We hear similar stories all too frequently, but Emory University is the latest institution to reveal that its external reporting of SAT and ACT scores used inflated numbers. Read the disclosure of the issue in this message from James W. Wagner, Emory's President.
The test score numbers reported by Emory were those for all admitted applicants, not those for the students who actually chose to attend. What kind of descrepency does this create? Well, check out this graph by Cappex.com:
Those blue dots are students who were admitted but chose not to go to Emory. As you can see, there's an awful lot of blue in the upper right hand corner. The students who had the highest grades and test scores also had the most college options, so the very strongest students are the ones most likely to choose another university. Including the test scores from those students who were admitted but chose not to attend will certainly inflate Emory's numbers measurably.
What will this mean for Emory? For one, they have the embarrassment of being grouped with other colleges with deceptive reporting practices (remember Claremont McKenna College?). Also, they may find their ranking go down in U.S. News & World Report and other publications that use SAT, ACT, and class rank numbers as part of their scoring methodologies.
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