If you or your student are looking at which colleges to apply to in the future you probably feel overwhelmed at the amount of data you will encounter as you try and compare schools. Included in all of the data you are inundated with is the acceptance rate for each school. So you might be wondering what does acceptance rate mean for a college and what does this mean for me?
As you might have already noticed, college acceptance rates can vary dramatically from one school to another. Using data collected from the US Department of Education recent history tells us the average acceptance rate for first-time freshmen at four-year institutions in the US usually hovers at around 65-66% percent. If you spend some time looking at the data from places like the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) you will find that some schools report an acceptance rate of less than 10% and other schools are reporting acceptance rates of 90% or higher, while the majority of schools fall somewhere in between these two extremes. So what exactly is the term “acceptance rate” talking about and why is it important for students?
So What Does Acceptance Rate Mean
What the acceptance rate for a college is referring to is pretty simple. The term acceptance rate refers to the rate at which a college accepts its applicants. Acceptance rates are shown in terms of percentages.
Example of How Acceptance Rate Works
Let’s compare two hypothetical colleges. Both College #1 and College #2 have enough spots to accept 1,000 students for their next incoming class, but they have vastly different acceptance rates. So let’s see how the acceptance rates are calculated for each school.
College #1
1,000 Accepted Applicants / 5,000 Total Applications = 20% Acceptance Rate
College #2
1,000 Accepted Applicants / 1,666 Total Applications = 60% Acceptance Rate
Because College #1 had a higher total number of applicants than College #2, College #1 has a lower acceptance rate. Well, that was easy enough to calculate and understand.
So why do colleges care about what their acceptance rate is and why do they prefer them to be lower? Furthermore, how should prospective students look at acceptance rates when deciding which schools to apply to?
We’ll discuss those times and more below.
What Does It Mean When a College’s Acceptance Rate is Low?
One thing that you can tell for sure about schools with a low acceptance rate is that a small percentage of the people who apply to the school actually get accepted. That’s it. There is really nothing more that a low acceptance rate can tell you about a college without some additional information.
It is also interesting to note that the acceptance rate doesn’t tell you anything about a school’s yield rate, which refers to the percentage of accepted students who actually decide to attend the school.
If as a prospective student you are trying to figure out how likely you are to be admitted to a school you really want to find out what the college’s average ACT or SAT scores or average high school GPA is for their incoming accepted students. Knowing this sort of information in addition to the acceptance rate for a college will really help you get a better idea about your chances of being admitted.
Other measurable statistics you might also be interested in learning about could include the college’s graduation rate and employment statistics for graduates as you decide if you want to apply there.
Benefits of Colleges with Low Acceptance Rates
Nobody likes to throw money away or waste their time. So why do so many people even bother applying at colleges with low acceptance rates?
One reason these schools attract so many applicants is that the feeling of exclusivity associated with these colleges helps to make them more popular and desirable. Plus, this feeling of exclusivity often means that these colleges and universities have a high level of prestige and name recognition with the public. Ivy League schools such as Princeton, Harvard, and Yale are great examples of this.
While there are the Stanfords, Dukes, and MITs of the world that along with the Ivy League schools that have national appeal and name recognition, there are also many regional colleges and universities that receive a great deal of respect and recognition in the parts of the country that they serve.
Many of the colleges and universities with low acceptance rates are in such high demand not just for the quality of the educational experience in the classroom, but also for the groundbreaking research being conducted at these schools. Students who are interested in pursuing careers in research can really benefit from attending one of these institutions. This is even more true for students who plan on eventually earning graduate degrees.
The benefits of attending colleges with low acceptance rates often extend well beyond the classroom. Many of these schools have high-profile alumni who along with their alumni associations provide tremendous networking opportunities for both current students as well as graduates. These networking opportunities can really make a big difference for people throughout their careers in terms of both job opportunities as well as salaries.
Benefits of Colleges with High Acceptance Rates
Many times colleges with higher acceptance rates have less stringent academic requirements for their applicants, which results in a higher likelihood of students getting in. Beyond the higher likelihood that you will be accepted at a school with a higher acceptance rate, there are other benefits to these schools as well.
One way that a college with a higher acceptance rate could benefit you is through institutional scholarship and merit-based awards. First of all, remember that many of the most selective colleges with the lowest acceptance rates attract the most competitive students. So even if you are a strong student it will be difficult to receive institutional scholarships from these institutions given the high number of top students who are also vying for these awards. Conversely, if fewer of these top students apply to schools with higher acceptance rates it means that, if you are a strong student, your chances of receiving institutional scholarships and other merit-based aid could be greater at these colleges.
