Most Popular LAC in America

circuitrider · February 3, 2016, 5:31pm

In all likelihood, Wesleyan is the most popular LAC in the country, with over 12,000 applications this year, an increase of 22% over the year before:

http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2016/02/02/many-many-more-applicants-to-wes/

jman457 · February 4, 2016, 10:59pm

Oh well there goes my already slim chance of getting in.

foosondaughter · February 4, 2016, 11:20pm

circuitrider · February 5, 2016, 12:02am

There’s clearly something weird about Parchment:

http://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Wesleyan+University&with=Harvey+Mudd+College

http://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Wesleyan+University&with=Claremont+McKenna+College

http://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Wesleyan+University&with=Colgate+University

http://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Wesleyan+University&with=University+of+Michigan±+Ann+Arbor

8bagels · February 5, 2016, 12:14am

Parchment is nonsense.

ThankYouforHelp · February 5, 2016, 1:42am

Parchment definitely is nonsense, and no one should rely on it for anything.

But it also is nonsense to say that Wesleyan is the most popular LAC in the country based on that limited criteria. By that same criteria, Boston University is the most popular private university in the country.

And don’t get me wrong, I like Wesleyan and think it is a great place to go to college. I just think this is a silly claim to make.

circuitrider · February 5, 2016, 2:23am

I’m pretty sure NYU is the most popular private university in the country.

intparent · February 5, 2016, 2:26am

Anecdotally from besotted CC posters, you may be right (if you exclude the Ivies).

OHMomof2 · February 5, 2016, 5:43pm

BU indeed gets more apps than any other private college in the US. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2015/09/17/10-colleges-that-receive-the-most-applications

otisp · February 6, 2016, 8:07pm

Wesleyan is an awesome school, but again, be careful about drawing a sweeping conclusion based on a single statistic. For instance, looking at the percentage of admitted students who actually decide to go there, Wes has a respectable 35%, but still lower than W=45%, A=39%, S=42%, P=48%. And, it’s easy to argue the significance of that, too!

circuitrider · February 7, 2016, 9:24am

It’s an interesting sidebar. Especially, if you still have to ask, what does “W” stand for?

bloodmoon · February 7, 2016, 3:22pm

Wesleyan may be the most popular LAC application this year. Time will tell what this means for their yield rate. A combination of application numbers and yield rate will say more about their real popularity. The Wesleyan blog article seems a bit disingenuous - not only is this the 2nd year Wesleyan has been test optional, but perhaps more importantly, Wesleyan eliminated any supplemental essays this year. Eliminating the supplements is a well used strategy of schools looking to increase their application numbers across all spectrum of students. Not only can it encourage the first generation college kids who may not have lots of resources and advisors, but it encourages the casual “why not” applications from kids who have all the advantages and may have their true sights set on the ivy’s or Amherst or Williams. Kids who were deferred from their first choice LAC or ivy in mid December found it very easy to simply submit one more very quick & easy application to Wesleyan this year. In contrast, colleges that want to improve their yield rates often add supplement questions - requiring even short supplement questions is thought to weed out those kids who are not serious about a school. Wesleyan seems to be playing with their numbers here.

circuitrider · February 8, 2016, 5:56pm

@bloodmoon

That might be true for Harvard, Yale and Brown applicants, but you must understand that Amherst and Williams would have to increase their total number of applicants by 50% in the case of the former and nearly 100% in the case of the latter Little Three, in order for that to be plausible:

Williams - Total Apps 6,883 (Class of 2019)
Amherst - Total Apps 8,568 (Class of 2019)

OHMomof2 · February 8, 2016, 6:22pm

Wesleyan has more than 50% more students than those schools too. (3224/Wes vs 1792/A and 2099/W)

ThankYouforHelp · February 8, 2016, 8:23pm

Harvard and Stanford have 80 percent yield rates, but they don’t get the most applications. That is not because most applicants are not interested in Harvard and Stanford, but because the overwhelming majority of applicants understand that it is a waste of time for them to apply to Harvard and Stanford due to the fact that they have a zero point zero chance of getting in.

The most applications always are going to be filed at the schools that are well regarded, yet where admission is conceivable for the most applicants. Let’s use Boston University as an example. A large school in a well regarded city with lots of open seats for freshmen every single year.

For some applicants (the ones with a chance at Harvard and Stanford and the like), BU is a good safety choice just in case they don’t get into one of the super-competitive colleges. That means 10-15 thousand applications in the door, none of whom really want to go to BU.

For a larger group of applicants, BU is a match. Maybe not the first choice for all of them, but an admissions match. There’s 20 thousand more applications in the door. most of the ones where BU will get their entering class.

And for many more applicants, BU is a major reach but “why the heck not give it a try, its in Boston and its big so at least I have some chance of getting in.” There’s 25 thousand more applications, most of whom don’t have much chance of getting in.

So BU gets 55 thousand applicants. It has to accept 20 thousand of them them to fill its class, because it has a yield rate of only 20 percent. Ultimately, I don’t think the number of applicants BU gets reflects that it is the most popular private college in America.

Again, I like Wes and my older D considered it, and my other D will be applying to it. But I don’t think touting this particular statistic does much good.

circuitrider · February 8, 2016, 9:43pm

I agree with you that it helps to have some strong structural underpinnings in order to be in contention. That’s true of any popularity contest. For example, it certainly helps for a university to be in close proximity to a metropolitan center. In Wesleyan’s case, it is almost exactly half-way between New York City and Boston; it appeals to both New England prep school kids as well as Bronx High School of Science and Fordham Prep kids. Add the California entertainment industry to the mix and you don’t need to resort to a lot of mind-reading.

ThankYouforHelp · February 9, 2016, 12:50am

True. But the biggest structural underpinnings are the two facts that 1) Wes is easier to get into and 2) Wes is significantly larger than the other top LACs. Many more applicants realistically view it as a possibility for them to gain admission to Wes in comparison to, say, the other two members of the Little Three. So they get more applications.

That doesn’t translate into a popularity contest because under that logic you also would have to say that BU is more “popular” than Stanford because it gets more applications…even though we all know that 99 percent of the students at BU would transfer to Stanford in a flash if they could.

Look, I don’t want it to start to seem like I’m trying to knock Wes or compare it unfavorably to other schools, so I’m going to let it go. I just don’t think this stat means what you think it means.

circuitrider · February 9, 2016, 3:30am

Barring the possibility that Williams doubles in popularity overnight, and assuming Wesleyan admits the same number of applicants it has for the past ten years or so, Wesleyan will be just as difficult to get into as Williams.

merc81 · February 10, 2016, 2:49am

Would Wesleyan settle for being the second most popular LAC in America? Colby News reports that the Waterville school has received 9833 applications for the class of 2020. This implies an application per available space rate 24% greater than the titular school, as unbelievable as that sounds.

circuitrider · February 10, 2016, 4:08am

@merc81, I think the point around which @ThankYouforHelp and others have been circling from the beginning of this thread is that popularity and selectivity are demonstrably different concepts. I DO see a potential four-way tie between Wesleyan, Williams, Middlebury and Colby as the second hardest NESCAC colleges to get into, .

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Most Popular LAC in America

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