College Admissions Statistics Class of 2020: Early Decision & Early Action Acceptance Rates

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401

@spayurpets, I wouldn’t call 52.2% (Cornell) “significantly higher” than 51.4% or 51.3% (Duke and Northwestern). In fact, I would call it an insignificant difference.
54.0% and 56.9% (Dartmouth and Brown) aren’t exactly “significantly higher” either.

Leave your biases aside please.

Granted, UPenn’s RD yield is significantly higher than JHU’s, but the distance between Duke/Northwestern and JHU is greater than the distance between Duke/Northwestern and 3 of the 4 Ivies with ED (who are courageous enough to publish their data). In fact, the distance between Penn and Brown is bigger than the distance between any of Brown/Dartmouth/Cornell/Duke/Northwestern/Vandy, so why are you grouping by Ivy vs. non-Ivy when there is a more logical demarcation?

Note that by alumni accomplishments, Duke & Northwestern do as well as the Ivies: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1893105-ivy-equivalents-ranking-based-on-alumni-outcomes-take-2-1-p1.html

I would like to see where Rice is when they publish. I have them as an Ivy-equivalent as well (along with Stanford, MIT, Georgetown, Caltech, and Chicago).

402

@DeepBlue86, not much snow where Rice is either. And I do consider Caltech an Ivy-equivalent.

403

Cornell constituent schools set it at a big disadvantage against other colleges. Many are effectively state institutions having to follow different criteria and considerations. It would be interesting to see its numbers stripped of those parts for a like-for-like comparison.

404

@bronze2, Cornell contract colleges also offer guaranteed transfers, which should help lower its admit rate and up its yield, and which I don’t hear of other Ivies/equivalents doing much (I suppose Harvard has its Z-list and UChicago has recently also offered delayed admissions), so it balances out.

But to a bigger point, it’s hard to do any like-for-like. For instance, Columbia takes in about 1400 every fall. They report the stats, admit rate, and yield for those folks to USNews But they also have over 2300 undergrads in their School of General Studies. And they take in some more through their 3-2 program with LACs. So they get the tuition of 8600 undergrads but they squeeze down their official fall entering FT class to 1400. That has got to improve their admit rate and “official” incoming class stats, don’t you think?

That why I look at outcomes-based measures when I tier schools because so many schools play games with inputs-based measures. Not to mention that going off of what HS students think is a bit silly.
This thread is helpful only for getting a rough sense of difficulty of entering various schools (at least the “traditional” way). Certainly not for tiering.

405

@PurpleTitan, agree that there isn’t any snow in Houston, but we apparently have different definitions of “tippy-top” (which for me is clearly HYPSM and arguably 3-5 others - not a scientific definition, I concede). Don’t know that I’d agree that Caltech, specialized as it is and with a quarter as many undergraduates as your average Ivy, is an “Ivy equivalent”, although I’d describe it as “tippy-top”.

406

@PurpleTitan

You’re missing the point. I was making my observation based on the RD yield, which strips out the ED admissions. Penn 47.7%,.Brown 44.0%, Dartmouth 40.5% and Cornell 39.2% are significantly higher than Duke 35.1%, Northwestern 32.1%, Vanderbilt 31.7% and Johns Hopkins 28.2%.

You misread me; if anything I was trying to express incredulity at why high school seniors continue to choose a brand like “Ivy League” when schools like Duke and Johns Hopkins are equal to or even better educational institutions.

407

@spayurpets, ah, yes, people are easily fooled. That’s why marketing exists.

408

Does anyone know what Lehigh University’s Early Decision acceptance rate is?

409

@studyhard13 This page says Lehigh ED 63%
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=794

410

I’m not sure what percent of California applicants is, but I’ve heard Pomona has the lowest % of students from California of any California undergraduate school. 74% of the first year class is from elsewhere.

My guess is that there are a significant number of California applicants as each admissions officer has several regions in California to review (https://www.pomona.edu/admissions/visit/admissions-staff). Definitely over 25%. I know the international pool is around 7-8% of the pool, and around 12% of the admitted class is international. So if there’s a 1.5x higher representation in the admit pool of other territories and a corresponding disadvantage of California applicants, that’d suggest around a ~40% pool of California applicants.

