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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,299 Likes: 2
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OP
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,299 Likes: 2 |
Acceptances at elite colleges are at an all time low. It's now easier to get an NIH grant than it is to get into Stanford! A generation ago, it was rare for even highly competitive colleges to offer places to fewer than 20 percent of their applicants. This is one of those occasions when old so-and-sos like me (went to college in the 80s) are correct when we say that things really were better when we were kids. Nice: “One of the ways that colleges are measured is by the number of applicants and their admit rate, and some colleges do things simply to increase their applicant pool and manipulate those numbers,” said Christoph Guttentag, the dean of undergraduate admission at Duke.
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,181
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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 %.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Joined: Jul 2011
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How does USNWR still even exist?
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,228
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It's just X/Y where X stayed the same and Y got bigger. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,691 Likes: 1
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Posts: 1,691 Likes: 1 |
Anything written about how competitive it is to get into grad programs. Many people here think that kid goes to Penn State undergrad and then elite for grad, but isn't that getting harder?
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Joined: Jul 2011
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Anything written about how competitive it is to get into grad programs. Many people here think that kid goes to Penn State undergrad and then elite for grad, but isn't that getting harder? Not for law school.
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,299 Likes: 2
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Posts: 3,299 Likes: 2 |
It's just X/Y where X stayed the same and Y got bigger. Nothing to see here folks, move along. Sort of, but not really. The college admissions arms race has drastically changed the composition of the top chunk of students. So it's very different. A generation ago, you didn't have to do umpteen activities and have perfect grades and perfect or near-perfect SAT scores to get in.
Last edited by Val; 04/08/14 02:27 PM.
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 206
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Anything written about how competitive it is to get into grad programs. Many people here think that kid goes to Penn State undergrad and then elite for grad, but isn't that getting harder? I heard of one good not great ( 20-25ish) Economics Ph.D program got 700 applications for 20 spots. So that is like 3%?
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 480
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Post docs, too. It's the ease of application now, apparently. Once the chaff has been sorted there are no more good applicants than before, it's just easier to apply even at places where you don't have a chance of getting a spot. (this is post doc, not undergrad. I know nothing about undergrad, and think I'll just send my kids to ColinsMum when the time comes)
Last edited by Tallulah; 04/09/14 06:38 PM.
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,513 Likes: 1
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and think I'll just send my kids to ColinsMum when the time comes Would that we could all find a teacher with her mind!
What is to give light must endure burning.
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,898
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and think I'll just send my kids to ColinsMum when the time comes Would that we could all find a teacher with her mind! Lol, send them to study in my department and they will find out that I'm absolutely nothing special in that context! But I thank you :-)
Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
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Joined: Jul 2010
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and think I'll just send my kids to ColinsMum when the time comes Would that we could all find a teacher with her mind! it's the simple merit based admissions policy I love
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,898
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If you or anyone else do want advice on UK university admissions at any stage, feel free to PM me. I wouldn't know the answer to every question, but I might well know someone who would.
Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Colinsmum, I hope you are prepared to teach a LOT of kids...
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Joined: Apr 2011
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Colinsmum, I hope you are prepared to teach a LOT of kids... Where is the like button?
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,453
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Become what you are
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,453
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I agree with 22b in that X remaining constant as Y keeps increasing will naturally increase what i would call the pressure and temperature of the 'system' here.
Also think that the fever pitch of the current college entry arms race is exacerbated by the dumbed down SAT test not really showing which test takers are truly gifted/driven because the ceiling has been dragged so low.
Additionally, global factors like disappearing job prospects in America are increasing the intensity of the race too.
Last edited by madeinuk; 04/11/14 04:16 AM.
Become what you are
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 480
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I posted a Q, then answered it myself with google. Cambridge wants five AP subjects.
Last edited by Tallulah; 04/11/14 07:46 AM.
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