Chance me for Vanderbilt or Emory ED 2 [TX resident, 3.9 GPA, 1530 SAT]

[NiceUnparticularMan]

@Maryland85

You think the applicant pool is different for WashU and Emory?

Since I only have limited data for the applicant pools, there are many things I do not know about them.

But as another poster pointed out, we do have gender data from the CDS for the applicant pool, and we know that is significantly different–in 2023-24, 60.7% female at Emory, 52.8% at WashU.

We also know 11.3% were from Georgia for Emory, and it was 5.5% from Missouri for WashU. The CDS does not break it down the other way but I doubt it was that high at the other college in either case.

Then it was 22.7% International at Emory, and 21.7% at WashU. Not a large difference, but a difference.

Then 11.8% applied ED at Emory, 14.0% at WashU. That is actually a little more material of a difference if you are interested in ED acceptance rates specifically.

OK, that is the sort of stuff we can get out of the CDS. Otherwise, I have access to SCOIR data for my feederish HS, but of course that is just one HS.

Still, one of the interesting things it reports is to which other colleges our applicants for any one college also applied.

So for the 52 applicants to WashU in our database, only 12 applied to Emory. There were 22 colleges with more.

We actually only had 28 Emory applications–as you can see, WashU is somewhat more popular in our HS. That 12 put WashU tied for fourth on Emory’s list, but still that is less than half.

I can also figure out some other stats. Like we are on a 4.33 scale, and the median applicant GPA to Emory was 3.71/3.73. For WashU, 3.89/3.91. Average accepted was 3.83 Emory, 4.01 WashU.

Again, this was just one HS, but it illustrates how at least in this case, higher accepted GPAs were correlated with higher applicant GPAs.

OK, so what do we really know about the composition of the applicant pools at Emory and WashU, either overall or for ED specifically? Not much! But in all the ways I can easily see anything at all, there are differences. Some larger differences, some smaller differences, but nothing is actually the same.

Edit: Oh, I left off the most important part of our HS data!

The accepted rate for WashU from our high school was 26%, versus 19% for Emory.

But again, the accepted average GPA was also higher at WashU. And it turns out in this case, so was the median applicant GPA.

Again, I don’t know what is happening nationally, but this is just one handy illustration of how just because an acceptance rate is higher, does not mean that college is actually less selective.

[Maryland85]

Thats facetious. Quality wise theres no difference. So if the quality is the same but the acceptance rate is lower for one school over the other then…

[Bill_Marsh]

O.K.

But I hope the OP takes note of the differences.

[SpreadsheetMom]

@slowsilver03

Shame I didn’t see this thread a month ago, because I suspect it’s too late for applications. But my D22’s top four choices were Rice, Emory, Northwestern and WashU.

(We toured Vandy and she liked it, but it didn’t have her major.)

She got into Rice and Emory, was wait-listed at Northwestern and WashU. She’s now a junior at Rice. (She sounds almost identical to CFP’s kid in terms of stats.)

My impression is that Emory was the easiest admit among these, but we’re talking about three years ago – I haven’t looked at the numbers more recently. And she did have a direct connection to an Emory professor who had mentored her on some research, so perhaps that was a hook. (He put in a good word with admissions for her.)

I’m really curious, though, why you would choose Emory over Georgia Tech for CS or CE? (Although, I guess it makes more sense to choose the in-state option if you’re going to go to a big public school.)