I don’t necessarily disagree, however, the deferred candidates are excluded from the calculation because for the most part we have been subtracting out the early applications from the total applications. That would prevent them from being double-counted, wouldn’t it?
Another problem is that most schools don’t announce how many students were deferred so, we couldn’t do the calculation on a uniform basis.
I think you’re right on that… subtracting out all the early applications would take care of the deferral part… So your RD data should be accurate. my bad.
Any information on Washington University in St. Louis?
@spayurpets @sbballer Wouldn’t you have to know what percentage of the deferred candidates got accepted in RD round though for that strategy to yield accurate results? Otherwise you would be lowering the denominator but keeping deferred acceptances in the numerator in calculating the RD round admit rates which would over estimate the RD percentage. And in some cases those deferred acceptances can be significant.
I wonder as well if the ways the various schools deal with wait lists also reduces comparability. Some schools seem to have large wait lists and then admit a bunch of kids off them - I wonder if all those admits are eventually captured in the stats. If not, it would make the school look more selective than it is. Also, if a wait listed student eventually gets an offer and declines, do the yield stats capture that? If not, then yield would be modestly inflated.
From the Reed admissions blog on Tumbler
“Anonymous asked:
how many students have been accepted to Reed this year?
Hi there! Approximately 1400. (Out of the ~5700 applications we got this year.)”
http://reedadmission.■■■■■■■■■■/
Posted April 28. Just a bit down the page. Looks like 25% if my math is correct.
It looks approximate since earlier in the blog they did state they had exactly 5,709 apps.
@VeryLuckyParent @spayurpets I think that’s right veryluckparent… not knowing the deferral acceptances will skew the results… bottom line the best measure is overall admit rate which accounts for all these discrepancies…Stanford’s is 4.7% and Harvard’s is 5.2%. trying to compare RD results is impossible without knowing the deferral acceptance rates as you pointed out. Stanford is the most selective university in the US and has been for the past 4 years by this metric
@DeepBlue86 Very true… although I think EA is going to have more of an impact on yield. For instance Harvard usually admits more than 1/2 its class EA so that by itself will boost yield. Stanford admits about 1/3 of its class EA which will lower yield by comparison.
BTW, I have a question. Are the numbers reported by the Universities based on an honor system? Who really verifies if the real number at Podunk University is 5,000 apps or just 4,500 apps? And what counts as an ** Application**. Does the Application need to be complete? Is a Withdrawn app still considered an Application and can the University count it as a denial? Does the Common App publish data on apps by University? Since everybody follows these numbers so closely, just wondering about how reliable the numbers self reported by the Universities really are.
Not casting aspersions on any particular University, just wondering since these numbers have taken a life of their own.
@VeryLuckyParent I think the Common Data Set has specific rules for reporting, and schools in the past that have fudged their numbers were called out on it–see Claremont McKenna. I don’t know for a fact, but I assume the Common Data Set tells you how to address waitlist and deferred applicants in doing acceptance rate calculations. Colleges have to be cautious about what they report because there is certainly the possibility of law suits in they fraudulently report data. But of course the press releases and student papers have no standards, so you get a lot more sketchy data.
As for the deferred accepted rates, I know of only Brown and Duke that actually reported their numbers so you’re right that it would be hard to come up with a pure acceptance rate that would be comparing apples-to-apples. @sbballer has some kind of agenda to promote Stanford as having the lowest acceptance rate, and I don’t want to play that game. Anybody is free to take the numbers and make whatever case you want to make for your school, but in my mind it’s a fool’s errand to equate lowest acceptance rate with “best.” There’s no trophy for this dubious distinction.
