I’m interested in majoring in PAM in the Human Ecology College, and I came across an acceptance rate by college for the fall of 2011. What I’m wondering is why is the acceptance rate so high for the Human Ecology College (~32%) whereas the CAS has an acceptance rate of ~16%. Is this because the stats of a lot of the applicants are higher than the applicant pool of CAS (like how the applicants for engineering are high which translates to a higher acceptance rate than CAS)?
Also, does anyone have more up to date statistics of acceptance rates by college?
Thank you!
Arts & Sciences offers about 40 majors, which are generally typical of these types of colleges generally , not particularly specific or applied. And its applicants don’t have to have honed in on a specific major when they apply.
Hum Ec appeals to a somewhat different applicant pool, which is only a small subset of the above. It offers only 8 majors, that are quite diverse and very or somewhat specific/applied/ unusual , vs. majors in an arts & sciences college.
To want to attend Hum Ec one must have an actual affinity, by the time of application, for one of these specific applied majors, over the more generic offerings of the myriad arts & sciences programs. That is a pre-selected applicant pool, which will inevitably be smaller.
That pre-selected pool of applicants, vs. # spaces allocated for freshman enrollment in that college is just a numbers game. The admit rates at the university’s various colleges need not have a strong relationship to each other.
However, from what I’ve seen from the stats, Hum Ec has enrolled strong students. Whatever the admit percentages are in a particular year.
@monydad Thank you for the detailed responses! I see that some schools, including human ec, are contract schools, the chances are lower if you’re out of state?
@monydad could you elaborate on what constitutes/shows to the adcom an “actual affinity?” I could see how if someone wanted major in computer science could develop their own app and stuff like that but what about for PAM?
- There is no data available to the public to show whether the chances are better, worse, or the same for out of state applicants vs. in-state applicants.
- Re: showing 'actual affinity" : your example seems like a good one. Thinking up examples for various other majors such as PAM would use up too many of my remaining brain cells, and I need to conserve them. So I’m afraid I’ll have to leave that for others.
But if it’s right, affinity shouldn’t be hard to show, as you would have been doing related things already. Through interest, not get into a particular college.
The way it’s supposed to go is:
-You are good in math & science stuff, and are really interested in computers.
- as a consequence of those abilities and interests you involve yourself in all sorts of “computer-geek” activities, both inside and outside of school. Because that’s what you like to do.
- Now a couple years later you have to start applying to colleges. The colleges that appeal to you are the ones that have good programs in computer science. Because that’s what you think you like, and want.
- When it comes to their application it is a trivial matter to show your well-founded interest in computer stuff. You’ve been doing it for years. Because that’s what you like, it is who you are. Not because you want to get admitted to a particular college.
I can’t speak for PAM specifically, but I can tell you there are prospective applicants to Hum Ec who have such developed affinities. My son & I attended a Hum Ec information session, some years ago.
At the beginning of the session, the adcom went around the table and had each student talk a bit about their backgrounds and interests. Those other kids all had some pretty darned on-point backgrounds that made application to Hum Ec seem perfectly reasonable. All but my son. He wound up not applying.