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    #187557 04/08/14 01:19 PM
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    Val Offline OP
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    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!

    Originally Posted by Caption under photo in article
    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:

    Originally Posted by Somewhere in that article
    “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.

    Val #187558 04/08/14 01:25 PM
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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.
    Val #187562 04/08/14 01:29 PM
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    How does USNWR still even exist?

    Val #187567 04/08/14 01:46 PM
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    22B Offline
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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.

    Val #187568 04/08/14 01:49 PM
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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?

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    Originally Posted by Wren
    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.

    22B #187572 04/08/14 02:26 PM
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    Val Offline OP
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    Originally Posted by 22B
    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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    Originally Posted by Wren
    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%?

    Val #187771 04/09/14 06:37 PM
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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.
    Val #187779 04/09/14 08:22 PM
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    Originally Posted by Tallulah
    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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