32,000 seeking admission to Northwestern's Class of 2016

Colleges & Universities Northwestern University
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<p>[Applications</a> Hit New High : Northwestern University Newscenter](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/01/applications-new-high.html]Applications”>Applications Hit New High - Northwestern Now)</p>

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<p>:(</p>

<p>10char</p>

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<p>That’s a LOT of applicants! When my D applied Reg Decision in 2004, there were @ 10,00 applicants. Good luck to all this year’s Reg Decision Applicants.</p>

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<p>Oh boy…this is not the news a RD applicant wants to hear. haha. Oh well, all I can do now is wait! (Thanks, nugraddad)</p>

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<p>I just did some math, and can’t decide if I’ve made a mistake…</p>

<p>32,000 total applications
2,500 early applications
29,500 regular applications</p>

<p>1,225 regular decision slots</p>

<p>1,225/29,500 = 4.15%</p>

<p>Does this mean NU will have a 4% RD acceptance rate?</p>

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<p>No. Further divided that by RD yield. You can assume last year’s RD yield (note that RD yield is not the same as overall yield)</p>

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<p>Last year’s yield was about 39% (I think 38.7% to be exact). Based on that yield (which takes into account both ED and RD matriculants), Northwestern will accept around 5,200 (including 800 ED admits) this year for an overall acceptance rate of 16%. 5,200-800=4,400 RD acceptances. 4400/29,500 RD apps=15% RD acceptance rate. </p>

<p>The acceptance rate is dropping ever year. In the coming years, the yield is expected to go up given NU’s increasing popularity and the fact that a greater percentage of the class will likely be accepted through ED. As the article states, two years ago, 28% of the class was made up of students admitted via ED. It was 33% last year. This year, it’s 40%. </p>

<p>The Dean of Admission has been sending a strong message that Admissions looks very fondly at the ED commitment. International students in particular have taken notice. It will become harder than ever to stand out in the RD pool even with excellent credentials, when those credentials might be a near-guarantee in the ED round. If you want Northwestern and you have the standard 32+ ACT, top 10%, some leadership but no “ooomph” factor, your chances are greater if you apply ED.</p>

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<p>Atleast i’ll make their life easy. the second they see my app they’ll laugh and throw it out. Too bad I wrote a good essay. Too much competition with stellar scores. Good luck everyone else.</p>

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<p>Any ideas how/if this increase will affect transfer admissions?</p>

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<p>For fall 2009 (the Common Data Set is not yet available for fall 2010 and 2011), the transfer acceptance rate was 15.9%. I imagine it has gone down since. Also last year, Northwestern overenrolled the freshman class by about 100 (103 to be exact; 2128* enrolled when they were targeting 2025) so they’re expecting to make fewer offers this year, at least to the freshman class.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/commondata/2009-10/d.htm[/url]”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/commondata/2009-10/d.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>*<a href=“http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/story/class-of-2015-results-are-in-but-why-choose-nu/[/url]”>http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/story/class-of-2015-results-are-in-but-why-choose-nu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>WOW! Northwestern rocks! I’m just wondering why there are more and more people applying to all these colleges…</p>

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<p>Virtually every college has seen an increasing surge in college applications. My opionion is that, given the common app, it is easy to apply to more and more colleges…it just takes a bit more effort and money.</p>

<p>Personally, I applied to 3 schools that, if it had not been so easy, I would have not applied to.</p>

<p>Colleges no doubt have to account for this and accept more applicants (or at least waitlist a bunch) because those that they accept likely have a host of other acceptances.</p>

<p>So even though NU has 32,000 applicants, I feel that admissions will not have change much…if you are suppose to get in, you will.</p>

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<p>I think the increase in applicants had an effect at least in New England. I’m not sure if the format was the same in years past, but it frankly was a meatmarket atmosphere. My D had hers at a local private school where they wisked applicants in and out every 45 minutes, the woman interviewer was harried and frankly rude. It altered my D’s perception based on this woman and the format. Will a large university be this way when it comes to signing up for courses, dorms, etc. Take a number until you’re called? It sheds a bad light on what we think is a great school. None of her other schools, at or above the perceived caliber of NU used this format (though I heard Duke does at some major prep schools). All were intimate, one on one, relaxed and informative meetings. Mutually beneficial. Why go through the motions if you’re just going to churn through applicants without hearing them out?</p>

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<p>Hi,
My son’s a soph at NU. He had an interview at a local alum’s home. It was a positive experience. NU really isn’t a “large” university, but I can tell you that students do get closed out of courses, periodically, but the university seems to try to make things fair. Student get a specific time period during which they can register. Sometimes they get an early registration time, sometimes not, but it rotates. Incoming freshmen fill out a form indicating their top choices for dorms they’d like to live in. Some kids get their top choice, many do not. They all can’t get their first choice, obviously. </p>

<p>I’m sorry that the interviewer came across as harried and rude. Frankly, I think that the Admissions office would want to know this because I agree that it doesn’t seem to portray the university in a very good light. If your daughter is interested in Northwestern, I wouldn’t let this one experience discourage her.</p>

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<p>D (freshman) also had a lovely relaxed one-on-one interview for NU, so I agree it would be worth passing along your poor experience to Admissions so it isn’t repeated.</p>

<p>D did have an experience similar to the one you describe with a Yale interview and it did put me off the school.</p>

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<p>By the way, does anyone know when/if CollegeBoard will ever update the stats they post for NU? They are at least 2 years out of date (they still say 23% are admitted) which significantly misrepresents the selectivity numbers.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, I think they also still post the fraudulent stats for the Claremont Colleges. ;-D</p>

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<p>^ Ahhhh! Please don’t say Claremont CollegeSSSSSS…My son goes to Pomona College and only one of the Claremont Colleges- Claremont McKenna College- was involved in the misrepresenting of test scores. Sorry to sound defensive, but I don’t want folks to think Scripps, Pomona, Pitzer or Harvey-Mudd had any part of that! :)</p>

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<p>Ooops… sorry… I wasn’t sure which campuses were implicated.</p>

<p>FWIW, one of D’s best friends is also at Pomona and loves it!</p>

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<p>No problem—I am always so surprised when people don’t know that all five campuses are separate and unique. However, it is a huge benefit that students are able to take some classes at schools other than their own, eat at any of the cafeterias and do end up socializing all together. It is very integrated yet each school has its on own administration and are completely separate in terms of admission. The student profile/culture/stereotypes are extremely different–ask any student who attends one of the colleges!!! They want you to be sure you to know which school they are at. I don’t want the Pomona name to be sullied! :)</p>

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<p>^No worry, I always think Pomona is the west coast version of Amherst/Swarthmore while CMC is a strange LAC with a full-blown accounting program and a cute little MBA program. :)</p>