USNA amoungst the elite in selection rates

Colleges and Universities A-Z Naval Academy - Annapolis
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<p>College acceptance rates: How many get in?<br>
Updated 11/8/2006 </p>

<p>With acceptance rates under 13%, Harvard, Yale and Princeton are indeed extremely selective. But looking just at them gives a very skewed picture.
"When we read stories about how hard a time people are having getting into those very selective institutions, it's not the tip of the iceberg — it's the fly on the tip of the iceberg." says David Hawkins of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. </p>

<p>Using data that colleges reported to the U.S. Department of Education, Hawkins crunched application and acceptance numbers for 857 four-year, not-for-profit colleges in the country that accepted more than 1,000 students in 2004. In this chart, only 2.6% of the schools accepted fewer than 25% of their applicants, while 82.5% accepted more than half.</p>

<p>Some caveats: Data are from 2004, the latest year available, and because they're self-reported they are incomplete and subject to entry error. Filtering out colleges that accept fewer than 1,000 students cuts out not only scores of colleges with 100% acceptance rates, some with just one student, but also a number of highly selective schools, including conservatories and all-scholarship schools. The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which is both, accepted 19 out of 330 applicants for a 5.8% acceptance rate.</p>

<p>To check individual schools, including many not on the list, go to the U.S. Department of Education's College Opportunities Online Locator at nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool.</p>

<p>Name Applications Accepted Acceptance Rate
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 19,690 2,054 10.4% </p>

<p>YALE UNIVERSITY 17,735 2,014 11.4% </p>

<p>PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 13,695 1,733 12.7% </p>

<p>STANFORD UNIVERSITY 19,172 2,486 13.0% </p>

<p>COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 17,258 2,275 13.2% </p>

<p>CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY-SAN LUIS OBISPO 21,794 3,465 15.9% </p>

<p>MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 10,466 1,665 15.9% </p>

<p>BROWN UNIVERSITY 15,285 2,505 16.4% </p>

<p>In 2010 USNA had 10,747 applicants and 1215 were admitted or 11.3%. This makes USNA more selective than Yale University.</p>

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<p>I'd be cautious about making that comparison. Not apples to apples, despite common terminology. I believe implying or stating that USNA ... or the other SAs ... has an analogous, comparable acceptance rate is misleading. I'm not touting the Ivies. I'll pick USNA's "whole person" approach anyday, especially when one factors in the implicit values applicants must bring to their candidacy.</p>

<p>When the HYPs of the world discontinue charging app fees across the board AND require medical and physical exams then it may merit closer examination.</p>

<p>However, most higher ed researchers would prbly say there are only 30-50 genuinely "selective" colleges and u's out of the 3,000+ four-year institutions. USNA is unquestionably one of those. Most of the rest are Harvard wannabes, at least in terms of their admit stats.</p>

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<p>The USNA admissions office claims to have the second most selective rate behind Yale. LT Bobby Jones claims that Navy is probably first because Yale fudges their numbers. :p</p>

<p>Acceptance rates according to the College Board:</p>

<p>USNA - 13%</p>

<p>USMA - 14%</p>

<p>USAFA - 18%</p>

<p>USCGA - 26%</p>

<p>Stanford - 12%</p>

<p>MIT - 14%</p>

<p>Georgia Tech - 67%</p>

<p>RPI - 78%</p>

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<p>Got to agree with WP, not comparing apples to apples. </p>

<p>Putting GaTech numbers at 67% is also misleading to anyone from out of the state of Georgia. Take some of the state systems like California that have a state mandated acceptance rate for instate students at ~90%, that leaves the out of state/international acceptance rate down at 10% thus becoming highly selective for that segment of applicants.</p>

<p>You really do need to be wary of any "acceptance" rates etc. as schools can report what they want and how they want, just to get their numbers more competitive.</p>

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<p>I don't understand. If X number of applicants send in a package and Y number of those applicants are accepted, then Y/X is the acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Since the numbers X and Y are both defined the same at all schools, and are mutually exclusive across all schools, why would the comparison be invalid?</p>

<p>Granted, if a school lies about X and Y, then all bets are off, but that's true for any kind of analysis: Garbage In, Garbage Out.</p>

<p>Have I missed something? :confused:</p>

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<p>^^^^ if you are, then I am missing something too....</p>

<p>The admission rates, in my understanding of what is reported by Princeton Review and US News and World report, are derived by total # of applicants / total # accepted.</p>

<p>I would think that formula is standard across the board....??????</p>

<p>If anything, I would suggest admission to any of the federal academies is even harder as there are so many more hurdles (physical requirements, nominations, BGO interview rating, etc) that factor into things, not to mention the geographic distribution that must be achieved- certainly factors that don't play into other institutions...</p>

<p>certainly not for the faint of heart, no matter how you look at it!</p>

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<p>I think the one aspect of this discussion that makes it almost impossible to compare admission rates and the selectivity that is derived from those numbers is the definition of an applicant and at one point do you consider that application in your calculation. It would appear from some of the numbers submitted that you are comparing schools in at least two categories; those that pool all their applicants regardless of qualifications and those that report their data based on the progress of qualified applicants. The USCGA for example states that they typically see around 6000 applicants; the final pool that receives letters of acceptance is less than 400, of which less than 300 accept and attend. Based on that, their "rate of acceptance” would be about 7%. The data that is being reported is based on the total number found to be qualified for consideration; typically around 1400-1500. If you use that figure you would end up around the figure of 26% cited above. I'm sure that Harvard and the majority of the other universities cited above are reporting "gross" figures of applicants and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out they play with those numbers to improve their position. Depending on what data you choose to use you can drive the outcome in favor of or against your school of choice. To me it’s a non issue, as there is no question that the whole person aspect of service academies puts them in a league of their own, without even getting into the number of hurdles each applicant has to cross just to reach a point of consideration.</p>

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<p>^^^^^
Figures can lie and liars can figure. :D</p>

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<p>Ditto to "I'm sure that Harvard and the majority of the other universities cited above are reporting "gross" figures of applicants and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out they play with those numbers to improve their position."</p>

<p>What is considered an applicant:</p>

<p>Son interviewed at one of the "elite" selective colleges because it worked to do so when he was visiting the campus. Filled out their preliminary application (it is so easy to do with Common App) Sent SAT scores, sent transcript and then decided not to apply. He never filled out their specific form, sent any of their required essays, never sent letters of reference and never paid the application fee.</p>

<p>Was he an applicant? He received a letter the beginning of April placing him on their wait list. (This is a name school with an acceptance rate of 18%) He says he didn't apply, They say he did! So it goes. You can define the numbers any way you like to get the results that make you look good.</p>