<p>I was wondering if the applicant pool for Beloit increased. Most likely yes, but I am not sure. Also, Beloit has an acceptance rate of ~70%. Is this because it is a self-selecting school (i.e. kids choose the school because they know they would fit well in it)? I know Beloit’s a great college, but what are the numbers?</p>
<p>I believe that the applicant pool at most colleges has increased this year. As for Beloit’s high acceptance rate, I’m guessing that it’s a combination of self-selecting applicants and a low yield. Beloit has to accept a lot more students than the actual number of Freshman slots because so many of their accepted students will get into a college that they prefer and will give up their slot at Beloit, which is essentially a safety school for some who are also applying to more prestigious name schools. But, there are other important considerations for choosing a school beyond acceptance rate and name recognition. Those students who understand this are also likely to apply to a school like Beloit and to be seriously considering it. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>^ thanks for that :)</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it’s a combination of both. I can’t imagine a lot of people applying to Beloit just for the hell of it, as it doesn’t seem to be a terribly well-known school (at least, almost no one I knew had ever heard of it). There’s also definitely a low yield, though. There have been some emails from administration asking for more people to host prospective students because they seem to be really worried about getting enough students for the class of '16.</p>
<p>oh no!!! I was thinking that we’d have a larger class because of the increase…guess not? They wouldn’t, like, lay off any professors, would they? Is a smaller class a good or bad thing?</p>
<p>Well, smaller individual classes (e.g. the 11:15 Bio class) are generally considered a good thing for education, but a smaller incoming class (i.e. all you freshman) is probably bad because Beloit isn’t doing great financially. I don’t think any of the professors are being laid off, though I know one is leaving after this year to go to a different school where she’ll be on a tenure track and I think make more money.</p>
<p>But I dunno. It’s possible the administration worries about it this much every year because the yield rate isn’t so good. It’s only my first year here, so I don’t have a lot of experience.</p>
<p>Who is leaving?</p>
<p>Beloit won’t shut down, will it? Would the yield go up at other schools then, making them better off financially?</p>
<p>We prob won’t know the final yield until after May 1st…:(</p>
<p>rb - I read your other post about yield and I just want to make a general statement as I am no expert on admittance rate, yield, etc. nor do I ever want to be. In terms of financial trouble - lots of schools are in that now for different reasons. The state flagship of Illinois, one of the top engineering schools in the country is in financial trouble - the affect on the quality of the education is negligible. Beloit College is not going to shut down! It was established in the 1800s and has been chugging along ever since. It is subject to the overall economy though and during WWII it actually went down to only a dozen or so students, nearly all female, but it just rolled with the times. The schools that were all final choices for you are all in similar positions. </p>
<p>It is a niche school to some extent. No it is not in the top 10 LACs, no it does not have the luck of an amazing endowment like Grinnell (in my day before Grinnell got that endowment it was not so selective - similar to Beloit). I think you have an investigative ability which will serve you well - just don’t serve it, make sure it serves you. In other words, keep researching but don’t take one comment on a public board as anything other than an idea. Beloit works to develop critical thinking - start now. Look up the history and judge for yourself after information gathering. So much is just opinion. Hey and congratulations on accepting Beloit!</p>
<p>Thanks!! </p>
<p>I just thought of a question - how do we define the schools to be in the “top 10” anyway? Research? Faculty publications? $$$? Post-graduation outcomes? If any of those are true, then how can we rank like that?</p>
<p>Research from faculty and faculty publications take away from the undergrad education - I think that’s a well-known fact around here. To me, the amount of $$$ to fund student research is important, but I think it’s folly when schools have so much that they find the itch to build brand new dorms and stuff like that - new dorms won’t increase the education of the students. When epople visited Grinnell, they said that you could tell by looking at the campus that they have $$$ - it’s not a bad thing, because the campus looks nice, but is it necessary?</p>
<p>Graduate outcomes based on earnings, for me, are ridiculous. Money is not the most important thing on this plant - we should know that. It sort of sickens me when schools brag that they produce many future CEOs and whatnot - being wealthy shouldn’t be our life goal!!!</p>
<p>What makes us able to say that, rankings wise, school #10 is “better” than school #100? I’ve always wondered that…</p>
<p>I also find it curious how Forbes can publish an arcticle stressing the importance of going to an inexpensive state school and then they publish their annual list of the “best schools”…</p>
<p>I’m not saying this because I was rejected to all of the top-10 schools I applied to lol…</p>
<p>Doctora Aurora Chang is leaving. Some of my friends really love her because she teaches a lot of classes with an ethnic focus, and I think she was supporting their efforts to create an ethnic studies program here.</p>
<p>That’s too bad!!!</p>
<p>I don’t think you should read the email asking for more current students to host prospective students as a sign that the class size is coming in lower than anticipated. In fact, I would read it as just the opposite – there are more prospective students who are serious about attending Beloit than originally anticipated. Hence, the need for more host students.</p>
<p>!!!</p>
<p>I visited Beloit with my son the other day. He toured the campus and sat in on a class, and was positive about both. BUT what really got him excited about Beloit was his student host, who took him to lunch and then, on his own initiative, spent almost the entire afternoon giving him a much-more-detailed campus tour and introducing him to lots of other students … and then inviting him to practice with the fencing club (my son is a fencer). Thanks to this young man, Beloit can add one more name to its applicant pool!</p>
<p>^ That’s so neat!!!</p>