I thought that was a few years ago and they had since changed their approach. I imagine it’s still well north of 50% but I thought they realized that the 80% discourages applications - and no school wants that. I think 2022 was about 60%. I think Tulane was similarly backing off this approach a little but then Middlebury went all in. |
They do this to create a ridiculously misrepresentative acceptance rate. Basically it's all RD rejections and probably a lot of international kids from China and India who need aid. I am surprised how well Bates has managed to maintain the illusion that it's basically as selective as the other Maine SLACs. |
You're right PP, the 81% number is wrong or from a different year. I just looked at the most recent Common Data Set info (22-23) and the proportion seems to be around 60% of Bates students were admitted via ED - 314 admitted via ED for an entering class that totalled 518. By comparison Middlebury accepted 439 students via ED and had a total entering class of 639 - so about 68%. Bowdoin was lower, about 52% of the enrolled first-years were admitted via ED (267 out of 508.) I can't find a CDS for Colby. But I wonder if there are any small LACs that *don't* rely heavily on ED to fill their entering class? |
40-45% seems to be the floor. |
| I'm no fan of ED but I absolutely see the benefit to the institutions. With that in mind, why wouldn't a school want to fill a class with high stats ED applicants? Seems like a no brainer. Most of these kids are full pay and they are 100% committed to attending. |
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Middlebury and Wash U accept 70% or more of their students through ED.
Schools that fill 60-69% of their class through ED: Barnard Emory Johns Hopkins Schools that fill 50-59% of their class through ED: Boston College Boston U Brown Colby Colgate Dartmouth Vanderbilt Wesleyan https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/early-decision-schools-that-double-admission-odds |
Which makes sense given the percentage of recruited athletes at these small schools. |
I think there are a lot more walk ons at some of these schools versus true recruits. Maybe half the athletes are truly recruits. |
That can’t possibly be true for NESCAC. |
It varies by school and by sport. Several NESCAC swim teams have walk ons, for example, and I would guess zero hockey teams do. |
Okay, fair point. No walk ons for lacrosse, hockey, soccer. |
Last year, Bates took 81%!!!!L of their class ED and had a 50% ED acceptance rate. So yeah— full pay, ED, decent stats— you’re in. |
DC’s straight shooter college counselor told them that they couldn’t consider Bates a safety - “they want students who want to be there and they use ED to measure that.” DC liked it but not enough to ED so that was off the list. |
The 81% number is provably false, as noted above. |
They like students who are contractually obligated to attend if accepted in order to help them keep their acceptance rate low and yield high. Hence, they use ED to measure that. Bates is not a safety because they are happy to reject highly qualified students who have a very low probability of going there if accepted. Bates stands out to me as a school that is perceived (by virtue of association with other Maine SLACs and its manipulated admissions data) as much more selective than it actually is. Bates stands out among its UNSWR ranking neighbors with its low endowment. I think it's no better in any sense than lower ranked PA and OH LACs. It's a Denison/Lafayette level school IMHO, not Colby/Haverford. |