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They were one of the schools that were significantly higher than I’d have guessed, along with BU.

Of course, flagship schools across the board are way more selective and have far higher admissions standards than they used to. I was pretty shocked at the average test scores for MD, Rutgers, etc., never mind the more prestige level schools.

Seems like Big Ten admissions standards are comparable to where the Ivy League was back when I was applying, while the top schools are pushing up against the limits of quantitative metrics like SAT scores or GPA, and are probably a lot more random in admissions decisions now. Which has probably fueled the huge increase in number of applications per kid, along with the common app making it a lot easier.