Princeton has become unselective

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>This is ridiculous. This year's admissions is a joke. 3 out of five of my friends applied to Princeton and got in early admissions, compared to none last year in the regular admissions. I also got admitted. Looking at the 726 admitted students out of only 3500 students, I am less convinced to go to Princeton. Now, I am just disappointed. Princeton was more selective years before, and now I don't feel special anymore going to this place-although I am still happy to be admitted nonetheless. But the result is bittersweet.</p>

<p>What is going on with Princeton? Has the admissions bubble burst? Yale's early dropped by like 30%. Columbia's by 5%. Harvard has an 18% admit rate. This is back to the ancient times of admissions. Going to HYPSC just feels less prestigious...</p>

2

<p>Ok seriously…you should be grateful. There are a couple of people in my school that applied ED and all got rejected. Maybe 3 out of the 5 people that applied to Princeton from your school were accepted but there are really smart students from other schools that got rejected.</p>

3

<p>I didn’t know you wanted to go to these schools to feel special…</p>

4

<p>Dear LanaYo - just do not go to Princeton. I can imagine that being among all those less than desirable students your life would be hell.</p>

5

<p>LanaYo-</p>

<p>Yale and Columbia admissions dropped by 30% and 5% respectively because the schools people ACTUALLY had as their first choice (I.E. Princeton and Harvard) actually had an option this year. There was no “bubble” to compare to last year because there was no SCEA last year. Princeton’s rate (20%) is comparable to Harvards, and it and Harvard are tied for the number 1 university in the U.S.</p>

<p>If you don’t feel comfortable associating yourself with “unspecial” admits such as me and everyone else admitted this year, then feel free to go somewhere else.</p>

6

<p>This post is rather hurtful to those of us who were deferred despite having terrific test scores (2360), grades, and activities.</p>

7

<p>■■■■■…</p>

<p>Source: Look on the Yale forum…aham, same thread. ;)</p>

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<p>■■■■■ <333333</p>

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<p>For the sake of Princeton '16 matriculants, I hope someone like the OP *doesn’t *attend with you. On the other hand, the campus is large enough to allow you to avoid such a noisome character.</p>

10

<p>Don’t feed the ■■■■■…</p>

11

<p>Withdraw your application from Princeton and write a letter advocating for your friends. They’ll appreciate it a lot more than you did.</p>

12

<p>^Agreed! </p>

<p>Also agree with kameronsmith; although the pool seems generally strong, I was surprised at the credentials of some admitted applicants.</p>

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<p>Sorry if I sounded like a jerk everyone. This is actually my first time using CollegeConfidential as a registered user. It was late, and I kinda let my feeling get the best of me. I like Princeton. That is why I applied early out of all the schools. </p>

<p>But I think that everybody, on one hand, will apply to a school because he/she likes it. On the other hand, they also weigh in the selectivity factor. Years before, schools like Princeton had low admit rates, and this year, it jumped dramatically. I don’t think we can argue that, or else I wouldn’t have this feeling. Neither would my parents, my friends, and it seems my other peers at my school. </p>

<p>With respect to some of your comments, I feel sorry for sounding like a jerk.
As with jkwang, you seem to also convey my feeling. You probably applied to Princeton also looking at the UsNews ranking. Seeing other school’s like Yale’s and Columbia’s application drop, it probably consoled you.</p>

<p>I’m just being honest. I know everyone is extremely emotional these few days after the result. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings…</p>

14

<p>Also, I do not know what is a ■■■■■. But it sounds like it is undesirable to post in both forums. I will try to ask for the removal of the thread in the Yale forum. I didn’t mean to spam forums.</p>

<p>Forgive me, I tried but I don’t know how…</p>

15

<p>Students who apply SCEA are statistically much more likely to enroll at that school, and also somewhat stronger applicants. Hence the higher admit rate. There are always far more qualified applicants than spots, anyway.</p>

<p>UChicago has something like a 30% early admit rate. Harvard was over 15% this year for SCEA I think.</p>

<p>If you’re really that concerned with Princeton’s selectivity, let me beg you: don’t enroll here. Hate to be harsh but you come across as rather petty. If you were really so smart you’d know that the early admit rates and the overall admit rates are very different things. And if you were someone I wanted at my school you wouldn’t be concerned anyway. You looked at the RANKINGS to pick your school? I know it’s a thing people do, but seriously. Gross. Ew.</p>

16

<p>This doesn’t make any sense. The difference between Harvard and Princeton’s EA %s was THREE percent.</p>

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<p>This person is uninformed. And most likely a ■■■■■. Please enroll somewhere “more selective.” I agree with tiger14.</p>

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<p>@PureVision: the difference between Yale and Princeton is nearly 6%</p>

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<p>@LanaYo,</p>

<p>The 21% acceptance rate in the Princeton SCEA process does not mean the school is becoming less selective. You need to take into account the strength of the Princeton SCEA applicant pool. There are very qualified applicants who have passed up the chance to apply EA or ED to other very prestigious universities. Suffice to say, an applicant would not enter the Princeton SCEA pool unless he or she felt like there was some chance of being accepted.</p>

<p>Please also consider these rough calculations.</p>

<p>Last year Princeton received approximately 27,000 applications. This year there were 3,400 SCEA applicants. Let’s assume they will receive 21,000 RD applications for this year. I am assuming a reduced number of total overall applications since fewer acceptance letters will be available following SCEA. Not a significant reduction, because there are plenty of applicants throughout the world who have the credentials to get accepted at Princeton, and they have a reasonable basis for believing they have a shot despite more than half the spots being filled after SCEA. I will assume there are 2,000 deferred SCEA applicants, thus producing an RD pool of 23,000. </p>

<p>The targeted entering class at Princeton consists of approximately 1,300 students. Assume that 700 out of the 726 EA accepted applicants will enroll. That leaves 600 spots to fill.</p>

<p>Last year Princeton sent out 2,282 acceptance letters to fill their class of 1,300. That is a yield rate of 57%. I would tend to think the Princeton yield rate will be slightly higher this year, with Harvard also sending out fewer acceptance letters in the RD process. Let’s assume a 65% yield rate. (If anything, the yield rate could be higher than 65%.) That would mean Princeton will send out 923 RD acceptances (which includes some deferred EA applicants and wait-listed RD applicants) to fill the remaining 600 spots.</p>

<p>The acceptance rate for the RD pool will be 4.0% (923 out of 23,000). Overall, 1,640 acceptance letters (923 RD + 726 EA) out of 24,400 applications, thus producing an overall acceptance rate of 6.7%.</p>

<p>Yes, I made assumptions regarding the number of RD applicants and the yield rate, but I think those assumptions will be fairly close to the real figures. </p>

<p>Does that put your elitist mind more at ease?</p>

20

<p>I think you’re significantly overestimating the yield for SCEA applicants. I know quite a few people who applied strategically, not necessarily because they knew it was their first choice. (Indeed, that was the case for 3/5 applicants from my school.)</p>