411

@nostalgicwisdom interesting post. Stanford’s class of 2019 was 33% from California. http://facts.stanford.edu/academics/class-of-2019-profile. Pomona’s most recent profile shows the overall student body as 27% from California. https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/pomona-college-admissions-2015-16-profile.pdf

412

Adding Olin:

http://www.olin.edu/news-events/2016/olin-offers-admission-the-class-2020/

Harvard RD 1119 out of 32868 (3.4%)
Stanford RD 1318 out of 36175 (3.6%)
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%)
University of Chicago EA/RD 2482 out of 31,411 (7.9%)(yield=66%)
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%)
Olin College of Engineering RD 114 out of 1293 (8.8%)(Yield,85=74.6%)
Dartmouth RD 1682 out of 18748 (9.0%)
Claremont McKenna ED1/ED2/RD 594 out of 6342 (9.4%)
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%)
Carnegie Mellon University ED/RD ~5270 out of 37,247 (14.1%) (enrollment 1503=28.5% Yield)
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%)
Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD ~1430 out of ~6500 (~22%) (200 ED acceptances)
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%)
Lehigh University ED/RD 3420 out of 13,408 (25.5%)
Skidmore College RD ~2200 out of 8608 (~25.6%)
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%)
Lafayette ED/RD 2291 out of 8121 (28.2%)
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%)
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%)
Skidmore ED1/ED2 ~337 out of 542 (~62.1%)
University of Maine RD (OOS) 7803 out of 10,062 (77.5%)
University of Maine RD (In-state) 3600 out of 4134 (87.1%)

413

Correcting some mistakes to this table…

*Ranked Admissions Data + Yield
Class of 2020: Top 20 Liberal Arts Colleges

Total Applications:**

1.Colby College 9,822
2.Middlebury College 8,820
3.Amherst College 8,397
4.Pomona College 8,104
5.Swarthmore College 7,717
6.Grinnell College 7,368
7.Vassar College 7,306
8.Williams College 6,982
9.Bowdoin College 6,788
10.Carleton College 6,500
11.Claremont McKenna College 6,342
12.Hamilton College 5,434
13.Wellesley College 4,888
14.Harvey Mudd College 4,180

RD Acceptance Rate:

1.Pomona College RD ~566 out of 7190 (~7.9%)
2.Claremont McKenna College ED1/ED2/RD 594 out of 6342 (9.4%)
3.Harvey Mudd College RD 421 out of 3716 (11.3%)
4.Bowdoin College RD 687 out of 5918 (11.6%)
5.Amherst College RD 969 out of 7943 (12.2%)
6.Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7,717 (12.5%)
7.Middlebury College RD 1042 out of 7866 (14.2%)
8.Williams College RD 960 out of 6397 (15.0%)
9.Colby College ED/RD ~1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
10.Grinnell College ED/RD ~1326 out of 7368 (~18%)
11.Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD ~1430 out of ~6500 (~22%)
12.Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
13.Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
14.Wellesley College ED/RD ~1368 out of 4888 (~28%)

Early Acceptance Rate:

1.Harvey Mudd College ED1/ED2 ~77 out of 464 (16.6%)
2.Pomona College ED1/ED2 ~177 out of 914 (19.4%)
3.Bowdoin College ED1/ED2 284 out of 870 (32.6%)
4.Amherst College ED 180 out of 454 (39.6%)
5.Middlebury College ED1/ED2 398 out of 954 (41.7%)
6.Williams College ED 246 out of 585 (42.1%)
7.Davidson College ED 207 out of 458 (45.2%)

Total Acceptance Rate:

1.Pomona College ED1/ED2/RD 743 out of 8104 (9.2%)
2.Claremont McKenna College ED1/ED2/RD 594 out of 6342 (9.4%)
3.Harvey Mudd College ED1/ED2/RD 498 out of 4180 (11.9%)
4.Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7717 (12.5%)
5.Amherst College ED/RD 1149 out of 8397 (13.7%)
6.Bowdoin College ED1/ED2/RD 971 out of 6788 (14.3%)
7.Middlebury College ED1/ED2/RD 1440 out of 8820 (16.3%)
8.Williams College ED/RD 1206 out of 6982 (17.3%)
9.Colby College ED/RD 1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
10.Grinnell College ED/RD 1326 out of 7368 (18%)
11.Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD 1430 out of 6500 (22%)
12.Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
13.Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
14.Wellesley College ED/RD 1368 out of 4888 (28%)

