"It's harder to get into Big Ten universities, except MSU"

Submitted by James Burrill Angell on

The article title pretty much says it all but it's worth a read. http://bridgemi.com/2014/08/um-soars-msu-doesnt-on-freshmen-test-scores/

Apparently State has also fallen behind Michigan Tech in admission standards.

 

EDIT: for those of you who still won't click a non-sports/non-Snyder or Rosenberg article here's the guts:

 

"Since 2001, Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue have seen substantial gains in ACT test scores for incoming freshmen. This has pushed the Big Ten's average scores on the so-called "middle 50" -- representing the middle 50% of incoming freshmen - up 2 points or more over this period. ACT scores for Big Ten freshmen in the 25th percentile of their class rose from 22.6 points on average in 2001 to 25.1 points last year, a 2.5-point increase. Those in the 75th percentile rose from 27.9 to 29.8 (a max ACT score is 36). But as the conference attracts higher-achieving students, one member, Michigan State, has basically tread water since 2001. Incoming MSU students raised their ACT scores by roughly one point over this period, even as other schools - both from the top and bottom of the Big Ten - raised their game considerably, a Bridge analysis shows. Michigan State now ranks second from the bottom among the 12 Big Ten universities that report ACT scores, ahead of only Nebraska. (Rutgers and Maryland joined the conference this year but are not included in this analysis because nearly all their students took the SAT). Back in 2001, MSU was ahead of Nebraska and essentially tied with Indiana, Purdue and Minnesota, and just behind Ohio State and Illinois. Except for Nebraska, these other schools had surpassed Michigan State on either the 25th and 75th percentiles or both by 2013. MSU does, however, have far more company when compared with Michigan's 14 other public universities. With the exception of UM, the Bridge analysis finds that nearly all in-state schools stayed relatively stagnant since 2001, as measured by the ACT. MSU ranks third in the state in academic strength of its incoming students, behind UM and Michigan Tech."

Tuebor

August 27th, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^

The school that doesn't report is probably Northwestern and I'd bet that their scores are the highest on the list.

 

Tech is a great school to go to for engineering.  I'd bet the focus on strong STEM education and only having 5,500 undergrads vs 38,000 probably gets Tech above MSU in terms of ACT scores.

Yeoman

August 27th, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^

are Rutgers and Maryland because their students predominantly take the SAT and not the ACT.

Northwestern's scores are the highest by some distance (31/34 for the 25/75 percentiles) but at the high end they haven't changed much over the decade--the 75th percentile was 33 in 8 of the 10 years, 34 in the other 2.

CLord

August 27th, 2014 at 3:08 PM ^

Not surprised about Nebraska.  Recent evidence suggests that starch rich diets, such as those consumed by Nebraskans who dine on corn for breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, and dinner promote heightened glucose in the bloodstream which leads to diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's, ever-widening gabs between the nose and mouth region (Pelini) and low ACT scores...  Damn nice people though those Husker peeps, except d-bag Scott Frost.

BlueFordSoftTop

August 27th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^

 
Generation X:  We were farmed on cereal grains and sugars. Heck, I subsisted on charms, crunchberries, trix and quisp not to mention cocoa puffs and The Count's chocolate victims. I still pee colors of the trix rainbow despite not having consumed trix for decades.
 
After breakfast we boosted our sugar highs with crackerjack like young crack addicts. It was glorious indulgence, and we heightened our pleasure by sedentary monitoring of brain-destroying Gilligan's Island.
 
Unsurprisingly, a high number of my U-M classmates are diabetics and their pancreae probably resemble sieves. Still, we did get into Michigan. You are certainly correct regarding Pelini but that sad disability attributes to Ohio.
 

Space Coyote

August 27th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^

Which is the same attitude toward OSU, MSU, any other B1G school not named Northwestern, most other schools around the country, etc.

Michigan is awesome. It is truly a world class university that ranks among the best. So I've never understood when people need to say another school sucks. I always thought that came across as petty for people that don't need to come across as petty. If you're great (and Michigan is great), you don't need to point out the the things that are below you, they just are.

Besides that, I read the article, and it's essentially a typical Freep headline that is written to grab readers (mostly troll MSU) rather than more or less describe the article, which is a big reason they shouldn't be linked here.

bluebyyou

August 27th, 2014 at 5:43 PM ^

These other schools don't suck, plain and simple.  Their overall ACT's may not be as high, but there are lots of very smart kids everywhere.  Look at the increase of OSU's ACT scores over the years.  There is no reason why their scores won't continue to increase simply based on population, although inbreeding and bad genetics might keep things down a bit (couldn't resist).

Also of note was Michigan's OOS percentages..in 2013, almost 43 percent of new undergrads were from out of state.

Year of Revenge II

August 28th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^

When I read your post, a certain sense of irony flowed over me…

Look, at least get the over-generalizations right.  Wisc is a great school, as is Minn, OSU is almost in that category (if you can get past the social strata that attend it).  Indiana is good to great also, same for Illinois, Iowa also is good.  I may be leaving someone out, but the point is that MI and NW tend to stand alone academically in Big Ten. 

College is what you make of it---You can get a great education virtually anywhere if you put your mind and effort to it.  They do not just give you knowledge (even at MI), you have to earn it. 

