<p>I've just googled the acceptance rate for both college and now stanford has lower acceptance rate than harvard !! stanford has 5% while harvard has 6%! omg! How is this possible ! </p>
<p>is it true???</p>
<p>it shouldn’t be surprising as stanford has become a very people college.It fact this is the second time in a row stanford edged out harvard. Stanford had over 42,000 applicants, while harvard had about 34,000 applicants.</p>
<p>Acceptance rate is mostly a function of the total number of applicant, because the number of accepted people is fairly static, as it is limited by class size. Stanford saw an increase in applicant pool, while harvard had a slight decrease in applicant pool.</p>
<p>Even though harvard accepted less people(2023 people), than stanford(2138). The applicant pool, was in favour of stanford to tip the scale the other way.</p>
<p>Stanford was more selective than Harvard last year, too, but by a narrower margin, iirc.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/led-by-stanfords-5-top-colleges-acceptance-rates-hit-new-lows.html”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/led-by-stanfords-5-top-colleges-acceptance-rates-hit-new-lows.html</a></p>
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<p>Oh for goodness sakes. This is just statistics. It is like people are assuming that all 25-50k applicants these schools get are all perfect applicants or something, as if the changes reflects that they are becoming more “choosey” and not getting more or less apps. The scores and GPAs at these schools are so high, that the incoming classes are no longer changing that much each year, so it’s not like a stellar applicants chances are necessarily going down. The school either likes you or it doesn’t after achieving stellar stats. and I really doubt they would have liked the applicant more if they had only applied the previous year. These schools already have certain academic and social cultures (that is reflective of the selection process in part) and it isn’t rapidly changing at each of them. </p>
<p>^ concur. OP: your “surprise” is what’s worrisome. I suppose you feel that somehow Harvard’s veneer is tarnished by this? Hopefully one’s admiration or concern for an institute of learning is not based on such shallow criteria. But here in the College Confidential universe – to say that it’s common is akin to asking if water is wet.</p>
<p>dood now i cant go harvard becus i can do sooooooooo much better with my 2090 and 3.8 gpa!11!!! i was on the KEY CLUB!!!</p>
<p>Ha ha ha ha ha lol</p>
<p>Not entirely on topic, but med school admissions tend to be around 2% for competitive schools…</p>
<p>As has been said, it’s just statistics.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates at specialized arts schools (e.g. Juilliard, NYU/Tisch Film School, et al) are lower than that.</p>
<p>What’s new? Stanford had the lowest admission rate since last year.</p>
<p>How can this be? Stanford is 20% more expensive than Harvard! (costs $90 vs. $75 to apply) :)</p>
<p>I wonder if this is simply that Stanford gave out more fee waivers than Harvard. Hard to measure what it means. Fans of Stanford sports? Free applications to more people?</p>
<p>Pop trends: Tiger Woods (Stanford) vs. Matt Damon (Harvard)</p>
<p>In the end it is totally irrelevant, whether Stanford or Harvard or MIT or Princeton they are all beyond amazing places with insane admission criteria. I had relatives go to all of them - they were amazing then, they are even more amazing now.</p>
<p>Stanford attracts more applicants because it’s the best in the west. Harvard competes with it’s equals on the east. </p>
<p>As discussed, this isn’t news. Stanford has had more applications than Harvard for years. Of course Cornell gets more applications than both Stanford and Harvard, USC receives more applications than Cornell, and UCLA receives tremendously more applications than any of the above. Stanford and Harvard have a lower admit rate with fewer applicants than Cornell, USC, UCLA, and others due to a combination of a smaller entering class size and a higher yield. The latter involves a combination of factors, including some yield manipulation, most notably with Harvard. There are also small schools that have a lower admit rate than both Stanford and Harvard. For example, Curtis has had acceptance rates of under 3% some years. USC’s school of cinematic arts is in the same ballpark some years. </p>
<p>Over the past 3 years, the number of students applying to Stanford has increased by 23%, while Harvard has seen a decreasing number of applicants. I suspect this trend primarily relates to an increased amount of interest in tech and CS in recent years. Stanford has had a surge of CS majors during this period, and is located in a more desirable area for CS majors and startups. Stanford’s football successes in recent years probably also played a role. One study found that colleges average a 3% increase in applications during years they finish in the top 10 and >7% for years that they win the championship. Stanford been in a BSC bowl in each of the past 4 years.</p>
<p>Then u should apply to Harvard. Its admit rate is a WHOPPING 15% greater than Stanford’s ;)</p>
<p>Oh @Data10 you should know better than that.
Stanford ended up #11 last year so that study doesn’t apply. It was ranked #20 in 2012, #8 in 2011, #12 in 2010, not even listed in 2009. </p>
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I’m not sure where you are getting these numbers from? Maybe you are looking at a ranking list with a pulldown that defaults to the first week of the season in 2010-12, instead of the end of the season, after the teams have played their non-bowl games? Stanford’s final BCS ranking in each of the past 4 years are below (final BCS ranking occurs prior to bowl, in week 14 or 15):</p>
<p>2010 - #4 (Won Orange Bowl)
2011 - #4 (OT Loss in Fiesta Bowl)
2012 - #6 (Won Rose Bowl)
2013 - #5 (Lost Rose Bowl)</p>
<p>You’re right. I retract my tongue in cheek response. I must not have had the final rankings on the web sites I looked up. Wikipedia to the rescue.</p>
<p>Haha lmao. Oh…was this serious? Missed the breaking nrws on CNN.</p>
<p>I harp on Stanford’s test scores now and then (lower than HYP, MIT, Caltech, etc.), but it’s impressive how they are able to maintain such a great overall academic and athletic profile.</p>
<p>Duke and Duke basketball… same thing.</p>