Is it me, or Have Acceptance Rates Plummeted This Year?

Applying to College
21

I am seriously depressed now

22

Tell me about it.

23

@SaphireNY‌, college admissions to the elites in the RD round is pretty brutal these days, but if your objective is the Street, understand that sheer drive will get you pretty far (and there are semi-targets that are far easier to get in to than the Ivies/equivalents that could get you there).

24

Purple, Thanks but A little late now but have younger bros, so such as schools for them that are just as good but easier to get accepted

25

@tehspacetv‌ based on traditional yield rates, Skidmore probably admitted 3000 students to fill 655 seats. That would give them an acceptance rate of 3000/8500, or 35%. That’s pretty close to last year’s rate.

26

Fluctuating yield must be scary to schools. I remember when my sister arrived at BC in 1985, they had to put 3 to a room. Their yield was too high. I suppose that’s why the WLs seem to be getting more popular. (No scientific data here).

27

Interesting. Of the top 5 on that list, 3 are free (service academies), 1 tuition free (Berea). 1 occupies a very specific religious niche, and #6 is a very inexpensive HBCU.

28

Regarding the US News article, the key sentence is near the end: “The rate can be affected by a school’s early decision . . . options.”

The more useful data, IMO, would be to take out all of the Early Decisions. Those applicants are not choosing between schools they have been admitted to–they have been admitted to just one.

29

@MidwestDad3‌

Someone made a ranking system using that exact data you are talking about:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1729335-the-most-desirable-colleges-ranking-by-figleaves.html

30

Unfortunately, this is the ranking system most people seems to use http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/978040-ranking-colleges-by-prestigiosity-p1.html

31

Boston College acceptance rate dropped from 34% to 28% this year. I chalk it up to there be 27% more applicants this year (All info from a BC newspaper article). Sucks that the year colleges are getting more selective is the year I had to apply :confused:

32

Tufts published in a recent admissions blog post that although the overall number of applications they recieved this year and last year is almost exactly the same, the acceptance rate itself dropped from 17.4 percent to 16 percent because they predict a higher yield as a result of significantly lower acceptance rates at other top colleges.