<p>why is dartmouths ranking so low in the princeton review toughest to get into rankings? it's at 19, behind duke, pomona, amherst, williams, georgetown and franklin, when it seems like it should be harder to get into than those</p>
<p>At least according to acceptance rate, a common but not sole gauge of selectivity, I would agree with you.</p>
<p>Acceptance rate for Class of 2011 (approximated - doesn't count waitlist acceptances yet) <a href="http://www.hernandezcollegeconsulting.com/resources/early2007statistics.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hernandezcollegeconsulting.com/resources/early2007statistics.html</a> </p>
<p>Dartmouth - 15.27%
Pomona - 15.8%
Williams - 17.4%
Amherst - 17.5%
Duke - 19.67%
Georgetown - 20%
Franklin - ?</p>
<p>Its just a matter of '.23' or '.13'</p>
<p>LACs may have more self-selected applicant pools, I don't know. The Princeton Review list is whacked - Middlebury is not more selective than Amherst and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I have never liked Princeton Review for its rankings.....always crap.. well almost :D</p>
<p>i always thought dartmouths pool was self selective :-s</p>
<p>I think there are quite a few people who apply to Dartmouth "because it is in the Ivy League". I assume it is a self-selective pool - but the school is more well known (albeith slightly) than most LACs.</p>
<p>That said, when you get to schools like Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Dartmouth...you're splitting hairs about which is the most selective. I believe that Pomona and Williams are both going to the waitlist...Amherst and Dartmouth are overenrolled. This will change admissions rates. Some schools only select students whom they believe "fit the mold" and will enroll - I am not aware of any of the aforementioned schools doing this, but it could happen. </p>
<p>Amherst only has about 28% of the freshman class enrolling ED - if they took 50% ED, as many other elite schools do, they could drop their acceptance rate down to about 10%! </p>
<p>The sheer acceptance rate tells very little, which is why I take issue with Claremont McKenna's wikipedia page: "In 2007, 16% of applicants were admitted to Claremont McKenna, making it the most selective liberal arts college in the nation tied with Pomona College."</p>