Collegeboard.com says that the percent admitted at Tufts is 27, and the percent admitted at Rochester is 48. Why is there such a discrepancy? The schools look similar in many ways. I know that Tufts is often used as an ivy league safety, but then I would assume that students who show interest in the school, and show it’s not their safety (i.e. applying early decision, etc) have about the same chances of admission as at Rochester. Does anyone think why there is still such a discrepancy?
<p>Boston>>>>>Rochester. Do the math</p>
<p>you really think that's the reason? I feel like people would be less naive than that, and not factor that quite so much into a college search. I mean, I understand when people that live in New York don't apply to schools in California (my parents say I can't do that) but New York vs. Massachusetts? That doesn't make sense to me. Isn't the point of college the education and the people, not necessarily how "fun" the location is?</p>
<p>My advice. Don't dwell on the stats- visit the schools. My d was very unimpressed with the Tufts campus. She didn't even apply. On the other hand, she liked U of R very much. It was her safety school. Though she decided to go elsewhere, she would have been very content with U of R and it would have been a fine choice. Alot of kids use U of R as a safety school. ThaT MAY BE ENDING, AS IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING A BIT MORE POP
( Ooops! I hit the cap button) popular and more kids may be applying ED. Also- I went to school upstate NY. The winters are really long and very cold. That too may be a factor.</p>
<p>UofR is not some terrible school, in fact I quite like it, but one is more popular, which means they can afford to reject more students. Secondly, location is huge, I'd choose Tufts over UofR anyday simply because of location. And thirdly, I think Tufts is a slightly better school with more prestige in individual departments</p>
<p>The percent-accepted is truly a meaningless statistic. It is not at all atypical to see colleges where the average SAT score is 1040 to have acceptance rates of under 30%.</p>
<p>A fun fact is that based upon percent-accepted, the most prestigious college in the US each year is typically the Coast Guard Academy at 7-8%.</p>
<p>The only easily used selectivity index to compare college are the 50% SAT ranges.</p>
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<p>you really think that's the reason? </p>
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<p>It easily could be.</p>
<p>I think part of it really is location, location, location. Also, Tufts was better maintained than U of R (at least when we visited), and looks better when you are walking around.</p>
<p>The applicants at Rochester are more self selected.</p>
<p>what do you mean by "self selected?"</p>
<p>The percent-accepted doesn't really indicate the selectivity of a school. If a lot of people apply to a college and they all have low SAT scores and gpa's, then the college may only accept 25% because so many people applied, but the median SAT is low. If very few people apply to a college and they all have very SAT and gpa's, then the college may be able to accept 60% because so few people applied, but the median SAT is high.</p>
<p>This happens with the service academies like West Point and Annapolis. They accept a very low percentage of applicants, but the SAT scores are nowhere near HYP. A lot of average colleges where the median SAT score is 1050/1600 only accept 20-30% of the applicants because so many people apply.</p>
<p>Tufts is a very well known college in Boston that a lot of people applying to the Ivies also apply to. Rochester is very well known also, but primarily as an engineering school. Rochester has less applicants because they people who apply self-select themselves, but the quality of the applicants at RIT is very high.</p>
<p>dufus, just to clarify, I meant the University of Rochester, not Rochester Institute of Technology. But yes, I agree with what you're saying. We'll see where I'll end up!</p>
<p>Yeah, Boston > Rochester.</p>