 1200s. And I've known people who are very academically gifted with SATs in the 1500s, but who are unfortunately all-around unpleasant human beings and that may bar success for them later in life. I feel SATs test more knowledge than they do ability to think, and with SATs in similar ranges, it does not make sense to let that be a deciding factor.</p>

<p>Jimmy, how do you feel Swarthmore and Wesleyan compare academically? I would like to hear any and all insights you have...</p>

<p>Just a side note-</p>

<p>An admissions rep from Swat came to my HS today and talked. She pointed out that standarized test scores are near the bottom of what they consider important. </p>

<p>I continued, and pushed her to be more specific in comparing the SAT/ACT relevance to other admission factors, and she said that that the tests are held in the same light as a letter of recommendation</p>

<p>I think the SAT answer was honest. However, it's important to add context that the vast majority of Swarthmore's applicants have SAT scores that are "in the range". Also, when they focus heavily on class rank and academic transcript, they are automatically tending to select high SAT applicants. </p>

<p>I do think that the difference between SATs is relatively insignficant, in and of itself, in Swarthmore's admissions evaluations.</p>