Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

OK, so you're not going to use acceptance rate to judge admission difficulty. What will you use then?

I think you can take into account the average stats of the average admitted student, and also look at Naviance data.

Do you live in some alternate universe where acceptance rate doesn’t correlate with test scores, GPA, class rank, etc?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got into Stony Brook a million years ago with a 78 average and 990 on the SAT. Today my nephew applied and you have to be a rocket scientist.

Easy big fella! Fewer than half of entrants are from top decile of their HS class. Good school and no dummies allowed but scores and grades aren’t exactly rocket scientists.

Your statement is unprovable, as only 37% of students report rank.

Pretty good sample. Better than your single nephew data point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

OK, so you're not going to use acceptance rate to judge admission difficulty. What will you use then?

I don’t care about selectivity. I care about whether my kid will have peers, what the student body is like, graduation rate, retention of freshmen after the first year.

The Common Data Set tells me all of that.

Very true, very insightful, and very smart.

However not what the OP asked at all, so 100% irrelevant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

OK, so you're not going to use acceptance rate to judge admission difficulty. What will you use then?

I don’t care about selectivity. I care about whether my kid will have peers, what the student body is like, graduation rate, retention of freshmen after the first year.

The Common Data Set tells me all of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

OK, so you're not going to use acceptance rate to judge admission difficulty. What will you use then?

I think you can take into account the average stats of the average admitted student, and also look at Naviance data.

Naviance data is only for one HS at a time. Very small sample, and only useful to applicants from that HS. If you are looking at the scattergram, it is an amalgam of (probably) five years in one picture, so how can you tell if it is going up or down from Naviance? Bad example.

CDS have mid 50% for ACT and SAT. That's a big range and on top of that the scores and test have been reset several times, and the percentages that take SAT vs ACT have changed. Also, you'd want means and not averages.... Maybe you could use percentiles instead of raw numbers, but where do you find that data historically? So not a good measure either.

HS rank is only reported by a small number of schools. GPA is relative to HS and might be weighted, might not, and doesn't take rigor into account if it isn't. So that's also not a good barometer.

Not only is admissions rate the best barometer of how hard it is to get in, it is kind of the definition of it. No reason to argue against that.

Unless you took a dump on a school in a thread and need to have alternative facts to support that in the face of actual data to the contrary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

OK, so you're not going to use acceptance rate to judge admission difficulty. What will you use then?

I think you can take into account the average stats of the average admitted student, and also look at Naviance data.

Colleges with the highest acceptance rates:
https://www.educationcorner.com/colleges-with-highest-acceptance-rates.html

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-acceptance-rate

https://www.niche.com/blog/most-popular-colleges-easy-to-get-into/

Highest acceptance rates in Virginia
https://www.collegesimply.com/guides/high-acceptance-rate/virginia/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

OK, so you're not going to use acceptance rate to judge admission difficulty. What will you use then?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skidmore

Acceptance Rate:

2007 - 39%
2012 - 42%
2019 - 27%

Also wrong.

This information is out there. Spend two minutes on google before you type.

I have no idea about Skidmore, but percentages don't tell the whole story.

Schools do things to make applying easier like dropping fees, or dropping the essay, or taking the common app, and applications go up particularly from kids who are on the low end of their stat range. Or they get a reputation as sometimes taking a chance on kids, and applications go up, so even if the profile of the accepted kids stayed

My kid goes to a school with a 50% acceptance rate. But that's not because it's harder than schools with 70% acceptance rates. It's because it's a school that does really well with low stats kids, so they get lots of applications from very very low stats kids, and kids with other complicating factors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin

Not true based on what I could find. There were years in the 90's that it was over 60% admitted and now it's pretty consistent in the 20s or 30s.

Oberlin is also one of the self-selecting schools. It's not just for bookworms. Because of its Conservatory, Oberlin tends to attract artistic kids. It's one thing to study 24/7, cram through prep schools, and have high stats. It's high stats plus artistic accomplishments.

It certainly is self selective now that it has a reputation as a Snowflake Academy.

Located in the safe space otherwise known as as Granolaville.

Please don’t quit your day job, comedy isn’t for you. Maybe try to focus your time on helping your child become less small minded than you. It’s not an attractive quality.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin

Not true based on what I could find. There were years in the 90's that it was over 60% admitted and now it's pretty consistent in the 20s or 30s.

Oberlin is also one of the self-selecting schools. It's not just for bookworms. Because of its Conservatory, Oberlin tends to attract artistic kids. It's one thing to study 24/7, cram through prep schools, and have high stats. It's high stats plus artistic accomplishments.

It certainly is self selective now that it has a reputation as a Snowflake Academy.

Located in the safe space otherwise known as as Granolaville.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin

Not true based on what I could find. There were years in the 90's that it was over 60% admitted and now it's pretty consistent in the 20s or 30s.

Oberlin is also one of the self-selecting schools. It's not just for bookworms. Because of its Conservatory, Oberlin tends to attract artistic kids. It's one thing to study 24/7, cram through prep schools, and have high stats. It's high stats plus artistic accomplishments.

It certainly is self selective now that it has a reputation as a Snowflake Academy.

There are many insults that say more about the deliverer than the intended. Any using the word "snowflake" qualifies.

Totally agree about the insult thing. I have a child at Oberlin who would never be mistaken for a "snowflake" and her peers are similarly driven and impressive. Lots of Oberlin students have a more creative bent and a laid back/friendly attitude but they aren't "snowflakes". Also there are so many unique things about Oberlin including the ExCo program and Co-op living where the students take on a ton of responsibility. My daughter is teaching an Exco class this year with a friend and many of her other friends are helping run co-op dining which includes meal planning, prep and cooking for all meals. There is no pay for teaching an Exco but lots of students do it because they're passionate about a subject. And the co-op students are very committed to that process even though it would be easier to just swipe a meal card as most other college students do.

As an earlier poster pointed out, it's self-selecting and those who enjoy the community are really happy to be there and they work hard to sustain it.