Questions raised by Dick Tuthill:
 
>What IS the Academic Index that the ECAC uses???
 
Here's an explanation, some from my post of 7/13:
 
The academic index has four components for each incoming student:
 
1.  High school GPA
2.  High school class rank
3.  A modifier for how good the high school is
4.  SAT scores
 
1, 2 and 4 are entirely out of each school's hands.  3 is entirely up
to each school.
 
These are combined to give each student a number.  I do not know the
formula, or if the schools vary it individually.  But the bottom line
is, each student gets his own number.
 
Then the entire student body is averaged and the standard deviation is
calculated.  The stats for the incoming hockey players can fall no
lower than the first standard deviation away from the average, in
other words, in the top 84%.
 
>Does anyone really know?
 
Yes, see the above.
 
>What I've seen on the list over the past couple of years has been
>mainly peoples' impressions.
 
This is not my impression, it is from an analysis in '84 or '85, when
this first came into use for RPI and a lot of people were not happy
about it (I wasn't here then, but I found it later).   It also comes
from talking to people in the administration and staff of RPI.
 
> What we need is an in-depth definitive discussion of what it is
> and how it is applied in practice.
 
No, we don't.  The academic index is a control mechanism.  That's
all.
 
Let's just use SAT scores as an example.  School A has an average for
the incoming class of 1550 with a standard deviation of 50.  School B
has an average of 400 with a s.d. of 100.  (Ignore NCAA rules for all
this).
 
Student 1 has an SAT score of 1500.  He can attend both schools.
Student 2 has a score of 1000.  He can only go to school B.
Student 3 has a score of 200.  He's out of luck.
 
Anyone with a score of 300 or higher can go to school B.  Only those
with 1500 or higher can go to school A.
 
Both schools are using the index.  Is B a better school for it?  No,
since there have got to be a ton of idiots at that school to have an
average of 400 on the SATs for the incoming students (you get that
much for signing your name).
 
But, using the index makes sure that the incoming students would
be able to enter the school if they were not hockey players.  That's
all the index is for.  It will not help your academics.  At RPI, the
numbers for the rest of the incoming freshman (1000+) will far
outweigh those for incoming hockey players (5-10), so even if the
academic index were to be used to improve the numbers, it wouldn't
even make a dent.
 
Therefore, no need to study it.  If a school wants to get in some
talented but less than bright hockey players, just lower the
standards for all the incoming students and then those players will
more easily fit into the index.
 
Please note, the incoming players are taken as a group, not as
individuals, so if one person does fall out of the range, the others
can compensate for that.  The stats for all the players have to fall
within the first standard deviation, not for each individual.  That's
probably how the player Dick mentions got in.  The others had
good enough numbers to help him.
 
The only other comment I have is in regards to rating the schools
by the incoming freshman.  Shouldn't a school be judged by the
graduates?  The whole purpose of universities/colleges/polytechnic
institutes is to educate.  Whether people enter the school smart or
not does not seem as relevant as whether they emerge smarter than
when they entered, and how much so.
 
Kurt Stutt
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