Even if you don’t receive an institutional scholarship once admitted to a college with a higher acceptance rate you could still end up coming out ahead financially thanks to the lower cost at many of these institutions – especially if they are public schools. As discussed earlier schools with the lowest acceptance rates are usually very popular and students, along with their families, are often willing to pay more to go to these colleges due to their perceived benefits. These elite low acceptance rate schools understand this, which explains why they are often priced higher than other less selective colleges. So being priced more competitively is another way that higher acceptance rate colleges can position themselves to be more attractive to more prospective students.
Another way in which a college with a higher acceptance rate might benefit you is with its location. You shouldn’t feel that you have to move across the country in order to attend a good school. Once you get beyond the top 1% of most selective schools that we always hear talked about in the news you will find that there are a lot of great colleges out there. These colleges are not only easier to get into, but they are spread all throughout the country. So odds are that you can find a good school where you will be accepted that is close to your ideal location.
Why Colleges Like to Have Lower Acceptance Rates
As we discussed earlier, colleges with low acceptance rates are often viewed as being stronger and more desirable by students, parents, and the public. Furthermore, the perception of scarcity that comes from having low acceptance rates increases the value of a college’s brand. It also helps to increase admissions applications from stronger students, drive donations, and strengthens a college’s reputation.
Colleges also want a lower acceptance rate because it helps them look better in college rankings. This is because many college rankings use the acceptance rate for each college as one of their ranking factors.
How Colleges Might Try to Game the System to Lower Their Acceptance Rates
Since colleges have a vested interest in having a low acceptance they will do things that will drive up applications, even if they know you aren’t a viable applicant, to help keep their acceptance rates low. The idea is that as more students apply, the acceptance rate percentage will decrease and make the schools appear more selective and thus more desirable.
One way colleges work toward achieving this goal of lower acceptance rates is through the use of mailers. They will bombard potential students with mailers that encourage them to apply, but just because students are receiving these mailers it doesn’t mean that they will be granted admission.
Another way colleges attract more prospective students to apply for admission is to remove financial barriers that keep people from applying. So they will keep their application fees low, offer application fee waivers, or in some cases eliminate application fees altogether.
So as you can see it is pretty easy for a college to do things that will lower their acceptance rate percentage. While there is nothing wrong with colleges doing these things, and in many cases, these actions can be very helpful to students, it is also helpful for you as a consumer to understand how it all works and what is going on.
Which Colleges and Universities Have the Lowest Acceptance Rates?
With all this discussion about acceptance rates, you might be wondering which colleges and universities have the lowest acceptance rates. So we created this table using data compiled by U.S. News & World Report that shows you the schools with acceptance rates below 10%. As you might have imagined these are some pretty selective schools that are hard to get into. Many of the names on this list are ones that you would expect while some others names you might not be as familiar with.
| SCHOOL | LOCATION | FALL 2019 ACCEPTANCE RATE |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | 4.00% |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | 5.00% |
| Curtis Institute of Music | Philadelphia, PA | 5.00% |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | 5.00% |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | 6.00% |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | 6.00% |
| University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | 6.00% |
| Yale University | New Haven, CT | 6.00% |
| Alice Lloyd College | Pippa Passes, KY | 7.00% |
| Brown University | Providence, RI | 7.00% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | 7.00% |
| Pomona College | Claremont, CA | 7.00% |
| Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH | 8.00% |
| Duke University | Durham, NC | 8.00% |
| Juilliard School | New York, NY | 8.00% |
| United States Naval Academy | Annapolis, MD | 8.00% |
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | 8.00% |
| Bowdoin College | Brunswick, ME | 9.00% |
| College of the Ozarks | Point Lookout, MO | 9.00% |
| Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | 9.00% |
| Rice University | Houston, TX | 9.00% |
| Swarthmore College | Swarthmore, PA | 9.00% |
| Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 9.00% |
Final Thoughts – How Important Should Acceptance Rates Be When You Are Looking At Colleges to Apply To?
Applying to colleges can be daunting since there are so many different factors to consider. Looking at the acceptance rate for a college can be very helpful as you try to determine how likely you are to be accepted there. While a college’s acceptance rate is a great starting point you need to do more research about prospective schools to see if they will be a good fit for you or your child.
Beyond high school transcripts, ACT or SAT scores, and the acceptance rates at each college there are a host of other things you should consider when deciding which colleges to apply to or attend. Things such as a college’s programs, size, location, safety, activities, diversity, and cost can play big parts in whether a college is a good fit for you or your student.
There is nothing wrong with applying to a couple of “dream schools” that have low acceptance rates as long as you are applying to several schools, including colleges with higher acceptance rates. Remember that there are a lot of great colleges out there that could be great fits for you. The goal is to get accepted so you can attend one of them.
