Acceptance rate doesn't mean anything!

[Anonymous]

Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

It does not serve them well. Nowhere in the real world will you be surrounded by people that were all the top 1% academically. Ivy grads work along side GMU/CNU/towson/etc grads. They typically even get the same starting salaries. You will work with people who took the CC to 4 year degree, people who barely got thru HS but found their stride in college (at a no-name school you have never heard of), IVY candidates who couldn't get in/couldn't afford it so they went to the honors program at local state school they could afford, etc... And you know what, nobody talks about where they went to college, other than during football/basketball season. They expect you all to work together as a team to get the job done. Your boss or team leader might even be someone who only got a 1100 SAT and went to the state school with 85% acceptance rate. Yet somehow they are your boss---because they are smart, driven, work hard and that's what matters in life. You will have to function in life with a diverse group of people (academically, socially, economically, etc) and the sooner you learn how to do this and that everyone has something to offer, the further you will go in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Have admissions offices said it is now chaos?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole idea behind acceptance rate is exclusivity but the schools are no more exclusive than they were before. Optional test scores and common app just increased the number of apps hence the lower and lower acceptance rate every year. Most kids who are applying to these schools and schools boasting the increased number of applicants are just marketing gimmicks. Most apps do not survive the automated screening. If your DC did not get into one of these exclusive schools that is because of a number of factors including the fact that the entire application process is arbitrary and completely broken.

+1 Northeastern and Colby really proved that this year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

It does not serve them well. Nowhere in the real world will you be surrounded by people that were all the top 1% academically. Ivy grads work along side GMU/CNU/towson/etc grads. They typically even get the same starting salaries. You will work with people who took the CC to 4 year degree, people who barely got thru HS but found their stride in college (at a no-name school you have never heard of), IVY candidates who couldn't get in/couldn't afford it so they went to the honors program at local state school they could afford, etc... And you know what, nobody talks about where they went to college, other than during football/basketball season. They expect you all to work together as a team to get the job done. Your boss or team leader might even be someone who only got a 1100 SAT and went to the state school with 85% acceptance rate. Yet somehow they are your boss---because they are smart, driven, work hard and that's what matters in life. You will have to function in life with a diverse group of people (academically, socially, economically, etc) and the sooner you learn how to do this and that everyone has something to offer, the further you will go in life.

I wish there was a way to measure and quantify inner drive and focus. Those people who are genuinely self driven and motivated to excel end up ruling the world. Those that solely rely on their natural intelligence, it doesn't always work out for them as well in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole idea behind acceptance rate is exclusivity but the schools are no more exclusive than they were before. Optional test scores and common app just increased the number of apps hence the lower and lower acceptance rate every year. Most kids who are applying to these schools and schools boasting the increased number of applicants are just marketing gimmicks. Most apps do not survive the automated screening. If your DC did not get into one of these exclusive schools that is because of a number of factors including the fact that the entire application process is arbitrary and completely broken.

+1 Northeastern and Colby really proved that this year

Colby? please explain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

+1

OK, then be prepared for obscene numbers of applicants and an unmanageable workload for admissions officers. All of that leads to a lottery mentality. If you think that's great and appropriate for kids to have no idea what's a realistic list, then you're welcome to that opinion. I think its nuts (and unmanageable).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Have admissions offices said it is now chaos?

The people I know in admissions say, yes, it's chaos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole idea behind acceptance rate is exclusivity but the schools are no more exclusive than they were before. Optional test scores and common app just increased the number of apps hence the lower and lower acceptance rate every year. Most kids who are applying to these schools and schools boasting the increased number of applicants are just marketing gimmicks. Most apps do not survive the automated screening. If your DC did not get into one of these exclusive schools that is because of a number of factors including the fact that the entire application process is arbitrary and completely broken.

+1 Northeastern and Colby really proved that this year

What about Northeastern?
It's excellent in almost all of the major categories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

It does not serve them well. Nowhere in the real world will you be surrounded by people that were all the top 1% academically. Ivy grads work along side GMU/CNU/towson/etc grads. They typically even get the same starting salaries. You will work with people who took the CC to 4 year degree, people who barely got thru HS but found their stride in college (at a no-name school you have never heard of), IVY candidates who couldn't get in/couldn't afford it so they went to the honors program at local state school they could afford, etc... And you know what, nobody talks about where they went to college, other than during football/basketball season. They expect you all to work together as a team to get the job done. Your boss or team leader might even be someone who only got a 1100 SAT and went to the state school with 85% acceptance rate. Yet somehow they are your boss---because they are smart, driven, work hard and that's what matters in life. You will have to function in life with a diverse group of people (academically, socially, economically, etc) and the sooner you learn how to do this and that everyone has something to offer, the further you will go in life.

I wish there was a way to measure and quantify inner drive and focus. Those people who are genuinely self driven and motivated to excel end up ruling the world. Those that solely rely on their natural intelligence, it doesn't always work out for them as well in the end.

That would likely come out in recommendations and to some extent, in essays. That is the point of holistic review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

It does not serve them well. Nowhere in the real world will you be surrounded by people that were all the top 1% academically. Ivy grads work along side GMU/CNU/towson/etc grads. They typically even get the same starting salaries. You will work with people who took the CC to 4 year degree, people who barely got thru HS but found their stride in college (at a no-name school you have never heard of), IVY candidates who couldn't get in/couldn't afford it so they went to the honors program at local state school they could afford, etc... And you know what, nobody talks about where they went to college, other than during football/basketball season. They expect you all to work together as a team to get the job done. Your boss or team leader might even be someone who only got a 1100 SAT and went to the state school with 85% acceptance rate. Yet somehow they are your boss---because they are smart, driven, work hard and that's what matters in life. You will have to function in life with a diverse group of people (academically, socially, economically, etc) and the sooner you learn how to do this and that everyone has something to offer, the further you will go in life.

I wish there was a way to measure and quantify inner drive and focus. Those people who are genuinely self driven and motivated to excel end up ruling the world. Those that solely rely on their natural intelligence, it doesn't always work out for them as well in the end.

That would likely come out in recommendations and to some extent, in essays. That is the point of holistic review.

GPA with rigor + Test Score display it the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has thrown college admissions into chaos.

Thankfully!
I've got to be honest that I still don't understand segregating the highest achievers so much in relatively small schools. I don't think it serves them especially well for the future either.

+1

OK, then be prepared for obscene numbers of applicants and an unmanageable workload for admissions officers. All of that leads to a lottery mentality. If you think that's great and appropriate for kids to have no idea what's a realistic list, then you're welcome to that opinion. I think its nuts (and unmanageable).

Tbh, an actual lottery does sound appealing. Have each college set some sort of eligibility criteria (either minimum GPA/class rank or SAT/ACT or certain AP scores or whatever) and just plunk randomly from that. A 1570 SAT is just not meaningfully more ready for even the toughest college than a 1420 is. Engineering schools might require a specific math score to be eligible. Forget having 13-14 year olds specifically curating their lives to appease a hypothetical AO 4 years hence, which is insane. Combine this with ranked preferences (each college first pulls from the pool who ranked them first), and we might actually be on to something. Might this dilute the name brand of the “tippy top“ (to use an expression I hate more than life itself), sure, it might in the short term. But I don’t believe it would diminish the actual education whatsoever, either in the long run or short term.

[Anonymous]

There's a lot on this thread and others about how broken the system is, and how admissions offices need to make all these changes. There no doubt are issues that could be addressed, but the much bigger issue is the mistaken assumption (due largely to USNWR rankings and others) on the part of applicants, parents, high schools, etc. that there's a definitive group of colleges that are significantly more capable of educating the brightest students than other colleges are. People's understanding of appropriate matches for top students needs to expand SIGNIFICANTLY to include hundreds of colleges, not just a dozen or two. There's very little difference in the quality of education between the Ivies+ and their safety schools.