Reply to Smaller Schools = Lower Acceptance Rate

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There was a long and rancorous thread in the Private School forum a while back, about how Sidwell is "more desirable" than, say, St. Johns College high school, based on the fact that Sidwell has lower admissions rates. But Sidwell has smaller classes than St. Johns, and also has fewer applicants than St. Johns.

So what's a better measure of "desirability"? The number of applicants, or the ratio of applicants to acceptances?  Something like 100,000 kids apply to USC every year for, what, 5,000 freshman class slots? (Anybody, feel free to make my stats more precise.)  Compare this to 35,000 applications to Harvard for 2,200 slots there.

Are we to say that USC is more "desirable" than Harvard because 100,000 kids applied vs. 35,000 applications to Harvard? I would. Even if the freshman class size is larger at USC. Even if questions like relative affordability play into USC's appeal, [b]I think that's a totally legitimate facet of "desirability."[/b][/quote]

Not so sure I agree.  There are a ton of kids who might desire to go to Harvard who wouldn't bother applying because they know they have no shot.  The pool of kids who have a legitimate shot at ivy league schools is not huge.[/quote]

Really? I know just as many kids who apply to Harvard even though they have no shot, because "you never know." For example, DC's friend with a C in Calc. Kids with $80 to spend on a long shot may be inflating Harvard's applicant pool.[/quote]

And saying you applied to Harvard has some kind of air of legitimacy even if you are totally unqualified. [/quote]

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