<p>Harvard 99
College of the Holy Cross 98
Boston College 87
Tufts 89
Brandeis 88
MIT 97
Boston Univ 84
Northeastern 79</p>
<p>Source(s):
Test</a> Prep: GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, ACT, and More</p>
<p>Holy Cross is a great school but including it in greater Boston is a stretch … it is a beautiful campus in Worcester on one of the largest cities in Massachusetts and about 1 1/2 hours from Boston … that may be greater Boston when talking to someone in LA … but for someone local it is far from greater Boston.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is SAT optional and their tests scores are not that impressive and is seen as being on the decline. Those ratings haven’t changed for the past 8 years. Princeton review is really not a reliable source.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is less than 50 miles from Boston. Worcester, although a separate city, is part of the Boston Media Market.</p>
<p>math4breakfast— in no way is Holy Cross “on the decline”.</p>
<p>Actually Holy Cross was rated a 95 four years ago by Princeton Review and recently moved up to 98. I guess they must not be reliable since Cornell is rated only 88 ;-></p>
<p>it is on the decline. Why else would they have SAT optional?</p>
<p>Well for one reason it’s a national trend. The common belief is SAT scores do not accurately reflect the intelligence of students, and as such, multiple schools are dropping the requirement and focusing more on GPA and other items.</p>
<p>There are many great colleges that are SAT optional, many in the top rankings if that matters, and I think it will keep growing every year.
My children never excelled on standardized tests or others in my extended family but did very well in school. All my nephews and nieces graduated college with honors and stayed on the deans list, had a senior thesis, etc. in challenging majors and schools, just looking at their SAT scores alone, you might not see all the potential.
I think Holy Cross will always be proud of their many accomplished graduates and not have to worry about any decline.</p>
<p>The main reason for Holy Cross being SAT optional is due to the strong correlation between test scores and socioeconomic status. Poor kids can’t afford a Kaplan Review Course. Not to say that this is an excuse as I do think the SAT does do a great deal of gauging a students approximate aptitude, but that kids with access to more resources do better because of them. My impression was that they stressed the transcript and GPA much more, which is what it should be in college admissions- something you worked four years to compile, not something in a single Saturday morning.</p>
<p>The SAT-Optional movement has grown so strong that FairTest (the National Center for Fair & Open Testing), a non-profit group that supports the change, noted that 32 of the top 100 colleges on the U.S. News & World Report liberal arts college list no longer require applicants to submit an SAT or ACT score. Besides Holy Cross, other top schools include Bates, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Hamilton and Smith.</p>
<p>We had friends apply to Dickinson and Mount Holyoke also, SAT optional. Most students, probably still submit, but the option is nice. I think Bates has the highest percentage, at 50%.</p>