<p>I was looking at the profile for the Lafayette Class of 2013 and I noticed a few large differences in statistics, particularly with the SATs.</p>
<p>For accepted students, the middle 50% are from 1250-1430 and from 1870-2140, on the 1600 and 2400 scales respectively.</p>
<p>For enrolled students, the middle 50% are from 1170-1380 and from 1750-2060, on the 1600 and 2400 scales respectively.</p>
<p>For enrolled/accepted students under early decision, the middle 50% are from 1140-1320 and from 1700-1970, on the 1600 and 2400 scales respectively.</p>
<p>I believe the difference between accepted and enrolled students stats is due to the fact that many Ivy-hopefuls choose Lafayette as a safety. However, I cannot account for the much lower stats of students accepted under early decision. 1250-1430 as opposed to 1140-1320 is a fairly large difference IMO.</p>
<p>Ah that’s a good point, I hadn’t considered athletic admits. Are most athletic admits through early decision? I’m not familiar with the process.</p>
<p>I knew ED had its advantages, but I didn’t the applicant pool to be that much easier. Hopefully my application showed my high interest in Lafayette.</p>
<p>I don’t know the details, but under Patriot League rules I don’t believe that the athletic admits can have drastically different stats than the general student population. </p>
<p>This is from an Admissions Office rep re ED:
“All applicants are evaluated in concordance with the mission of the College. Under regular decision, the strength of the overall applicant pool comes into play as we must make many difficult choices. In recent years, Early Decision candidates were admitted at a higher rate than those students admitted under regular decision. The Early Decision process at Lafayette is completed on a rolling basis. If Lafayette is their first choice, students may convert their applications to Early Decision as late as February 15th by submitting an Early Decision contract with all the appropriate signatures.”</p>
<p>I’ve looked at admissions statistics for a lot of colleges, and at virtually all of them the Accepted Student stats (SAT, GPA) are higher than the Enrolled student stats. That’s because but for all except the top 1 or 2% of colleges, every college is a “safety” for someone.</p>
<p>I think ED students are given the “benefit of the doubt” because there is no question of their interest in the college. Admissions offices have a tough job, admitting enough students to fill a class without ending up with too many kids. ED makes their job a lot easier, because 1 admit = 1 enrolled. No guessing involved!</p>