如何判断学校申请难度——关于本科选校技术的思考(二)

SAT分数

更准确地说，是指原来的SAT I的分数或是现在的SAT Reasoning Test的分数。由于SAT分数是申请人众多申请要素中，最客观的要素之一，学校普遍较重视。每年学校都会公布往届被录取学生的SAT 25%~75%分布，也就是SAT分数排在中间的50%（即75%减去25%）学生的分数分布情况。再次以Harvard University为例，近年来平均的SAT 25%~75%分数段为1397~1583, 一般认为，如果申请人的SAT分数低于25%的分数线即1397，则处于劣势，而SAT高于75%即1583,则占有优势。要说明的是，这里的分数是指SAT Reasoning Test中的Critical Reading + Math两部分之和。统计发现，SAT是一个较稳定的评判要素，相邻两年的SAT分数变化在5%以内，甚至有很多学校的SAT分数连续几年稳定在同一水平上。可以想象，学校对于SAT分数，其实是存在一条隐性的分数线，如上文中的Harvard与Caltech的例子。因此，学校被录取学生的SAT分数越高，申请难度越大。

综合以上几个指标，我们建立了一个较综合的数学模型，有效地量化出每个学校的申请难度。由于所参考的数据有限，并且未经过长期的严格的验证，因而，在此暂未把这个模型具体公布出来。但本文附表中，附上了由此模型所推算出来的最难申请的TOP100学校名单，以供读者参考。其中，由于少数学校（如Bates College，Bard College）的数据不全而未有列在此名单上。希望本文能对2008年的本科申请者有所启发。若读者对以上内容有任何异议或见解，请不吝指正及提出意见。

附表：

附表：
（一）申请难度最大的前100所学校

申请难度	学校
164.86	Harvard University
162.41	Princeton University
162.27	Yale University
160.99	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
160.22	California Institute of Technology
158.98	Stanford University
156.34	Columbia University in the City of New York
155.67	Dartmouth College
155.16	Brown University
154.44	Amherst College
154.26	Pomona College
153.31	Duke University
153.02	University of Pennsylvania
153.01	Williams College
152.27	Washington University in St Louis
152.15	Swarthmore College
151.53	Rice University
150.38	Harvey Mudd College
148.61	University of Chicago
148.07	Georgetown University
147.64	University of Notre Dame
147.50	Northwestern University
147.23	Wesleyan University
147.02	Bowdoin College
146.99	Cornell University
146.72	Tufts University
146.67	Carleton College
146.66	Middlebury College
145.66	Washington and Lee University
145.46	Claremont McKenna College
145.25	Haverford College
144.78	Wellesley College
144.31	Vassar College
144.26	Johns Hopkins University
143.61	Barnard College
142.30	Davidson College
141.86	Carnegie Mellon University
141.80	University of Southern California
141.61	Emory University
141.52	Colgate University
140.84	College of William and Mary
140.82	Vanderbilt University
140.61	University of California-Berkeley
140.59	Colby College
140.31	Oberlin College
139.85	Hamilton College
139.50	University of Virginia-Main Campus
139.13	Boston College
138.55	Brandeis University
138.11	Macalester College
137.38	Connecticut College
137.28	Grinnell College
137.01	New York University
136.69	University of California-Los Angeles
136.48	Wheaton College
136.20	Reed College
136.05	Kenyon College
136.00	Wake Forest University
135.84	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
135.71	Bucknell University
134.88	Scripps College
134.68	Whitman College
134.33	Lehigh University
134.20	Trinity College
134.19	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
133.93	Bryn Mawr College
132.89	Tulane University of Louisiana
132.79	University of Rochester
132.71	University of Richmond
131.32	Colorado College
131.31	George Washington University
131.16	St John's College
131.08	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
131.03	Lafayette College
129.81	Occidental College
129.53	Dickinson College
129.53	Illinois Wesleyan University
129.36	College of the Holy Cross
129.20	University of Maryland-College Park
128.88	Gettysburg College
128.77	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
128.71	University of California-San Diego
128.52	University of Florida
128.45	Case Western Reserve University
128.39	Boston University
128.35	Stevens Institute of Technology
128.28	Furman University
128.19	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
128.13	Pepperdine University
128.10	Smith College
127.85	Sarah Lawrence College
127.68	Thomas Aquinas College
127.64	Kalamazoo College
127.53	SUNY at Binghamton
127.51	Franklin and Marshall College
127.28	University of Miami
126.76	Union College
126.62	St. Olaf College
126.31	Rhodes College

（二）近年来录取率下降较快的几所学校

竞争指数	学校	平均录取率	录取率变化
136.05	Kenyon College	40.93%	-36.47%
131.32	Colorado College	46.89%	-33.67%
132.89	Tulane University	48.80%	-32.97%
137.28	Grinnell College	57.28%	-30.76%
162.27	Yale University	11.54%	-29.77%
136.20	Reed College	46.72%	-27.10%
143.61	Barnard College	29.18%	-25.92%
155.67	Dartmouth College	17.94%	-23.51%
144.78	Wellesley College	38.55%	-23.33%
131.31	George Washington University	40.64%	-22.70%