SAT Smack

[NavyCrimson]

... or more

[SMU Cyclist]

My kid is at TAGTownview, 94+ avg at #1 ranked HS in country ( but just in the top half of class rank of the 61 kids) and until two, three years ago never even thought there would be any problems getting in, but we had to take the SAT a second time to get over the 1300 threshold. Everyone in admissions was saying, "Very impressive....she needs to get a 1300!" Looking at her admission profile on Cappex, the relationship of SMU to other Texas schools, SMU has appreciably higher middle 50 % SAT scores to all but Rice, which is closer to the Ivy League in competitiveness. Trinity is closest to SMU, and interestingly UTD has higher middle 50 scores than TAMU and UT Austin. Baylor and TCU are 70 or so points on average behind SMU.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

My kid is at TAGTownview, 94+ avg at #1 ranked HS in country ( but just in the top half of class rank of the 61 kids) and until two, three years ago never even thought there would be any problems getting in, but we had to take the SAT a second time to get over the 1300 threshold. Everyone in admissions was saying, "Very impressive....she needs to get a 1300!" Looking at her admission profile on Cappex, the relationship of SMU to other Texas schools, SMU has appreciably higher middle 50 % SAT scores to all but Rice, which is closer to the Ivy League in competitiveness. Trinity is closest to SMU, and interestingly UTD has higher middle 50 scores than TAMU and UT Austin. Baylor and TCU are 70 or so points on average behind SMU.

That's not accurate. Baylor is about 70 or so behind so but tcu is 100+ more behind. That 30+ pt difference is not inconsequential. We're about 130 behind rice and 30 points are significant, so we have work to do to bridge within 100 of rice. Good work but we should strive to get closer and leave everyone else behind.

[StallionsModelT]

Quick question: Do we know how many applications we had for the incoming class? I thought I read where we had over 11,000 applications.

[smustatesman]

One might say SMU is becoming the "Droid" of Texas universities, with over 11,000 Apps. !

[gostangs]

We had about 14000 apps last year. They expect that to go up another couple of 1000 with the bush library putting us on the map in areas where we have not been. The ratio to watch is not total apps but apps per spot. 10- 1 (14000 per 1400 per class) is getting very good.

It's not all about apps of course. TCU has about a 10-1 ratio also, but their student quality is not so hot.

[Pony^]

On applications, we have been through this before.

Last year the Dallas Morning News reported that SMU had 13,800 applications: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20120420-editorial-smu-stereotype-no-longer-works.ece

As it turned out, not everyone who started the admissions process actually completed an application.

See page 7 of this report: https://smu.edu/provost/pdf/FacultySenateOct12.pdf

SMU actually reported 11,217 applications (first-time first year) last year in its Common Data Set: http://smu.edu/ir/CDS/CDS_2012-2013_Part_C.pdf

So when you give a number of applications for any year, please specify whether or not you are talking about COMPLETED applications. Only COMPLETED applications matter for SMU's Common Data Set and U.S. News.

With respect to SAT scores, one can't determine the average SAT score until the school sees who actually shows up in the fall.

Last year the SAT increase was less than expected due to the "summer melt." Some students who had committed to SMU were subsequently admitted off the wait list at other schools, received better scholarship offers elsewhere, changed their plans, etc. The melt, in turn, causes schools to go to their own wait lists to fill those spots with lesser qualified students.

Therefore, SMU will not know its actual SAT average until classes start in the fall.

None of this means that SMU's SAT scores will not increase, they do almost every year. SMU just won't know by how much until after classes start. The statistics are usually compiled two weeks into the semester.

[Pony^]

See page 9 of this report for a history of average SAT scores at SMU: https://smu.edu/provost/pdf/FacultySenateOct12.pdf