Now, if you want a career in packing, hospitality, crop rotation, or beetle farming, MSU may be the place for you.  You can relax in evening by sampling keggers and burning articles of furniture in street.  …And what do you get if you drive fast through East Lansing---A degree of course!

It’s humor, not reason for hatred (though I realize that word choice was just probably hyperbole for you here).  I personally would like to go back to the days of football humor vis-à-vis MSU.  So let’s bust the door down to the GD place this year, and go back to football jokes.

The irony stems from a full year of reading your posts.  Gotta love your enthusiasm, effort, and knowledge levels, but c’mon man, re-read your posts for the past 12 months and see if you still make the above comment with the same feeling.  In other words, pot might meet kettle to some degree.

What is more, I personally feel, inter alia, that running 9 out of 10 running plays up the gut when you need short yardage, can’t go backward, and your run game can’t deliver either, is not “putting our players in a position to win”.  (in general, your PSU apologia for Borges)  So I do not especially see the value in an oversupply of technical knowledge if those trees obscure the forest.

Keep up the good work though.  I do enjoy, though do not always agree.  But realize, part of the reward of going through Michigan, and it is not easy if you do it right, is that you’ve earned the privilege of humor-filled arrogance once in a while.  I do not see why fans cannot adopt that posture also to some extent.  It is who we are--hopefully we can keep it classy---but we try to tell it like it is Al, …er, Space Coyote.  

UMich87

August 27th, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^

the overriding purpose of a university is to educate and promote research and scholarship and not win football games.  The value of my degree in the business and academic marketplaces is based in substantial part on the prestige and standing of my university, not its ability to field a winning football team.  In fact, I would go further and say that it is the current prestige and standing of the university and not what it was when I went there.

814 East U

August 27th, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^

I am not disagreeing with you.

I would like to add that this is a sports blog and some article on incoming 17 and 18 year old ACT scores doesn't matter to most of this blog if Michigan could beat MSU in football this year.

Michigan Football is important to a lot of people and the university in terms of money. 

DennisFithian

August 27th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^

Same.

This still seems like a dumb ranking. What about GPA, extra curriculum, athletics etc

A standardize test like the ACT isn't that of a measuring stick. IMHO

alum96

August 27th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^

That is a general admissions article but I am curious what is going on at STAEE with athletic scholarships.  They were in the past 2 weeks kicking around a basketball transfer that could not get admitted at Indiana or OREGON.  Yes mighty academic powerhouse Oregon.  They also took in a highly rated DT in this last class who could not get into Wisconsin.  So it seems that Hollis is SEC'ing MSU as much as possible.... unless they always just went for the pure minimum NCAA standard (which is fine I guess) but it doesn't seem to be what Indiana or Wisconsin are doing... or heck Nike University.

Hannibal.

August 27th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^

Does it mean anything that the average test scores are higher for incoming freshmen?  I am asking because I am of the understanding that there has been some significant test score inflation in recent decades.  Maybe you need a higher score, but the test is easier or high schools are teaching more to the test?

On the flip side, I am hearing anecdotal evidence that the B1G, especially OSU, has become much harder to get into. 

feanor

August 27th, 2014 at 3:55 PM ^

Grades are increasing, but that is GPA's rather than the ACT/SAT.  

The ACT is a percentile test so .1% get a 36, .7% get a 35, 1% get a 34, ect...  Those numbers are made up, but you get the idea.

Looking at the article for example a 31 is in the 97th percentile this year nationally. If I remember correctly that was 98th percentile in 2008 with 33 or 34 being 99th percentile, that is a pretty inconsequential  amount of change.

Victor Valiant

August 27th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^

Academic elitist BS like this is one of the few things that I get upset about when it comes to being a Michigan fan. The reputation that Michigan fans/alums are elitist snobs is not one to be proud of.

814 East U

August 27th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^

100% agree. Every major university can point to a specific school ranking, program ranking, test score ranking to fit an agenda. Does anyone really care that much? There are so many successful people to come out of Michigan and Michigan State as well as every other BIG school.

Michigan points to athletics when it suits us and we point to academics when it suits us. 

FGB

August 28th, 2014 at 1:08 AM ^

Um, yes, nearly everyone (not you apparently) cares about the academic reputation of their school because it attaches to them through almost every job interview, social interaction, small talk conversation for the rest of their lives.

If you want to pretend that the world as a whole sees no difference between MICH and MSU just because Dan Gilbert made a billion dollars effing over naive homeowners on their mortgages, then go ahead.  But it's simply not true.

 

GoWings2008

August 27th, 2014 at 2:59 PM ^

Being a lifelong Michigan fan is something I cherish and will never ever stop.  But as a graduate of another very tough school to get into (and even harder to graduate from), sometimes UM fans take it a bit further than other people's liking.  I like the opinion, expressed above a couple comments, that if you're that good...you don't need to say it.  People just know.

Its like the old Air Force joke...  Want to know when there's a fighter pilot in the room?  He'll tell you.

UM2k1

August 27th, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^

As an engineer, I will disagree with your disagreement. Having worked throughout the state and region, MTU is a good school within the state (maybe only north of Oakland Co.), but regionally/nationally, not so much.