<p>According to USNWR, Bates acceptance rate was 31% and Colby is 34% last year, which is not a particularly significant difference. </p>
<p>Congratulations on getting into Colby- its a great school- but its a fool’s errand to try to make sense of why one get’s into one school and not another comparably selective school.</p>
<p>Essays, activities, who read your application, perceived interest and fit and so many other factors go into who gets accepted through each school’s admissions process, that you just need to roll with it and be thankful for your acceptances and plan your future.</p>
<p>Congratulations and best of luck wherever you choose.</p>
<p>The USNWR stats are a little outdated. Last year Bates accepted 26.9 percent of applicants and had its highest yield in six years. Assuming the number of applications remained roughly the same the high yield makes it likely the college accepted the same or a lower percentage of applicants in this admissions cycle.</p>
<p>As illinoisdad indicates, historically Colby has lagged Bates by a few percentage points (last year Colby accepted 29 percent of applicants) but because they’re both quite selective students are often accepted to one but not the other. An acceptance to either should be celebrated!</p>
<p>^ Sounds like the class of '15. The letters for this year have just gone out so I don’t think schools have released their admissions stats yet.
I think Bates and Colby get a similar number of applications but Bates has a better yield.</p>
<p>I was rejected at Colby and accepted at Bates. I personally think that the two schools are similar but different - it’s not necessarily harder to get into one or the other, they are just looking for different things. USNWR has them tied in liberal arts college rankings, and their acceptance rates are almost identical… maybe I’m bitter over my rejection, but I certainly wouldn’t hold one school about the other!</p>
<p>I was waitlisted. The letter says that as a general rule, financial aid is expended on earlier admitted candidates. Does that mean that there’s positively no aid available for waitlisted peeps that do get in? Or should I just take the spot and hope for the best?</p>
<p>If you look at their factbook page you will see that Bates takes almost 80% of their class either ED or off the wait list. They traditionally accept very few applicants regular decision and then go heavy on the wait list. The last few years they have pulled over 100 kids that way. That’s how they make their yields look so low.</p>
<p>jrjparent-
Not true. Last year Bates took 1397 kids regular admit and only a dozen kids off their waiting list. They were slightly overenrolled because of a high yield. Many of their peer schools took a higher percentage early and took more off the waiting list. Do you have a link?</p>
<p>@Faryal, Yeppp… Lol the Fedex cannot deliver to my home since it was empty during the day : ) So I had to pick it up At the Fedex station at Beijing, lol. I was so anxious on the way. When I opened the Fedex envelope, I saw the white fat envelope saying “Congratulations!” I literally jumped and screamed there. Ppl were looking but I was soooooooooooooooooooooooo happy : ) Lol</p>
The congratulatory message was on the envelope? I hope I get a similar letter today.</p>