ACT/SAT Scores by SEC School

[LightninInside]

I know that MSU really tries to target the smartest kids in the state and I think we do a good job at it, but comparing the numbers against the rest of the SEC (excluding OM) we should be doing better. What do you think the reasons are for the gap and what can be done to fix this? This isn't like football in which we are trying to own the State. We have done that the past 3 years, but historically we haven't.
Academically in state, we have always attracted the smartest kids so what do we do to close the gap vs. the rest of the SEC and in turn the country?
We are already the most selective of the big 3 colleges in the State with a 55% acceptance rate vs. say UM that accepts anyone who can sign a form. Just kiddin but it is 30% higher than State.

Edited to add: This is first glance type of info that I got from a really good college prep website on about.com. http://collegeapps.about....onference-act-scores.htm
Looking at other conferences, specifically A&M, their entrance scores are going to be toward the top of the SEC. (Excluding Vandy) I didn't realize that Vandy was THAT much higher than anyone else

 

[LightninInside]

I know that MSU really tries to target the smartest kids in the state and I think we do a good job at it, but comparing the numbers against the rest of the SEC (excluding OM) we should be doing better. What do you think the reasons are for the gap and what can be done to fix this? This isn't like football in which we are trying to own the State. We have done that the past 3 years, but historically we haven't.
Academically in state, we have always attracted the smartest kids so what do we do to close the gap vs. the rest of the SEC and in turn the country?
We are already the most selective of the big 3 colleges in the State with a 55% acceptance rate vs. say UM that accepts anyone who can sign a form. Just kiddin but it is 30% higher than State.

Edited to add: This is first glance type of info that I got from a really good college prep website on about.com. http://collegeapps.about....onference-act-scores.htm
Looking at other conferences, specifically A&M, their entrance scores are going to be toward the top of the SEC. (Excluding Vandy) I didn't realize that Vandy was THAT much higher than anyone else

 

[The Usual Suspect]

asdf

 

[shsdawg]

some isn't. It all depends on where you are.

 

[esplanade91]

asdf

Not as bad as Kentucky or Alabama's based on the SAT. But yes, it's really bad. As long as we keep electing politicians who would rather cut education spending than something else, it'll continue to be that way. I think it hurts that the ones who do care about education run as democrats even though they're textbook republicans........ except for their stance on spending when it comes to education.

Edit: It also doesn't help that most people who buy into education and get a degree don't come back to Mississippi. It's a vicious cycle. Bad education, get educated despite it, move away because there is no money to be made in Mississippi because there is little knowledge invested in industry and our economy, thus there is no money to invest in education.

 

[futaba.79]

none of the instate schools have a choice

 

[thatsbaseball]

over these numbers.

 

[saltslugs]

From a quick glance, there is absolutely no way that we are that much better than Ole Miss. Where are these "data" from?<div>
</div>

 

[The Usual Suspect]

try to challenge Ayers so that requirements can be raised a couple of years ago. Is there nothing that can be done? This case has brought down the value of a degree from MSU and UM in the eyes of most out of state companies (in my opinion).

 

[RocketCityDawg]

Is that in my day, the 32 composite I made on the ACT didn't translate into an automatic scholly, as it would today.

Never mind, I worked my way through MSU and got my degrees anyway.

I have no sympathy for the current generation of entitlement-expecting whiners.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

Funding of MSU by Miss. is not as good as it was in the late 80's in real dollars

 

[shsdawg]

For HS it depends on where you are. </p>

 

[The Usual Suspect]

it depends on where you live. But, I have lived in several states, and there just are not that many good public High Schools in MS, compared to other states. Pile on, but it is true.

 

[shsdawg]

far fewer in fact.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

asdf

 

[randystewart]

Our hands are tied on admissions, which is why I find it funny when other institutions in the state try to claim academic superiority. We are all in the exact same boat.

