Headfirst, Showball, and others advertise themselves to both colleges and players as for "high academic" baseball. There's a range of schools at those showcases, and a range of players both in terms of baseball and academic skills. And that's about the closest you can come to a definition; it's self-selecting.
To me the most practical definition of high academic means that when someone sees the school name on a resume they will automatically perk up and spend more time getting into the details of it.
@57special posted:What do they say about pornography, "I can't tell you what it is exactly, but I know it when i see it."?
Same goes for HA's.
In my area Carleton, Chicago and Grinnell are HA. U of MN, WI, and St. Olaf are not, though they are good schools
Where would you place Macalester?
Not to horn in, but I think Mac should be included even though some might sniff at its 32% acceptance rate. Avg SAT is 1410. I'd include any school whose avg. SAT for admits is 1400 or higher (even though its an arbitrary measure).