Pitzer accepts only 26% of applicants

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pitzer College
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<p>From the SF Chronicle,
<a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/04/07/MNGTTP4OGT1.DTL%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/04/07/MNGTTP4OGT1.DTL&lt;/a>

[quote]
Some small colleges that once were considered safe bets for getting in have become dramatically more selective in whom they accept, posting record low admission rates this year.</p>

<p>While the competition has long been fierce at the nation's top-tier colleges and universities, experts say the trend is spreading to small liberal arts colleges such as Pitzer College in Southern California and Bowdoin College in Maine.
...
Every year, Jon Reider, a former Stanford University admissions official and director of college counseling at the private University High School in San Francisco, cautions his students that the frenzy is worse than the reality. But this year, he said, acceptance and rejection letters received by students show a marked difference.</p>

<p>"The schools that traditionally have been a little less selective than the most selective schools ... Claremont, Pitzer, Colgate, Hamilton, Skidmore, Trinity, Middlebury ... just went bananas," Reider said.
...
Pitzer College, which has about 960 students and is east of Los Angeles, is one of the private campuses that has seen a huge jump in interest from students and subsequently has become much more selective.</p>

<p>Ten years ago, it accepted 65 of every 100 applicants. This year, it took 26 students out of every 100, down from 38 in 100 just last year. Its average SAT score has increased too, from 1,206 last year to 1,323 this year.</p>

<p>"It is huge," said Pitzer President Laura Trombley. "In a way it is kind of affirming. When you are this selective, people begin to certainly rethink their conception or perception of the institution."

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<p>this is unbelievable; no wonder i got waitlisted by so many small liberal art colleges</p>

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<p>Wow, that's pretty crazy. It's funny, because I applied ED even though Pitzer was in the "safety" range for me (albeit better than my other "safeties"). I wanted to go to one of the Claremonts, and my stats weren't up to par with Pomona or CMC, Harvey Mudd and Scripps were useless to me since I'm a guy and I'm not at all interested in engineering/tech stuff. I still would have applied to Pomona or CMC despite my having no chance of getting in (not to mention, I didn't care for the vibe I got from CMC students and my tour guide). I also liked Pitzer a lot when I visited, so I applied ED and got in.</p>

<p>I mean, it makes sense that they have an acceptance rate like this this year. They've been improving every year for several years now, and of course there are more students applying to college. At the same time, Pitzer's already a good school in a great location with outstanding resources in the other schools (I've heard comparisons with the 5C consortium in western MA of Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire, and UMass Amherst, but I'd say the Claremonts are better and located much closer to each other, adding convenience). It stands to reason that 26% would be the next step, but it's just shocking to see it in print. I would have freaked out so much before I was accepted had I known it would be this low. Good for Pitzer, I suppose, I know they've been working really hard to reach this point and beyond, and it's quite impressive for a school to go from 70ish% to 26% in less than ten years. The only thing is that I pity the next few classes of students; they'll have an even harder time getting in than any of us who got in.</p>

<p>And even more congratulations to those who were accepted, this is nuts.</p>