A lot of my peers are applying to colleges, and I’m appalled by how little they know about some of these colleges. The scope of their research is essentially just a Google search for the university, glancing at the admit rate, the location, the cost, and then deciding to apply.
Why do we value a simple number more than the richness in education and community that so, so, SO many colleges offer?
Because quite frankly I would give anything to study at Columbia, but that 6% acceptance rate means my chances of getting are next to none, so I’m not really banking on getting in. If I only applied to schools with <20% acceptance rates, the odds of acceptance are not in my favor, regardless of stats
C’mon. You already know the answer to the “question”. You should instead rename this post “I’m irked at my shallow friends who focus on prestige and selectivity”
You simply choose to ignore it.
Admit rate alone does not tell the full story about selectivity.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/lowest-acceptance-rate lists Alice LLoyd and Ozarks among the lowest admit rates, but their applicant pools are nowhere near as strong as those of some of the other schools on the list.
I’m not so pleasantly surprised by the answers to this thread. The answers I’ve received have been scathing, unrelated, or simply restating my description of my question (not necessarily in that order).
Come on, CC. I was hoping for deep, intellectually stimulating debate. Guess not. Thank you all for your responses, I suppose.
Why don’t we re-start with your own insightful answer? 
That way, at least “we” can be pleasantly surprised.
I actually don’t have a solid position on it right now. Something about media, and peer/parental pressure.
I wasn’t trying to be rude (although, in hindsight, I’d probably give me a good smack across the face). I’m honestly just trying to figure out what I should be looking for in colleges/how to decide which ones to apply to.
If you couldn’t tell, the “peers” I was referring to were myself. I’m obsessed getting into top schools, but considering the fact that I don’t know what I want to do in life, the main thing I’m focusing on in my college search is admit rate and reputation. I needed something to dissuade me from this course.
Again, I am sorry for acting like I did. @SculptorDad 
The stress is getting to me, especially in light of some horror stories about student debt I’ve been reading lately.
Please accept my apology.
In a more rational society, I think people would not pay huge premium for rarity either real or perceived, such as diamond. I guess some people look for selectivity in the same reason they invest on diamond. There is a value in selectivity because other people - employer - might pay you for it.
Personally low admit rate is a deterrent, as I wouldn’t like to invest application effort for low expected return. Unfortunately, many great colleges on own merit, including ones I have not heard before, generally have low admit rate. So for me, it’s more of applying to great colleges despite their low admit rate, and not because of their low admit rate.
When you are considering the merit of a college, how do you go about researching it? What aspects of the college do you weigh more heavily than others (class size versus available office-hour help/advising; grad rate versus community, etc.)?
I can only give you a personal answer for that question. The priority is quality of education which is contributed by professors, class-size, courses, research opportunity, facility’s teaching quality, intellectual level of student peers. Employment prospect is also important.
Too much grade deflation (or too less grade inflation) is also a deterrent because of graduate / professional school prospect. So I don’t like Tech schools. On the other hand, UCB and UCLA are fine because mine has/will have community college credit for a lot of harshly graded lower level courses that will be honored by UC schools but not by MIT or CalTech.
I don’t care much on grad rate because I am sure that mine will graduate fine and that’s what I care. Not much on community either. And low admit rate is a minus as I already explained, but that usually can’t be avoided. I don’t care about culture, building exterior, weather, diversity, all women’s / coed or sports. Because I have never enjoyed watching other people, who are not my child, playing whatever sports.
Also I don’t care research accomplishment of renowned faculty members who will send their TA to teach my child. Not while mine is an undergraduate student.
Another general focus is what my child will get from the study, and not what other students in the school will get. So a specific research program that my child has a strong interest and a good chance to get in matters, while the rest don’t.
A lot of applicants equate acceptance rate with quality of education, thinking that if a college refuses to educate a larger percentage of people, the better its teaching will be. There’s also the whole deal about lower acceptance rate meaning more prestigiousness, which is painfully true in most cases.
So is it a stretch for me to say that, even if you dislike or even morally disagree with some aspects of a college, you will still look at it holistically (nice to use that word to rank colleges, rather than the other way around, isn’t it?) and only look at what specifically, directly, and profoundly affects your D/S’s educational experience with the school? @SculptorDad
It is a stretch because I did not mention morality. Luckily, there was no college that I was interested in with substantial moral conflict with me.
If a college openly support racism and violence against minority or women, for example, that would be a deal breaker.
By “culture” I meant legal drinking, hippy, conservative, religious but not fanatic, parting and such. I wouldn’t call illegal or immoral activities as culture. They would be crime or sin.
But otherwise yes, the single biggest aspect of a college would be education. Isn’t that strange?
It takes a lot of time, maturity, introspection, etc. to research colleges thoroughly and make the best choice for yourself. (There are several colleges that really appeal to me in theory even though I probably wouldn’t enjoy attending them.) On the other hand, looking at rankings is easy. If you don’t like your school, well, at least it’s prestigious.
I agree @halcyonheather . Not sure I know enough about myself at the moment to be able to make a fully informed and good decision about my college career though :/. Time will tell.
And @SculptorDad , I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you’re immoral, or a similar notion. I just meant things you disagree with, i.e., a hidden racial admissions quota, outright preference given to applicants with more money, regardless of merit, or stories such as this one: http://ijr.com/2015/03/260982-students-college-say-theyre-going/
(The college has declared bankruptcy since.)
And no, I’m not trying to say anything by referencing this for-profit college. It is just an example of the type of “morality,” or lack thereof, I was referring to.
You are right for that. I am willing to look at them holistically. And a college with those practice deemed to be able to provide the best educational opportunity to my child, accepts her, and she wants to go there, I am fine with it.
Fair enough. @SculptorDad
People place emphasis on admit rates for many reasons.
Firstly, it gives you an idea of how likely it is to be admitted to a particular college. If you have a college list that consists of 5-10 colleges you want to make sure there are at least a few colleges on the list where you are likely to be admitted. As a parent I would not allow any of my children to apply only to schools with sub 20% admission rates. I want them to get in somewhere that they like and I am encouraging my son to find a few schools he likes where admission is likely for him. Secondly, how difficult it is to obtain something is a measure of its value. A lower acceptance rate means that people value an acceptance to that college.
I suppose it’s the law of supply and demand. It’s tough to get in and many people want to which makes people focus on these schools. There’s no need to obsess over schools where you’ll likely get in.
Personally, the reason I want to go to a highly selective school is the opportunities available. Most of them are need blind and meet 100% of demonstrated need. They usually have well known professors…etc.
Of course there are great schools with great opportunities that aren’t as hard to get into. They’re just not as common (from what I’ve seen, anyway).
At a certain point, though, colleges are selective just to be seen as in demand. Due to the Common App, people can just check off colleges they want to apply to, add a few extra short essays, and bam their applications are sent. Because of this simplicity, the number of applications to places like Stanford increases, which necessitates/predates a lower admissions rate, which makes the college look more elite, which means more people apply, which means the admission rate gets even lower and lower and lower…And all the while the college in question is getting more recognition/endowment. So my question to you is, at what point do you think the admissions rate shouldn’t be as major of a factor in your consideration of a school? @greenteen17