Interesting list but it seems the percentages reporting should factor in the ranks somehow. I think USNWR uses other metrics when schools have below 50% reporting test scores, for example.

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Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Boston College's SAT average is higher than Notre Dame's? Is that because Notre Dame has so many athletes that brings it scores down?

Last year's was even higher. I know two kids in class of 2027 that had 1560 and 1540. Very competitive admissions.

We were told not to submit anything under a 35 ACT. My kid thankfully got a 35.

Who was telling you this? It seems like a lot of people were getting bad advice.

Terrible advice.

We were told not to submit a 34 to Vanderbilt…..they only want 35/36.

Ugh. Pre-TO a 34 or a 1500 were the baseline scores you could confidently send anywhere. The fact that someone with a score in the 99th percentile is being advised not to send in that score demonstrates just how absurd the TO universe became. It can't end soon enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big impact has been from the bottom 25%. That has crept up each year. But now with TO going away for most schools this year and next, you'll see that number start to come down again.

Most schools?

Most of the selective schools. The trend is clear.

Anonymous wrote:The big impact has been from the bottom 25%. That has crept up each year. But now with TO going away for most schools this year and next, you'll see that number start to come down again.

Most schools?

Anonymous wrote:I think the days of TO are all but over, especially for the schools at the top. You'll probably have an oddball liberal arts college here and there, but now that employers know that SAT has a direct correlation with performance, you'll see a greater emphasis on SAT's.

Those schools with the highest SAT's will be the most sought after for potential employers.

Potential employers don't care about SAT scores taken while still in HS.

College degree earned - around 22 years old or so - will suffice. Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:The big impact has been from the bottom 25%. That has crept up each year. But now with TO going away for most schools this year and next, you'll see that number start to come down again.

+1

The big impact has been from the bottom 25%. That has crept up each year. But now with TO going away for most schools this year and next, you'll see that number start to come down again.

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe a week or so ago someone on DCUM posted the pre covid average SATs for the top 50 or so schools. MIT & Cal Tech were the only two that broke 1500.

I cant find this link-i need it for my 2026 kid--can you link it?

Search each school by 2019 or 2020 data set(that data set corresponds to students starting on campus fall 2019 or fall 2020, both pre-TO). The lowest scoring ivies were Cornell (25-75%: 1420-1540) and Dartmouth (1440-1550), no surprise. These are still top-range scores and similar to the top 2 LACS Williams and Amherst (both 1420-1530/40). Columbia never released data sets because they are presumably lower compared to top ivies, plus they have the GS students.
Brown next lowest 1440-1560, just a small notch below the top 4 ivies.

Penn/Princeton/Yale/Harvard had the highest ranges, all about 1460-1570, pre-TO.
Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford were all similar to those top 4 ivies. UChicago does not release CDs.
MIT and Caltech were a notch higher than those 7, 1510-1570.

These schools have had the largest %of high scoring students for over 10 yrs, and consistently had 25% of student body 1570+ pre-TO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Boston College's SAT average is higher than Notre Dame's? Is that because Notre Dame has so many athletes that brings it scores down?

Last year's was even higher. I know two kids in class of 2027 that had 1560 and 1540. Very competitive admissions.

We were told not to submit anything under a 35 ACT. My kid thankfully got a 35.

Who was telling you this? It seems like a lot of people were getting bad advice.

Terrible advice.

We were told not to submit a 34 to Vanderbilt…..they only want 35/36.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I missing something? Boston College's SAT average is higher than Notre Dame's? Is that because Notre Dame has so many athletes that brings it scores down?

Last year's was even higher. I know two kids in class of 2027 that had 1560 and 1540. Very competitive admissions.

We were told not to submit anything under a 35 ACT. My kid thankfully got a 35.

Who was telling you this? It seems like a lot of people were getting bad advice.

Terrible advice.

Anonymous wrote:Superscoring, many more domestic Asian and international applicants. More test takers. More prep. More of everything. That's why 1400 isn't that great of a score.

I hear with the digital SAT there may be less cheating...cheating was high with international when we had paper tests

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a week or so ago someone on DCUM posted the pre covid average SATs for the top 50 or so schools. MIT & Cal Tech were the only two that broke 1500.

I cant find this link-i need it for my 2026 kid--can you link it?

I think with test optional going away except for some SLAC's you'll see lists like this become more important. At least it is objective.

Anonymous wrote:I think the days of TO are all but over, especially for the schools at the top. You'll probably have an oddball liberal arts college here and there, but now that employers know that SAT has a direct correlation with performance, you'll see a greater emphasis on SAT's.

Those schools with the highest SAT's will be the most sought after for potential employers.

Schools with high SATs are already sought after. However, SAT averages will decrease by 30-50 points at test-required schools and return to pre-COVID levels. TO is the cause of inflated SAT averages.

I think the days of TO are all but over, especially for the schools at the top. You'll probably have an oddball liberal arts college here and there, but now that employers know that SAT has a direct correlation with performance, you'll see a greater emphasis on SAT's.

Those schools with the highest SAT's will be the most sought after for potential employers.