Alexandre, You are right in your assessment of the likely position of Michigan in US News ranking, it is unfortunate though!
“Let us be honest, schools like NU (private universities) are obsessed with admit rates. If they could lower their admit rates be switching from ED to EA, they would do so in a heartbeat.”
That’s silly. Admissions rate counts for less than 2% of USNWR. It’s not a worthwhile measure to game.
“That’s silly. Admissions rate counts for less than 2% of USNWR. It’s not a worthwhile measure to game.”
Schools that offer ED and not EA are obsessed with admit rates…period.
Pizzagirl, I did not say that universities “game” acceptance rate. I do think that many private universities are guilty of encouraging too many students to apply, but I agree that it is not a worthwhile statistic to “game”. Many private universities game other metrics, such as class sizes, student to faculty ratios and financial figures.
That being said, while acceptance rates may not matter to you or me, or in the grand scheme of things, and the US News ranking is right not to weigh acceptance rate too heavily, the fact of the matter is, to parents and high school students, most of which are impressionable and easily swayed, acceptance rates matter immensely. The first statistic virtually all elite private universities release annually is their acceptance rate. You may be too close to it to notice, but it this obsession is glaring.
http://chicagomaroon.com/2015/04/14/record-low-acceptance-rate-as-applicant-numbers-increase/
http://cornellsun.com/blog/2015/04/05/cornell-releases-admissions-decisions-for-the-class-of-2019/
Public universities do not obsess as much about such matters, although they too are getting into it these days.
@rjkofnovi, a selective school may have another reason to have ED instead of EA besides the admit rate. For instance, if they want a student body where a large percentage have that school as a first choice because they believe that would make for a more cohesive student body.
In any case, besides HYPSM, having EA instead of ED doesn’t seem to hurt UChicago, Caltech, Georgetown, ND, or BC when it comes to acceptance rate.
^^^^^ All selective colleges want a large percentage of their students to matriculate as their first choice. ED is mainly used by colleges so that they don’t lose top students to other universities…thus affecting their yield rate and their overall perception of prestige by those obsessed with it.
@rjkofnovi, some care more than others, just as some care more about test scores or other stuff than others, etc.
PurpleTitan, I do not think it is necessary to have ED to ensure a a cohesive student body. Michigan, Notre Dame, Stanford etc…have very cohesive student bodies. From what I have observed, most students choose an ED school out of a host of options. In many cases, it is not necessarily their dream school, but their most strategically sensible course of action. There is nothing wrong with ED mind you. Most elite private colleges and universities offer it.
That being said, I believe that there are benefits to ED other than lowering acceptance rates. For one, it simplifies the admissions process a great deal. I spoke to a member of the Michigan admissions office recently and she told me that they really want to move to ED because it makes life easier. What is holding Michigan back is the fact that none of its public peers (UCs, UVa, UNC, Wisconsin, UIUC, Purdue. MSU, UT-Austin etc…) use ED. Michigan does not want to go it alone.
While it is true that schools like Michigan, BC, Georgetown, Notre Dame etc…have low acceptance rates, I believe that their acceptance rates would be lower if they switched to ED. Chicago and Caltech are unique cases. I actually think Michigan can mimic Chicago. I would not be surprised if Michigan’s admit rate dropped well below 15% in the next 5-6 years, even with EA…assuming Michigan continues to improve its FA packages to OOS students. Michigan’s unique mix of great campus life, pleasant college town environment and power academics across all disciplines makes it a top choice for many students. With generous FA and the boost in perceived prestige that comes with its lower acceptance rates, I think Michigan’s yield can increase to 55%, which means that the University would not have to admit more than 10,000 applicants. With an applicant pool growing significantly, I can see a scenario where the University will received 65,000-70,000 applicants and admit only 10,000 of them. Scarry!
I am sure ED would make the life of adcom a lot easier at UMich. The unpredictable yield rate either lead to over enrollment or need to use the wait-list more. It is very hard to be right on target like this year. The question is how many students they will admit from ED. Obviously, that would depend on the number and quality of ED applicants. If only fill a small fraction of the upcoming freshmen class with ED, it may not help the situation much though.
I know I’m updating an old thread but the Daily published the real numbers today. The predicted numbers were almost spot on. 26.24 acceptable rate, 20% out of state state. 50% in state. Final enrollment dropped to 6071.
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/university-enrolls-more-diverse-freshman-class-2015
The overall admission rate has been reported on UMich’s website, so there should be no surprise. The number of total admitted students is 29 more than the earlier data presumably due to the inclusion of waitlist admit. The enrollment number after the summer melt down went from 6269 to 6071 which is right on target. From the hidden data, there are 10090 in state applicants (our estimate is 10000 per year) and 41663 OOS applicants. I am glad that all our estimations are very accurate. See Post #33.
What is amazing is how few in-state kids applied to Michigan. According to the daily article, only about 10K kids applied and half were admitted. That’s less than 9% of Michigan seniors with just over 4% offered admission. It also roughly corresponds to the number of Michigan kids who received a 31 or more on the ACT.
Obviously, even in state students are very self-selected. In addition, GPA plays a very important role. I know an in state kid got rejected this year from CoE with ACT 33 but GPA ~3.8. There are certainly less the 4% of MI HS students with ACT 31 and GPA >3.7.