 

[MedDawg]

From a quick glance, there is absolutely no way that we are that much better than Ole Miss. Where are these "data" from?<div>
</div>

The ACT scores are close with State ahead of OM by 1 or 2 points for each percentile--these are the kids from MS, maybe TN and Alabama, which are about the same at OM and State. <div>
</div><div>The SAT scores have State way ahead of OM--these are the kids from farther out-of-state, where the SAT is more common. OM gets the kids from out-of-state that want to party and/or couldn't get into their home-state schools. State gets kids from out-of-state that come to MSU more for academics, maybe engineering students or smart foreign kids going to State to learn about agriculture. Hence, OM's SAT scores would be much lower than State's.</div>

 

[LightninInside]

http://collegeapps.about....onference-act-scores.htm

 

[LightninInside]

Thats the part I'm having a hard time with. I may be missing something but with a 55% acceptance rate, that means that we are turning away 45% of all that apply and I would assume that to be the lower scoring kids.

Compared to the rest of the SEC it seems that we turn away more applicants than all of them percentagewise.

(FYI - I'm doing this research right now to see which schools would be best for my son to apply) Some of the schools on his list are going to be very difficult when looking at these numbers (outside of the SEC)

 

[rugbdawg]

me was Vandy. By "perfect" I mean a cumulative 36. I took it twice and got 35s but cumulatively I got a perfect score in each category. Anyway, I had to seek out MSU. Ole Miss, Millsaps, and MC were all over me but never anything from MSU. This was early 2000s. Once I contacted them Portera scheduled a 30 min meeting with me and invited me to sit in the box at the Kentucky football game. It was a poor effort initially and if I hadn't wanted to go to State in the first place it would have never happened.

 

[GloryDawg]

How many ways can you Teach math, english and reading?. It is what it is and until the parents and kids start to give a damn it doesn't matter how much money you spend. </p>

 

[The Usual Suspect]

at our local School district (6 5-A high schools) in the district. We had volunteers from the local alumni chapter giving out brochures, while UM and most other large schools had paid recruiters in place with all the bells and whistles. Heck, even Miss. College has a full time recruiter that was there. The thing is, you don't get many great out of state kids (at least here in TX), unless the kid's parents have connections, or a recruiter gets in the ear of the local counselor. So far, MSU has not made TX a priority, this is a mistake since only the top 10% can get in TX or TX a&m. LSU, Ok, OK ST, are making out like bandits with the "left over" kids from TX.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

The ONLY reason MSU and UM can compete as well as they do is private donations. Imagine what we could do with those private donations, if they were not being used to supplement the dollars that have been taken away by MS legislature.

 

[LightninInside]

And no offense to anyone here, but if you made that good of a score, you could have named your school. What did you see in MSU?

I truley mean that I mean no disrespect whatsoever. I love MSU as much as anyone but if I could have made it into a big league school on scholorship, I think I would have done it. Was class rank super important when you were applying? I am finding out that it is HUGE at many colleges. A 4.0 average, 26 ACT with a 20% class rank doesn't get you much these days.

 

[RocketCityDawg]

With a 36. As much as I love MSU, you gotta go for yourself.

 

[rugbdawg]

I was able to put 10k a year into the bank after tuition and living expenses from the scholly money I received. I was able to use this towards grad school. I firmly believed and still do that your undergrad degree doesn't matter if you plan to go to grad school. In fact, going to MSU may have helped me because grad schools want the diverse image. Your LSAT/MCAT scores will get you into wherever. It doesn't matter if your undergrad was MVSU, MSU, or MIT. Go where you want for undergrad and have fun. You have the rest of your life to be ambitious. V

Also, I did not make a 36 in one sitting. I made 2 35s on two occasions. On the two tests taking the highest score in each section, I managed to make a "perfect" combined score. Thats a big, big difference between a real 36.

 

[VirgilCain]

We're 17ed

 

[theBarnDawg]

I'm a TN resident (Memphis) and it was cheaper for me to come to MSU than it was UT. Both places had comparable architecture schools. It's just that tuition was less, even though Tennesse has a $4000/year lottery scholarship for in-state students. Which Mississippi needs by the way. When I couldn't find anappreciabledifference in the quality of education, I came here. I really think that tuition is a great selling point for those education-seeking students on a budget.<div><div>
</div><div>Also, I made a 32 on my ACT and I was never even a blip on MSU's radar. Not an email or a mass mailed letter. How are we so bad at attracting students?</div><div>
</div><div>
</div> </div>

 

[RocketCityDawg]

Sucked for me that I didn't get a scholly 50 yrs ago, and had to work my way.
Still managed to earn my MSU BS at age 19, so WTF.

Maybe it wasn't that big a deal, after all.

