<p>Whats up with case having such a high acceptance rate but still being able to main a high reputation as an excellent academic institution?</p>
<p>Self-selecting applicant pool.</p>
<p>Exactly. The women’s colleges are the same way.</p>
<p>Plus tech universities and the U. of Chicago to a lesser extent. Each has a factor that’s somewhat off-putting to a large number of potential applicants. Women’s colleges exclude males, tech schools are seen as highly rigorous and competitive, Chicago has the reputation (probably unfair) of being geekily intellectual and intense. In CWRU’s case, it’s a quality tech-heavy university in an edgy part of a city that’s had some negative PR.</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve is an EXCELLENT university, no question about it. Fine reputation. It and schools like it are another reason for ignoring rankings.</p>
<p>We visited Case, as it was on my daughter’s look-at list. While she wound up not caring for it personally (she didn’t want an environment as urban as Case is), I have no doubt that it’s an excellent school which offers lots of opportunities.</p>
<p>what does self-selecting mean?</p>
<p>self selecting means the kids who would have difficulty getting in don’t bother applying, thus there are fewer applicants for the college regect. </p>
<p>Think say, Brown, vs U Chicago. Lots of kids who dont expect to go to an Ivy apply to one as a reach, on the off chance they will get in. OTOH most who apply to UC are ones who really want to go there - others just dont have it on their radar. So UC has a higher acceptance rate, but isnt actually easy to get into.</p>
<p>We visited Case with DD, she liked the atmosphere alot, nerdy geeky but with lots of liberal arts offerings. Too bad they were weak in pre-architecture.</p>
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<p>The best example are the women’s colleges. From a stats standpoint, they attract similar students to other top colleges. However, the pool of women who specifically say “I want to attend a women’s college” is smaller than the pool of people who would otherwise attend a school of that caliber. Fewer people apply – even though they are all high quality – so the acceptance rates of those schools are a lot higher.</p>
<p>U Chicago historically had the reputation of “where fun goes to die.” There are plenty of smart kids who were turned off by that, who were U Chicago material, but didn’t apply because that didn’t sound like fun to them. Therefore, the pool of people who applied to U Chicago was relatively small, and therefore their acceptance rates were pretty high. This has changed in the past 10 years or so, but in essence they had a very self-selected pool. </p>
<p>In the case of Case Western, Cleveland is typically not considered a very desirable place to live (whether that’s true or not, I can’t speak to, but it doesn’t have the sexiness of Boston, NY, etc.). So the students who apply to Case are of very high caliber, but if they don’t want to be in Cleveland, they won’t apply there. So they have a high acceptance rate, but still high caliber students.</p>
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<p>No, I think self-selecting means that there is something unique about the college (single-sex, a certain social reputation, a less-desired environment) that either students want or they really want to avoid, and if they don’t, they don’t bother applying. It has nothing to do with whether the kids who would have difficulty getting in don’t bother applying.</p>
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<p>hahahahahahaha…</p>
<p>Thanks Brooklynborndad and pizzagirl for answering my question :)</p>
<p>I also think schools that are located in a nicer area or city typically attract more students…so they get more applicants…</p>
<p>My S (high-quality applicant, going to Wesleyan) looked at Case and made the following observation (which to make it clear, I <em>DON’T</em> share):</p>
<p>“They have too many students from Ohio. If this school was <em>really</em> good they would attract more students from all over.”</p>
<p>So, because it’s so popular with Ohio students, in this case it turned off a potential out of state applicant.</p>
<p>UChicago is self-selecting because it has unconventional essay questions. Chicago’s prompts you have to sit down and write specifically for that school and they aren’t ones you can just recycle from another college’s application. </p>
<p>Case’s supplement for the Common App on the other hand, doesn’t ask for that much more. The reason that Case is self-selecting isn’t because their app is more demanding but because it’s only really the kids who are academically inclined and have good numbers that are aware of Case.</p>
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<p>… Which perpetuates the “density” of Case’s student body. (Not that your S is obliged to correct that, of course.)</p>