2020 Fact Sheet is available. According to this, acceptance rate went up to almost 62% compared to 51% in 2019. Applications down 470 from 2019 and average SAT is down from 1318 to 1302. Surprising.
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I actually don’t think it’s surprising. Clemson has been stagnant or falling in rankings while other less expensive options have been been gaining/surpassing/or become close to it. So, when families do a cost/benefit analysis Clemson ends up not worth the extra cost, especially for OOS. Colleges that took the draw talent with merit $ approach are seeing a payoff.
For example, per USN Arizona is #32 for business, Clemson #67. A top OOS student can go to Arizona for about $2k in tuition vs likely $22k or more at Clemson.
We don’t know merit amount yet, but based on historical Clemson will hands down be most expensive option for us and by more than just a little, so D21 would have to be totally in love with it over other options for it to make any sense.
Plus, IMHO their process hurts them. She was excited to find out she was accepted in November, but since then heard from others who already told her minimum merit $, which already puts them lower cost than expectations for Clemson, plus some HC acceptances. So, then students start to really be able to envision themselves at those places and interest in Clemson may start to fade for some students.
A lot of top kids seem to be chasing merit $ at places like UofSC, UTK, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, which depending on major are close to or better ranked than Clemson and the $ is either guaranteed based on GPA and scores or they tell them early about acceptances and merit $ minimums. Many top kids are planning on grad school so are looking to minimize undergraduate costs and come from families in that painful tier of “make too much to qualify for FA, but not enough that you can really afford to drop $200k per kid for undergrad and not miss it”.
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Well said and agreed. They seem to have this sort of Xfactor, intangible attribute going for them which appears to have contributed to an increase in popularity. My D has her heart set on Clemson for this reason, which also includes the warm weather. I guess that only goes so far though in the face of declining rankings and merit.
My brother is a junior and told me that they received 43,000 applications this year for the Class of 2025.
1/24/21 - that explains why all of these competitive schools are taking so long to get decisions out. Wow.
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From what I have seen, many schools that are test optional (especially those on Common App) are all seeing huge numbers of applicants, and a lot of kids who might not have applied to a competitive school in prior years are applying this year. I suspect we will see both acceptance rates and yields go way down this year, relative to prior years. 
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My twins are freshmen at Clemson this year. Very different resumes but both excellent students. One with 33 ACT and 3.8: other with 1350 SAT and 4.4. Both with tons of EC and sports and both with 9 AP courses.
Younger brother is a senior. Lower test scores and less AP classes but 4.2. He’s in EA at NC State which accepts 18% OOS.
As a 12th grade teacher for 26 years, I can’t for the life of me figure out this process to perfection. But what I do know is the process directs our kiddos where they need to be. It’s hard. It’s emotional. But trusting the process is 50% of the game.
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And 2018 was 47% acceptance rate.
That is a STEEP two year increase imho.
agree
Do you know if people accepted into the bridge program are factored into the acceptance numbers?
I checked all the posted fact sheets and 2010 & 2011 specify that Bridge is included in the numbers. The other fact sheets don’t specify, but I would imagine they do include Bridge.
The drop in rankings was due to social mobility of pell grant students, quantity of part-time faculty vs full time and faculty salaries. Their acceptance rates have always fluctuated, especially the years after a championship win/loss. It usually hovered around 60% until the team started winning, with the biggest dips the fall after they won each championship. The increase last year was already expected after the championship loss. A lot of kids apply solely because of the popularity of the football team, so they take that into account. Need to hedge your bets so to speak.
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Wow. I understand D1 football and school spirit is huge to a lot of kids (it is for my D as well), I just wouldn’t have expected that kind of fluctuation over championship wins/losses. The football culture at Clemson is still tremendous regardless, in my view anyway.
has anyone test optional gotten in yet? My Daughter didn’t submit scores and we are a little worried what that means
Test optional here. Haven’t heard.
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DS did not report his scores. He was accepted in mid-December into the CECAS
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Well, I married into this whole Clemson thing, but I’ve been around it for 30 years now. It took a decade before I ever saw them win a game in person. 
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@Tigerwife92 We’ve not been able to visit due to Covid (we’re in the Northeast). Can you please tell me a bit about the town in regards to culture, dining and shopping? As in, what else is there besides football? Is it like Penn State which is in the middle of nowhere? With non existent cultural options, strip malls and fast food restaurants on every corner?
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Pretty much sums it up except there aren’t many corners that we noticed.
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