<p>So I know that many schools such as Yale, Stanford, Brown, etc only accept a slim percentage of their applicants. I also know that many of these applicants are well qualified. So what I'm wondering is, does anybody here know by any chance what percentage of these applicants are completely unqualified? For all the thousands of people who apply to Yale, for example, how many of them have no chance of getting in to begin with (abysmal sats/gpa, no ecs, etc)? Because, if a certain percentage of apps were really horrid, then that leaves a better chance for more qualified apps than if every single applicant was a perfect candidate. It might also explain why so many people are rejected. And its a lot more conforting as well knowing that although I'll be competing against some of the best for admissions to some of these schools, I might also be competing against some of the worst? </p>
<p>So does any body here have any sort of idea? It's probably a hard statistic to find out but its worth a shot at asking.</p>
<p>I really couldn't say anything for sure, but I'm in the same boat, and I would just as soon assume that every single person applying has better stats than me, so that when that inevitable rejection letter comes, I'll be fine, and if it doesn't, I"ll be incredi-happy.</p>
<p>Odds are, though, if someone's going to spend the money and take the time to apply to the Elites, they've probably got at least a shot. Not all, but most.</p>
<p>Well when you have URM's with 1700 SAT's getting into Stanford, then that means anyone with a 1700+ would be counted as "qualified"? That's a bit misleading when you know that a 1700 without any hooks would never get in.</p>
<p>I'd say that, holistically, much much more applications "stand no chance" and don't get more than the minimum 2 looks before their apps are thrown out. It's a more ambiguous definition of qualification, but it's a lot more comprehensive.</p>
<p>You can have a pretty good guess from high school stats, especialy at schools that hae a lot of applicants to top universities.
From what I saw, at least 50% aplicants are qualified. For example, my daughter was right in the midle of applicants to HYPs at her school in terms of test scores and GPA. And I would say she qualiied.</p>
<p>I'd say it would be higher for some than others. Dartmouth doesn't have an essay (and I'm not sure about the others), so maybe it would be hit harder. I don't know, the 70 dollar application fee would probably deter most unqualified applicants.</p>
<p>The fact is the common app and the general knowledge of "Hey, maybe I should try" have skyrocketed the no. of apps to the "top" schools. This combined with an occasional celebs who attend (Olsens to NYU, Sarah Hughes and Barbara Bush @ Yale, others) put the schools on more people's lips. "Gilmore Girls" probably did as much for Yale as did Yale's own marketing.</p>
<p>That being said, when I applied and was accepted at an HYP over 20 years ago, the admit rate was 16%. My region of the country had about 150 apps. Now, the admit rate is under 10% and we have about 250 apps. I interview about 8-10 each year. While I rarely find a completely unqualified person any longer, I'd say a full half of the kids I meet seem not to be very viable IMHO. And it bears out -- this year I interviewed 10, got one admit and one WL. And these nos. are to be expected.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry, when I said they didn't require an essay, I meant a supplemental essay. Dartmouth's supplement is pretty easy to do, unlike some of the other Ivies.</p>
<p>but the supplemental essay is for us to show more of ourselves, imho. i first thought of bummer, but realized that it was just like an extra pie!</p>
<p>Northstarmom points out the Harvard article regarding 90% qualified. The does not presuppose the other 10% should not have applied, they may be very close. So I would expect the number of truly outlandish applications to be low because of the economic and time cost (even if it is the common app). We may all know someone that would just send in an app for the heck of it, eventhough they had no chance. So I would tend to guess it is under 5%, but I have not solid evidence.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what you considered qualified. Many kids from our school feel very qualified for the ivy's and other top schools and when they say they have sub 1400 SAT's and good but not great GPA and nothing STELLAR about their apps I have to wonder what they are thinking. People seem to forget when they are judging themselves that the "pool" is much bigger than their own hs. Their is no way that HPY SAT averages could be so high if they didn't use a pretty high bench makr. So I say that probably 90%+ students that apply are very bright but a good portion of those don't really have a chance to get through the first cut because they are falling in the 50% and below. I know my kids feel they need to be in the top 25% of the averages to stand a decent chance.</p>
<p>According to Harvard admissions officers, "qualified" would mean having a minimum 3.0 gpa in a college prep curriculum, and having minimum 1800 SAT board scores when the 3 subtests are added together. Such people are qualified for Harvard in that they have the smarts and academic background to graduate if they are accepted. In past years about 90% of Harvard's applicants have met those standards.</p>
<p>Of course, it's rare that anyone with such low stats would be accepted. Odds are that such people are kids of wealthy donors or are recruited athletes or people who have overcome enormous challenges</p>
<p>At a school that accepts only about 7 in 100 applicants, one typically needs excellent stats plus extraordinary ECs and a dose of luck due to factors beyond one's control (such as if one comes from an underrepresented region) to be accepted.</p>