Yield:

1.Claremont McKenna College 58.1% (345)
2.Pomona College 55.2% (410)
3.Bowdoin College 51.5% (500)
4.Middlebury College 47.6% (685)
5.Williams College 45.6% (550)
6.Swarthmore College 43.6% (420)
7.Wellesley College 43.5% (595)
8.Amherst College 41.1% (472)
9.Harvey Mudd College 40.2% (200)
10.Carleton College 37.3% (495)
11.Hamilton College 36.4% (480)
12.Vassar College 34.4% (668)
13.Grinnell College 33.2% (440)
14.Colby College 28.2% (485)

*Excluding, for insufficient data: Colgate, Davidson, Haverford, Smith, Washington & Lee, Wesleyan.

414

Keep in mind, these are projections, which is a fact that posters like @PurpleTitan unsurprisingly fail to grasp. He loves to compare Northwestern to Duke when the latter does far better than Northwestern at admissions.

We’ll see how final yields turn out given Northwestern has already had waitlist movement. Northwestern’s RD yield last year was 31%, Duke’s was 34% - JHU’s was 28% (probably higher since JHU ED admits that do not get into BME are not bound to enroll and can apply elsewhere - they are effectively RD applicants).

You also want to talk about gaming the system? Northwestern takes an embarrassing more than half of their class via ED. Which other school amongst the top 15 does the same? Here’s a hint, not much. Guess that’s what you have to do when you’re the second best school in your own city.

415

The gross reliance on ED is apparent (at least they matched Penn in one category): Imagine Overall yield if everyone took as much of Northwestern!

% of class enrolled from ED from class of 2015:

Penn 54%
Northwestern 50%
Duke 47%
Columbia 45%
Dartmouth 43%
JHU 42%
Brown 38%
Cornell 38%
Rice 29%

416

I also wonder what other “top 15” privates decided to decrease their freshman class size like Northwestern year over year including this year. I suspect none. But what another innovative way to decrease acceptance rate and increase yield!

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2012/02/15/campus/campusarchived/northwestern-to-decrease-acceptances-for-incoming-freshmen/

At least you guys have been open about it from 2012. How kind of you to open more spaces for transfers - definitely not for artificially lower freshman selectivity right?!..;).

417

Additional data from last year since not all ED data is available (see Columbia) and before Northwestern decided to cut class size.

ED acceptance rates for class of 2015
Northwestern 38%
JHU 29%
Duke 27%
Cornell 26%
Dartmouth 26%
Penn 24%
Rice 20%
Brown 20%
Columbia 19%

418

I don’t think anyone besides you thinks that a 3% difference is “far better”, @blah2008, but if you take that point of view, certainly, feel free to argue that Duke is far better than Vandy.
As for my view, you should be aware that I think that measuring by alumni accomplishments is the way to do it, as how a school prepares students should matter a bit more than popularity among HS kids.

As for gaming, pretty much everyone (besides maybe MIT and Caltech) does it. Heck, Columbia doesn’t count a big chunk of their undergrad population (those in SGS) in USNews stats. Harvard has a Z list, etc. But since you brought up transfers, doesn’t Vandy have a high transfer admit rate compared to the Ivies/equivalents?

419

@blah2008

Last I checked, Northwestern’s international rankings are comparable to Duke’s and its peer assessements are comparable to those for Duke, Brown, and Dartmouth. Nobody is comparing Northwestern to, say, Stanford/Harvard. I don’t think it’s doing “very poorly” in those metrics.

420

^doing “as well” as Duke(admissions is a different story) in international rankings is not something to be particularly proud of- but maybe that’s in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to US News peer assessment scores, northwestern(at 4.4) is decidedly a cut below Chicago (4.6) and some of the other privates (Caltech (4.6), MIT(4.9), Johns Hopkins (4.6), Cornell (4.6), Columbia (4.6)) (which are all also consistently ranked higher in the other international rankings). We’re not just talking about Harvard and Stanford here.

While we’re busy trumpeting how close northwestern is to the ivies in total yield this year, it’s curious to see current projected percent of class filled by early decision (congrats on matching penn on ridiculous use of ED again):

Northwestern 55%
Penn 55%
Duke 48%
Johns Hopkins 43%
Dartmouth 42%
Cornell 41%
Brown 40%