Which prestigious colleges are the "second tier" students going to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an alum and was shocked by Penn State's ranking. If one looks at its acceptance rate and average SAT scores, it is more like a Top 50 or 60 school, not 37th. Really hard to figure. Tulane, for example, has an average SAT 200 points higher and an acceptance rate 50 percent lower than PSU, huge, huge, differences, yet is ranked 15 slots lower. PSU is an ok school, but really not elite or an especially academic atmospher, except in some of the science grad programs. It is also in a not particularly nice town in the middle of nowhere.

Tulane alum here. Tulane is consistently ranked well below what it "deserves," probably because it is in the deep South.

Nice try.

I have a young Tulane grad working for me. If she is at all representative of her peers, Tulane has some mighty smart and capable students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The top 5% - 10% of the high school graduating class? I don't have the national numbers but you must know that this exceeds the number of freshman slots at Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

Yes, this. And this isn't news--30 years ago there were the enough slots at the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, to hold the top 5-10 percent.

Thirty years ago, at my small high school, the top student (representing the top 1.5% of the class) went to Harvard. The rest of the top 10% went to Villanova, UVA, BC, Rochester, UVM, Art Institute of Chicago, etc.

I was in the top 25% of my class and went to SAIC. They place a much higher priority on artistic ability/portfolio than test scores and GPAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The top 5% - 10% of the high school graduating class? I don't have the national numbers but you must know that this exceeds the number of freshman slots at Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

Yes, this. And this isn't news--30 years ago there were the enough slots at the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, to hold the top 5-10 percent.

Thirty years ago, at my small high school, the top student (representing the top 1.5% of the class) went to Harvard. The rest of the top 10% went to Villanova, UVA, BC, Rochester, UVM, Art Institute of Chicago, etc.

I was in the top 25% of my class and went to SAIC. They place a much higher priority on artistic ability/portfolio than test scores and GPAs.

Not sure what your point is? I'm saying where the top students in my high school went--only one to a top 10 school.

My classmate who went to SAIC had high scores and GPA, and also was a terrific artist.

[Anonymous]

To the pp who criticized the Tulane Booster, have you checked out Tulane's admission rate and statistics lately? Tulane
75th percentile - SAT 2120; Penn State -1940. That is a huge difference. Tulane is almost as high as Michigan. Penn State is about the speed of Michigan State, far below Maryland, and even below Pitt. You appear to be completely uninformed. Are we missing something. You should get your facts straight before making disparaging comments.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised by the number of people here who can't seem to grasp the concept that the size of school impacts acceptance rate. Acceptance rate is in minor factor in overall school rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State (ranked in the 30s).

Ick.

I wonder how they'll rank in USNWR this year after their (ridiculous IMO) nine spot gain last year.

The school seems like a cult of sorts.

But how did PSU get USNWR to drink the kool aid?

[Anonymous]

Barnard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Barnard

What is that?

[Anonymous]

Tulane is in the AAU. I never knew that... Must be a good school. The AAU are the best 60 schools in the country and require a 3/4 vote by those schools for admittance.

[Anonymous]

^^^ they also kick schools out for slacking.

[Anonymous]

Should be noted that AAU considers its member the top research universities in the US and Canada. SLACs are excluded from membership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA, UNC, Michigan, Williams, Notre Dame, Northwestern

The schools that the OP listed are not the top 5 - 10%. They're more like the top .5%. These schools are still very very much part of top tier by the definition that the OP gave (top 5 - 10%).

My DC was top 5% of his graduating class (at a top public school) and PSAT/SAT scores. He attends one of these. Was WL/denied at 2 of them.

Mine was top 2% and National Merit Scholar. Got into a couple of these and and Penn but rejected at Yale and Penn. The competition is tough out there!

[Anonymous]

PP again - meant to say rejected at Yale and Princeton. Sorry about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State (ranked in the 30s).

Ick.

I wonder how they'll rank in USNWR this year after their (ridiculous IMO) nine spot gain last year.

The school seems like a cult of sorts.

But how did PSU get USNWR to drink the kool aid?

Perhaps desperate measures after the Sandusky scandal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the pp who criticized the Tulane Booster, have you checked out Tulane's admission rate and statistics lately? Tulane
75th percentile - SAT 2120; Penn State -1940. That is a huge difference. Tulane is almost as high as Michigan. Penn State is about the speed of Michigan State, far below Maryland, and even below Pitt. You appear to be completely uninformed. Are we missing something. You should get your facts straight before making disparaging comments.

Always thought of it as a school for rich kids who couldn't get in anywhere else. It is better than Penn State--no question.