Hrm. Couple things that come to mind, if you want to keep poking:
* how did the distribution of SAT scores among applicants change during that period?
* how did tuitions change over that period?
* what's the GPA distribution versus the SAT distribution? At some point we went from a 0-4 GPA scale to a 0-5 GPA scale, and IIRC, the SAT's numbers have moved around as well. Can the preference for modifying the SAT bar be related to finer granularity being available? You sort of allude to this in your original comment. GPA may not have gone up simply because it's a worse metric than even the SAT.
* did the rise coincide with all standardized tests, or just the SAT I? SAT II? AP exams? IB?
* was the applicant pool affected by accepting transfer students or affirmative action type of deals?
* what does "top X%" actually mean in this case? Is it a stated admissions policy? Or is it it just that students below a certain SAT score virtually never qualify on some other criteria?
Sorry if some of these would be answered by your links. I'm less interested finding the answer and more just giving you a sounding board.
* how did the distribution of SAT scores among applicants change during that period?
* how did tuitions change over that period?
* what's the GPA distribution versus the SAT distribution? At some point we went from a 0-4 GPA scale to a 0-5 GPA scale, and IIRC, the SAT's numbers have moved around as well. Can the preference for modifying the SAT bar be related to finer granularity being available? You sort of allude to this in your original comment. GPA may not have gone up simply because it's a worse metric than even the SAT.
* did the rise coincide with all standardized tests, or just the SAT I? SAT II? AP exams? IB?
* was the applicant pool affected by accepting transfer students or affirmative action type of deals?
* what does "top X%" actually mean in this case? Is it a stated admissions policy? Or is it it just that students below a certain SAT score virtually never qualify on some other criteria?
Sorry if some of these would be answered by your links. I'm less interested finding the answer and more just giving you a sounding board.