Admissions Blog

Making a Calm College Decision

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Patrick O'Connor

This is typically the week many high school seniors are a little tense about their college plans. The last few colleges are sending out decisions this week, and they tend to be the colleges where the admit rates are a little less than getting struck by lightning, so the hopes are high, while the odds remain low.

Now that the big week is finally here, here’s a quick list of things you should focus on to make a quality decision for life after high school:

What you do with the college experience matters more than where you go. Most counselors save this advice for the end of articles like this, but these are unusual times. Chances are, if you’ve applied to a highly selective school, you have what it takes to do well there—it’s just that the college runs out of room before they run out of great applicants. This means that the talents, habits, interests, and way you look at the world has prepared you to do great things wherever you go. The college you attend won’t automatically make you a success; that will still be up to you. So your future will still be in your hands, no matter what the colleges have to say this week.

It looks like another record breaking year. There are fewer students graduating from high school this year, but that isn’t keeping many colleges from seeing new highs in applications—and some that are seeing declines are still admitting less than 20 percent of their applicants. Combined with an increase in the number of students many colleges took through early action and early decision plans, that leaves precious few seats to give out this week.

Yes, No, or Maybe, read the entire letter. A student I am close to—OK, it’s my son—was so happy to read he was admitted to his first choice school he didn’t bother to read page 2 of the acceptance letter. I did, and it’s a good thing, since it included information on the merit scholarship that made his attendance their possible. Other yes letters have information about when deposits are due, and those are important as well.

Letters that waitlist you are even more important to read, since staying on the list may require you to do something—email, send back a card, update your application—by a specific date. Even the letters of denial could give you information about transfer options that may now come into play. So read the letter from start to finish, and have a parent do the same.

Read, and update, your financial aid information. There’s a good chance all your colleges are going to be sending financial aid packages this week. These are based on the financial aid information you gave them two months ago, when the world was a quiet place, before the stock market lost 30 percent of its value—and possibly before you or your parents lost their job.

The only way a college will know your financial picture has changed is if you tell them, and this is college—so it’s not time to be shy. Pick up the phone, call financial aid, tell them your new story, and be ready to send supporting documents. You’re this close to making the dream real. Keep working.

File financial aid for the first time. It’s certainly true most colleges have given all their aid away to students who applied for it in February, but many of those students turn down packages, or go to a different school. If you now need help paying for college, get the forms in yesterday—check the college’s website to find out all the forms they need, and where you should send them. Calling to ask is an even better idea.

Ask for an extension to the May 1 deposit. Many colleges understand that this spring isn’t exactly normal, which is why they are moving their deposit deadlines to June 1 or later. If your college isn’t doing that, you can still call and request an extension for personal reasons. They might say no, but the only way they say yes is because you ask—kind of like the only way they admitted you is because you applied. Make. The. Call.

Apply to more colleges. Except for the Top 50, every college in this country is still taking applications for fall admission—and, as mentioned before, some will still have financial aid to offer you. If you’re looking at changing your college plans due to all the changes in the world, lots of colleges are eager to hear from you for the first time…

Consider transferring …and thanks to some pretty strong transfer options, you could still end up graduating from your dream school, even if you can’t start there. The best way to plan a transfer is to call the college where you want to finish, and ask about transfer options. Building the plan from the end means you know where to start, and what classes are best to take to minimize the credits you’ll lose when you make the shift. Ask for transfer admissions when you call.

Talk to your counselor. One upside of all of this is that counselors now have more time than ever to talk college with you, since they don’t have to do lunch duty. I know, I know—they have 8,000 students on their caseload, and they might not know you well. They will once you tell them who you are, and what you need—and that window is now more wide open than ever before. Most schools have sent students direction on how to reach out to counselors. As is the case with most things in life, what you do with that information is now up to you.

Georgetown’s 2020 School-Specific Acceptance Rates

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Craig

Georgetown University has released its school-by-school acceptance rates for students applying during the 2019-2020 admissions cycle for the D.C. university’s Class of 2024.

Georgetown continues to be one of the most proactively transparent universities when it comes to sharing both its overall acceptance rate and its acceptance rates broken down at the school level (Business, Foreign Service, Arts and Sciences, and Nursing). We wish more selective universities would follow Georgetown’s lead. Georgetown, of course, always has a lot of impressive statistics to share.

“This year, the Admissions Committee reviewed more than 21,300 applications and offered admission to 15% of these candidates. Because of the precautions against COVID-19 that we have been asked by the University to take, for the first time we are not sending decision letters in the mail. Admissions decisions were posted in the applicant portal on March 20. Students can view and print their decision letters from their applicant portals.” shared Charles A. Deacon, Georgetown University’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions.

