I am sure people will disagree with this method of tiering but it is the best relative representation of demand for a competitive consumer product. In this case the product is an educational opportunity at an elite school. The applicants are the potential consumers who are willing to offer 4 years, opportunity cost vs other schools, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and hours upon hours of studying, test taking and application completion.
You can segment however you want but the lower the admissions rate the greater number of buyers relative to those that are offered the opportunity to purchase. Simple easy way to gauge relative value of a golden ticket.
Generally on CC people hate arbitrary rankings and highlight fit. The aforementioned methodology however is the one entirely subjective “free market” method of calculating relative demand and or value of matriculation spots at school’s.
And yes it has flaws when trying to decipher a specific ranking. Some schools are bigger, finances vary, geography etc. I still think this is a close approximation however broader demand and consequently is an ideal way to use broad strokes in tiering.
Stanford (RD+SCEA) 2,040 out of 47,450 (4.3%)
Harvard (RD+SCEA) 1,962 out of 42,749 (4.6%)
Princeton (RD+SCEA) 1,941 out of 35,370 (5.5%)
Columbia (RD+ED) 2,214 out of 40,203 (5.5%)
Yale (RD+SCEA) 2,229 out of 35,306 (6.3%)
Caltech (RD+EA) 532 out of ~8,200 (6.5%)
MIT (RD+EA) 1,464 out of 21,706 (6.7%)
Pomona (RD+ED) 713 out of 10,245 (6.9%)
Brown (RD+ED) 2,566 out of 35,438 (7.2%)
UChicago (RD+EA+ED1+ED2) 2,329 out of 32,291 (7.2%)
Duke (RD+ED) 3,097 out of 37,390 (8.3%)
Penn (RD+ED) 3,731 out of 44,491 (8.4%)
Northwestern (RD+ED) 3,392 out of 40,425 (8.4%)
Dartmouth (RD+ED) 1,925 out of 22,033 (8.7%)
Claremont McKenna (RD+EDI+EDII) 558 out of ~6,270 (8.9%)
Swarthmore (RD+ED) 980 out of 10,749 (9.1%)
Johns Hopkins (RD+ED) 2,894 out of 29,128 (9.9%)
Cornell (RD+ED) 5,288 out of 51,328 (10.3%)
Bowdoin (RD+ED1+ED2) ~935 out of 9,081 (10.3%)
Rice (RD+ED) 2266 out of 20,898 (10.8%)
Williams (RD+ED) 1,163 out of 9,559 (12.2%)
Amherst (RD+ED) 1,244 out of 9,722 (12.8%)
USC 8,258 out of 64,256 (12.9%)
Colby 1,602 out of 12,313 (13.0%)
Pitzer (RD+EDI+EDII) 577 out of 4,358 (13.2%)
Barnard (RD+ED) 1,088 out of 7,897 (13.8%)
Olin 125 out of 882 (14.2%)
Harvey Mudd (RD+ED) 594 out of 4,101 (14.5%)
Georgetown (RD+EA) 3,327 out of 22,897 (14.5%)
Tufts (RD+EDI+EDII) ~3,139 out of 21,502 (14.6%)
WashU (RD+ED) 4695/31300 (15%)
Tulane ~6,598 out of 38,813 (17%)
Wesleyan (RD+EDI+EDII) 2,233 out of 12,788 (17.5%)
Notre Dame (RD+EA) 3,586 out of 20,370 (17.6%)
Middlebury (RD+ED, likely excluding Febs) 1,696 out 9,230 (18.4%)
Emory (RD+ED, excl. Oxford-only apps) ~5,135 out of 27,759 (18.5%)
Davidson ~1,066 out of 5,700 (18.7%)
Haverford 877 out of 4682 (18.7%)
Wellesley ~1,267 out of 6,670 (19%)
Northeastern (RD+EDI+EDII+EA) ~11,830 out of 62,268 (19%)
Carleton (RD+ED) ~1,377 out of < 7,100 (19.4%)
NYU (RD+ED1+ED2) 15,722 out of 75,037 (< 21.0, incl. 19% for NY campus)
Hamilton (RD+EDI+EDII) 1,300 out of 6,240 (20.8%)
Lehigh (RD+ED1+ED2) 3,418 out of 15,623 (21.9%)
BU ~14,184 out of 64,473 (22%)
Georgia Tech (RD+EA) ~7,832 out of 35,600 (22%)
Scripps (RD+EDI+EDII) 761 out of 3,198 (23.8%)
Vassar (RD+ED1+ED2) ~1,994 out of 8,312 (24%)
UVA 9,850 out of 37,222 (26.5%)
BC (RD+EA) 8,400 out of >31,000 (< 27.1%)
VIllanova (RD+EA+ED) 6,545 out of 22,727 (28.8%)
American (RD+EDI+ED2) ~5,500 out of 18,950 (29%)
William and Mary (RD+ED) ~5,270 out of 14,640 (36%)
Florida 14,866 out of 40,849 (36.4%)
Union (RD+EDI+EDII) 2,550 our of 6,713 (38.0%)
Macalester (RD+EDI+EDII) 2,453 out of 5,985 (41.0%)
GWU (RD+ED1+ED2) ~11,100 out of ~27,000 (41.8%)
Georgia (RD+EA) < 12,700 out of 26,500 (< 47.9%)
Santa Clara (RD+ED) ~ 7,954 out of 16,233 (49%)