<p>Well friends, though some would disagree with me, I tend to think there is no bias in statistics. Middle percentiles for Michigan honors: 1420-1550, 32-35. This is close to Harvard's 1400-1580, 31-34. At uPenn: 1330-1500, 28-33. Now, I don't think most would argue if I said Harvard had a FAR STRONGER student body than uPenn, yet the numbers suggest that, relative to Penn, the Michigan honors program is just as much "FAR steonger" as Harvard's. I'm not sure where you're getting this bias thing from.</p>
<p>Penn has honor programs too...</p>
<p>Hi Njres,
Another old-timer here. I think we were in Ann Arbor at the same time.</p>
<p>Things were different back then. It wasn't that difficult to get into Michigan then and the school was actively recruiting minorities from the state. Remember the Opportunity Program? It's no surprise you would meet some under-qualified instate students.</p>
<p>The student body is of a much higher caliber today. I doubt if you would see any of those instate students you talked about in your post. The numbers don't lie. Michgian's mid-50 percentile is 1240-1400, same as UCB, not as high as Penn's but not far behind. There are plenty of smart students in every class to keep you company.</p>
<p>Funny I don't remember Penn to be so selective 25-30 years ago. Of course it is a very different ball game today.</p>
<p>In-state students get blamed for lowering Michigan standards, but don't they also boost stats for the honors program?</p>
<p>Penn has M&T (Wharton & Engineering) and Huntsman
(Wharton & CAS) which are very tough to get in.</p>
<p>It usually require SAT 1550 + to get in plus a lot of
ECs and leaderships.</p>
<p>The yields of these two programs are much higher
than Harvard.</p>
<p>I don't believe your statement is true hillstreet. I'll be honest that some of the brightest kids in honors are in-state students that rock in their area but weren't well-rounded enough or didn't have the money to attend an Ivy, but many are also out-of-state students on LSA scholarships because their stats coming in were absolutely stellar. I've found about an equal amount of both at the top of honors, and I'd still venture that OOS students in honors still have slightly higher stats than in-staters, though I don't think the honors program has any quotas for in-state like the school as a whole.</p>