Adding Wellesley:
Harvard RD 1119 out of 32868 (3.4%)
Stanford RD 1318 out of 36175 (3.6%)
University of Chicago RD (~4%) (Total Apps ~32,000)
Yale RD 1177 out of 26793 (4.4%)
Princeton RD 1109 out of 25074 (4.4%) (1237 waitlisted=4.9%)(rej=90.6%)
Columbia ED/RD 2193 out of 36292 (6.0%)
Penn RD 2326 out of 33156 (7.0%)
MIT RD 829 out of 11253 (7.4%) (437 waitlisted)
Brown RD 2250 out of 29360 (7.7%)(~133 deferred accepted=7%)(~1000 waitlisted=3.4%)
Pomona RD ~566 out of 7190 (~7.9%)
Northwestern RD 2690 out of 32077 (8.4%)
MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%) (4776 deferred=61.5%) (2175 rejected=28%)
Duke RD 2501 out of 28600 (8.7%) (49 deferred accepted=2.9%)
Vanderbilt RD 2526 out of 28700 (8.8%)
Dartmouth RD 1682 out of 18748 (9.0%)
Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
Johns Hopkins RD 2539 out of 25188 (10.1%)
Harvey Mudd RD 421 out of 3716 (11.3%)
Bowdoin RD 687 out of 5918 (11.6%)
Tufts RD ~2168 out of 18152 (~11.9%)
Amherst College RD 969 out of 7943 (12.2%)
Cornell RD 4939 out of 40084 (12.3%) (4572 waitlisted=11.4%)(rej=76.3%)
Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7,717 (12.5%)
Georgetown EA 892 out of 7027 (12.7%) (remainder deferred=87%)
UC Berkeley (OOS) 2734 out of 21213 (12.9%)
Pitzer College ED/RD (12.9%)
Notre Dame RD 1955 out of 14,178 (13.8%)
Middlebury RD 1042 out of 7866 (14.2%)
Boston University ED2 ~245 out of 1721 (~14.2%)
Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%) (4673 def=75.7%) (464 rej=7.5%)
Williams College RD 960 out of 6397 (15.0%)
Barnard College ED/RD ~1131 out of 7071 (~16%)
Georgetown RD 3276 out of 20002 (16.4%)
USC RD 8920 out of 54100 (16.5%)
Harvey Mudd ED1/ED2 ~77 out of 464 (16.6%)
Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%) (53% def) (29% rej)
Colby College ED/RD ~1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
Grinnell College ED/RD ~1326 out of 7368 (~18%)
UC Berkeley (IS) 8363 out of 45,773 (18.3%)
Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
Middlebury College ED2 60 out of 318 (18.9%) (40 def=12.6%) (218 rej=68.6%)
Pomona ED1/ED2 ~177 out of 914 (19.4%)
Georgia Tech RD ~3206 out of 15,659 (~20.5%)
Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%) (1905 def=62.9%) (456 rej=15.0%)
Scripps RD ~632 out of 2743 (23%)
Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
Duke ED 813 out of 3455 (23.5%) (1663 def=19.2%)
Vanderbilt ED1/ED2 ~800 out of ~3390 (23.6%)
UVA EA (OOS) 2955 out of 12308 (24.0%) (3005 def=24.4%) (6348 rej=51.6%)
Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
Dartmouth ED 494 out of 1927 (25.6%)
Kenyon College ED/RD 1688 out of ~6400 (~26.4%)
Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
UVA RD (IS/OOS) 4166 out of 15658 (26.6%)
Cornell ED 1338 out of 4882 (27.4%) (1153 def=23.6%) (2391 rej=49.0%)
Pitzer ED1/ED2 ~118 out of 423 (27.8%)
Wellesley ED/RD ~1368 out of 4888 (~28%)
Georgia Tech EA 4424 out of 14861 (29.8%)
Bowdoin ED2 ~77 out of 256 (~30.1%)
Notre Dame EA 1610 out of 5321 (30.3%) (818 def=15.4%) (2893 rej=54.4%)
Johns Hopkins ED 584 out of 1929 (30.3%)
Boston University ED1/ED2 ~1050 out of 3421 (~30.7%)
Boston College EA ~2700 out of 8600 (~31.4%)
Tufts ED ~663 out of 2070 (~32%)
Skidmore College ED1/ED2/RD ~3000 out of 9150 (~33%)
Bowdoin College ED1 207 out of 614 (33.7%)
UNC EA 6948 out of 19842 (35.0%)
Northwestern ED 1061 out of 3022 (35.1%)
College of William & Mary ED/RD 5095 out of 14380 (35.4%)
Amherst College ED 180 out of 454 (39.6%)
Middlebury College ED1/ED2 398 out of 954 (41.7%)
George Washington RD 10101 out of 24168 (41.8%)
Williams College ED 246 out of 585 (42.1%)
University of Florida RD 13,624 out of 32,000+ (~42.5%)
Dickinson ED1/ED2/EA/RD 2636 out of 6171 (42.7%)
Fordham ED/EA/RD ~19,650 out of 44,697 (~44%)
Occidental College ED/RD ~2884 out of 6409 (~45%)
Davidson College ED 207 out of 458 (45.2%)
Boston University ED1 ~805 out of 1700 (~47.4%)
Scripps ED 113 out of 235 (47.9%)
UVA EA (In-State) 2237 out of 4460 (50.2%) (1060 def=23.8%) (1163 rej=26.1%)
University of Georgia ED 7500+ out of 14516 (51%+)
Middlebury College ED1 338 out of 636 (53.1%) (74 def=11.6%) (224 rej=35.2%)
George Washington ED 841 out of 1373 (61.3%)
University of Maine RD (OOS) 7803 out of 10,062 (77.5%)
