Universities often evaluate applicants for admission on the basis of, among other things, the applicants' scores on
standardized tests. The scores are thus one of the criteria by which program judge the Quality of their applicants.
However, although two programs may use the same criterion - scores on a specific standardized examination-to
evaluate applicants, the programs may differ markedly on standards: One program may consider applicants
acceptable if they have scores above the 50th percentile, whereas the score above the 90th percentile may be the
standard of acceptability for the other program. This example clearly defines the difference between: