<p>Is it that an education at Dartmouth is much less in-demand than one at the any of the other Ivies? This doesn't seem like one single, simple reason, actually, as there are many sub-reasons why Dartmouth isn't seen in the same light.</p>
<p>Well it’s a much smaller school than most of the others, right?</p>
<p>Although Dartmouth has the smallest college enrollment in the Ivies and, therefore, may be in less demand than the other schools, it is more demanding, at least in accepting (or, should I say, rejecting) applications, than several of the other seven Ivies. So, under what ever light Dartmouth and the rest of the Ivy League find themselves, the glow from acceptance rates is brighter in Hanover than it is in Ithaca, Providence or Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Wait, toombs61, are you saying that Dartmouth has a high acceptance rate compared to Cornell, Brown, and Penn, respectively, or a low one? Your two sentences, to me, seemed to contradict each other. Maybe it’s that I’m misunderstanding what you mean by “demanding.”</p>
<p>“demand” in terms of absolute numbers of applications is not the same as “demanding” in terms of % of acceptances. not sure of the numbers myself, but that is what i took toombs61 to mean.</p>
<p>Yeah I don’t see the confusion. Dartmouth’s overall numbers are smaller (compared with those other three schools) but its selectivity is greater. These facts certainly are not in contradiction.</p>
<p>I know that’s true. However, I am still confused, because the line “it is more demanding, at least in accepting (or, should I say, rejecting) applications” implies, though somewhat equivocally due to the “or should I say,” that Dartmouth has a high selectivity rate, but the line “the glow from acceptance rates is brighter in Hanover than it is in Ithaca, Providence or Philadelphia” implies that Dartmouth accepts a lot of applicants… or so I think. Dartmouth should accept an exceptionally low number of applicants because it has a small size AND a high selectivity rate. What’s slipping past me?</p>
<p>I’ll try again. Although Dartmouth has the smallest enrollment of any Ivy and, therefore, is “much less in-demand” than the other seven Ivy League colleges, it is more selective than Brown, Cornell or Penn. It has lower acceptance rates, at least for the class of 2016, than these three schools (Dartmouth - 9.4%; Brown - 9.6%; Penn -12.3%; Cornell - 16.2%) Hence, Dartmouth is more demanding, at least in its admissions, than three Ivies, although it is in less demand than all of the other Ivies. I hope this works. If not, sorry. I tried.</p>
<p>That’s what the other posters seemed to indicate that you’d meant, and it makes sense. Sorry for making you repeat it. I think it was because I took the wrong meaning out of the “glow” thing.</p>
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<p>No, this doesn’t make sense. It has a smaller enrollment because it accepts fewer students because there are less spots in each incoming class. The number of students the admissions office takes is not a reflection of how “in demand” a school is. </p>
<p>“Demand” for the school can only be determined by two things: volume of applications and yield rates. Even then, there are a lot of factors that can make a school seem more in demand. One factor I would consider is the number of ED applicants, which shows number one preference for the school, and thus, demand for the school. </p>
<p>I would agree with you in saying that Dartmouth is “less in demand”, but not on the basis that it has the smallest enrollment. It is least in demand based on the number of applicants every year and the percentage of those who choose to matriculate.</p>
<p>emberjed, perhaps there are fewer posts because those who are very interested in Dartmouth are less likely to post–obsessively or otherwise–on a college admissions message board.</p>
<p>And there is always the matter of self-selection. Everybody and their brother has heard of Harvard and thousands of no-hopers decide to throw in an application just to see what happens. The University of Chicago, pre-common app days, was arguably a MUCH better university than many with higher numbers of applications, and their other stats revealed that their student body was self-selecting.</p>