<p>Sidperson, I can tell you from my experience with Davidson admissions that the officers simply care incredibly little about test scores. It is far and away the last facet of an application that is considered, for better or for worse. I’m not impugning standardized tests on the whole nor defending this admissions practice, but I do believe that Davidson could very easily compose a class that scores better than the one it accepts, if they wanted to. And, I find it dubious that USNWR is overlooking Davidson’s relatively low standardized testing so as to include a “non-traditional” LAC in the Top 10. Whether it’s a good methodology or not, USNWR has a strict system by which they evaluate and score schools, and Davidson performs phenomenally well on the non-testing related areas–and that’s what guarantees its high ranking.</p>