List of 50 most selective WNY colleges

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) - Eleven universities located within 100 miles of Buffalo have qualified for a list of the 50 most selective colleges that are in easy traveling distance for Western New York students.

The University of Rochester and SUNY Geneseo have earned the top selectivity scores inside the 100-mile radius, according to new rankings by Business First.

Other nearby schools qualifying for the top 50 list are the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University at Buffalo, SUNY Fredonia, the College at Brockport, Roberts Wesleyan College, St. John Fisher College, Alfred University, Buffalo State College and Canisius College.

Business First analyzed 2010 admissions figures for 98 four-year colleges within a zone that includes Western New York, the rest of Upstate New York, Northern and Western Pennsylvania, and Northeastern Ohio. (The study was limited to schools that processed at least 1,000 applications a year ago.)

This is the first time that college rankings have been included in Business First's annual schools report.  Full details will be available in Business First's 2012-2013 Guide to Western New York Schools , which will hit newsstands on June 15th.

Ninety-nine percent of the Western New York high school students who advance to college stay within the Upstate New York-Pennsylvania-Ohio zone, based on figures from the New York State Education Department and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Two Upstate colleges emerged with the top selectivity scores within this territory:

-- Cornell University, which is 126 air miles from Buffalo in Ithaca, ranks as the most selective college of all.

-- Second place belongs to Poughkeepsie-based Vassar College, which is 268 air miles away.

Rounding out the overall top five are Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University and two more Upstate schools, Hamilton College and Colgate University.

Business First based the selectivity rankings on a three-part formula.

These were the factors:

-- The percentage of applicants who were admitted in 2010, the latest year for which official figures are available.

-- The 75th percentile score on college-entrance exams, reflecting the ACT and SAT scores submitted by applicants (converted to the SAT's 1,600-point scale). The 75th percentile score was better than 75 percent of all scores submitted.

-- The 25th percentile score on the same scale.

The formula compared each school against the national averages in all three categories. Above-average performances received positive scores, while below-average figures got negative marks.

The rankings did not include schools that did not report admissions rates or college-entrance scores for 2010, those that processed fewer than 1,000 applications, and two-year colleges.

Schools in Southern Ontario, though close to Western New York, were excluded because they do not report to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Selectivity, of course, is just one of dozens of factors that determine whether a college is right for a given individual, but it can be a useful indicator of a school's status.

Cornell is No. 1 within the three-state zone because it admitted the smallest share of applicants in 2010 (18.4 percent), and it maintained the second-highest upper-range SAT score (1,491 on the 1,600-point scale).

Four other schools in the zone admitted fewer than one-third of the young men and women who applied: Vassar (23.6 percent), Hamilton (29.4 percent), Bucknell University (31.4 percent
and Colgate (33.0 percent).

And seven institutions joined Cornell with SAT scores above 1,400 at the 75th percentile: Carnegie Mellon (1,493), Vassar (1,463), Colgate (1,447), Hamilton (1,442), Case Western Reserve University (1,436), University of Rochester (1,420
and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1,416).

50 MOST SELECTIVE COLLEGES IN UPSTATE NEW YORK-PENNSYLVANIA-OHIO ZONE

1. Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2. Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
3. Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pa.
4. Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.
5. Colgate University (Hamilton, N.Y.
6. University of Rochester (Rochester, N.Y.
7. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.
8. Bucknell University (Lewisburg, Pa.
9. Binghamton University (Vestal, N.Y.
10. SUNY Geneseo (Geneseo, N.Y.
11. Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio
12. Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
13. University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.
14. Marist College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
15. Penn State University (University Park, Pa.
16. SUNY New Paltz (New Paltz, N.Y.
17. Allegheny College (Meadville, Pa.
18. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, N.Y.
19. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, N.Y.
20. Grove City College (Grove City, Pa.
21. University at Buffalo (Buffalo, N.Y.
22. University at Albany (Albany, N.Y.
23. Syracuse University (Syracuse, N.Y.
24. SUNY College at Oneonta (Oneonta, N.Y.
25. SUNY Oswego (Oswego, N.Y.
26. SUNY Institute of Technology (Utica, N.Y.
27. Ithaca College (Ithaca, N.Y.
28. SUNY Fredonia (Fredonia, N.Y.
29. Siena College (Loudonville, N.Y.
30. SUNY Cortland (Cortland, N.Y.
31. College at Brockport (Brockport, N.Y.
32. Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.
33. Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (Albany, N.Y.
34. Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, Ohio
35. Clarkson University (Potsdam, N.Y.
36. Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, N.Y.
37. SUNY Plattsburgh (Plattsburgh, N.Y.
38. Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, Pa.
39. St. John Fisher College (Rochester, N.Y.
40. University of Scranton (Scranton, Pa.
41. Baldwin-Wallace College (Berea, Ohio
42. Alfred University (Alfred, N.Y.
43. Westminster College (New Wilmington, Pa.
44. Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, Pa.
45. Le Moyne College (Syracuse, N.Y.
46. Lycoming College (Williamsport, Pa.
47. Buffalo State College (Buffalo, N.Y.
48. Hartwick College (Oneonta, N.Y.
49. Misericordia University (Dallas, Pa.
50. Canisius College (Buffalo, N.Y.)