<p>Huh. I always took it to mean that JHU has a stronger applicant pool. I mean, everyone knows of HYPSM, and many people apply who (forgive me some seeming bigotry) quite frankly, shouldn’t be applying. JHU is as well known around the intellectual circles, and many who apply to HYPSM apply to JHU, while the number of the aforementioned people applying is lower, so I’ll wager that you see a greater acceptance rate because the applicant pool doesn’t have the, um, “clutter” that HYPSM gets.</p>
<p>Seriously - we all know people in our schools who apply to HYPSM (and other Ivies) because it’s what they’ve heard of (and possibly out of ignorance of the selectivity of those schools - not everyone can be bothered to search for statistics), even if they’re not stellar students. On the other hand, everyone I know at my school who applied to JHU (and other schools of similar standing, such as UChicago) are the bright students who know more than “OMG IVIES, STANFORD, MIT!” - who have an inkling as to which colleges can afford them the best experience.</p>
<p>Eh, that’s what I thought, anyway…</p>