<p>As I see it, the trend has already been a 1-2% drop per year for the last few. With the increase of EA applicants being 10% higher at that before the FB team finished a perfect season, made the BCS championship, the RD should be able to be below 20%. </p>
<p>For example,
If the 2011 fall acceptance of ~4100 is 25% of applicants, ~16400 applied.
If the total applicant total increases by only 10%, that means the same EA trend is seen in RD (which is an underestimate), there will be ~18040 this year. Thus a 22% rate.</p>
<p>This is an underestimate because the acceptance rate would be lower that 25% for 2012 data, the RD will have a much higher increase of students with the greater FB success, and the chance of students turning down ND will be less, so the admissions department will admit less than 4100 this year to avoid having too many students.</p>