Reply to Are elite LACs even harder to get into than their admit rate suggests?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am not sure test scores are the way to assess elite status once you get to a certain level.  I think if a student has met a set minimum standard, then everything else becomes more important than the test scores.  Certainly, a very high test score may help a relative deficits in another area, but if the rest of your portfolio is exemplary, a slightly lower test score will not matter. [/quote]

Ok, so if % admitted isn't a sign of a school's elite status (or a reliable marker of the difficulty of being admitted) and if median scores of those who matriculate doesn't capture it either, what metric would you use to assess the claim that elite LACs are just as hard to get into as top universities?

I agree that LACs may have a more self-selecting pool, but part of that self-selection involves lots have top students having no interest in attending a LAC -- they'd rather go to Harvard or Berkeley -- and not participating in any LAC applicant pools.  LAC pools are probably more homogeneous -- less top-heavy as well as less bottom-heavy than HYPS, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were whiter and wealthier on average. 
[/quote]

Amherst: https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/669797
Stanford: http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/profile.html

Amherst % of applicants with 700-800 SAT CR: 60%
Stanford % of applicants with 700-800 SAT CR:  46%
Amherst % of applicants with below 600 CR: 10.6%
Stanford % of applicants with below 600 CR: 20%
Amherst % of applicants with 30-36 ACT: 75.5%
Stanford % of applicants with 30-36 ACT: 74%

I don't buy that top LAC pools are less top-heavy than HYPS. It seems that Amherst's applicant pool is more selective than Stanford's. [/quote]

If you ignore math scores and create a broader than relevant range -- 750-800 would typically be top scores at elite schools.[/quote]

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