Wednesday, September 08, 2010

This ain't your daddy's CNU

We're Number Three!

The ranking for average SAT scores for incoming (2010) freshmen at Virginia's public universities is:

1) William and Mary
2) University of Virginia
3) Christopher Newport University (~1200)

Some bragging and some caveats are reported in this article from our student newspaper, the Captain's Log.

This puts us ahead (on this one measure) of two much better-known universities: Virginia Tech and James Madison.

To be honest, the data show a sizable gap between the flagship UVa (maybe high 1200's? I can't remember) and CNU. Then CNU, Va Tech, JMU and maybe Mary Washington are grouped tightly around the 1200 mark--so it was really a crap shoot how that ordering came out.

Nevertheless, the fact that we are in this grouping is quite remarkable. Over the last ten years (only) our average SAT scores have increased by 240 points. I don't know if any other university has seen such an improvement--if so, there can't be many. This, along with $500M capital improvement plan, are some of the reasons U.S.News has named us a "school to watch." We believe we are on the cusp of being in their tier-2 of national liberal arts universities. Again, this would have been unthinkable not many years ago.

Good job CNU!
















CNU's I.M. Pei designed Ferguson Center for the Arts

3 comments:

  1. Yeh, but the important question is how is your football team?

    Unrelated question: Do you have a copy of the Paul De Vries article "Naturalism in the Natural Sciences," Christian Scholar's Review 15 (1986), 388-96? I'd like to get my hands on a copy.

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  2. carlsonjok,

    We have a football team our physics department can be proud of.

    I don't have a copy--but I'll look around.

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  3. "We have a football team our physics department can be proud of. "

    Does that mean lots of mass, momentum or potential energy?

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