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 HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.