Villanova is ridiculous

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I wouldn't be throwing a fit right now except my sister applied early action.</p>

<p>I really don't understand this school in terms of admissions. Its early stats indicate that their average SATs are 1360-1450 and ACTs are 30-33???? Are you kidding me?</p>

<p>Villanova</a> University: Early Action</p>

<p>If you add up their 75th percentiles on college board, it doesn't even break 1400. Are they seriously trying to say that their stats are that far off, or that they are that good of a school?</p>

<p>College</a> Search - Villanova University - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®</p>

<p>I don't mean to hate on this place, though I do hate their guts for beating us in the NCAAs last year, but this is NOT that great of a school. And their desire to pad their stats constantly is beginning to pis* me off. I called admissions and the secretary refused to put me through, and on top of that could not offer me any relevant information. This is coming from a school that refuses to be a part of the US News and World Report because they know their ranking would be so low as to lower alumni support monetarily. I really am getting fed up with this, and was wondering if anyone knew anything about early action statistics that were ACCURATE, not complete bullshi* and fabrications to look good...</p>

<p>btw, I do have a slight bias against Villanova as they did beat Duke and refused to give me a decent amount of money in scholarships. I will admit that, but still I find this ridiculous.</p>

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<p>When I noticed the differences between the Early Action and the Regular Decision scores, I was floored as well. I don’t know if they say that their EA scores are this high in order to dissuade students from applying EA, or if this is really the case. I find it somewhat surprising though.</p>

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<p>Maybe the EA kids at Villanova are kids who have been fantasizing and gunning for this college since they were embryos and have really high SAT scores or extensive use of Score Choice to make sure that they get in early.</p>

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<p>It means they have people using Nova as a match/safety through EA while waiting for their Ivy league decisions.</p>

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<p>I’ve often wondered why Villanova’s student SATs averaged only in the mid- to upper-1200s. As a well-known Catholic university near a major Eastern city, it would seem to have the potential to compete with Georgetown and Boston College. Its campus and setting are impressive enough to attract students who are looking for a distinctive university. I’m assuming that they’re choosing to employ their EA program as a carrot to attract applicants who will bump up their accepted student stats. If your sister applies RD (or was deferred to RD), she’ll probably be admitted then.</p>

<p>Villanova’s listed among the Master’s-level institutions in U.S. News (though they could opt to go to the National U. list) where they have the second-highest peer assessment rating of any Master’s school in the country.</p>

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<p>You must have a “slight bias” against a ton of schools…</p>

<p>At least Villanova offers Early Action (EA), which Duke is afraid to do. Because Duke knows that if it cannot lock up its early admits, it’d lose them to the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, etc.</p>

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<p>I do have a slight bias against Villanova as they did beat Duke and refused to give me a decent amount of money in scholarships. …</p>

<p>Those are reasons to hate a school? Do they have the similar size of endowment as Duke? If not, that is probably the reason. How much did Duke give you?</p>

<p>Villanova Freshmen Acceptance
Total applicants: 15,102
Total applicants who are accepted: 5,963 (39% acceptance rate)</p>

<p>Admissions Selectivity Rating: 96
SAT:
% Submitting Score: 82%
Critical Reading Middle 50%: 580 - 680
Math Middle 50%: 620 - 710
Writing Middle 50%: 590 - 680
ACT:
% Submitting Score: 18%
ACT Middle 50%: 28 - 31
Writing Middle 50%: 27 - 31</p>

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<p>“You must have a “slight bias” against a ton of schools…
At least Villanova offers Early Action (EA), which Duke is afraid to do. Because Duke knows that if it cannot lock up its early admits, it’d lose them to the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, etc.”</p>

<p>Why is it that I always run into you interestingguy? You just love to hate on Duke, and I don’t know why. I was not even bringing up my school, was just mentioning it for a frame of reference. For the record, Duke offers ED because it is a great institution that wants to lock in great kids early, not because it will lose kids, but will be able to guarantee certain facets of the class, such as regional diversity and ethnic diversity, without the CHANCE the kids will chose another school. And if the Ivies are so great why do 5 of them have early decision? If they are so wonderful, shouldn’t they all have EA so as not to be scared of losing kids to Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, etc.? Now back to the story.</p>

<p>“Those are reasons to hate a school? Do they have the similar size of endowment as Duke? If not, that is probably the reason. How much did Duke give you?”</p>

<p>Again, not the point looking for information for my sister, but Duke didn’t give me any money. They only have 20 full rides and do not offer partials. Even if they did, I doubt I would have got one. The kids at my school are incredibly smart, many (I would guestimate above 40% for RDs) choosing Duke over Ivies - most common are Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown in that order from kids I have met. And I don’t hate Villanova that much, more just kidding around. My uncle graduated number 1 in his class at Nova in the 60s, and my family is from the Philadelphia area. I am just a little mad at the fact that they are appearing to be better then they are, mainly because my sister is applying and wants to get in. If she gets in, I’ll be happy and think highly of Villanova. Just at this moment, with all the stresses already, less stat padding would have made the situation a little easier.</p>

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<p>I agree their posted stats do not make any sense at all… they must have a very very low yield. possibly need to give out more merit scholarships to attract the better acceptees?</p>

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<p>that merit $$$ comes in handy…</p>

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<p>Whoa, the EA stats on Nova’s website are way too high! But I wouldn’t have called the admissions office about it…</p>

<p>And based on interestingguy’s posts, it sounds like he has an obvious bias against Duke.</p>

