Davidson Best Value

[Anonymous]

Davidson is much more diverse than it was when I graduated from there 25 years ago. I'm very proud of what they have achieved in that regard while simultaneously maintaining the best aspects of the school's culture. I think some of the other southern LACs (I'm thinking Sewanee, e.g.) are also trying to follow this trajectory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the poor man's Duke.

You are purely ignorant.

Duke is a university. Davidson is an LAC. The experience that their students receive is fundamentally different. A university cannot provide the same type of education that an LAC does.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is it just me or does it seem like this school's stock has been rising lately?

I'd agree. Ages ago in the late 1980s nobody from the Cathedral schools applied. I hadn't even heard of Davidson back then.

That must have changed fairly soon after you graduated then. I actually know 4 people who graduated from the Cathedral schools in the 1990s who went to Davidson (& I didn't even go to NCS or Davidson!).

Agreed. Was looking at colleges in the early 1990s and plenty of people were interested in Davidson. In those days it had acceptance rates around 35-40%, I believe. Which was considered competitive by LAC standards. It was known as a very good LAC and popular with upper middle class kids looking for a low key, relaxed atmosphere with better weather than the Maine LACs.

All the top 25 or so LACs are just as well known today as they were 25 years ago. It's a self-selective pool, heavily dominated by upper middle class kids from suburban publics and private schools.

I have to disagree with this. 25 years ago, most LACs were bastions for, as you mentioned, white upper middle class/upper class kids from U.S. private schools. They were not known for diversity, and their international percent was basically 0. Today, some of the most diverse colleges in the U.S. (https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/most-diverse-colleges/) are LACs, with 3 making the top 6! Some of the top LACs have at least 23% low-income Pell Grant students, as well as many low-income international/undocumented students who can't get Pell Grants. Williams has a whopping 90 countries represented among current students. At most top LACs, some 50-60% of students get financial aid. Not to mention the huge shifts downward in acceptance rate and upward in app numbers. The Common App and the prominence of rankings played a large role in the decreasing acceptance rates, but there's no doubt that LACs today are more well-known and targeted by a more diverse group of students than they were in the past.

I'm sure the LACs are a bit more diverse today (on the whole, let's not confuse some exceptions like Oberlin with the rest) but in my day in the 1990s they did have international students - some if not many, and already a decent enough minority population). I don't doubt there's been a lot of outreach by the LACs to different types of students but they remain heavily dominated by the upper middle classes (you can still be upper middle class and get financial aid). The 50-60% receiving financial aid seems comparable to my day in the 1990s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Is it just me or does it seem like this school's stock has been rising lately?

I'd agree. Ages ago in the late 1980s nobody from the Cathedral schools applied. I hadn't even heard of Davidson back then.

That must have changed fairly soon after you graduated then. I actually know 4 people who graduated from the Cathedral schools in the 1990s who went to Davidson (& I didn't even go to NCS or Davidson!).

Agreed. Was looking at colleges in the early 1990s and plenty of people were interested in Davidson. In those days it had acceptance rates around 35-40%, I believe. Which was considered competitive by LAC standards. It was known as a very good LAC and popular with upper middle class kids looking for a low key, relaxed atmosphere with better weather than the Maine LACs.

All the top 25 or so LACs are just as well known today as they were 25 years ago. It's a self-selective pool, heavily dominated by upper middle class kids from suburban publics and private schools.

Wow. 35-40%?? Even by the mid-'90s, the acceptance rate was much lower than that!

Only Amherst / Williams /Swarthmore could have had admissions rates below 30%. The next tier of LACs were solidly in the 30s, even 40s. Places like Kenyon and Oberlin were above 50%.

As a reference, Chicago admitted around 65-70% of its applicants in the mid 1990s.

I found this via googling:

From my dog-eared 1997 edition of USN&WR. SAT scores were the recentered (current) scale.

Yale 20% Admission Rate 1350-1550 25th-75th percentile SAT range
Columbia 24% Admitted 1341-1438 Range
Penn 33% Admitted 1370-1440 Range
WashU 56% Admitted 1180-1380 Range
USC 70% Admitted 1070-1310 Range
Chicago 71% Admitted 1270-1470 Range

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/501950-old-acceptance-rates.html

LACs would have had higher admissions rates than comparable universities.

[Anonymous]

Swarthmore had a 34% acceptance rate in 1995 according to their fast facts.

I feel pretty sure that Pomona would have been in the bottom 3 with acceptance rate. StartClass tracks acceptance rates since 2002 and even then Pomona was in the top 3 for lowest acceptance rate. I've posted a listing of what I consider the 8 elite co-ed LACs:



The really interesting point to me is that the acceptance rates differences between the 8 schools have become smaller and smaller. In 2011, you had as much as a 18% percent point difference in acceptance rate. Currently, it is 11.7%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore had a 34% acceptance rate in 1995 according to their fast facts.

I feel pretty sure that Pomona would have been in the bottom 3 with acceptance rate. StartClass tracks acceptance rates since 2002 and even then Pomona was in the top 3 for lowest acceptance rate. I've posted a listing of what I consider the 8 elite co-ed LACs:



The really interesting point to me is that the acceptance rates differences between the 8 schools have become smaller and smaller. In 2011, you had as much as a 18% percent point difference in acceptance rate. Currently, it is 11.7%.

Honestly I'm surprised at Middlebury's and William's current admit rate. Thought it would be lower.

[Anonymous]

I know Swarthmore has been marketing a ton to try to push their acceptance rate to the single digits. None of the other 7 come close to how much they've done. Bowdoin is testing optional. Amherst is in a more urban area and has the five college consortium compared to isolated, stand-alone Middlebury/Williams. Pomona has the California factor, similar to how UCLA/UCB have the lowest state school acceptance rates and Stanford has the lowest acceptance rate period. Williams and Middlebury are also larger (esp. Middlebury, almost 800 students more than Swarthmore and Pomona), so they have to admit more students to fill their class. Pomona admitted 750 in total, Swarthmore 900, Williams 1250, and Middlebury 1800.

I wouldn't read too much into it- all these 8 schools are largely equivalent in their educational offerings and strength of student body regardless of acceptance rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore had a 34% acceptance rate in 1995 according to their fast facts.

I feel pretty sure that Pomona would have been in the bottom 3 with acceptance rate. StartClass tracks acceptance rates since 2002 and even then Pomona was in the top 3 for lowest acceptance rate. I've posted a listing of what I consider the 8 elite co-ed LACs:



The really interesting point to me is that the acceptance rates differences between the 8 schools have become smaller and smaller. In 2011, you had as much as a 18% percent point difference in acceptance rate. Currently, it is 11.7%.

These aren't the LACs with the lowest admit rate......what is the thought behind selecting this cohort?