Most Selective Colleges, College Transitions

[Anonymous]

Amherst College
Barnard College
Bowdoin College
Claremont McKenna College
Colby College
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Harvey Mudd College
Middlebury College
Pomona College
Swarthmore College
Williams College

Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New York University
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
Tufts University
Tulane University
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University

Categories of College Selectivity https://share.google/AI4xco3w504txRzma

[Anonymous]

Since this was part of the criteria, this is dumb:

“AND possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 30 or an average combined SAT (25%tile) score of at least 1370.”

[Anonymous]

Who cares? “Most selective” just means “uses ED and other forms of yield protection to manipulate acceptance rate.” Is that really what you’re looking for in a college?

[Anonymous]

Of the LACs, only three — Barnard, Grinnell and Swarthmore — are not NESCACs or Claremonts.

[Anonymous]

I’m genuinely curious why people continue to pay attention to rankings or any sort of "list". What do they actually represent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m genuinely curious why people continue to pay attention to rankings or any sort of "list". What do they actually represent?

In this case, colleges for which applicants must be especially well qualified to have a chance of admission and for which even qualified applicants may find admission challenging.

[Anonymous]

might as well up 25th percentile to 1500

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? “Most selective” just means “uses ED and other forms of yield protection to manipulate acceptance rate.” Is that really what you’re looking for in a college?

Exactly! Taking 80% of the class ED makes Chicago on the list. But that selectivity is a scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m genuinely curious why people continue to pay attention to rankings or any sort of "list". What do they actually represent?

In this case, colleges for which applicants must be especially well qualified to have a chance of admission and for which even qualified applicants may find admission challenging.

Barron's has long placed colleges into similarly defined categories (College Transitions has several), which can be helpful to counselors and students in developing suitable lists of colleges to research further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? “Most selective” just means “uses ED and other forms of yield protection to manipulate acceptance rate.” Is that really what you’re looking for in a college?

Perhaps, but wouldn't that mean we're seeing schools like Northeastern in this list? I agree that it's not worth caring about "most selective" but I also think people lean too heavily on ED and yield protection as easy ways to dismiss schools they don't favor.

Personally, I'd opt for fit - both academic and social - over prestige.

[Anonymous]

Mmmmk this is common knowledge to everyone on DCUM right? Like zero new names on this list. This is the It’s A Reach For Everyone list of colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mmmmk this is common knowledge to everyone on DCUM right? Like zero new names on this list. This is the It’s A Reach For Everyone list of colleges.

+100

[Anonymous]

Why does this list not follow acceptance rates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does this list not follow acceptance rates?

For consideration, schools must have acceptance rates of less than 15%. Standardized scoring profiles also are considered. The list is not ranked.

[Anonymous]

Where does this list pull its data from?