University of Maine RD (In-state) 3600 out of 4134 (87.1%)
And here is one that I can answer officially. As a former institutional researchers at a small multicampus college in Southern Cal, I was considered the “keyholder” for all our data. Keyholder is an official term used by the department of education for their Integrated Postsecondary Data System.(IPEDS). This is the data system that is kept by the National Center on Educational Statistics (NCES) and requires reporting from all college and universities in the United States that receive any kind of funding. We report numbers for the government 3 times a year, but admissions and enrollment data is in the fall. We wait until the numbers are in stone. This way we know how many “butts are in seats” and can actually count. This data is vetted by the government and is audited. I don’t know how closely they audit but I have had several times when I had someone from IPEDS call me and ask me to explain or look up numbers to verify what I had turned in.
The publicly available data is always a year behind. This is why the college navigator is not up to date. This is why the CDS is important. It should use the same data that is reported to the government, and it should be filled out by the same people who do the government reporting. It should match. I say should several times there. There are always issues. There are issues with the computing systems that are used by the employees to pull the data, there are issues with institutional definitions that are used within each university, there are issues with people who cheat, to improve their numbers. But hopefully these issues do not hurt the integrity of the data of most colleges. Most departments of institutional research don’t cheat. We are simply keepers and reporters of the data. I can tell you that podunk university in unknown town, reports the same data, required from grand old Harvard. They follow the same rules, public, private, and for profit.
IPEDS has a glossary, if you are interested in what specific things mean and IPEDS data is always public (but a year behind.)
http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/
https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisGlossaryAll.aspx
And to answer your question
Answer from IPEDS glossary
ETA: Looks like admissions has changed a bit. When I was in IR is was part of the Fall Collection as I mentioned above. Now it looks like Winter Collection. Hmmm. Don’t know why.
Ranked Data for Top 10 Most Selective*:
Total Applications:
1.Stanford 43,977
2.Harvard 39,041
3.Penn 38,918
4.Columbia 36,292
5.Brown 32,390
6.Duke 32,055
7.Yale 31,349
8.Princeton 29,303
9.MIT 19,020
0.Pomona 8670
RD acceptance rate:
1.Harvard RD 1119 out of 32,868 (3.4%)
2.Stanford RD 1318 out of 36,175 (3.6%)
3.Yale RD 1177 out of 26,793 (4.4%)
4.Princeton RD 1109 out of 25,074 (4.4%)
5.Columbia ED/RD 2193 out of 36,292 (6.0%)
6.Penn RD 2326 out of 33,156 (7.0%)
7.MIT RD 829 out of 11,253 (7.4%)
8.Brown RD 2250 out of 29,360 (7.7%)
9.Pomona RD 566 out of 7190 (7.9%)
0.Duke RD 2501 out of 28,600 (8.7%)
Early acceptance rate:
1.MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%)
2.Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
3.Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%)
4.Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%)
5.Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
6.Pomona ED1/ED2 177 out of 914 (19.4%)
7.Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%)
8.Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
9.Duke ED 813 out of 3455 (23.5%)
0.Columbia ED (no data)
Total Acceptance Rate:
1.Stanford 2063 out of 43,977 (4.7%)
2,Harvard 2037 out of 39,041 (5.2%)
3.Columbia 2193 out of 36,292 (6.0%)
4.Yale 1972 out of 31,349 (6.3%)
5.Princeton 1894 out of 29,303 (6.4%)
6.MIT 1485 out of 19,020 (7.8%)
7.Pomona 743 out of 8670 (8.6%)
8.Brown 2919 out of 32,390 (9.0%)
9.Penn 3661 out of 38,918 (9.4%)
0.Duke 3314 out of 32,055 (10.3%)
*Top 10 based on total acceptance rate. Excluding UChicago, Caltech and others that have not yet provided public data for Class of 2020. If liberal arts colleges were excluded (i.e. Pomona), the next on the list was Dartmouth at 10.5%.
