Big Fish in a Very Welcoming Small
Pond. What matters, in determining the
likelihood of getting a science degree, is
not just how smart you are. It’s how
smart you feel relative to the other
people in your classroom.
By the way, this pattern holds true for
virtually any school you look at—
regardless of its academic quality. The
sociologists Rogers Elliott and
Christopher Strenta ran these same
numbers for eleven different liberal arts
colleges across the United States. Take a
look for yourself:
School
Top
ThirdMath
SATMiddle
ThirdMath
SATBottom
Third- Harvard