Is it harder to get into the best colleges from DC Metro Area?
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Anonymous
| Is it harder or easier to get into a good university of college from this area? |
Anonymous
Definitely harder from lower Montgomery county, Fairfax and parts of NW DC. Easier from PG. And other parts of DC. |
Anonymous
| Yes, of course...where have you been OP? |
Anonymous
| Why? Is it harder than NYC or SF? |
Anonymous
OP's question seems to seek a view in comparison to the national norm. Say what you will about NYC and SF - they are not representative of the national norm in any meaningful way. |
Anonymous
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At the risk of bursting ego bubbles here is some info to chew on:
Which state has the highest average ACT and SAT scores? http://po.st/D5rYCJ The top three are Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin and the top 10-15 is mostly "fly over" country. Virginia #29, Maryland #34 and DC is dead last. |
Anonymous
According to some posters test scores are not important in college admissions. |
Anonymous
Standardized Tests (SAT OR ACT) are respected as an objective indication of aptitude. Most college admissions officers—the people who are evaluating your Standardized Test (SAT OR ACT) score in the context of your application—are intellectuals themselves, and they tend to value intellect in their applicants. For this reason they are more likely to dismiss less-than-desirable grades when accompanied by a high Standardized Test (SAT OR ACT) score. If George has a 33 on his ACT but a GPA of 2.5, an admissions officer may explain the discrepancy by saying George was obviously quite bright but must not have been challenged by his high school teachers; he is likely to shine when he is properly engaged by the professors at their prestigious university. But if Sabrina turns in an application with an ACT score of 16 but a 4.0 GPA, that same admissions officer is likely to be suspicious of her transcript and doubt her ability to keep up with the intellectual level of college courses. High Standardized Test (SAT OR ACT) scores are secretly coveted by colleges and universities because officials want to boost the average Standardized Test (SAT OR ACT) score of the incoming class in order to appear more selective than competing schools. City University wants nothing more than to advertise that their freshman class had an average Standardized Test (SAT OR ACT) score of 30, which is 3 points higher than State College across town. A higher selectivity ranking attracts better applicants and more funding. Remember, like all businesses, colleges are constantly competing for clients and market share. |
Anonymous
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PP, top of the thread clearly says BEST COLLEGES.
SAT/ACT scores are not used the same is City University or State University as it is in Ivy League University or USNews Top 20 University. And to get back on track, obviously it's harder to get in here. The best colleges are flooded with applicants from cities. They can't take them all. The real question is how the difficulty of getting into college from here compares to the difficulty of getting into college from other cities like New York or San Francisco. |
Anonymous
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DC, MD and Virginia are still highly segregated when it comes to schools. That's why you can have some of the top private schools in the country in DC and still the lowest test scores ON AVERAGE. There are pockets of exceptional students surround by vast regions of mediocrity. As a PP said - it is harder if you are in one of the pockets, but easier if you are one of the rare stars from outside the pockets.
Another factor is that there is far less space in the few elite public schools in this area (UVA, W&M and arguably UNC) with almost no elite public schools in the North East so there is a struggle to get into private schools. The elite public schools of the Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin and others) provide a home for a lot of those high testing students who don't have a need to pay private school tuition. Then there is population. Just because kids form the Midwest are smarter ON AVERAGE doesn't mean there are more smart kids in the Midwest. Because the population is higher here, there may be more smart kids even though the average is lower. |
Anonymous
| I think it is tough living in the Boston area also. Very competitive public and private high schools, high cost of living, and not a lot of love for UMass. Lots of good expensive private colleges but difficult to gain admission and come up with tuition. UMass is not loved as much by highly qualified students like students that are fortunate to have good state colleges like Virginia, Michigan, NC, California, Wisconsin, and Washington. |
Anonymous
Completely misleading statistic. These flyover states also have the lowest participation rates. Thus the highest scores. http://www.businessinsider.com/average-sat-scores-by-state-2014-1#!JhvXY |
Anonymous
Your link is for the SAT, PPs is for both the ACT AND SAT. Hers is much more accurate because it takes both into consideration so no "low participation" argument. In flyover states, they take standardized testing at the same participation rates, but the ACT is way more common. |
Anonymous
Of course. The trend is totally toward the ACT and naturally the brainier states are on top of the trend bringing SAT participation way down. Seems that those of us in DC didn't get the memo until the College Board itself admitted defeat by announcing that it was rewriting the SAT. |