<p>Harvardgator,
Thanks for your effort and contribution and for updating the numbers that I presented earlier. As you know, the USNWR site from which I got my numbers is only updated for students that entered college in Fall, 2007. It looks like Peterson’s with Fall, 2008 data is a better site for getting this information earlier so I hope all aspiring students and families will recognize this and visit their website. USNWR will update their site in August. </p>
<p>With regard to your and others’ comments, I want to reiterate that I don’t think a simplistic ranking based on the single statistic of standardized test scores should be the final word on a college’s ranking. Standardized test scores, however, do have the benefit of being just that–standardized–and thus their use for comparison across colleges is certainly an appropriate tool and unquestionably the best one we have for making these comparisons of student body strength and depth. </p>
<p>While the standardized test rankings are very relevant to evaluating and comparing colleges, my personal view is that student body strength is only one of the four key elements for choosing an undergraduate academic environment. Those elements are:</p>
<ol>
<li> Strong peers</li>
<li> Small class sizes</li>
<li> Excellent teachers/institutional commitment to quality classroom teaching</li>
<li> Deep resources and a willingness to spend them on undergraduate students</li>
</ol>
<p>A college’s ability to deliver in all four sections is what distinguishes the premier undergraduate academic experiences. </p>
<p>I would also add there are many, many non-academic considerations that can trump these issues and, for undergraduate college choice, I fully agree with that. There are 150+ hours per week that each student will have outside of class and I cannot stress enough the importance of that in the college selection process.</p>