 

[SwampDawg]

a wild assed kid came back in after being sent to the principal's office and said "Ha ha I told you he wouldn't do anything." And he was right. The final straw came a few weeks later so she retired from that crap.

 

[eurotrash]

Ethnicity is also important. A school full of middle-class Asians from two-parent families will absolutely kill the math portions of the ACT and SAT and do quite fine on the language sections. International tests which often show America in the middle compared to other nations, reveal interesting stats when broking down by ethnicity. Certain groups in this country are at the top internationally so our educational systems are doing something right. For instance, Asian Americans outscore all Asians around the world other than those in Shanghai, White Americans outscore all Europeans and Canadians other than the Finns, our African Americans outscore all African Nations, and Latino Americans outscore all Central and South Americans. We just have huge achievement gaps with Asians and whites doing fine but with Latinos and Africans Americans significantly behind. Our record at bridging the gap is not good but then Latinos and African Americans are ahead of their brethren elsewhere in the world.

Schools and teachers have less of an effect than families. But, making matters worse are some of those absolutely awful county schools.

This country's increasing pathologies like family collapse and the incredible out-of-wedlock birthrate are not helping. Kids need to choose their parents wisely.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

Sucked for me that I didn't get a scholly 50 yrs ago, and had to work my way.
Still managed to earn my MSU BS at age 19, so WTF.

Maybe it wasn't that big a deal, after all.

the cost of school 50 years ago was not the prohibitive factor it is today. with a dramatic drop in the wealth of the average american family and the exponential growth in tuition, especially over the past 10-12 years, it's damn near impossible to "work your way through school" without loans, parental help (and more and more can't help much, see the drop in relative wealth mentioned above), or scholarships. <div>
</div><div>i'm not sure what exactly msu's tuition was when i was in school. i know i had enough scholarships to cover it all and give me a little leftover for expenses throughout the semester, but it appears tuition for in state students has nearly doubled the past decade (pretty sure it was $3K-something then, now it's almost $6K). grad school cost me $21K/year (i took out loans and i have a good job i enjoy and i am fine with my life, this isn't a ***** session about loans), but since i graduated in 2007, the cost of my grad school has risen to more than $30K/year. the relative wealth of american families is not keeping pace with the skyrocketing costs of education. furthermore, the part time or full time job a student can get paying $8/hour isn't gonna cover thousands of dollars a year in tuition alone + basic living costs.</div><div>
</div><div>so yeah, when you try to equate "working through college" without scholarships 50 years ago to trying to do the same in today's america, it shows how out of touch with the reality of the shituation you are.</div>

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

Look at those English section scores. Above 19!!! I'm surprised DARPA doesn't have a permanent recruiting presence on campus.

 

[Seinfeld]

If I'm interpreting the tables correctly, then it's showing that MSU's top 25% is pretty much in line with everyone else in the conference except Vandy and Florida. The big difference, though, is in that lower 25% which clearly shows that we accept a lot of kids that other schools wouldn't. I don't what you can say about that other than that it doesn't surprise me, considering the boom in overall attendance from the last 5-10 years. It seems that the focus has definitely been on quantity.

 

[boomboommsu]

The percentile show that we're doing just fine attracting the smartest kids, but that also we fill out the class with much dumber kids at the bottom. That shouldn't surprise anyone. I'm assuming these are admittance data, not graduate data. It doesn't affect my engineering degrees at all if some rahtard flunks out of business school.

 

[thatsbaseball]

to our university.

 

[eurotrash]

Attend one class or participate in on 'academic activity", fook off the rest of the semester and you keep the taxpayer handout. There are people being signed up at Universities and "colleges" around the country, particularly the mis-named "for profit" types, just to get the grant money. Some drug gangs are involved in this because it can be highly profitable.

 

[bulldogbaja]

[No message]

 

[Seinfeld]

How hot are the women in that bottom 25%? I knew plenty of coeds that had no business being in college, but I'm sure glad they were.

 

[boatsnhoes]

in miss high schools....more money does not equate to effort on the part of the student and/or parent. Nice facilities doesn't make a kid want to learn or give effort in the classroom. Parents in most cases probably don't give a rip. It has changed from the educator being the default person "in the right" to parents automatically thinking their child is in the right andhow he or she has been wronged. Zero personal discipline by thehigh school studentis the majority.