<p>Acceptance rates don't tell the whole story at all.
One needs to look at the overall qualifications of the applicant pool and those who choose to attend.
I think the best way to determine how selective a college is to look at the average SAT scores of those who were accepted, not even the average SAT of those who attend BUT the average SAT of those who were accepted. </p>
<p>For example, let's take a look at what I consider to be three peer schools: Brown, Penn, and Chicago.
They have identical SAT score ranges. (1330-1530)</p>
<p>Penn had a 16% acceptance rate, Brown had a 14% acceptance rate, and Chicago had a 34.7% acceptance rate.
From that evidence, one would think, "LOL!!! CHICAGO IS WAY LESS SELECTIVE THAN PENN OR BROWN!!! LOL!!!!" However, they all have the same academic qualifications.
What is going on here?</p>
<p>Why don't Penn & Brown take advantage of a larger applicant pool or is Chicago just getting lucky?<br>
Penn & Brown are doing exactly what they should be doing to get the most academically qualified class possible and Chicago isn't getting 'lucky'.
It is because the top 16% of Penn's applicant pool is likely just as qualified as the top 34.7% of Chicago's applicant pool. There isn't much data on this but I think you would find that Penn, Brown, and Chicago have very similar SAT averages when it comes to accepted students. </p>
<p>A counter-argument would be to look at the average SAT scores of those who don't get in. It could be that Penn/Brown have much higher SAT averages for those who don't get in than Chicago. However, from what I've seen, I don't think that is the case. I think there are more people with low academic qualifications applying to Penn/Brown than Chicago. It's irrelevant if Penn/Brown may waitlist/reject a few more 1560's than Chicago- Penn/Brown have to put the REJECT stamp on all the 1250's that are applying while Chicago may not have the same case.</p>
<p>My argument here is that acceptance rates do not tell the whole story because it assumes that everyone who applies to top colleges is equally intelligent and everyone knows that is not the case.</p>
<p>Obviously, I cannot make any assumptions till I get the facts.
I think that top universities would do a great service by posting the average test scores of those they accept, waitlist, and reject.
Some like Duke and Penn have the average SAT scores of those they accept but more should do this and they shouldn't be weary of putting up their average 'rejected' stats either.</p>
<p>Everyone, regardless of academic credentials, applies to ivies. Most probably because they want to see if they can get in/parental pressures.</p>
<p>UChicago’s applicant pool, however, is self-selecting. People who have heard of Yale have not heard of UChicago, thus, the overall pool of applicants at UC are generally more qualified than ivies’.</p>
<p>Chicago is indeed a self selecting audience. It’s reputation as the school “where fun goes to die” makes it a school for a rare bird who wants that kind of intense, intellectual environment.</p>
<p>Duke’s 25th-75th SAT range for accepted students
Trinity (1370-1550): approx. 1460
Pratt (1420-1560): approx. 1490</p>
<p>Penn’s 25th-75th SAT range for accepted students
Penn (1330-1540): approx. 1435</p>
<p>Duke’s acceptance rate (4202/20400): 20.598%
Penn’s acceptance rate (3888/22935): 16.9523%
Duke’s yield rate (1716/4202): 40.8377%
Penn’s yield rate (2445/3888): 62.8858%
% of Duke’s class via Early Decision (466/1716): 27.1562%
% of Penn’s class via Early Decision (1147/2445): 46.9121%
Duke’s yield rate w/o ED (1250/3727): 33.539%
Penn’s yield rate w/o ED (1298/2741): 47.355%</p>
<p>Duke has a higher SAT score average for admitted students than Penn but a higher acceptance rate.
I know of an AB scholar at Duke who got into HYP but didn’t get into Penn. He didn’t really care much when Penn didn’t take him after the other acceptances.
This seems to show some evidence that Penn may practice yield protection through Early Decision and other holistic and objective methods.</p>
<p>Chicago is incredibly self-selecting. Many are intimidated by the essays and don’t like it upon visiting.
For a lot of people (those who are not intellectually curious), it is the school “where fun goes to die”.</p>
<p>I think the 25th SAT percentile is indicative of academic selectivity while the 75th percentile is indicative of where the best and brightest are most likely to attend- when it comes to ranking schools based on these percentiles.</p>