We visited Denison University today for their admitted student open house and President Weinberg said they had just shy of 15,000 applications this year which brings their acceptance rate to 17%. I guess this is the case for all liberal arts colleges…. Getting more and more selective?
1 Like
Hopefully as your daughter spends more time on the “hill” her excitement to start her time at Denison grows.
Thank you for the update on the number of applications Denison received this year. Did the 17% admitted come from President Weinberg or are you calculating this number? In either case, falling acceptance rates at Denison is something that as been happening in recent years. I not sure we can extrapolate what is happening at Denison more broadly to all LACs until we see more data.
1 Like
As the most popular ones start having acceptance rates that are so low that most qualified applicants will be rejected, many applicants will start adding colleges which are slightly less popular. These colleges will become more popular, and more colleges will be added.
This is especially true for LACs, probably because, until recently, most people would never have heard of any LAC that was more than two states over. Almost nobody in Chicago would know of most NESCACs, and the name “Carleton” would have meant nothing to college-bound students in Boston.
As LACs become more popular, and as the number of students applying to all “elite” colleges increases, the number of popular LACs will increase.
What is interesting is that the least popular LACs are struggling to survive, and are closing. It seems that it is a race for some colleges as to whether they will be “discovered” before they are forced to close.
I would guess though, that colleges which are really struggling may have a difficult time attracting students.
Not to all LACs, but the ones that were somewhat less popular than colleges like CMC, Pomona, or Williams, meaning that they had acceptance rates in the 40%-50% range. Denison, Grinnell, Colgate, Kenyon, Scripps, Lafayette, Occidental, Denison, Connecticut, and some others have had dropping acceptance rates since 2010 or so.
Some solidly performing LACs are still not seeing rising applications, like Beloit, Lawrence University, Kalamazoo, etc.
1 Like
There is so much to like about Denison! While few schools are what they were when I was in college, this is one that has totally transformed. Very exciting, relevant place.
5 Likes
We went to an Accepted Students Day last year. What a special place! I loved that they combine their firm commitment to the liberal arts with the practicality of the Knowlton Center and Denison Edge.
5 Likes
I think the generous merit aid has helped raise Denison’s profile. I’ve told my son that he’d be surprised how little it takes to disqualify a family from need based aid, and the price of college is astronomical. He’s noticed that some Div I schools that he considers “elite” have had higher admission rates in the past few years. But those schools are known to give little to no merit aid. They probably reserve funds to attract their athletes and tippy top students. So that leaves many people chasing schools who are known to give merit aid to a high percentage of students.
Denison also has the self inflicted problem of a housing crisis, since they require 100% of students to live on campus. The classes of 2025 and 2026 broke records. I already heard rumblings of housing issues last summer in the Denison parents FB page. That was especially true for the class of 2025, since the college was prioritizing incoming freshmen and upper class students. To be honest, this is a significant concern of mine (as a parent of a current 2026 student). I think everyone expected the admissions rate to drop this year, as they are could not accept as many due to the tight housing situation.
Those were his words.
1 Like
They have plans to build another dorm, I think. This is what a professor told us at the welcoming parent reception.
2 Likes
Denison college newspaper reported on April 20
DENISON ADMISSION RATE DROPS TO 17% FOR INCOMING CLASS OF 2027
The entering class of 2027 is a group admitted from roughly 14,500 applicants, a 19% increase from last year and a record number in Denison’s history. About 1,600 of those applications were early decision, a 43% increase from last year.
2 Likes
Here’s the link for the article: Denison admission rate drops to 17% for incoming class of 2027 – The Denisonian.
2 Likes
Wow. Feeling really proud of my kid hearing the acceptance rate was that low this year. He applied RD and was accepted last month. There couldn’t have been very many RD acceptances if they had 1,600 ED applicants. We liked Denison a lot but it ended up being his most expensive option by far (55K/yr COA out of pocket). We’re a pretty debt-averse family, so – as wonderful as the school is – he was fine with declining their offer.
2 Likes
Colleges at which acceptance rates have dropped for a decade or more may experience a regression toward the mean in future years — that is, their acceptance rates may go up significantly within the next decade.
It all depends on whether the trend of students trying to get in to the most popular college that will accept them continues to expand.
Since, based on the piece that I posted on another thread, it has been going on and continuing to expand for the past 60 years, I don’t see it changing any time soon.
1 Like
There is also the international student variable, especially at schools with the financial resources and commitment to meet their financial aid needs.
1 Like