<p>I attended a function at the engineering school on Saturday with my daughter. I did not grow up in Michigan, nor did I attend the University of Michigan, but many of the parents there were quick to tell everyone they did. I was blown away at how fixated and borderline obsessed the majority of these alums were with various statistics, especially the lowering of the acceptance rate. I attended a fairly prominent private school a couple of decades ago and not only do I have no idea what the acceptance rate was when I attended, I couldn't care less what it currently is. I know it's still a very good school, and my daughter calls it a "minor reach" for her.</p>
<p>Can someone explain to me why these people are so fixated on lowering a statistic that doesn't apply to their time at the school? Further, why do people care about the number at all? With the invent of the common app, the acceptance rate is such bologna, subject to such easy manipulation. It's without question that the University of Michigan is still the greatest value in the state and one of the best public schools in the nation. Hearing grads from decades past boast about a 2012 acceptance rate was certainly entertaining, in a sad way.</p>
<p>It happens at every top university. Some people are interested in the statistics, while many others couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>It may also have just been an excuse to start talking with other people. If everyone was there for an admissions event, talking about something somewhat relevant (their admission or how they believe admissions has changed over the years) is a nice quick way to get a conversation started.</p>
<p>There has been a noted increase in applications in the last few years since Michigan joined the common application so it is still a relative novelty that comes up in conversation. It think the parents talk about it because some of us wonder if we would have been accepted if we applied today.</p>
<p>Lowering acceptance rate is something alums interested in the university itself are concerned with. Some people don’t care about it, others do, just like anything else.</p>
<p>Plus, the data was probably a lot more difficult to come by a few decades ago than it is now. I know exactly where UCLA’s data is, as I’m sure many of the Michigan posters on here know where their data is as well.</p>
<p>It’s also interesting from a competitive point of view. If you take a look at any two or more institutions, there will always be some criterion to compare them by. How is Michigan’s acceptance rate compared to the other top 25 of so universities in the nation? How good are its graduate programs? What about it’s endowment? It’s medical center? It’s football team? etc, etc.</p>
<p>With regard to Michigan’s acceptance rate, it is low for a public university (30 something percent) but it’s still quite a bit higher than peer schools (Berkeley and UCLA are in the low twenties; don’t know what UVa and UNC are at.)</p>
<p>I didn’t look at it as a conversation starter, it felt like they enjoyed bragging about it. “Did you see <em>we’re</em> down to xx%? Hopefully <em>we’re</em> even lower next year.” And they’d rattle off a few colleges they were apparently fixated on, including my alma mater.</p>
<p>I can’t grasp why an alum that received their degree when the school was much more accessible, would display such glee for something that doesn’t pertain to their time at the school. When they kept saying “we’re” all I could think of was, no, the 18 and 19-year-olds that make up the class of 2017 are down to xx%.</p>
<p>Nobody’s noticed anything bizarre about Parent08765? He supposedly never attended Michigan and yet all four of his posts to date (most of which bear an uncanny resemblance to those of a certain prior poster who was banned for multiple personality syndrome a couple of months ago) have been about Michigan…and all of them negative. As Arsenio Hall would say…“things that make you go hmmm…!”</p>
<p>No one applying to a school would like to see a decrease in acceptance rate as that would mean a lower chance. Only those have enrolled may feel better or feel lucky that they are not applying now. I would love to see the ranking of my college going up and that would make people appreciate my degree more. The lower acceptance rate would be just a sign of competitiveness, not the goal or a measurement how good a school is. I am sure there are schools with 70% acceptance rate (e.g. UIUC) that have better ranking than some schools with 50% acceptance rate. Some schools even send out invitation for free application and no essay requirement. I am sure they will get a lower acceptance rate by doing that. So it is not very meaningful by comparing acceptance rate alone. For instance, just by joining CommonApp would bring down the acceptance rate.
I also went to the TechDay on Saturday. I have not heard anyone bragging about the lower acceptance rate. I don’t think that is a general observation that deserves much discussion on it.</p>
<p>I also noticed it. Pretty much any time you see a new thread started here by a poster who has only a tiny number of other posts, and the original post in that thread is hyperventilating about some trivial perceived negative about the University of Michigan, I’m suspicious it’s our old “friend.”</p>
<p>Be that as it may, even if some Michigan alums do talk about the school’s acceptance rate, that’s hardly novel or unusual. The Harvard alums I know talk about Harvard’s acceptance rate all the time. So do many University of Minnesota alums, mostly in the context of expressing concern that their kids might not be able to gain admission, now that the university is somewhat more selective than it was back in their day. Either that, or expressing gratitude that their kid did get in against longer odds than they faced a generation ago. This is perfectly normal. It’s not a “fixation” or “obsession.” </p>
<p>Not like an obsessive fixation on criticizing a school you never attended and have no connection to, behind a mask of a thousand different screen names and assumed identities. Now that’s truly abnormal, and disturbingly so.</p>