Deacon went on to add that financial aid decisions will be sent by the Office of Student Financial Services early this week and that candidates accepting a place on Georgetown’s Waiting List will be informed of their status by May 15. “As the Waiting List is not ranked in advance, it is not possible to offer an estimate of chances of admission.”

Of note, in just the past two years, the number of students who have applied to Georgetown College has dropped by 1,126 students, which represents the bulk in Georgetown’s overall drop in applicants over the past two years (which totals 1,579). While total applications are not where they were at their peak, Georgetown is still accepting students at roughly the same rate as it has in recent years. When reviewing the table below, do note that rows with an asterisk (*) are filled with statistics reflecting numbers applicable to admitted students only.

Admitted Students 2019-2020 Cycle (Class of 2024)

	Georgetown College	Walsh School of Foreign Service	McDonough School of Business	School of Nursing & Health Studies	Total
Applied	12,683	4,027	3,219	1,389	21,318
Admitted	1,950	590	543	226	3,309
Admission Rate	15%	15%	17%	16%	15%
*Mean Class Rank Percentile	94.5%	95.4%	93.3%	95.0%	94.5%
Middle 50% SAT EBRW*	710-770	730-770	690-760	700-770	710-770
Middle 50% SAT Math*	710-790	730-790	730-800	710-790	720-790
Middle 50% ACT Composite*	32-35	33-35	32-35	32-35	32-35

Recent Acceptance Rates of Candidates From the Waiting List

	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
Georgetown College	6%	None	14%	7%	14%	12%	10%	7%
McDonough School of Business	3%	None	3%	1%	4%	None	6%	10%
School of Nursing & Health Studies	11%	14%	9%	28%	4%	22%	None	10%
Walsh School of Foreign Service	3%	None	None	None	17%	13%	8%	6%

Again, thanks for the transparency Georgetown. Hopefully the Class of 2024 will be able to start on campus safe and well in a few months.

The neighborhood around the university is usually bustling, but currently is boarding up because of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Will Ivy League admissions deans blame the Russians next?

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

With Ivy League early decision and early action statistics for Fall 2019 slowly but surely coming into focus, a trend is becoming clear: overall demand for venerable “elite” colleges and universities is on the wane, and in the process, “elite” American colleges are becoming ever so slightly less selective than they very recently were.

In addition to Penn, which earlier this fall revealed that it experienced a plunge in Early Decision applications, Harvard is reporting a higher acceptance rate for this year’s early application cycle than last year’s early application cycle. Harvard’s Restrictive Early Action acceptance rate ticked up to 13.9% this fall after clocking in at 13.4 percent last year. Overall, Harvard saw a nearly eight percent drop in REA applications compared to last year. The aforementioned Penn saw its ED acceptance rate rise over one percentage point to 19.7%. Yale got roughly four percent fewer early applications this fall (which resulted in a slightly higher early acceptance rate) and Dartmouth received a whopping sixteen percent fewer ED applications this fall compared to last year (and this was after many years of year-on-year increases in apps).

Princeton is suddenly shy about reporting its Single-Choice Early Action acceptance rate (and even the total number of early applicants); though basic online research shows that Princeton accepted 791 students this fall compared to 743 last fall – at minimum an increase in raw numbers of accepted students if not an increase in acceptance rate (TBD). Yet, it’s always wise to watch what these colleges do report in their press releases versus what they don’t. The omissions tell the tale. Columbia still hasn’t reported out any stats for this year’s admissions cycle. Outside of the Ivy League, other colleges with traditionally Ivy-level acceptance rates are also uncharacteristically demure and uncommunicative this December on the topic of their ED and EA application numbers and acceptance rates.

Meanwhile, Cornell’s Early Decision acceptance rate rose to 23.8 this year from 22.6 last year and was one of two Ivies that received more ED applications this year than last year. The biggest outlier so far this cycle, Brown University, which has always had a looser association with academic quality and accepting students based on academic merit (as opposed to immutable characteristics) compared to other Ivies, saw its ED acceptance rate fall to a new low while also receiving eight percent more ED apps this year compared to last year. Did Brown applicants not experience the California wildfires?! LOL…not at the wildfires; at that ridiculous line of reasoning. Will Ivy League admissions deans contrive to blame Russian interference next?

