re: 2012 US News and World Report Top Public Universities-SEC edition

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Where is this inaccurate??

The average person entering Auburn has a higher GPA/ACT than the average person entering Alabama.

Auburn admits a higher percentage of its applicants than Alabama does.

So long as the respective universities are admitting the top applicants in their class, and both universities have around the same percentage of admitted applicants attend (this might not be true - I don't know), we know that the average applicant to Auburn is smarter than (or at least has better numbers than) the average applicant to Alabama.

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Averages don't matter, kid. Medians do.

I think it's true, to some degree, that Alabama has become a bit easier for lower-scoring applicants to be admitted to in recent years. This is mostly a new phenomenon, however, and the trend has clearly coincided with Robert Witt's expansion plans for the university.

But, more to the point: Rankings are really all that matter. Auburn can circle jerk all they want about their average ACT score (again, medians are more important than averages), but the USNWR rankings are what boost alumni donations, applications, etc. I couldn't tell you what UVA, UMich, and Berkeley have as their SAT/ACT medians, but I could tell you that they're all consistently the top-ranked public schools in the country. And that's all that matters.