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Does anybody know to what extent Princeton uses the Academic indexing system. I recall in the book of "A is for Admission" that Princeton uses the scale of 1-5 (1 being the highest), however the author says that the use of the system varies between universities.

By Dadx (Dadx) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 12:55 pm: Edit

Traditionally Princeton rated kids 1-5 on academic and personal qualities.

I have NEVER seen any explanation of how those categories broke down by SAT, rank, achievement, etc.

The AI was apparently invented by former President Bowen to attempt to standardize Ivy athletic admissions, and to parse out the athletic spots by controlling how much latitude each admissions office could have. At the time Afor admission was written, Dartmouth was using the formula to help rank everyone.

Duke uses their own system, which you'll find in Admissions Confidential by Rachel Toor.

I wouldn't worry too much about exactly how they do their jobs. You can't control it anyway. Just do yours well and you'll come out ok.

By Iflyjets (Iflyjets) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 08:26 pm: Edit

And to add a note. Just because a student is rated at or near the highest "index" rating does not mean he/she will be offered admisison to that school anyway. So, I wouldn't count on these "index-ratings" as highly. This year, and I suspect in the next few subsequent years as applications reach a frenzied peak, the advice offered in all these books listing criteria for such index-ratings may be more passe than anyone realizes. I know students who were 8's to even 9s (on the 1-9 ratings) and 5s (1-5) who were not offered admission to elite schools with nothing lacking in their records or in their applications (great essays, etc...). Go figure. What cannot be calculated, therefore, are those items that are more subjectively rated than the index-rating would suggest...things such as specialities needed/sought by a school that year, or appeal of a very specific essay topic to a particular reader. So, any "index" is a nice guide, but I cannot believe it is that much more than this (not a real probability predictor), contrary to what their authors contend.