Week 4 – Short Post
Hello Everyone,
I have been hard at work this week getting trends and statistics together from a variety of academic journals and sources. For this week’s post, I’m going to give you guys some insight on what I’m working on right now. The major trend that I’m currently tracking is increased competitiveness in this year’s admission cycle for many prestigious universities here in the United States.
Early Admissions Statistics for a Sampling of Selective Colleges
| School | # Apps ‘21 | Early Apps ‘20 | Early Apps ‘19 | Early Apps ‘18 | Increase in EA/ED Apps ’18-’21 | Acct. Rate ‘21 | Acct. Rate ‘20 | Acct. Rate ‘19 | Acct. Rate ’18 |
| Brown University (ED) | 3,170 | 3,030 | 3,043 | 3,088 | 2.6% | 21.9% | 22% | 20.3% | 18.8% |
| Cornell University (ED) | 5,384 | 4,882 | 4,560 | 4,775 | 12.7% | 25.6% | 27.4% | 26.1% | 27.7% |
| Dartmouth College (ED) | 1,999 | 1,927 | 1,859 | 1,678 | 19.1% | 27.8% | 26% | 26% | 27.9% |
| Duke University (ED) | 3,516 | 3,455 | 3,180 | 3,180 | 10.6% | 24.5% | 23.5% | 26% | 25% |
| Georgetown University (REA) | 7,822 | 7,027 | 6,840 | 6,749 | 15.9% | 11.9% | 13% | 13% | 14% |
| Harvard University (SCEA) | 6,473 | 6,173 | 5,919 | 4,692 | 38% | 14.7% | 14.8% | 16.5% | 21.1% |
| Johns Hopkins University (ED) | 1,934 | 1,929 | 1,865 | 1,595 | 21.2% | 30.5% | 30.3% | 28.9% | 33% |
| Middlebury College (ED) | 673 | 636 | 667 | 686 | -2% | 51% | 53.1% | 42% | 41.8% |
| MIT (EA) | 8,394 | 7,767 | 6,519 | 6,820 | 23.1% | 7.8% | 8.4% | 9.6% | 9% |
| Northwestern University (ED) | 3,736 | 3,022 | 2,793 | 2,863 | 30.5% | n/a | 35% | 36.2% | 32.3% |
| Princeton University (SCEA) | 5,003 | 4,229 | 3,850 | 3,854 | 29.8% | 15.4% | 18.5% | 19.9% | 18.5% |
| Stanford University (REA) | n/a | 7,822 | 7,297 | 6,948 | 12.6% | n/a | 9.5% | 10.2% | 10.8% |
| University of Notre Dame (REA) | 6,020 | 5,321 | 4,700* | 6,551 | 28% since REA began in 2015 | 24.4% | 30.2% | 29.8% | 29.9% |
| University of Pennsylvania (ED) | 6,147 | 5,762 | 5,489 | 5,149 | 19.4% | 22% | 23.2% | 24% | 25.2% |
| Williams College (ED) | 728 | 585 | 593 | 554 | 31.4% | 35% | 42% | 41% | 42.8% |
| Yale University (SCEA) | 5,086 | 4,662 | 4,693 | 4,750 | 7.1% | 17.1% | 17% | 16% | 15.5% |
*Notre Dame changed its early admissions program from Early Action to Restrictive Early Action in 2015.
This graphic takes up a lot of space in this post and his hard to read, so I’m going to do a quick dissection of it. The number of applications have substantially increased for many desirable universities. This is a trend that I’m currently tracking right now, but early speculation on my part predicts that this is because more people are applying to college in general. One of the biggest changes was the cancellation of sessions to take standardized tests. More than 1,600 four-year colleges didn’t require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores, which led to an increase in the number of students applying to selective colleges that are test optional. This year, there was a substantial decrease in the number of students who sent standardized test scores to colleges. Forty-six percent of students who used the Common App to apply to college submitted standardized test scores this year compared with 77% last year.
Sources:
Is It Harder to Get Into College in 2021? – WSJ
Early Admissions Trends for the Class of 2021 – Collegiate Gateway
Thank you for tuning in this week! Expect a more detailed blog next week.
4 Replies to “Week 4 – Short Post”
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Yeah these are some interesting interpretations! What other reasons do you think could exist? I’m really intrigued to know your analysis on this!
Do you think colleges should continue to be test-optional for future admissions cycles? On one hand, keeping the SAT a requirement would make College Board more money and make it easier for the college to differentiate between applicants. On the other hand, no SAT requirement led to an increase in applications like you said, which reduces the acceptance rate and makes the college look more selective. I’m curious to see what colleges decide to do in the coming years.
I like your conclusions Karan! I can see that college decision trends changed a lot over the years, especially this school year… I’m curious as to whether you think this increased applicant amount would persist? Looking forward to more analysis from you!
Interesting data for sure! I am excited to see how this data will tie together with your final research.
Best,
Ms. Floyd