Yeah-- wow.
Of course, how much of this is being driven by the Elite College Marketing Machine, though?
Anyone know what the curve looks like in terms of number of applicants v. number of seats at UChi over the past ten years, for example? They went from a staunch "we won't play that game" to playing with a great deal of enthusiasm over the past maybe 3-5y... and that's when their admit rate went through the floor, not coincidentally.
Haha-- I posted before Val put that last quote in. I didn't even need to fully read the link first. This is (to me, anyway) a seriously obvious reason for a school to have a sub 10% acceptance rate; particularly if it was at one time in the not-terribly-hazy-past above 20% or so. Marketing drives applications.
Why would that be desirable?? Well, USNWR. "Selectivity" rankings based on admit %.
