least selective ctcl

College Search & Lists
1

Which of the Colleges that Change Lives are the least selective? test optional?

Is this information in the book?

I will eventually research all of them, but asking in case someone has already done the leg work.

Thanks.

2

You can compare selectivity through the Princeton Review. For example, McDaniel College’s selectivity rating of 82 can be compared to the ratings of the other CTCL schools.

https://www.princetonreview.com/college/mcdaniel-college-1023633

3

The least selective is almost certainly Evergreen State, which is the one of the two public CTCL schools (the other, New College of Florida, is much more selective). It’s test-optional and has a >95% acceptance rate. It’s more “alternative” in curriculum than most of the others, though, and best suited to students who thrive in a self-directed setting.

4

Thanks I made a list based on @merc81 's suggestion:

Name Selectivity
Hampshire College 69
University of Lynchburg 71
The Evergreen State College 72
Guilford College 72
Marlboro College 74
Emory & Henry College 77
Saint Mary’s College of California 77
Antioch College 78
Goucher College 78
Eckerd College 80
Hendrix College 81
Ohio Wesleyan University 81
University of Puget Sound 81
Ursinus College 81
Hiram College 82
McDaniel College 82
Southwestern University 82
Birmingham-Southern College 83
Agnes Scott College 84
Knox College 84
Allegheny College 85
Cornell College 85
Juniata College 85
New College of Florida 85
Wabash College 85
Beloit College 86
Hope College 86
St. John’s College (NM) 86
Willamette University 86
Bard College 87
Millsaps College 87
Wheaton College [IL] 87
Austin College 88
Kalamazoo College 88
Lawrence University 88
Centre College 89
Clark University 89
Earlham College 89
St. John’s College (MD) 89
College of Wooster 89
St. Olaf College 90
Hillsdale College 92
Whitman College 92
Denison University 93
Rhodes College 93
Reed College 95

5

Check the acceptance rates on those you are interested in by research the individual colleges. The above list has many incorrect numbers. You will also need to look at individual schools as many will be TO next year and for a year or so after that.

6

Re #3, it also might be helpful for viewers to consider the scale of the rating: 60–99.

@ECmotherx2: It doesn’t appear as if you have interpreted the Princeton Review figures as intended. The numbers posted in #3 are difficulty of admission indices, not acceptance rates.

7

Hate to say it, but also check into the solvency of each school, especially the ones at the less competitive end. Hampshire, for example, has been on the brink already, and the pandemic is not going to help. Goucher recently cut back a number of programs for financial reasons. Antioch has already closed once and re-launched. This crisis is going to be hard for a lot of these schools to weather. (This article is from right before the coronavirus hit. https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2019/11/27/dawn-of-the-dead-for-hundreds-of-the-nations-private-colleges-its-merge-or-perish/#487c3208770d )

The Forbes ratings are just one data point - some schools with low ratings have soldiered on solidly for years, while others with higher ratings have abruptly folded. But it does bear looking at whether the college, and the particular programs you’re interested in at that college, are in a financial position to sustain everything that attracts you to them.

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8

My D20 will be attending Goucher after a gap year, and in speaking with them recently they mentioned they’ve just added 8 majors this year. We do worry if they’re going to be around in a year though- I would worry if it were almost any school.