Acceptance Rate differences?

If Emory has an acceptance rate of 24%, and NYU has an acceptance rate of 32%, are my chances at NYU much higher than Emory?
Also, if USC (University of Southern California) has an acceptance rate of 18%, and I think I have a good chance at Emory, does that mean I have a good chance at both Emory and USC?

As you’ve listed the acceptance rates, Emory’s are 33% higher than USC’s and NYU’s are 33% higher than Emory’s. For this reason, I wouldn’t pair any from your group with respect to your chances of admission.

It seems you are using outdated numbers. NYU had an admit rate of 19% last year, and Emory slightly less at 18.5%. This means on average your chances are about the same, but very few applicants are average. Admit rates can vary widely across schools/majors within each college, and different colleges look for different things in putting classes together so your application may simply be more appealing to one college than another even if their admit rates are identical.
USC was 13% last year, so on average more difficult than both. Unless, you know, you were Olivia Jade.

When it comes to admissions standard. SAT ACT ranges are more important.

The middle 50s* for these schools are pretty similar, marginally higher for Emory but not to the extent that it should make much of a difference in a holistic admission decision (like, 1 point on ACT and 10 - 20 on SAT).

(*I only have middle 50s for admitted students, not the offer pools)

@SJ2727 Emory’s avg (mean) is about 50 points higher than NYU and about 25 points higher than USC.

ACT middle 50 at Emory is 31-35 vs 30-34 at the other two.

Emory doesn’t give a composite SAT on its web page, and I don’t see SAT means for any, just middle 50, where do you get the mean? If you just add the components 75th percentile SAT for Emory is 1540 (and people on CC keep saying you shouldn’t because you shouldn’t assume top math are same people as top English, but let’s assume it anyway), vs composite 75th percentile at NYU is 1530. 10 points difference. USC is indeed a bit lower at 1510, but again is any of that a dealbreaker in admissions?

Lower end is Emory 1390 vs NYU 1350 and USC 1360. Bit bigger but of course, students at any of these colleges at the 25th percentile are being admitted with significant factors other than pure academics in mind. (For NYU its a lot of HEOP and portfolio students, I don’t know about the other two.)

My sister went to Emory. It’s a great school. But schools like NYU, USC and also say BU and NEU are just not lagging far behind the top 20 the way they did a decade or two ago.

@SJ2727
I have the premium version of USnews. It says NYUs sat average is a 1382 while Emory is a 1429, that’s a 47 point difference. And this is for enrolled students.

I cannot see how you can possibly get a SAT average of 1382 from a middle 50 range of 1350-1530. NYU’s admit stats have surged over the past couple of years so USNews is possibly just out of date. Like the comment in first post about a 30%+ admit rate.

USNWR is a secondary source. Primary sources should be considered more accurate than secondary sources. And unless the primary source lists a mean SAT (and few do; most give 25-75 for math and for EBRW), then the number is wrong. One cannot get an accurate number by adding M+EBRW or by asserting that the 50% number is halfway between 25 and 75.

Regardless, for the OP, admission to one college does not mean that admission to a second college is likely.

@SJ2727
It’s not out of date, they are currently using class of 2021 data we’re in the class of 2023 cycle. So they are using fairly recent data. Means and ranges are different. It’s clear the students at the lower 25th percentile at NYU are dragging the avg down, while the students at the top aren’t raising it enough.
And the enrolled range for NYU is 1290-1490, you looking at the admit range.

@skieurope just FYI both USC and NYU give the middle 50 composite as well as the breakdown. Emory only had the breakdown.

And i understand of course the mean won’t be exactly halfway beteeen 25th and 75th but it can’t mathematically be very close to either end either.

@emorynavy , yes your numbers are out of date. Stats on the enrolled class of 2022 are here https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/nyu-facts.html

I didn’t realize there is now only a 1 place difference between Emory and USC in the USNWR rankings … for whatever that’s worth.

@SJ2727
That is admit range for NYU not enrolled. They have not released the enrolled range yet for class of 2021. NYU will not enroll that high.

@emorynavy it states very clearly that it is the statistics for the enrolled first year class and it is definitely for 2022. It replaced the stats for the enrolled class of 2021 a couple of months back on the website, which had the numbers you quoted before. It shocked a lot of people who were in the process of applying for NYU at the time. I’m not sure why it upsets you so much that NYU has become popular enough to attract such strong applicants. When USNWR eventually updates their numbers for class of 2022 you can confirm.

going back to the original question, @beaniebarbie, as the above fracas demonstrates, the % accepted does not = the % chance any given person has for being admitted.

Look at your stats relative to the above- but also look at how well you match what they are looking for. There is another poster on CC right now who just got waitlisted at a school with a 25% acceptance rate, and accepted to one with an 8% acceptance rate.

@SJ2727
It’s not upsetting, it’s just not right. It doesn’t say enrolled. I follow these numbers closely and the numbers you state last year were not the numbers that were indicated. When they release the CDS we will see.
The question was is NYU (or USC) as selective as Emory. The answer is no although the former 2 have gotten closer.

Moderator’s Note: While debating the specific numbers of acceptance rates and where they come from may be interesting to a few people, please try to keep the posts focused on the OP. You can always IM each other for further discussion.

Any stats that you see in terms of acceptance rates are averaged and composite. Does not necessarily apply to YOU. Also schools like NYU, in particular, can have different accept rates for their various schools and majors. That is the case with a lot of schools. If you are applying to a very competitive department or course of study, your chances are going to be lower than the given accept rate.

Other factors also come into play. Such as geographic diversity factors from some schools. CMU, for example, gives OOS state kids more of a pass as they don’t want to become a second Pitt. They want geographic diversity.