UCB- Brown posts those numbers (if I recall correctly) as a check on its reputation as the " no curriculum/pass fail/study whatever you want with no distribution requirements" college which therefore means that everybody should apply and expect to be admitted. Even guidance counselors are guilty of that- this past admissions season I was asked by a neighbor to write a letter of recommendation for their kid- the GC told the kid flat out that she had zero chance of being admitted to a bunch of schools on her list “But Brown is a possibility”. Huh? she’s going to Wisconsin btw (out of state). Lovely kid. Not a single part of application would have gotten her a second look at Brown (or JHU, or Swarthmore, so this is not an “Ivy League is so terrific” story). Don’t know what the GC was thinking- and this is NOT from a clueless HS.
So a small statistic to fend off the Hail Mary pass applications? A small statistic for the mathematically challenged who don’t realize that a 10% or whatever the current number is admit rate means that 90% get rejected???