<p>The lack of anything but subtle differentiation between the decile levels of the usnews rankings (1-10, 11-20, etc) has been discussed and beaten to death on cc. </p>
<p>^^ Thanks for the stats, but looks like we are talking different things. I am talking percentage of class accepted ED, then the resulting RD afterwards, not the specific ED acceptance rate. </p>
<p>I love people talking about location yet not dinging Williams or some of these other schools for that reason. A lot of them are a real pain to get to.</p>
<p>Also, reiterating what some others here have said but in a different way, this is a useful ranking that uses a concordance table to evaluate schools against each other:</p>
<p><a href=“Smartest Liberal Arts Colleges in America”>Smartest Liberal Arts Colleges in America;
<p>As you can see, Skidmore and some of the other “fan favorites” here are NOT that academically competitive compared with others that might fly under the radar or have easier admissions.</p>
<p>Right, @awcntdb, I was just throwing those numbers out there to represent a slightly different angle regarding some of the points made regarding selectivity. To coordinate with you, the current portion of the Williams freshman class filled through ED is 43% (coincidentally equaling their ED acceptance rate).</p>
<p>( Source: College website)</p>
<p>@merc81 - Understood. Thanks.</p>
<p>We are getting in the weeds a bit, but sometimes it is cool to do to see what the numbers really say. I rushed this as I have something to do, but I included sources just in case. Plus the numbers are easy to find. If I made an error, please correct. </p>
<p>The numbers below show why, when applying, I am uneasy considering many schools the same even though they seem that way. There are many excellent schools, but there is a point where comparing them too easily might give a false comparison to students. </p>
<p>Just having fun with numbers, but they do statistically show the difference in difficulty level. The OP should do fine just following Julliet’s posts.</p>
<p>Colgate (Rank 22):</p>
<p>Total Applicants: 8,715
ED Applications: 849
ED Admitted: 371
Total Admitted: 2280
RD Applicant Pool Total after ED: 7960 (includes 94 deferred)</p>
<p>Colgate RD Admit Rate: 1909/7960 = 24%</p>
<p>Williams (Rank 1):</p>
<p>Total Applicants: 6316
ED Applications: 554
ED Admitted: 237
Total Admitted: 1150
RD Applicant Pool Total after ED: 5762 (could not find a number deferred, but would not affect average)</p>
<p>Williams RD Admit Rate: 913/5812 = 16%</p>
<p>That is a sizable drop in acceptance rates, and no one confuses the Colgate pool with the Williams applicant pool.</p>
<p>The difference in the applicant pools is illustrated by the average SAT scores - a 70 point difference. That is significant.</p>
<p>Colgate - The average CR and M SAT for enrolled students is 1355
Williams - The average CR and M SAT for enrolled students is 1432</p>
<p><a href=“Admission & Aid | Colgate University”>http://www.colgate.edu/admission-financial-aid/class-of-2018-profile</a></p>
<p><a href=“Meet the Colgate Class of 2018 | Colgate University”>http://news.colgate.edu/2014/07/meet-the-colgate-class-of-2018.html/</a></p>
<p><a href=“Colgate University Acceptance Rate | CollegeData”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=235</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://communications.williams.edu/news-releases/3_27_2014_admission/”>http://communications.williams.edu/news-releases/3_27_2014_admission/</a></p>
<p><a href=“Williams College Acceptance Rate | CollegeData”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=229</a></p>
<p>** I was off on the Williams RD rate because its number of applicants dropped this year. The 12% RD must have been from a few years back.</p>
<p>@laikadog: Where are you in the process? A H.S. senior or junior? Have you visited any colleges yet?</p>
<p>@awcntdb: Your math seems unbiased. But a few points could supplement it:</p>
<p>1) By SAT score, you chose the first and third schools in the group. So that is likely to produce an apparent discontinuity.</p>
<p>2) You seem to consider applicant pool and freshman profile as synonymous terms.</p>
<p>3) It’s probably better to define what constitutes a significant SAT difference before doing a comparison, as a way of reducing post-analysis bias.</p>
<p>4) Colgate’s 75th percentile SAT is 120 points higher than Williams’ 25th, so there is significant statistical overlap between the schools, irrespective of the difference in average. </p>
<p>5) As noted previously, Hamilton has a lower ED acceptance rate than Williams.</p>
<p>ED acceptance rates, refined figures</p>
<p>Hamilton: 36% ( Combined ED1, ED2; both binding)</p>
<p>Williams: 43% (sole option; binding)
,
(Source: College websites)</p>
<p>When I think of Bucknell I also think of : Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh, Trinity College (CT) and Union College (NY).
But maybe the connection for me, other than Colgate, is smaller schools in the Northeast that offer engineering.</p>
<p>I’d also throw in the Patriot League connection as a common element for four of those six.</p>