12

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<p>Exactly.</p>

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<p>This thread (which you started, btw) is supposed to be only about Villanova’s EA policy and stats. But you cannot help but use Duke as a “frame of reference,” or bring it up whenever possible…</p>

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<p>According to the Revealed Preference ranking: HYPSM + Caltech >>> non-HYP ivies = AWS > ND > Georgetown > Duke</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/626-new-revealed-preference-ranking-released.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/626-new-revealed-preference-ranking-released.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>The non-HYP ivies still dominate Duke in cross-admit battles.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>College admissions are not fair and neither is the distribution of scholarship money or financial aid. The cold hard truth is its very unfair to many people. However, people often lose sight of their real objective, to excel and obtain an undergraduate degree, then obtain a job or go onto graduate school followed by a job. Too often, particularly here on CC, people associate ‘success’ in life with the name of the school they attend. Branding. School pride is fine. But let me disabuse you of the notion that success in life has anything to do with where you go to college in the narrow sense of its “brand” or “name.” It has everything to do with your work ethic, the content of what you learn, your ability to be opportunistic and creative and often factors such as your personality and emotional quotient. </p>

<p>Employers do not like people who spend their day reminding everyone where they went to college, except perhaps in the office NCAA basketball pool or the coming NCAA football bowl games. Performance is the key and getting along with others is often one of the most prized qualities in any employee, not whether they went to Duke or Stanford or Harvard or Yale. I believe I read once that there are more CEO’s from Ohio State than any college in the country. </p>

<p>Venting about Villanova because your sister applied there EA is a bit strange. If she was deferred or rejected, my condolences. Now move on and focus on your objectives and be helpful to your sister in her college search.</p>

<p>I tell my kids, while you will no doubt be affected by where you attend college, you are at the end of the day the same person regardless of where you attend. College just “rents you” for four years…four dramatic learning and growing years to be certain. But whether you learn and grow at UNC-Chapel Hill or Vanderbilt or Villanova or Princeton or Bryn Mawr or Vassar is really not all that important. You are not “magically” a superior human being just because you hold an acceptance letter from Duke or Harvard or any school. Nor are you inferior if your acceptance letter is from Ohio State or Missouri or Arizona. (Clemson is another matter altogether! LOL. Just kidding.) </p>

<p>I was in the grocery line a year ago and noticed a kid bagging groceries I knew from my kid’s high school. He was looking distressed and down. I asked him what was the matter. He replied that he didnt get into his top choice schools and was only going to a second tier state school. He felt ashamed he said. I quickly reprimanded him in a nice way and said, “No…embrace your school, be proud of your school and be even prouder of who you are and where you are going…you are going to college!” His eyes lit up…and then watered up…nobody had told him that. NOBODY! Somebody (and I suspect his parents as well) had told him he was a loser for getting into a respected second tier state school (not the flagship). Nobody told him to be proud and to embrace his school. He is now there and thriving I have heard from others.</p>

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<p>Did you seriously pull up 2 threads/surveys from 2004 and 2006 and call them new? Just wondering if you were really that ignorant</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/791276-duke-vanderbilt-cant-decide-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/791276-duke-vanderbilt-cant-decide-2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>For those who wish to ignore certain people’s posts: many of you have probably already done this, but for those who haven’t:</p>

<p>Go into “my control panel”. Under “settings & options”, click “edit ignore list”.</p>

<p>Add a name, click okay, and you’re all set. It doesn’t stop ■■■■■■ from signing on under new screen names, but you can pretty much tell who’s who by the tone of their posts. And there’s no limit to the number you can add to your “ignore list”.</p>

<p>Now maybe CC can go back to being informative and useful again.</p>

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<p>^ Thanks. I’ll add you to my list.</p>

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<p>At least Villanova offers Early Action (EA), which Duke is afraid to do. Because Duke knows that if it cannot lock up its early admits, it’d lose them to the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, etc."</p>

<p>There are so many flaws in this logic that I can’t begin to address them all. I don’t even attend Duke, and I was shocked to hear that you think Duke isn’t comparable to the Ivies, when in fact, its reputation is arguably stronger than some of the weaker Ivies such as Brown. I don’t put tremendous weight on rankings, but one look at US News and World Report’s rankings establish Duke as higher than a number of Ivies. Take a peek, and you’ll see your perception of Duke misinformed.</p>

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<p>Despite the fact that US News ranks Duke in the top ten and Brown outside the top fifteen, 78% of Duke vs. Brown cross-admits choose Brown.</p>

<p>[The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html]The”>The New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices)</p>

<p>Maybe Duke is over-ranked and Brown is under-ranked?</p>

<p>Both schools may have questionable admissions policies, however.</p>

<p>“Golden tracks shameful admissions policies at Duke, where the enrollment of privileged but underqualified applicants has helped elevate the school’s endowment ranking from 25th in 1980 to 16th in 2005; Brown is skewered for courting the offspring of entertainment industry notables.” (Publishers Weekly’s Book Review of The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges–and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates by Daniel Golden)</p>

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<p>You guys are missing something here:</p>

<p>The stats on Villanova’s website are for students ADMITTED under EA - not necessarily kids who chose to attend the school.</p>

<p>The stats on CollegeBoard are for students ATTENDING the school (and thus the best indicator of the test scores the average Villanova student has).</p>

<p>Clearly, many of the students with those high stats seen on Villanova’s website are using the school as an EA backup.</p>

<p>At any school that’s not HYPSM et al., the admitted students’ stats are gonna be a bit higher - in some cases, a good deal higher - than the enrolling students’ stats.</p>