While it has clearly become de rigueur in “smart” circles to blame Fall 2019’s drop in early application numbers on California wildfires or changing high school demographics, more likely explanations exist by exploring the pervasive ridiculousness of the current college admissions process at America’s most selective institutions and the increasing skepticism many have about the value of what passes for higher education these days relative to the costs. According to Gallup, 51% of U.S. adults now consider a college education to be “very important,” down from 70% in 2013. Don’t expect Ivy League admissions deans to meaningfully engage in conversation on this topic.

It certainly doesn’t bode well for demand for American higher education generally when even a college like Harvard, which doesn’t depend on the vile racket that is the student loan-debt slavery industry, can’t squeeze out a lower acceptance rate year on year. Marketing can only take these hedge funds that dabble in play school (and major in network-building) so far. Demand is simply dropping and demand is likely to continue to fall until these schools tap new markets by changing admissions requirements (lowering them) by some chicanery like removing their SAT-ACT requirements or eventually just turning the whole thing into a literal lottery through which students only have to submit their names, addresses, and demographics in order to have a shot at admission. How far these selective schools will go in their race to the bottom regarding objective student academic/intellectual qualifications remains to be seen.

Alternatively, “selective” colleges could reform their education or pricing models; yet, you can bet that these institutions will tinker or outright disassemble their current admissions models before they touch the holy grail of actual education reform within their walls in order to make their value propositions to students/families more attractive. Though, pricing reform is certainly doable for the richest of these institutions (the Harvards and Yales of the world could offer free tuition for all undergraduates to drive up demand – for at least a few admissions cycles).

All in all, some sort of major reform or change will come from the drop in demand for an Ivy education. What this reform or change will look like remains to be seen. One thing is certain: those who run the Ivies like to be in control…of at least the narrative; therefore, whatever changes are made will be undertaken in an effort to spin the public on these institutions’ continued relevance and trend-setting reputations in polite society. Stay tuned.

University of Georgia Releases Early Action Decisions and Stats

Posted on November 23, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

University of Georgia released its Early Action admissions decisions for the class of 2024 on Friday, November 22, 2019. UGA received 16,511 paid applications for Early Action this year, and the university will offer admission to 7,025 of these applicants.

In addition, according to Davide Graves, University of Georgia’s Senior Associate Director of Admissions Operations and Evaluation, here are some more interesting facts about students accepted in fall 2019 under University of Georgia’s Early Action plan:

Mid 50% Admitted Average GPA: 4.00-4.29 GPA
Graves’ comments: “Please remember this is not the GPA students see on their high school transcript, but rather the GPA that UGA recalculates for everyone based on the core academic courses taken in high school and looking at the actual grades posted on the transcripts.”

Mid 50% Admitted Average SAT (EBRW+M): 1360-1500
Graves’ comments: “This is data for students who were admitted with the SAT being the highest or only test score in their review.”

Mid 50% Admitted Average ACT (Composite): 31-34
Graves’ comments: “This is data for students who were admitted with the ACT being the highest or only test score in their review. Remember, UGA focuses on the ACT English and Math scores, but we report the Composite data as that is the official/accepted data for national publications.”

Mid 50% Admitted AP/IB/DE courses over 4 years of HS: 7-12 courses
Graves’ comments: “We determine academic rigor based on all core classes a student has taken (CP, Honors, Advanced, AP, IB, DE, etc.) as compared to what is offered in the school/community, but this information is the most specific data we can give on it. This does not mean a student needed 7 AP/IB/DE courses to be admitted, as we do not base rigor on the number of these courses taken.”

So, all in, there were 7,025 admits, approximately 6,800 deferred, roughly 2,100 denied, and slightly over 300 incomplete.

Graves adds, “As a reminder, UGA looks at in-state and out-of-state applicants using the same process. In addition, we do not have any limits on the number of students we can admit based on school, neighborhood, county or state, and we do not use major, gender, race, demonstrated interest or legacy status in our review process. We are looking at each individual applicant in the context of the overall applicant pool, and making decisions based on both the EA applicant group and what we expect the applicant pool (EA and RD) will be like overall. I suggest you look at the Admissions Tips, Hints & Myths page for more details about what we do and do not look at in our review.”

Penn Receives Far Fewer Early Decision Applications in 2019

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

Penn’s Early Decision acceptance rate rose to 19.7% in 2019

The University of Pennsylvania only received 6,088 Early Decision (ED) applications for its Class of 2024 — down from 7,109 just last fall — a more than 14% drop from last year’s number of ED applications. This news was first reported in The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s student newspaper, on November 13, 2019; yet, adjusted numbers were released from Penn’s admissions office on December 16, 2019 (see below). Before the sudden drop this year, the number of ED applicants to Penn had been rising for years.

