<p>I’m not entirely sure some of these “back doors” are entirely accidental. What some schools have discovered is that they can accept fewer first year students to appear more selective and make up for it by accepting a zillion transfer students. This would seem to be the case for a school like Vanderbilt that has a MUCH higher transfer admit rate than its first year admit rate. You’ll notice most schools have a much LOWER transfer admit rate than first year admit rate.</p>
<p>Also, Northwestern specifically announced it is going to accept fewer first year students and more transfers students. (A lower first-year admit rate helps boost your ranking; the rankings don’t consider transfer admit rate so it’s another way to game the system:</p>
<p>[</a>" + artTitle.replace(“-”,“”) + " - " + “The Daily Northwestern” + " - " + “Campus” + "](<a href=“http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/mobile/campus/northwestern-to-decrease-acceptances-for-incoming-freshmen-1.2702254]”>http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/mobile/campus/northwestern-to-decrease-acceptances-for-incoming-freshmen-1.2702254)</p>