<p>Today, at a small group meeting, the admissions officer told me their acceptance rate for Early Decision was 28%. However, their ED rate for freshman entering Fall 2008 was 40% (according to the common data set). Did the ED rate really drop 12% over one year?</p>
<p>it’s possible… last year was a really, really tough year :/</p>
<p>They’re not usually ones to lie. NU is actually usually known for beig more honest/ open with its stats. So it’s possible. It’s also possible you mis-heard, he mis-spoke, or you misunderstood.</p>
<p>Is there anywhere I can find the admissions stats for 2013?</p>
<p>Would this be it?</p>
<p>[2008-09</a> First-time, first-year (freshman) admission, Common Data Set - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/commondata/2008-09/c.htm]2008-09”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/commondata/2008-09/c.htm)</p>
<p>No those are the stats for last year. It says freshmen entering fall 2008.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the 28% number was referring to RD. ED acceptance rates, as far as I remember, have typically been upwards of 40%. And RD has typically been in the high 20s, making perfect sense.</p>
<p>That’s what I thought.</p>
<p>As someone who has spent a bit too much in the info sessions, I’m pretty sure our ED acceptance rate is a bit higher than the high 20s. 40% also seems a bit on the high side. Either way, the acceptance in ED is significantly higher than in RD.</p>
<p>However, this does not mean that you will get in ED, but not in RD. Instead, (as proven by quantitative factors) applicants in ED tend to have higher scores and are more “serious” about the application process. Surely you can imagine there are a few people with relatively low scores who “take a chance” on NU RD, but have their eyes actually set on a school with looser admissions standards. The other kicker is that ED people obviously are “interested” in NU. A big thing about Northwestern is that many students apply to the top 15 schools on the rankings and call it an admissions cycle. NU is VERY different and has unique advantages and disadvantages. Only those students who understand these distinctions and realize that NU really is the place for them will be compelled to apply ED, since doing so “risks” not getting to HYPS.</p>
<p>I don’t have the numbers, but hopefully that sheds a bit more light on the context and underlying mean of the discussion.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the clarification. I’m applying ED because my GPA is slightly below average, my test scores are slightly above average, and my interest and lightyears above average.</p>
<p>Well they had 1712 applicants for ED - does anyone know how many were accepted during ED? I think I read somewhere that it filled 25% of its class during ED so that would be about 530 students - I think they took about 2120 total. So that about 30%, so if my numbers are off a bit 28% isn’t out of the question. I don’t have hard numbers -maybe someone else can find additional info on the ED numbers, but I can’t seem to find where they posted the actual results.</p>
<p>yea a lot of people applied ED this year, I think 28 percent is a realistic number.</p>
<p>Do you know if applicants are supposed to spike this year or will things calm down?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect applications to “spike”. NU saw a big increase a few years ago after getting with the Common App. We also saw an increase in the acceptance rate and a decrease in yield. The average SAT score also skyrocketed. All of those factors fit the basic story: Common App means a lot of top kids with really high SAT scores only applied to NU because it was “easy”. Many got in and decided to go the top schools (HYPS) they really wanted to go to. A few got in, got rejected from the “top schools” and then realized that NU wasn’t such a bad place after all.</p>
<p>The rate of increase is decreasing, but we’ll still going up (basic calculus, anyone?).</p>
<p>The delayed effects of the October 08 crash may come into play. There are two schools of thought: no one in their right mind is going to come to NU with the $50k/yr pricetag OR NU’s financial aid resources, especially per capita, are so much higher that we might be more competitive with state schools than ever before. State schools are beholden to tightening government budgets and have historically benefited from a low price. So they haven’t needed exorbitant financial aid budgets.</p>
<p>All things considered, I’d expect a very modest increase in applications with a similar increase in SAT scores.</p>