Last July, at the instigation of Dick Tuthill, I compiled and posted to
Hockey-L information about the admissions selectivity of the Division I
hockey-playing schools in the East. At the time Mike Machnik asked me
whether I would compile some data about the Western schools as well.
Below is my updated and augmented post.
 
My main source is the 1996 edition of Peterson's Guide to Four-Year
Colleges. This guide groups the four-year colleges in the United States
into five broad categories according to admission selectivity: Most
Difficult, Very Difficult, Moderately Difficult, Minimally Difficult and
Noncompetitive. Below are the descriptions of the criteria for each
category with examples of schools that do not participate in Division I
hockey (for the sake of comparison).
 
MOST DIFFICULT - More than 75% of accepted students were in the top 10%
of their high school graduating class and had SAT scores of 1250 or
higher (verbal and mathematical combined). Only 30% or fewer of the
applicants are accepted. Examples: University of Chicago (IL), Stanford
University (CA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA),
Juilliard School (New York).
 
VERY DIFFICULT - More than 50% of accepted students were in the top 10%
of their high school class and had SAT scores of 1150 or higher (verbal
and mathematical combined). Up to 60% of applicants are accepted.
Examples: University of California at Berkeley (CA), Vanderbilt
University (TN), Brandeis University (MA), Vassar College (NY).
 
MODERATELY DIFFICULT - More than 75% of accepted students were in the
top half of their high school class and had SAT scores of 900 or higher
(verbal and mathematical combined). Up to 75% of applicants are
accepted. Examples: Clemson University (SC), Old Dominion University (VA),
Denver Technical College (CO).
 
MINIMALLY DIFFICULT - Most accepted students were in the top half of
their graduating class and had SAT scores somehat below 900. About 95%
of applicants are accepted. Examples: Auburn University (AL), Cincinnati
College of Mortuary Science (OH), University of Arkansas at Little Rock (AR).
 
NONCOMPETITIVE - Virtually all applicants are accepted regardless of
high school rank or test scores. Examples: Philander Smith College (AR),
Clear Creek Baptist College (KY), Selma University (AL).
 
Here is how the schools in the four Division I leagues were rated:
 
          ECAC
BROWN - Most Difficult
CLARKSON - Very Difficult
COLGATE - Very Difficult
CORNELL - Most Difficult
DARTMOUTH - Most Difficult
HARVARD - Most Difficult
PRINCETON - Most Difficult
RENSSELAER - Very Difficult
ST. LAWRENCE - Very Difficult
UNION - Very Difficult
VERMONT - Moderately Difficult
YALE - Most Difficult
 
          HOCKEY EAST
BOSTON COLLEGE - Very Difficult
BOSTON UNIVERSITY - Very Difficult
MAINE - Moderately Difficult
MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST - Moderately Difficult
MASSACHUSETTS-LOWELL - Moderately Difficult
MERRIMACK - Moderately Difficult
NEW HAMPSHIRE - Moderately Difficult
NORTHEASTERN - Moderately Difficult
PROVIDENCE - Very Difficult
 
          CCHA
ALASKA FAIRBANKS - Moderately Difficult
BOWLING GREEN - Moderately Difficult
FERRIS STATE -  Minimally Difficult
ILLINOIS-CHIGACO - Moderately Difficult
LAKE SUPERIOR - Moderately Difficult
MIAMI - Moderately Difficult
MICHIGAN - Very Difficult
MICHIGAN STATE - Moderately Difficult
NOTRE DAME - Most Difficult
OHIO STATE - Moderately Difficult
WESTERN MICHIGAN - Moderately Difficult
 
          WCHA
ALASKA ANCHORAGE - Noncompetitive
COLORADO COLLEGE - Very Difficult
DENVER - Moderately Difficult
MICHIGAN TECH - Moderately Difficult
MINNESOTA - Moderately Difficult
MINNESOTA-DULUTH - Moderately Difficult
NORTH DAKOTA - Moderately Difficult
NORTHERN MICHIGAN - Minimally Difficult
ST. CLOUD - Moderately Difficult
WISCONSIN - Very Difficult
 
For comparison, here are the ratings for the hockey-playing NESCAC
colleges (all play Division III):
AMHERST - Most Difficult
BOWDOIN - Most Difficult
COLBY - Most Difficult
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE - Very Difficult
HAMILTON - Very Difficult
MIDDLEBURY - Very Difficult
TRINITY - Very Difficult
WESLEYAN - Most Difficult
WILLIAMS - Most Difficult
 
By assigning a score to each school on a five-point scale, I arrived
at the following selectivity averages for each league:
ECAC - 4.42
HOCKEY EAST - 3.33
CCHA - 3.18
WCHA - 2.9
 
(For comparison, the NESCAC average is 4.56.)
 
The folowing schools were ranked among the to 25 in the country in the
September 18, 1995 issue of the US News and World Report. (There are
separate rankings for universities and colleges.)
 
          ECAC - 7 schools
HARVARD - 1st
PRINCETON - 2nd (tie)
YALE - 2nd (tie)
DARTMOUTH - 7th
BROWN - 9th
CORNELL - 13th
COLGATE - 17th (among liberal arts colleges)
 
          HOCKEY EAST - no school ranked in the top 25
 
          CCHA - 2 schools
NOTRE DAME -18th
MICHIGAN - 24th
 
          WCHA - no school ranked in the top 25
 
          NESCAC - 9 schools (ranked among the top 25 colleges)
AMHERST - 1st
WILLIAMS - 2nd
BOWDOIN - 4th
MIDDLEBURY - 7th
WESLEYAN - 12th
COLBY - 19th
HAMILTON - 23rd (tie)
TRINITY - 23rd (tie)
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE - 25th
 
A few comments: Obviously the "Most Difficult" schools do not have a
monopoly on the best students, just as Boston University, Maine, Lake
Superior and Michigan do not have a monopoly on the best hockey players.
Furthermore, these ratings do not take into account such factors as, for
instance, the quality of graduate programs. For example, the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst, which is not generally considered as one
of the top research universities in the country and whose undergraduate
admissions are rated as only "moderately difficult," has an outstanding
graduate program in Linguistics, ranked third in the U.S. by the
National Research Council. By contrast, Harvard has several graduate
programs which, according to the NRC, fall short of what one would expect
of the most prestigious and one of the most selective universities in
the United States. Yet, it would be foolhardy to assume that any student
who can get into Providence College can also get into Brown. That
would be a bit like saying that anyone who plays hockey at Princeton
would also be able to play at Maine. Many possibly could, but
certainly not most.
 
It's clear that recruiting hockey players at the most competive schools
is, with the possible exception of Harvard, extremely difficult. Besides
the lack of athletic scholarships (among the schools rated as "most
difficult" only Notre Dame gives athletic scholarships), the pool of
prospective players who meet the minimum admissions criteria is
necessarily smaller. Besides admission officers at these schools tend
to be very independent and aren't always as cooperative as the coaches
might like.
 
Luiz F. Valente
 
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