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The Ultimate Predictor of Academic Performance

By evolgen on September 9, 2006.

You wanna know the best way to predict the quality of undergraduates at a college or university? It's not SAT scores or high school GPA. It's the quality of the school's ultimate team. From the press release:

A study (slated for release September 1) by Dr. Michael Norden shows that among all 86 private national universities, those ranking in the top half for Ultimate have a graduation rate of over 85%, while those in the bottom half graduate just 60%. The difference in the totals of Rhodes scholars and Marshall scholars among their graduates during this decade is even more dramatic -- 208 versus 15. (The odds of this happening by chance are truly infinitesimal). Moreover, the top ten schools based on Ultimate ranking have a slightly higher mean graduation rate and more winners of top scholarships than schools chosen by - not only SATs, but any standard metric including: grades, faculty resources, and financial resources.

Instead of asking applicants to write essays, admissions boards should check out a kid's high release break throw or how well he can run a weave. Either that, or find out if he was a possession receiver on his high school football team.

(Via Deadspin and IvyGate).

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Academia
Sports

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So, lets see how this would work. If the kid can't throw a decent pass, then he(she)s definetly a nerd, and should be offered admission.