Unsure about Boston College acceptance rate

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
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<p>Hello- I’m confused about the Boston College acceptance rate</p>

<p>US News has the 2015 acceptance rate at 33.2%:</p>

<p><a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/boston-college-2128”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/boston-college-2128</a></p>

<p>The Boston College website shows an acceptance rate of less than 10% which is Ivy League caliber:</p>

<p>“Admission to Boston College has become increasingly competitive as more students with superior academic records, intellectual curiosity, and scholarly promise continue to apply. For the Class of 2018, there were nearly 24,000 applications for 2,250 places in the four undergraduate divisions.”</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/freshman.html”>http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/freshman.html</a></p>

<p>Am I missing something? It can’t be both less than 10% and 33.2%</p>

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<p>They need to accept more than 2250 in order to fill all those seats. Not everyone accepts their offer of admission. This is know as the yield. :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>Acceptance Rate: 34% | Yield: 30%</p>

<p>They accept about 3x the seats.</p>

<p><a href=“Facts and Figures - About BC - Boston College”>http://www.bc.edu/about/bc-facts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Oh I see.</p>

<p>Wow- 3X the seats -isn’t that excessive? Is that because the HYP applicants have BC as a safety?</p>

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<p>Yes and no. All colleges accept “extra” students because a certain number of them will turn them down (for whatever reasons). The actual acceptance rate varies from school to school and is dependent on the historic yield.</p>

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<p>In general, yield during RD is inversely proportional to USNews’ ranking. Schools like Harvard and Stanford have a yield of ~80%. UMiami has a yield of <20%, so they accept 5+ times more than they need to fill a class.</p>

<p>Podunk State accepts everyone who is still breathing, and hopes enough show up on the first day of class.</p>

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<p>BC’s acceptance rate is much higher than what it advertises. If you only include qualified and semi-qualified applicants I bet it is over 50%. Schools like BC are very high profile and attract a lot applicants that don’t have a chance of getting in. The school still uses them to show how “selective” it is. Compared to the NESCAC schools and schools like Colgate etc, BC is much easier.</p>

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<p>You can say that about any college, including Harvard and Stanford. </p>

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<p>Harvard and Stanford et al actively solicit applications from “a lot of applicants that don’t have a chance of getting in”.</p>

<p>Also, BC added an non-optional supplemental essay last year (or the year before?) which dropped their application pool significantly. Sure, many of those writing the supplemental may not have a “chance of getting in,” but I would guess that most kids won’t waste their time on an supplemental for a school where odds are really low. (It’s a waste of senior year.)</p>

<p>fwiw: Amherst and Williams, two NESCAC schools, are among the most competitive in the country, so yeah, BC and nearly every other school in the country is less selective. Ditto Tufts & Midd.</p>

<p>But Conn College? Seriously?</p>

<p>Top decile in HS class:</p>

<p>BC= ~85%</p>

<p>CC = 53%</p>

<p>'Gate = 76%</p>

<p>Colby = 64%</p>

<p>Trinity, with mean test scores in the low 600’s?</p>