Northwestern acceptance rate falls to record low

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2016/03/23/campus/northwesterns-acceptance-rate-hits-record-low-at-10-7-percent/

Surprised by the data. Expected a 1 percent point drop, not three. NU is creeping it’s way even higher!

Dang, you beat me to posting this. 10.7% is pretty low though. I suppose the news being out there that our school has such a low acceptance rate might help NU grads out in the job market maybe, so this news ain’t all that bad. Also there’s some part of me that really wants that number to get under 10% soon, yes for the aforementioned reason but to a large extent for the same reason that you want one specific one of those animated boats or cars to win the race around the animated course on the big screen at sports games - there’s a thrill in cheering for a result that doesn’t do much for you at all.

Congrats to all the people that made it through those tough admissions rounds! I hope those of them who choose NU have a great time next year, and I look forward to seeing all these bright, qualified people on campus.

I am a junior at NU right now, and I am fairly convinced that I would not have been accepted had there been a 10% acceptance rate when I applied, lol. Congrats to everyone

Seriously. I definitely would not have gotten accepted this year.

Looking at the article and the results thread, it seems that it is extremely hard to get into RD unless you have a `hook’: legacy, minority, or Pell grant awardee (or even international, whose numbers they are trying to increase).

Given that 55% of the class has already been filled, and with goals like 20% Pell grant awardees, around 15% URM, etc., the odds of an unhooked candidates in RD are even lower than what 8% acceptance rate would indicate (Pell grant awardees could be getting in ED also, but probably in small numbers because financial aid package is going to be very important for them).

Just something for future applicants to keep in mind.

Why is Northwestern decreasing the size of the freshman class from 2025 to 1925? Is this temporary while some dorms are renovated?

@osuprof Northwestern is still majority white. It’s hard for anyone to get in.

While NU undergrad population is still majority white, the class that entered in 2015 was actually less than 50% white

http://enrollment.northwestern.edu/pdf/common-data/2015-16.pdf (see page 3)

Not sure how this played out in admissions for that year, or for this year for that matter.

@thatrunnerkid International students

Actually NU is only about 10% international. Another 20% are Asian American with 12% Hispanic and 9% African American.

http://admissions.northwestern.edu/documents/open-minds2015.pdf

@CaliCash looks like 87 out of the total international undergraduates enrolled in 2015 were from countries where the majority of the population is usually considered “white” in American culture (https://issuu.com/interoff/docs/2015iostatsfinal_web - see page 8). Lets assume the amount of int’l student by country is approximately the same across all (normally) four years of undergrad, and that these, and only these students are the ones who fit the normally-considered-“white”-in-America mold. This means, rounding up, that 22 undergrad students each entering class are considered “white” in American culture. Taking this into consideration - adding this value to the “White, non-Hispanic” degree-seeking first time category in the previous document linked to - the class that entered this past fall is likely less than half non-Hispanic White.

I do, however, agree that it is very difficult for anyone to get in.