Interesting. How does this compare with similar schools?
Will this also be the beginning of a trend for some schools given that next year will be the first cohort from the birth rate drop that started in 2008.
Iâd expect regression toward historical means across many colleges in future years. In terms of an example of a Middlebury peer, Colgateâs acceptance rate is now at 17%, up from 14% last year. Nonetheless, each college will experience its own admission environment, which will depend on the fundamental aspects of that college along with national and international trends.
I might be wrong but I believe there is no supplemental essay for Middlebury. this probably boosts application numbers and therefore lowers acceptance rate. Colby is like that too and also had no application fee and their acceptance rate went down to single digits.
anyway point is donât always be too impressed by acceptance rates- sometimes they can be manipulated.
Is that the same with Bowdoin too? I think I heard that somewhere.
I think thereâs some irony here in that just about everyone except the OP assumed 13.9% was a pretty low admission rate 
@MirandaKnight appears to have read the article as well.
Bowdoin has two required essays (one just 140 characters.) There is another optional essay, an optional video response, and personal interviews are âstrongly encouraged.â
While I wonât comment on the meaning of âoptionalâ or âstrongly encouragedâ in the context of different student types, Bowdoin seems to not be trying to get more apps based on the way they handle application requirements and optional items.
As a last point, which I have previously mentioned about some of the schools with no essay requirementâŠschools do see when a student adds the college to their list of colleges in common app. I would love to see the acceptance rate of unhooked students who add the school on or very near the application deadline at highly rejective schools with no essay requirementâŠI would expect itâs below the overall acceptance rate.
Perhaps it was Bates? Itâs another school like Middlebury where it was a bit surprising to find out that they do not require any supplements.
Easy enough to look up a schoolâs application requirements on their websites
I think the OP is referring to the fact that the admit rate went UP year over year. Something we are not used to seeing. Obviously, a 13.9% admit rate is really low.
Looking at my own D26âs high schoolâŠI would say that kids are currently favoring National Universities over LACs. They are also favoring urban schools over rural schools. The trends may be different in your area, but it is REALLY clear where we are.
As a parent of a child considering a LAC, I would also say that Middleburyâs heavy use of ED might also be causing an issue.
With 70% of kids on Middleburyâs campus getting in EDâŠit suppresses their RD acceptance rate perhaps to the point of discouraging some students. My daughter dropped Middlebury for this very reason as she is not sure that she wants to ED anywhere and looks with discomfort at schools that give most of their seats away early.
Just one personâs musings. Take it for what it is worth.
It looks like Bates does not based on their site.
It would be interesting to see data about doing away with essays and whether and how much apps increased. Not saying any of these schools did do away with supplemental essays but of the ones which did, how much does it boost their app numbers.
Same in my area, adding that southern schools here (publics and privates like SMU, TCU, Tulane) continue to be super popular.
Agreed. In my area itâs become difficult to get a non-athletic recruited student to consider LACs.
Itâs interesting how Middlebury reports their numbers. The article in the OP includes the Feb admits in the acceptance rate.
But, when one looks at the CDS, Midd does not include Feb admits in those numbers. So for Class of 2028 the CDS acceptance rate was 10.7% (C1, 1348/12540), but 12% per the article in the OP, as well as this article from last year: News In Brief: College sees decrease in fall enrollment - The Middlebury Campus
Some of us would argue and have been arguing for some time that schools like Hamilton and Middlebury should include post-September matriculants in their CDSets as well. Unfortunately, the IPEDS wording only addresses students entering in the Fall.
Yes that is why I wondered about how falling birth rates may impact the numbers next year as we are seeing drops in application numbers and subsequently higher acceptance rates not only at Middlebury but also Colgate as @merc81 mentioned. For years the acceptance rates at many schools with acceptance rates below 20% just seemed to be decreasing so I wonder if this could indicate the start of a trend that will become more noticeable with a smaller incoming class. The theory was that the very top schools will continue to have their acceptance rates drop because even though there are less students entering college, there is increased interest in attending schools of higher rank so acceptance rates at the top schools will continue to fall. That may be true but as less students are entering college, some schools will have falling app numbers, perhaps even some of the ones with < 20% acceptance rates such as Middlebury and Colgate or the numbers from this year at these schools could just be anomalies.
I think your point about ED is well taken. ED forces kids to lock in early which seems to be a huge advantage for the school but takes away options for the student so not much advantage for them with the exception of possibly finishing the college process early but a huge disadvantage if they really like several schools and/or want to compare offers. Also, I expect it favors those who are already advantaged in the admissions process, likely limiting the pool of students applying in the ED round. However, to increase yields, schools seem to rely on ED more and more but there may come a point - perhaps now as your anecdotal evidence suggests - that having such a high percentage of admits from the ED pool will lead to students choosing not to apply to the school during the RD pool since the chances seem too low. With less apps during the RD pool, the school will then take more from ED which then becomes a vicious cycle.
I also agree that schools that are larger and in urban or suburban areas have become much more popular, likely due to all the opportunities available both in and around the school. Another factor though is the increased interest in majors that many liberal arts schools do not offer such as engineering, business, nursing etc.
Definitely true to some extent. I find it difficult to support Middlebury taking nearly 70% of the class in ED, but at least they do include some disadvantaged applicants in that groupâŠ30 each year via Posse, QB (7 in Class of 2028 ED, I expect some come in RD too), and some via other partnerships that Midd has with College Track, Matriculate, and similar orgs (each year they seem to name a different set of these CBOs.) That is more than some of their peers, and certainly some other highly rejective unis, for example Tulane (no shade to Tulane at all, they can run their admissions program how they want.)
Yes Iâm not saying that there are no disadvantaged students during the ED round but all of those programs require a student knowing about those programs. Lots of students donât know about any of those programs which I expect would help the students who are in the program decide how to apply. Many students have also never heard about ED or know any of its advantages or disadvantages. Admittedly, they can find out at the schools but for some it may be too late since the deadline is quite early.
Lots of schools take a large number from the ED round. I forget what the number was for Swarthmore but it was high enough that like @NemesisLead, I know of one student who didnât bother to apply at all since the student didnât want to apply anywhere ED.
ED rounds do tend to have people who can commit to attending a school without seeing a financial aid package. So I would bet that they are significantly wealthier. Also, athletes as a group apply ED and these kids also tend to be wealthier at selective schools. Some schools ask legacies to apply ED. The list goes on and on. The Questbridges and the like do put a dent in the âwealthy ED phenomenon,â but I am betting that the dent is pretty small.
Swarthmore took 52% of its class ED, btw.
Thatâs actually fascinating. I did not know that.
Northeastern practices a version of this with their various âstudy elsewhere for a periodâ acceptances.
Tulane also has spring scholars that arenât reported on the CDS. At least Midd makes public the number of Feb admits.
So many ways for colleges to play the admit rate games.