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[quote]
Why "couldn't" it be the undisputed #1 LAC forty years ago?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Because is wasn't all male. There was an historic bias in prestige for the all-male New England prep school to all-male New England college/university track.</p>
<p>I do think Swarthmore was probably undisputed #1 in terms of academic intensity 40 years ago. I know that the prevailing sense at Williams in the early 70s was that Swarthmore was the one place with even more demanding academics.</p>