There are many factors involved in selectivity. Speaking purely mathematically, George Washington University has an acceptance rate of 43.8 % which makes it a surprising choice to occupy the bottom on a list below Rutgers (58 %) or Mt Holyoke (55 %) etc etc. I am sure there are other ranking inconsistencies as well.
Moreover even if one were to range the order by acceptance rate it would be misleading, as some schools admit a high percentage but have a self selecting group of applicants. An example of this would be Reed. Another question would be did the student receive a scholarship? If so, then that is arguably a higher achievement than the student who was accepted but will be paying the entire amount. It is well know that full pay students are accepted at higher rates. It is also well know that likelihood of ED acceptance is higher compared to RD acceptance. Yet all of those acceptances are impressive. Frankly speaking, it is impossible to know the true selectivity in each case.
I would argue that the most impressive acceptance would be whichever student has least advantage in life, least money, least fancy school, no legacy status, no connections, and yet was accepted with scholarship. Or perhaps the most impressive acceptance would be whichever student had many personal problems that were overcome. Actually we cannot know any of that. So I think that it’s impossible to judge true selectivity.
Below is the list in alphabetical order. I understand that some readers prefer to see it in order in which it was received. That is reasonable, but as I don’t know that order, this is alphabetical. It is quite easy to google acceptance rate, but please keep in mind that other factors come into play such as ability to pay, personal preference for programmes, type of school such as LAC vs. big school, etc.
My apologies if mistakes were made in alphabetical order. This is merely for simplicity’s sake and because I think it is quite unfair to order by selectivity, in addition to impossible to be truly accurate. Congratulations to all! This is truly an impressive year.
ED1/ EA
Bates College - RBS (1)
Bowdoin College - RBS (1)
Cornell University - RBS (1)
Dickinson College - RBS (2)
Earlham College- RBS(2)
Georgetown University - BNKS (1) RBS (1^)
Knox College - RBS (2)
NYUAD - Chelsea (1) Ullens(2) SXC(1)
Smith College - RBS (1) BNKS (1)
Tufts University - BNKS (1)
UPenn - BNKS (1)
Washington & Lee - RBS (1)
ED2:
Bucknell: BNKS(1)
Mt. Holyoke - Ullens (1)
NYUAD- Ullens (1)
Pomona College: RBS(1)
Reed College- Trinity(1)
Swarthmore College: RBS (1)SXC(1)
Trinity- Ullens (1)
Union- Ullens (1)
RD:
Amherst College - RBS (1#)
Baylor University – RBS (1)
Beloit College – Ullens (1) RBS (1)
Bennington College - Ullens (1)
Boston University- Ullens (1)
Brandeis University- Ullens (2) RBS/UWC (1@)
Clark University – Ullens (2)
Colby College- RBS/UWC (1@)
Colgate University- BNKS (1%) Chelsea (1)
Columbia University - RBS (1^)
DePauw University – Ullens (2)
Dickinson College- Ullens (1)
Drexel University- BNKS (1)
Duke University- RBS/ UWC (1@)
F & M - BNKS(1) RBS (1^) Ullens (1) RBS/UWC (1@)
George Washington University- RBS (1!) Ullens (1))
Grinnell College- RBS (1) RBS (1") Malpi (1)
Hamilton College- RBS (1)
Hampshire College - Ullens (1)
Lafayette College - BNKS (1%)
Luther College - Ullens (1)
Macalester College- RBS(1")
Marist- Ullens (2)
MIT - SXC(1)
Middlebury College- BNKS-UWC (1)
Mt. Holyoke - RBS(1) Ullens (2)
NYU- SXC (1)
NYU, Shanghai- RBS(1) Ullens (1)
Northeastern University- RBS (1!) RBS(1)
Oberlin College - BNKS (1%)
Occidental College – Ullens (1)
Pomona College – Ullens (1)
Rutgers University at New Brunswick - RBS (1$)
St. Olaf - BNKS(1)
Stevens Intitute of technology-Xavier Int’l(1)
Stony Brook University – Ullens (1)
Syracuse University - Ullens (2) Xavier Intl (1)
Union - RBS (1)
UC Davis – Ullens (1)
UCLA - RBS (1$)
UC Santa Barbara – Ullens (1)
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - RBS (1$)
University of Miami – Ullens (1)
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - RBS (1$)
University of Richmond- BNKS(1)
University of Rochester - Ullens (1) Ambition Academy (1)
University of Texas at Austin - RBS (1$)
Vanderbilt University - RBS (1#)
Vassar College- RBS (1)
Wake Forest University - Ullens (1)
Wesleyan University - RBS (1^)
Wellesley - RBS (1)
Yale NUS - RBS (1)
Yale University - RBS (1^)