<p>EA/ED application numbers for the class of 2014: </p>
<p>Yale: DOWN 5 %
Stanford: up 4 %
Dartmouth: up 3%
Duke: up 32%
Chicago: up 54% (this tops the cake: U Chicago has a new person in charge of recruitment and enrollment)
Brown: up 21%</p>
<p>Don't know about others. </p>
<p>What's going on??? If they go uniformly up or down, maybe we can attribute it some general trends, but down 5% to up 54%??? What's going on. Anybody with an explanation? How about other schools?</p>
<p>What does this tell us about general numbers and statistics for RD?</p>
<p>I’ve been wondering the same thing. The only possible explanation I can come up with for Chicago is:</p>
<p>1)They just went to the Common App last year, I believe and that always boost applications.</p>
<p>2) Chicago is EA not ED, so it’s not binding. I know at my son’s school several students who are hoping for Yale or Princeton have applied EA to Chicago as a safety or match. </p>
<p>3) They have had one of the most (if not the most) aggressive marketing campaign of any of the colleges this year. My son has had more brochures, letter, emails and booklets from Chicago than almost any other school. </p>
<p>4) And of course, this all goes along with the strategy of the new administration to boost applications. It’s clear to me that Chicago is trying hard to decrease their acceptance rates, so that they look more selective.</p>
<p>The other colleges, I’m not sure about. Duke really surprises me. The most interesting thing about this is you got to wonder in the midst of the worst economy in decades how people are going to come with the $50,000 plus a year for schools like Duke and Chicago - neither are known for giving lots of merit aid. The speculation among GCs was there would be a decrease in applications to the more expensive schools like Chicago and Duke, not an increase. Of course, actual yields may turn out to be a lot lower than normal.</p>
<p>S told me that many kids applied to Duke, which is very unusual for the school. I was wondering why the college counselors suggested the school, to so many kids.</p>
<p>Based on some of the discussion on the Brown forum, Emma Watson seems to be a big draw. Seems absurd to me, but she is generating a lot of interest in Brown. (Rumor is that regular decision applications to Brown will see an increase, too.)</p>
<p>Duke had a big campaign this year to encourage kids who had “bumps” in their record to apply, emphasising that GPA and SAT were not that important. I do hope it wasn’t a cynical marketing ploy to lower their acceptance rate, increasing their status.</p>
<p>University of Chicago had a very high EA admission rate before, I think about 30%, which might have prompted a lot of people to apply. Also, it sends out tons of pamplets/letters to encourage applications.</p>
<p>Oh, Nondorf. (Said with both the most exasperated and affectionate of manners.)</p>
<p>From what I understand, Nondorf’s main goal is to increase yield, not to merely increase selectivity. However, because yield is heavily contingent upon how well-known a university is, he’s trying to get UChicago’s name out there by aggressively recruiting in under-recruited regions (read: the South) such that more students will inevitably apply. The jump is remarkably drastic though.</p>
<p>Then again, it’s even more drastic when you compare UChicago today with UChicago ten years ago, when its admissions rate was easily around 60%.</p>
<p>I have to say that the summer information day we attended at Chicago was the best run and best organized tour/information session my d and I attended. Interestingly, my d was interested in Northwestern and not so much in Chicago and our visits to both this summer completely flipped those schools for her. Northwestern’s info session and tour were disasters and Chicago became immediately more attractive. Nondorf was funny and charming at the info session and I, personally, liked him very much. So, whatever they’re doing…it’s working!</p>
<p>And I know that William and Mary’s ED applications were up 13% this year and GW’s were 24% higher. </p>
<p>On most of our tours, the kids were encouraged to apply ED/EA and maybe they’re just listening. The only school that sort of discouraged it was BC - they said EA was much more competitive than RD.</p>
<p>I agree that Chicago’s marketing has been terrific this year. We visited on the morning of New Year’s Eve, and they provided a terrific young woman from Montana as a tour guide, as well as an info session with a high-level admissions official. Northwestern? Closed. They provided great marketing materials, and a fall admission session was funny and educational. They are obviously doing some things right.</p>
<p>Re Brown: it can’t be just Emma. Must also be due to the fact that Serena chose Brown over Yale.</p>
<p>But seriously, at 2 Duke info sessions that I attended, the Duke rep (different each time) very strongly urged anyone interested in Duke to apply early. It was said more than once and implied better chances to get in.</p>
<p>I don’t know what counts as “lots” of merit aid. Chicago awards about 100 $10K merit grants and a smaller number of full tuition scholarships. Many peer schools award little or no merit money.</p>
<p>There is a good possibility that this is indeed what’s going on (marketing drive to lower their acceptance rate). </p>
<p>Duke’s USNWR ranking has been slipping last few years, and I heard some battle cries about this. Their ranking had been within top 5 for a few years till 06, and since then has been declining. Last year was 10th. I wouldn’t be surprised that they are alarmed about this, and are trying to redress this problem. </p>
<p>Note that emphasis on ED is quite clever: not only they encourage more to apply with a come-hither statements about GPA and SAT being not such a disqualifying thing, thus reducing acceptance rate, they also boost their yield since ED is a commitment: this policy (more application with tempting marketing drives and higher yield through more appls in the ED round) will help them regain some lost ground in the rankings game. </p>
<p>Do I have a proof? No. But given the length the colleges go to boost their ranking, this is not such a far fetched guess either.</p>
<p>why college counselors suggest Duke? Because it is a great school! Some of the other schools are tougher to get in because of the large numbers of alum children accepted.</p>
<p>All I can say is that our University of Chicago visit was a complete disaster – I’ve written about on another thread. The admissions office was unwelcoming, disorganized, uninformative and clearly playing to the pushy parents in the room. I was waiting for my son who gone off to visit a class and in that hour Nondorf came out several times to meet parents. Not once did he talk to a kid before he talked to the parent. UGH. </p>
<p>However, my son has been around academics enough to know that the admissions office in general is a pretty poor representation of a college, so he took the whole thing with a grain of salt.</p>