<p>Is it harder to get into some of the ivy leagues or university of chicago?</p>
<p>Depends on which Ivy. According to 2011 National University rankings, Chicago is lower than UPenn, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton, tied with Dartmouth, and higher than Cornell or Brown. This is, however, truly nitpicking- the true differences in admissions data are quite small. Still, even these small differences are significant- Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are all definitely a level above Chicago in both selectivity and prestige.</p>
<p>The US News overall ranking are not what one should look at to address OPs question. One would better look at its selectivity rankings, not the overall rankings.</p>
<p>Also bear in mind, U Chicago has essentially a liberal arts curriculum, Some other universities of potential interest may have multiple colleges, only one of which is their liberal arts college. In all the cases I’m familiar with, the level of selectivity among the individual colleges within the university varies. An aggregate selectivity rating derived using admissions results aggregated across all the disparate colleges of such university may be somewhat misleading when considering admissions odds at only a particular one of its colleges.</p>
<p>As a U Chicago wannabe, maybe look up the admissions rates yourself and analyze them?</p>
<p>As Monydad posted, it depends upon the program to which you are applying within the university or college. </p>
<p>As a more general overview, I had similar questions and realized that just looking at USNWR rankings, admission rates, or midpoint SAT scores alone did not always provide a very useful selectivity ranking. So I put together a formula with midpoint SAT/ACT scores and admission rates of the top 70 or so schools, to try to give a clearer picture for myself based on data points only (to try to make sense of the often opposing subjective viewpoints posted on CC) . Below are the top 16 results, which includes all the Ivies, as ordered by the formula. </p>
<p>Selectivity Ranking</p>
<h2>Rank Score School</h2>
<p>Rank 1 100 Harvard University
Rank 1 100 Princeton University
Rank 3 99 Yale University
Rank 3 99 Columbia University
Rank 5 98 California Inst of Tech
Rank 5 98 Stanford University
Rank 7 97 MA Inst of Technology
Rank 7 97 Brown University
Rank 7 97 University of Pennsylvania
Rank 10 96 Dartmouth College
Rank 10 96 Duke University
Rank 12 95 University of Chicago
Rank 12 95 Washington Univ in St Louis
Rank 12 95 Northwestern University
Rank 12 95 Pomona College
Rank 16 94 Vanderbilt University
Rank 16 94 Cornell University</p>
<p>Formula:</p>
<h2>70% SAT/ACT midpoint scores</h2>
<p>55%|SAT midpoint between 25% - 75% ranges for enrolled freshman
15%|ACT midpoint between 25% - 75% ranges for enrolled freshman</p>
<h2>30% Admissions Selectivity</h2>
<p>20%|Admission rate
5%|# of freshman openings as a percentage of total # of applicants
5%|Total # of applicants</p>
<p>The admission rates used are projections based on prior year yields and the 2011 application numbers as recently released by the admission offices of the colleges/universities. </p>
<p>These rankings are not presented as anything other than an attempt to examine selectivity based on more than a single data point. The weightings and the data points used were contructed from my study of the issue (and is limited by the consistant data available from the CDS). If you find different data points or weighting to be more useful, then you are encouraged to construct your own formulas.</p>
<p>Wait a second…UChicago takes into account the major one wishes to pursue in the college during admissions? Or am I totally misunderstanding “it depends upon the program to which you are applying within the university or college” bit?</p>
<p>^Was not meant to be UC specific - “program” was meant as a catch-all term for applying to different colleges within a university, for example. Applying to different majors can also impact your admission odds at many schools.</p>
<p>Yes, like Wharton is harder to get into than the rest of Penn.</p>
<p>But UChi doesn’t have individual colleges…I’m kinda confused D:.</p>
<p>All those schools listed are nearly as selective as the others. It’s a lottery, so getting into one has little bearing on getting into another (yes, there are exceptions).</p>
<p>What monydad meant (I presume) is that some universities’ acceptance rates hold little meaning on their own as these universities comprise different schools and colleges whose acceptance standards may vary greatly. UChicago, on the other hand, practices centralized admission.</p>
<p>A CC user compiled a more comprehensive study of selectivity, which included SAT scores, class rank, and acceptance rate. I think this is a fairly accurate list (though I know Chicagos numbers have increased considerably since this was compiled):</p>
<p>1 Cal Tech
2 Yale
3 Harvard
4 MIT
5 Princeton
6 Columbia
7 WUSTL
8 Harvey Mudd
9 Penn
10 Swarthmore
11 Stanford
12 Dartmouth
13 Brown
14 Pomona
15 Duke
16 Williams
17 Amherst
18 Northwestern
19 Georgetown
20 Cornell
21 Notre Dame
22 Claremont McK
23 Rice
24 Haverford
25 Chicago</p>
<p>(<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/687793-selectivity-ranking-national-us-lacs-combined-usnews-method.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/687793-selectivity-ranking-national-us-lacs-combined-usnews-method.html</a>)</p>
<p>^ This 2-year old list is 40% weighted to whether or not an enrolled freshman is in top 10% of HS class. Considering how few applicants report class rank to elite schools, and the inconsistency with which this data seems to be reported (even the OP did not fully believe this data) on the CDS, IMO it would difficult to understand why this number should be weighted so heavily, if at all. And I am not convinced that anyone familiar with these schools would rate Washington University St. Louis as a more challenging admit than UPenn, Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, and Stanford. Or that UChicago would be considered a less challenging admit than many of the schools above it, or the many other inconsistencies with admission rates and mid-point SAT scores on this list. Personally, I don’t believe this list is particularly insightful in regards to selectivity. But, of course, your mileage may vary and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.</p>
<p>
I don’t see why a student’s class rank should be disregarded entirely; the weighting may be a little heavy, but in my opinion class rank is just as important as acceptance rate (which is can be manipulated, and is more a measure of a school’s “popularity”).
Well, sometimes data like this can be illuminating; it can clear up common misconceptions.
Certainly, but I think many CC users also find this list acceptable, though it may be imperfect.</p>
<p>@hinsdale</p>
<p>Uhh, according to AP statistics, you dont need a very large amount of the population to be representative. Around 50% of kids report their rank in class. Laws of statistics holds that the reported rank holds for the rest of the 50%. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the ranking criteria is fine. I dont see any glaring flaws with using % of kids hailing from top 10%. Higher ranked kids = more selectivity. Sounds reasonable.</p>
<p>I would say slightly easier to get into, but respected either almost or completely equally.</p>
<p>Want to reiterate my point: stats and other objective criteria are similar, but the rest is super random as a result of subjectivity including essays, fit, and rationale of your particular admission officer</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some schools have significantly lower percentage of applicants that report rank versus other schools. And you would not say a sample is representative unless it were random. You can’t make a statistical argument, for example, claiming that the mid-point SAT score reported by a “no-SAT-required” college (perhaps only 50% provide SAT scores) is therefore representative of the midpoint SAT score of all those that enrolled (this may be the case but you could not make the argument statisically with these data points). </p>
<p>Anyway, as I stated previously, its just my opinion. If you believe in the validity of the underlying data and the results from this formula seem reasonable to you, then you can feel comfortable relying on the list as an accurate assessment, and can use as you please.</p>
<p>^Apparently your mileage varies. You are certainly entitled to an opinion:)</p>