Are acceptance rates truly accurate?

wellowth · July 17

EX) I got admitted to Ferris state which their acceptance rate is 78% However, I got rejected from Iowa State whose acceptance rate is 87% Therefore making Ferris a harder school to get into. Why would I get rejected from the easier school and not the harder school?

SuperSenior19 · July 17

Whether the numbers are accurate: I would generally assume they are, especially at schools with higher acceptance rates. There's probably some schools with low acceptance rates that are fudging the numbers, but that's not likely the case here.

What you're really asking, however, is why you didn't get into Iowa State. I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it, because it's probably not personal. Iowa State has automatic admissions criteria and (based on your previous posts) your GPA and ACT score weren't high enough; Ferris State is a different school with different criteria and, after looking at your application, they felt you were a student they wanted on campus. That's great!

Acceptance rates aren't the probability you'll get in, just how many people got in overall.

ucbalumnus · July 17

Admission rates alone do not tell you the strength of the applicant and admit pools.

If school X admits 10% of a a pool of 9 C students and 1 B student, while school Y admits 50% of a pool of 5 B students and 5 A students, which is harder to get into?

FlyerDad · July 17

It varies from school to school as to how accurate they are. USC for example is without question, a great school and the admission rate is about 11%. But they also admit a large number of students for Spring admission that aren't included in the admit rate--so it's a way to fill the class while maintaining an "elite" admissions rate. Georgetown--another great school--is the opposite. They don't use the common app, they don't have ED and they require 3 subject tests. So although the admit rate is around 15%, you have a much smaller and more competitive pool. It's likely that their admissions rate is-apples to apples-probably high single digits. And of course, some of the Ivies and other schools mass market to attract students who may not be truly competitive or interested. So to answer your question, even when looking at elite schools with similar ranks, the admission rates can be misleading.

cypresspat · July 17

Some colleges use very aggressive tactics to increase the number of applicants. There are services to assist with that.

cptofthehouse · July 17

It can also depend upon the size of a program to which you are applying and how admissions is done. At some state schools with rolling admissions, the date of your application is all fire important if you already meet the grades and test score cut off. They won’t accept Einstein once their engineering quota is filled, for example.

Then the aerospace program at Purdue is highly selective , though the overall admissions is not.

lookingforward · July 17

It hinges on *your* application to any college. The Iowa state CDS shows, for enrolled students, less than 7% had a GPA between 2.5 and 2.99. Looks like you were in the bottom quartile for ACT Composite.

myrna97 · July 17

Iowa State's acceptance rate is kind of misleading. Because of the automatic acceptance for certain stats, most applicants already know they will get in (or know they probably will not so don't try).

Are acceptance rates truly accurate?

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