Schools inflate statistics, SATs for college guides

College tuition is not the only thing in higher education that's been inflated these days, according to a Wall Street Journal article published Wednesday. Several universities and colleges across the country have taken various measures to improve their images or make their institutions appear more selective than they actually are, the Journal reported. But Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said he is proud that the University has never altered any information. Boston University, however, does not include the verbal scores of about 350 international students, but factors their math results into the mean SAT score. Foreign students often score higher than Americans on the math section, but usually have difficulty with the verbal SAT. Northeastern University excludes both international and remedial students when computing their average. These students make up 20 percent of each entering class. While many officials at different universities denounced such activities, others said that because applicants place such importance on how the school is ranked -- in magazines such as U.S. News and World Report -- they are under tremendous pressure to make sure the numbers stay high. The rankings are based on several statistics, such as mean SAT, selectivity ratings and the number of freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school class. How schools fare in the rankings has proven, year after year, to have a significant impact. After U.S. News named Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., the top northern regional-liberal-arts college last fall, applications increased 7 percent, the Journal reported. Some universities have gone as far as encouraging students who are not qualified to apply, so that the institution can decrease its acceptance rate. "This proves that the studies are not the real way to judge an institution," Stetson said. "The level of specificity makes it vulnerable to inaccurate reporting." Stetson added that he hopes that the article will motivate those institutions that do falsify information to stop, and that students will realize how inappropriate it is to focus on the rankings when choosing a university.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.