Many of the colleges that are nationally well known have acceptance rates well above 50% (Oregon, Oklahoma, for a long time UGA, Indiana, Purdue, Iowa State, etc).</p>
<p>
Because the preferences of high school seniors dictate the level of academics at a school. By the way, for decades Emory accepted well over 50% of applicants. I’ve spoken to professors who’ve been around since the 1980s and they all say that although the quality of the students has noticeably increased since that time, their expectations have not. </p>
<p>By the way here are some other well respected colleges which, until recently, had high(ish) acceptance rates:
-UPenn
-U Chicago
-Reed College
-Wash U St. Louis
-Emory
-Vanderbilt
Before these schools became popular destinations, they were mostly teaching courses which would have bored any first grader. But as soon as the great high school seniors found out about them, well suddenly they started challenging their students since the lower the acceptance rate goes, the better the academics become.</p>
<p>You’re a high school sophomore who hasn’t even applied to college, let alone sat in a classroom. Please don’t give me advice on what to expect from college or how to get into one.</p>
<p>whenhen, I understand what you are trying to say–and I would encourage any high schooler to listen to you over a 15-year-old who insults people and can’t spell–but I would caution against using acceptance rates as a measure of the quality of colleges’ student bodies. Obviously, the more students who apply to a college, the lower the percentage that can be admitted becomes. Colleges that spend a lot of money on marketing–especially those that encourage students to apply who have no chance of getting in–often see their “selectivity” increase, but not necessarily the quality of students who go there. (NYU and Tulane are great examples of this.) Other colleges are more self-selecting, meaning that people who are not genuinely interested in what they have to offer won’t apply–so those that do have a higher chance of getting in.</p>
<p>I also disagree that Penn, Chicago, Vandy, Reed, etc. were teaching “boring” courses for less-than-stellar students before they became as popular as they are today. Most of these schools were considered desirable for smart kids even 30-plus years ago when I was applying to college. I was my school’s valedictorian, and Vandy and Emory were among the schools I was encouraged to apply to (and did). My stats would have been comparable to those of highly competitive applicants today (I was also accepted at Northwestern, Brown and Cornell).</p>
<p>My post was almost entirely sarcastic. I argued that just because a college’s selectivity increased does not mean that the level of academics actually did. However, there are meaningful differences in the applicant pools at highly selective colleges now versus 30 years ago when it was much more geographically restricted (Emory used to be virtually unknown to Californians, today we’re the second most represented state). That doesn’t mean that Emory became any more or less rigorous, only that different students (not necessarily stronger ones) are attending these schools than in the past.</p>
<p>I see what you are saying now. Sometimes sarcasm doesn’t come through the first time (for me, anyway:)).</p>
<p>Geographic diversity has increased at selective colleges over the years, but apart from Californians–who seem willing to go anywhere–the student bodies at even the most selective schools are still drawn disproportionately from their own regions.</p>
<p>instead of correcting my colloquial language, why don’t you just give me more criticism about what I stated wrong? </p>
<p>@kldat1, well aren’t you so high and mighty you ignoramus. you’re telling me you have enough experience to give out expert advice? go back to your corner.</p>
<p>@sally… why are you here just ranting on and on with your posts about my spelling? It doesn’t really matter, this isn’t a fancy essay. well, looking at your attitude, it does seems like CC is a very important part of your life.</p>
<p>MTEP: the ease in which you toss most US colleges into the “crap” pile just screams of an attitude of arrogance mixed with ignorance and I’ll tell you it sucks. I was accepted to several schools probably on your target list and graduated from the #1 ranked USNWR school that year.</p>
<p>I’ve had the privilege to work around amazing people who attended all variety of colleges. I’ve had the privilege to work for and on behalf of people who sometimes did and did not have HS diplomas.</p>
<p>I would also like to consider myself as enlightened enough to never take for granted the many opportunities and blessings I’ve had in my life as compared to 98% of the human population in all history.</p>
<p>I’m grateful for my alma mater. And I actively recruit in my alma mater HS district which now boasts the lowest HS grad rate of any lg. school district in the country. About 1 in 100 entering ninth graders will have a bachelors degree in 8-9 years. And YES I’m speaking about a US city.</p>
<p>Frankly I have nothing but contempt for your attitude. I’d love to shovel those 99 kids into something which you so blithely designate as crap. Would they be so lucky. And one day, would you be so wise…</p>