<p>I see that the Early Decision rate for the Fu Foundation is 46%, which is actually more than the ED rate at Cornell (40%). Is this because all of the applicants are extremely qualified, or is it (gasp) actually fairly easy (relatively speaking) to get into the Fu Foundation? Like, compare it to Cornell.</p>
<p>According to Wikipedia, it is more difficult to get into Fu than Cornell, Northwestern or Virginia: </p>
<p>"For comparison purposes, at top colleges, the selection for Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science's Class of 2010 was more selective than Cornell, Northwestern, or University of Virginia." -<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu_Foundation">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu_Foundation</a></p>
<p>Wow..Wikipedia has everything. lol</p>
<p>Note that the OP was talking about the early decision rate only.
Wikipedia states that Fu is more difficult OVERALL, and if you check the rates overall Fu-22.7 to Cornell-36.5. But early I think Cornell has a slighlty lower admission rate.</p>
<p>The year before i applied (2001), the ED accept rate was 60%. The year I applied it was around 50%.</p>
<p>They always say that it's because the ED pools are "self-selective" and a better set of applicants present themselves in ED, but there was clearly a statistical advantage there and I took it. The advantage has clearly lessened, but ED to the Fu Foundation is definitely a backdoor into columbia imho.</p>
<p>I think Fu overall (or was it RD?) rate could drop under 20% this year. Thoughts?</p>
<p>This would be excellent. I wonder, though, if it has anything to do with the increased academic prowess of SEAS or just reflects the baby boom echo/increasing appeal of New York.</p>
<p>Both, and also just the fact that all schools are becoming more difficult to get into overall.</p>
<p>And more people just apply to more schools.</p>