Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of top 5 SLACs:

Pomona- 43.4%
Williams- 39%
Wellesley- 31.8%
Amherst- 29.7%
Swarthmore- 28.2%

Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of selected top universities:

Dartmouth- 51.7%
Brown- 46.5%
Carnegie Mellon- 33.8%
Vanderbilt- 29.4%
Emory- 18.7%

So the Ivies do better but the yields are similar to other top 30 universities?

Can you point me to where you find these?

Common Data Set. Subtract ed admits from numerator and denominator of total enrolled/total admitted

Yes small regional private colleges, as well as community colleges, are seeing drops in enrollment. Given the expense it’s not strange that kids who might have enjoyed a private college choose a large cheaper state school.

But it’s not some simple rural vs urban thing, that’s a lazy argument. There are plenty of rural state schools that are popular - University of Illinois is pretty much surrounded by cornfields, but its enrollment and prestige are doing just fine.

I know kids who are turned off by urban campuses where you can’t really tell where campus ends and city begins.

Anonymous wrote:Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of top 5 SLACs:

Pomona- 43.4%
Williams- 39%
Wellesley- 31.8%
Amherst- 29.7%
Swarthmore- 28.2%

Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of selected top universities:

Dartmouth- 51.7%
Brown- 46.5%
Carnegie Mellon- 33.8%
Vanderbilt- 29.4%
Emory- 18.7%

So the Ivies do better but the yields are similar to other top 30 universities?

Can you point me to where you find these?

I agree with OP. I am seeing the same in Texas.

Anonymous wrote:This may be true but the top 20 (or so) SLACs are still very selective. Admission rates are not going up.

Admission rates are easily manipulated through ED overreliance, test-optional policies, and lack of supplements (see Colby or Middlebury). The real metric is what the students who get in for Regular Decision decide. And I do think that among those who are juggling offers between universities and SLACs, more and more are leaning toward the university offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are kids even applying to SLACS then?

Colgate had something like 22000 applicants this year. A few years ago it was 9000.

Why are kids applying to 10+ schools period? They are casting a wide net.

There are plenty of large universities to cast a wide net without applying to SLACS. So why are kids still applying to SLACS?

If you asked my DC who just applied to 20 schools all over the map he would say:

For variety
For fun
Because I can

Maybe he does not understand the point of the process. Or does not know himself?

The "point of the process," one is led to believe, it to find a school, or group of schools, that will admit a student, and then pick one. It's not that complicated. He's not getting into Harvard, but also think that he can excel at a school beyond community college.

What 17-year-old boy really knows himself?

My response to you, and to PP who states that he still has time to pick up wisdom - is to say -- the system is set up for this. Once a student has slaved over a common app, what problem is it to push a button for a few more submits, especially when there is no application fee, as there is in a large number of these schools, both state universities and SLACs? Oh sure, he had to write a few more supplement essays, but those are largely cut and paste projects as well.

And voila - before he knows it, student ends up with applications submitted to 20 different schools - SLACs, large universities, smaller colleges - whatever you want. My DC ended up with a nice choice to pick from.

Creating more work for other people, applying to schools he’a not really interested in, would never really consider going to, and possibly taking away slots that one of his classmates might have received. I’m sure you don’t see it that way, you are teaching him that his own self is the most important thing, but not all of us have that worldview.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of top 5 SLACs:

Pomona- 43.4%
Williams- 39%
Wellesley- 31.8%
Amherst- 29.7%
Swarthmore- 28.2%

Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of selected top universities:

Dartmouth- 51.7%
Brown- 46.5%
Carnegie Mellon- 33.8%
Vanderbilt- 29.4%
Emory- 18.7%

So the Ivies do better but the yields are similar to other top 30 universities?

Actually Ivies do a lot better. Dartmouth's yield was 73% last year.

It's the yield only among students who were accepted through Regular Decision. The 73% includes Early Decision students who have to enroll (~100% yield); colleges are relying on that more and more to bring down their acceptance rates. Regular Decision yield gives some indication to how many students choose who will likely have offers from other universities and colleges.

Anonymous wrote:Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of top 5 SLACs:

Pomona- 43.4%
Williams- 39%
Wellesley- 31.8%
Amherst- 29.7%
Swarthmore- 28.2%

Regular Decision Yields (% of students admitted RD who choose to attend) of selected top universities:

Dartmouth- 51.7%
Brown- 46.5%
Carnegie Mellon- 33.8%
Vanderbilt- 29.4%
Emory- 18.7%

So the Ivies do better but the yields are similar to other top 30 universities?

Actually Ivies do a lot better. Dartmouth's yield was 73% last year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are kids even applying to SLACS then?

Colgate had something like 22000 applicants this year. A few years ago it was 9000.

Why are kids applying to 10+ schools period? They are casting a wide net.

There are plenty of large universities to cast a wide net without applying to SLACS. So why are kids still applying to SLACS?

