<p>I am trying to re-find an interesting thread which contained some interesting statistics about the relatively low percentage of US Colleges that have a high degree of competition. Tried multiple site searches. the gyst was that majority of schools are zero to low competition to get in. Thank you in advance if anyone can link it...</p>
<p>I think US News and World Report rankings indicate the selectivity level of the colleges. If you can find that then you’ll have your info.</p>
<p>Some of the numbers also should be here: [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)</p>
<p>Some of the colleges that are not selective overall, are still selective for certain majors (such as nursing).</p>
<p>At a typical private college that is not selective overall in admissions, a student with good credentials is going to pay much less in tuition because of merit scholarships. In fact, many of the less selective colleges offer automatic merit scholarships for certain test scores or class ranks.</p>
<p>Once the weaker students drop out, many less selective colleges end up with a more selective junior and senior class.</p>
<p>Admission rates can be skewed. For example, some colleges flood the market with offers for free applications, and make the application extremely easy to complete, with no essay required. Some colleges have also been known to count partial applications that were never completed. </p>
<p>The number of applications to a college typically increases greatly when they start accepting the Common App., because it is little or no extra work to send it in.</p>
<p>If you go to the US News rankings site and click on the tab that says Rankings Data, you will see what the acceptance rate is. If you click on that column heading (Fall 2011 Acceptance Rate) it will sort by that column. Click once and it goes from least selective to most selective. Click twice and it goes from most selective to least (at the top are about a dozen N/A if you do it this way.)</p>
<p>[National</a> University | Rankings | Data | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/data/spp+50]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/data/spp+50)</p>
<p>You will see that once you get outside the top 50-100 ranked schools, the acceptance rate is better than 50%. (Some state universities rank high but accept a large fraction so are sort-of outliers.)</p>
<p>Top 100 highest acceptance rate -
[Top</a> 100 - Highest Acceptance Rates | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-acceptance-rate]Top”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-acceptance-rate)</p>
<p>Sometimes the numbers can be misleading such as when schools have a self-selecting applicant pool. Smith is a good example, acceptance rate of 45%, but average GPA is 3.88 and the test scores are also high. Because it is all female, they just get fewer applications.
Sometimes engineering schools have similar issues, it’s a self-selecting applicant pool.</p>
<p>Some selective public colleges also have very different admissions rates for out of state vs. in-state students. However, more and more public colleges have been actively seeking out of state students because they typically pay much more, particularly if the college does not offer much aid to out of staters.</p>
<p>Maybe this is it-</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/803753-selectivity-myth-most-colleges-less-selective-not-more.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/803753-selectivity-myth-most-colleges-less-selective-not-more.html</a></p>
<p>I don’t think the trend for the top 50 schools is in the less selective direction, though. They are getting more and more applications every year, with little/no growth in class size. And it couldn’t be just the common app. </p>
<p>Couple of examples:</p>
<p>Dartmouth (from 2009)
[TheDartmouth.com:</a> College receives record number of applications](<a href=“http://thedartmouth.com/2009/01/15/news/admissions]TheDartmouth.com:”>http://thedartmouth.com/2009/01/15/news/admissions)</p>
<p>Vanderbilt (from 2012)
[Degree</a> of difficulty: Competitiveness in undergrad admissions on the rise - InsideVandy: Administration](<a href=“Inside Vandy: Vanderbilt University's student news source”>Inside Vandy: Vanderbilt University's student news source)</p>
<p>Many schools (most have increases from 2011 to 2012, some substantial)
[Colleges</a> Report 2012 Admissions Statistics - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/college-admits-2012/]Colleges”>Colleges Report 2012 Admissions Statistics - The New York Times)</p>
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<p>Then again, maybe this isn’t it.</p>
<p>Now that I look at the thread it looks like it meandered a bit off the topic suggested by the title and the article linked in the OP.</p>
<p>
Actually I think that’s the whole point of the Hoxby study. </p>
<p>Handful (and handful is a relative term) of Top schools = more selective</p>
<p>Everything else = less selective</p>
<p>Remember, I believe there are a few thousand colleges in this country.</p>
<p>Yes, you are right bovertine – I get what you are saying. But the ones that are selective are getting a lot more selective fast. I think the most astounding statistic I came across in the New York Times list is USC which jumped from 37K applications in 2011 to 46K applications in 2012. I am guessing they will top 50K next year.</p>
<p>Many universities are selective in SOME of their colleges. I’m familiar with University of Cincinnati, where it’s extremely difficult to get into the conservatory & the art/design school. </p>
<p>Agree, Beantowngirl. Case Western comes to mind, as having a self-selected student body.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, to the extent that state universities have to cut capacity due to budget cuts, they are becoming more selective. For example, CSUs in California are generally more selective than they used to be (more of them are impacted, and more majors are impacted – impaction means that baseline CSU eligibility does not necessarily mean admission).</p>
<p>But open admission community colleges, where the bulk of college enrollment is, are becoming neither more nor less selective.</p>
<p>CSUs have always been classified as selective. Even in my 1974 college guide. There are thousands of schools less selective than the CSUs that most people have never heard of. I hadn’t</p>
<p>Oh, and they aren’t community colleges. They are four year colleges.</p>
<p>I was not claiming that CSUs were community colleges.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, CSUs are getting more selective than they used to be. It used to be that baseline CSU eligibility got into most CSUs. Now, most CSUs are impacted and have higher admission thresholds than baseline CSU eligibility (although a few are not impacted).</p>
<p>Baseline eligibility for CSU (for California residents): <a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
<p>I don’t think it’s hard to get into anything but the top 100 or so or more college applications. The rest of them are a piece of cake.</p>
<p>UCB- I know you don’t think CSUs are CCs. Mty comment us that there are at least hundreds of non selective four year schools that are not CCs.Yes, some CSUs are more selective than they’ve been in the past and some are more selective than others. But CSUs have always been classified as selective admit schools. Non selective means they take pretty much anyone. i think CSUs were designed to accept the top third of high school students in CA and have been that way for a long time.</p>
<p>Thank you @bovertine, and others, You definitely have answered to the content of my question.</p>
<p>There was a post here on College Confidential and it was a short sound-bite which basically summarized all of the above and effectively stated that many or most schools in USA are open or nearly open enrollment and this suggested to me that the entire system, even schools which turn away most, may be more profit-driven than I realize.</p>
<p>Spent all day trying to find a hidden post amongst millions. smiiiiiley face</p>