USNWR 2009: Looking at the Data XX (Student Body Depth via ACT scores)

College Search & Selection
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<p>The publication of the 2009 USNWR College Rankings provides an opportunity to compare schools based on a wide variety of data points. In this and in other threads, I urge the reader to think less about the absolute rankings and more about the nature and value-added of the data point being discussed.</p>

<p>IMO, this is the single most effective measure for comparing student body depth. We can all argue about whether 0.5 or 1 or 1.5 points makes for a material difference in comparing ACT scores, but the delineation by a certain standard, eg, 30 score, gives a benchmark against which an entire student body can evaluated and contrasted vs other colleges. The weakness, of course, is that it does not differentiate between a 30 and a 35, but achieving a level of 30 is considered a competitive score. </p>

<p>Here is the full listing for colleges that are ranked in the USNWR Top 50 national universities and Top 25 LACs:</p>

<p>% of students with ACT score of 30+ , National University</p>

<p>99% , Caltech</p>

<p>87% , MIT
83% , Notre Dame
80% , Wash U</p>

<p>79% , Columbia
77% , Princeton
76% , Northwestern
76% , Tufts
72% , Duke
71% , Rice
70% , U Penn
70% , Emory
70% , Vanderbilt</p>

<p>69% , Stanford
67% , Dartmouth
65% , Johns Hopkins
63% , Brown
62% , Carnegie Mellon
61% , Brandeis</p>

<p>58% , U Chicago
58% , Cornell
57% , USC</p>

<p>46% , W&M
46% , Case Western
45% , U Michigan
45% , NYU
43% , U Rochester</p>

<p>38% , Tulane
37% , Georgia Tech
36% , U Illinois
35% , UCLA
35% , U North Carolina
32% , U Wisconsin</p>

<p>27% , Yeshiva
25% , U Texas
23% , UCSD
23% , U Florida
21% , U Washington</p>

<p>18% , UC Santa Barbara
17% , Rensselaer
10% , UC Davis
,<br>
na , Harvard
na , Yale
na , UC Berkeley
na , U Virginia
na , Georgetown
na , Wake Forest
na , Boston Coll
na , Lehigh
na , UC Irvine
na , Penn State</p>

<p>% of students with ACT score of 30+ , LAC</p>

<p>75% , Amherst
73% , Pomona
71% , Middlebury
71% , Claremont McK
70% , Bowdoin</p>

<p>69% , Carleton
68% , Williams
66% , Grinnell
63% , Colgate
62% , Swarthmore</p>

<p>59% , Wesleyan
57% , Wellesley
57% , W&L
56% , Davidson
54% , Macalester</p>

<p>47% , Colby
46% , Oberlin</p>

<p>33% , US Naval Acad</p>

<p>29% , Smith
25% , Bryn Mawr</p>

<p>na , Haverford
na , Vassar
na , Harvey Mudd
na , US Military Acad
na , Hamilton
na , Bates</p>

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<p>One problem is that the ACT isn't usually taken by kids in some areas. If a school gets most of its students from places where the SAT dominates, then the small percent that takes the ACT may skew the results and make them distorted compared to the average SAT score.</p>

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<p>TLSBigRed09,</p>

<p>That caveat is absolutely correct and very sensible. It also has not been given much attention in previous postings on ACT. But I appreciate that you've posted it.</p>