If you asked my DC who just applied to 20 schools all over the map he would say:

For variety
For fun
Because I can

Maybe he does not understand the point of the process. Or does not know himself?

The "point of the process," one is led to believe, it to find a school, or group of schools, that will admit a student, and then pick one. It's not that complicated. He's not getting into Harvard, but also think that he can excel at a school beyond community college.

What 17-year-old boy really knows himself?

My response to you, and to PP who states that he still has time to pick up wisdom - is to say -- the system is set up for this. Once a student has slaved over a common app, what problem is it to push a button for a few more submits, especially when there is no application fee, as there is in a large number of these schools, both state universities and SLACs? Oh sure, he had to write a few more supplement essays, but those are largely cut and paste projects as well.

And voila - before he knows it, student ends up with applications submitted to 20 different schools - SLACs, large universities, smaller colleges - whatever you want. My DC ended up with a nice choice to pick from.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are kids even applying to SLACS then?

Colgate had something like 22000 applicants this year. A few years ago it was 9000.

Why are kids applying to 10+ schools period? They are casting a wide net.

There are plenty of large universities to cast a wide net without applying to SLACS. So why are kids still applying to SLACS?

If you asked my DC who just applied to 20 schools all over the map he would say:

For variety
For fun
Because I can

Maybe he does not understand the point of the process. Or does not know himself?

I’m encouraging my kids to look at SLACs. If I’m going to pay 80k/year seems to me preferable to pay for the focus on undergraduate teaching, better access to faculty and a situation that really requires more student interaction. There are exceptions - some majors are more well suited for larger universities - but I like the idea of the SLAC approach, I went to a mid-size Ivy and I’m not pushing my kids to consider it. There are other reasons, but one is that classes were still on the larger side and it’s very easy to classes - and even really succeed - without interacting much with faculty at all, and, while there were exceptions, most faculty weren’t all that interested in undergrads. I was in an honors program in my major and the professor for our honors seminar was clearly just fulfilling an obligation. I can recall him reading his mail while I met with him to discuss my honors thesis.

Obviously, if financial aid and Merit aid enter the picture I can well understand why people opt for larger universities, just saying all else being equal I’m inclined to prefer the SLACs.

Anonymous wrote:Could it be that you just happen to know kids raised in a city? I know that my city-raised Junior can’t fathom spending 4 years locked in a small town. Concerned the social life would revolve exclusively around alcohol and there just wouldn’t be enough off campus restaurants and activities to them happy for 4 years. Feels like a step backwards for a teen who has enjoyed exploring the city they live in. I do see much less interest in alcohol from Gen Z as compared to Gen X.

Completely agree. Our DD was accepted to schools in areas she considered “too remote” (ie Syracuse, Wake Forest, Vassar.) Interesting that she and a number of her friends who were raised in the DC area prefer to be in a city/close proximity to a major city for college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re starting a thread because you know of 6 students who chose a large university over Amherst/Williams etc? Really? Your title makes it sound like there was some study and a noticeable trend across the country. But you know 6 kids so it must be a thing.

Wow.

NP
OP, has a point.
There is a trend and people don’t have to bring study from “experts” for their random opinion.

But the trend is that there are more applications to top slacs not less. But they are not for everyone. They appeal to active outdoorsy students. The kids I know that are excited for them like skiing and hiking and kyacking and biking and playing sports and things like that. Also appeals to students that thrive in smaller classes

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could it be that you just happen to know kids raised in a city? I know that my city-raised Junior can’t fathom spending 4 years locked in a small town. Concerned the social life would revolve exclusively around alcohol and there just wouldn’t be enough off campus restaurants and activities to them happy for 4 years. Feels like a step backwards for a teen who has enjoyed exploring the city they live in. I do see much less interest in alcohol from Gen Z as compared to Gen X.

Meh. My DC born and bred Gen Z kid loves her SLAC in a rural area. She figures she'll have the rest of her life to live in a city, so why not go to an excellent school in a beautiful place? And you do know that kids who go to city schools drink at bars, right? (Please stop clutching your pearls . . . I don't want you to hurt yourself.)

Yep. My DC born and raised kid decided on Georgetown. Her dad has always been dead set against any schools not in a city, believing that rural schools have more of a drinking problem. What my kid learned is that when you go to school in DC, social life revolves almost completely around going out to clubs. Expensive, annoying, and not that safe. She does have fun, though.

Absolutely this, they go to bars and pubs to drink which becomes very expensive very quickly, and also depending on the city not very safe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are kids even applying to SLACS then?

Colgate had something like 22000 applicants this year. A few years ago it was 9000.

Why are kids applying to 10+ schools period? They are casting a wide net.

There are plenty of large universities to cast a wide net without applying to SLACS. So why are kids still applying to SLACS?

If you asked my DC who just applied to 20 schools all over the map he would say:

For variety
For fun
Because I can

He’s still got some time to pick up some wisdom.