<p>The program used to be very self-selected so most people that applied and got into Northwestern would get into the program. But this has changed as more and more people know about it. Still, it’s a lot easier to get in as a freshman. A portion of the applicants would be rejected by NU regular admission. Then some of those that got in would go somewhere else like Ivies/Stanford (while those schools have the name, you won’t find anything close to MMSS in those schools). NU accepts more than 20 students to account for the yield. So the chance of you getting into MMSS is pretty good if you already get accepted to NU. Sophomore admission is an entirely different animal. That’s when you compete with other NU econs/engineering majors. Each year, there are 200-250 econ majors. And NU would accept just 20 people because the yield isn’t a concern</p>