Our school president told my DH that the current freshmen have the lowest placement test scores in history - especially math. These kids would have been in 5th grade when school shut down mid year then 6th grade was entirely online (if they attended public school) or some quasi-hybrid for privates.
In my personal enlightenment journey regarding college costs, I think I happened upon a fact that explains the huge popularity of even out-of-state flagships. If a family falls within the 60-80% bracket of U.S. household incomes, and does not have inherited money (i.e., we are one of the āmodestly comfortableā families on College Confidential 
), then even if an OOS flagship offers very modest merit, it will probably be a better deal than many privates. This is especially true if your child is a good student, but is not going to get into top-20 schools, which give more aid. So far, our two most prestigious private-school acceptances are the most expensive (near the top of our max 50K budget), and they are not the schools that would necessarily make my child happiest. The two top contenders at the moment are flagships that would cost either COA 12K or 36K. Itās no wonder flagship apps have increased by 20% at some schools!
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āRefrigerate after openingā is stated on the jar label.
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yes. And he knows how to read!
There isnāt always a price difference. Many publics offer instate tuition or instate tuition plus a percentage to students from bordering states. Adding in a bit of merit makes these schools very attractive to students wanting an OOS experience without a huge price tag.
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Youāre right that Wes does not provide acceptance rates by score submission.
But the denominator here is admitted students not all applicants. So the 58% and 42% are all admitted students.
Yes, fair enoughā¦but they do provide data here that allows the user to draw some conclusions.
For example, 17% of admits are first gen. If 42% of admitted students did not submit test scores, that means TO isnāt just for first-gen students. 4% of admits are legacy (something not in the mix for Wes this year); again, that means TO is not just for legacy (or legacy + first-gen, since thatās only 21% total). Iām not sure gender is super-meaningful, although Wes is a school that has a big gender imbalance, so you could make an educated guess that TO men are better positioned than TO women.
Agree that lack of athlete data is a big, glaring gap.
Overall, though, Iām thrilled to get this much data and am frustrated that so few schools provide even this.
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It is almost like these public colleges are INTENTIONALLY setting their OOS net COAs to compete effectively against private colleges . . . .
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Yes, reciprocity programs like that are also clear examples of win-win situations where the students in each state get more choice.
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With almost half of admits coming from private school (well above what you typically see even at elite schools) that could explain it.
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That I get - but we donāt know if 5000 applied with a test and 20,000 without or vice versa.
Thatās what kids need to know - acceptance rate by test submission status.
Then itād be good.
But theyād have less apps - because TO kids would stop applying (at many schools).
This thread can talk about - reducing app counts - but we are not the colleges and they are trying to increase app counts.
I keep reading NEU and 90K+ apps.
Iām sure their admissions dean has a big smile every time he reads that!!
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Even if we have acceptance rates separately for TO vs test submitters, there is the issue of correlation vs causation. It doesnāt tell us whether a test score, or lack thereof, made the difference in an admission decision in either direction, accept/reject. The groups would need to be further parsed.
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But that kind of backfires in some cases. We did not good in-state options for our S, and itās amazing how close some OOS publics are to privates (Stanford, CMU, etc)
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Yes - but the more data, the better decisions a kid can make.
Publishing the data doesnāt help the school.
Less apps, less pressure on the kids, etc. isnāt something the schools care about.
Education is a commodity - and yet everyone achieves it like itās a guarantee in life.
I go to Flemings - I know Iām getting a great steak.
I go to Harvard - I donāt know Iām getting a great life.
Itās amazing - quite frankly - how many people are duped.
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The greater uncertainty and increased difficulty in categorizing reaches, matches, and safeties has been such a huge downside for students.
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But this is not correct - IMHO
I nailed 16 of 17 on my daughter. All of my sons.
A person the other day wrote - after getting WL at Swat that UMD was a nailbiter and I informed her that both it and W&M were not - and theyāre in both.
Another poster had her kid applying to Yale and other top schools and kid avoided hard STEM classes - and the results are predictable.
Picking safeties is EASY. Creating a list that will assure affordability is easy.
People choose not to ignore - because many schools are just not good enough to them. But then they get turned down and justify - itās too unpredictable or too many applicants, etc.
And yet itās a commodity - and so many - top school or otherwise - will end up in the same law schools, same med schools, same jobs.
The higher education industry has instilled this sense of FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
And got the public to buy in - hook, line and sinker.
So we can agree to disagree on this one.
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Friend of mine & her son toured TCU. They really loved it. Glad you had such a good experience there on your visit!
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The great experiences are awesome.
But I caution all to - and this student did- walk the campus on your own and stop and talk to kids.
The admit days are marketing - they are trying to sell you.
And yes, some kids have yummy food on those but not all days.
The kids at Mines told us they looked forward to the admit day visit.
I donāt know how TCU food is normally. Niche shows a B which is ehhhhh. Thatās another great question to ask random kids as you walk the quad and stop them.
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What is Wes
Wesleyan University in Connecticut