Uh, @spayurpets, Northwestern (with a 8.4% RD rate) pips Duke in the RD acceptance rate.
Yes, I should have made more clear that I chose the 10 solely on the Total Acceptance Rate and then played out the rest of the data for each of those 10 only. I didn’t choose the top 10 in each category. (But maybe that would be a good way to do it in an alternative chart.)
Stanford does have the lowest acceptance rate and yes it’s a game all the colleges are playing despite all the spin.
Lowest Reported ED Acceptance Rate:
1.Harvey Mudd ED1/ED2 77 out of 464 (16.6%)
2.Pomona ED1/ED2 177 out of 914 (19.4%)
3.Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%)
4.Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
5.Duke ED 813 out of 3455 (23.5%)
6.Vanderbilt ED1/ED2 800 out of 3390 (23.6%)
7.Dartmouth ED 494 out of 1927 (25.6%)
8.Cornell ED 1338 out of 4882 (27.4%)
9.Pitzer ED1/ED2 118 out of 423 (27.8%)
0.Johns Hopkins ED 584 out of 1929 (30.3%)
Lowest Reported EA Acceptance Rate:
1.MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%)
2.Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
3.Georgetown EA 892 out of 7027 (12.7%)
4.Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%)
5.Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%)
6.Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
7.UVA EA (OOS) 2955 out of 12308 (24.0%)
8.Georgia Tech EA 4424 out of 14861 (29.8%)
9.Notre Dame EA 1610 out of 5321 (30.3%)
0.Boston College EA 2700 out of 8600 (31.4%)
Some other interesting early admissions data I derived–
**Early Admissions as % of Total Target Class (estimate)
60% and above:**
University of North Carolina EA 175% (4000)
Georgia Tech EA 158% (2800)
University of Virginia EA 142% (3675)
Princeton SCEA 60% (1308)
50% to 59%
Yale SCEA 58% (1360)
Bowdoin ED1/ED2 57% (500)
Georgetown EA 56% (1580)
Harvard SCEA 55% (1675)
Middlebury ED1/ED2 55% (685)
Northwestern ED 55% (1925)
Penn ED 55% (2445)
Tufts ED1/ED2 50% (1325)
Vanderbilt ED1/ED2 50% (1600)
40% to 49%
Duke ED 48% (1705)
Williams ED 45% (550)
Johns Hopkins ED 45% (1300)
Brown ED 43% (1550)
Pomona ED1/ED2 43% (410)
Dartmouth ED 42% (1175)
Cornell ED 41% (3275)
Stanford REA 41% (1800)
Pomona ED1/ED2 40% (440)
Davidson ED 40% (415)
30% to 39%
Amherst ED1/ED2 38% (472)
Harvey Mudd ED1/ED2 35% (200)
George Washington ED 33% (2474)
Boston University ED1/ED2 30% (3500)
Boy, I feel for UNC, Ga Tech and UVA, who, based on this, seem to be assuming that well over half the applicants they accept early are using them as a safety and are going to turn them down.
It looks like most of the tippy-tops that have EA are solving to get half of those who enroll (or a little under) from the early round, if I assume a ~80% yield on EA admits.
When schools start locking in more than 50% of the class in the early round, it becomes much harder for them to argue with a straight face that they are not giving an advantage to their early applicants.
Princeton and Yale are pretty high, but you have to look at the peer colleges to figure out who the real outliers are. Penn is really extremely high for an ED school. Compare them to Brown and Dartmouth, which are also Ivies with ED plans; Penn is binding 10% more of their class early. Also, on the LAC side, Bowdoin and Middlebury are taking a very different ED strategy than peers Amherst and Pomona.