While some may argue that an uptick in fires in California or the lack of a recent SAT score re-centering are to blame, one actual reason for the sudden drop in Penn’s ED application numbers is likely Penn’s choice to break its long-time one 650-word supplemental essay question into two shorter essays (still totaling 650 words in all) this application cycle. Enough students make application choices based on perceived effort to complete Common App supplements alone; therefore, seeing two distinct essay prompts scared off up to 1,000 high school seniors – who clearly were not all that invested in applying to Penn to begin with – from applying to Penn Early Decision this fall.

Just goes to show, many students are not as focused on perceived college fit as they are on perceived college application fit.

Penn’s Former Supplemental Essay Question:

How will you explore your intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania? Please answer this question given the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying. (400-650 words)

Penn’s Current Supplemental Essay Questions:

How did you discover your intellectual and academic interests, and how will you explore them at the University of Pennsylvania? Please respond considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected. (300-450 words)

At Penn, learning and growth happen outside of the classrooms, too. How will you explore the community at Penn? Consider how this community will help shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape this community. (150-200 words)

As one can see above, the change in Penn’s supplemental writing requirement was implemented in such a way as to provide two direct – and more specific – leading questions to Penn applicants in order to give Penn’s admissions team members the information that they really always wanted but were clearly not getting enough of by using Penn’s old 650-word essay prompt alone. Sadly, too few students must have been capable of organizing their thoughts clearly and articulately in the old 650-word responses. But even fewer were even willing to try answering two questions on Penn’s supplement this admissions cycle. Thus, by creating more concrete language in two prompts, Penn upset the equilibrium of its apple cart.

December 16, 2019 Update: Tonight, Penn put out the following information:

On Monday, December 16^th at 7:00 p.m. ET, the University of Pennsylvania will announce admission decisions for Early Decision applicants to the Class of 2024, the institution’s 268^th class.

The University of Pennsylvania received 6,453 applications under the first-choice Early Decision Program for the entering class of 2024. From this group of highly talented and compelling students from around the globe, 1,269 students were offered admission, approximately 53% of the expected enrolling class in the fall of 2020.

Nationally, 46 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico are represented in the class with the highest concentration of admitted students from Pennsylvania (189), New York (162), California (136), New Jersey (132), Florida (51) and Texas (45). Fifty-nine students reside in the city of Philadelphia.

13% of the class are international students based on their citizenship, hailing from 50 countries from Argentina to Zimbabwe.

54% percent of the admitted students are female, 52% of the U.S. Citizens/Permanent Residents self-reported as a member of a minority group, and 10% are first-generation college students. 24% of the admitted students had a parent or grandparent attend Penn in prior generations. 13% are estimated to qualify for a Federal Pell Grant.

Admitted students have pursued a most demanding secondary school curriculum in a range of educational settings. Their middle 50% testing ranges are 1450-1550 on the SAT and 33-35 on the ACT.

So, either Penn’s student newspaper was completely in error in what it reported (only 6,088 ED applicants) or Penn somehow found 365 additional ED applications after November 13 (twelve days after its ED deadline). Were all of them QuestBridge students? If not, where did the other applications come from?

Even taking Penn’s latest news release at face value, Penn experienced at minimum a nine percent drop in ED applications in 2019 compared to 2018. Accepting Penn’s latest numbers also means that Penn’s ED acceptance rate for Fall 2019 rose to 19.7% after hitting 18.5% in 2018 when Penn accepted 1,279 ED applicants. Penn has now accepted over half of its Class of 2024, which Penn expects to total 2,400 students, via Early Decision.

Penn’s higher ED acceptance rate this fall tracks with softer demand at various Ivies. For more information on that, click here.

Denison’s Overall Acceptance Rate Drops to 29%

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Craig

Beautiful Granville, Ohio, home to Denison University

Alison Slater, Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, about a half hour outside of Columbus, is shedding light on the first-year class that Denison will be welcoming to campus in Fall 2019.

Denison experienced “another record number of applications this year,” which resulted in an all-time low admission rate of 29 percent, according to Slater. Particularly notable is the fact that Denison will be meeting full demonstrated financial need for all members of its Class of 2023 – including admitted international students.

Slater added that Denison’s “Class of 2023 is extremely diverse and enhances a student body that is now 18% first-generation, 22% domestic multicultural, and 14% international. Our student body represents all 50 U.S. states and 56 countries, and the incoming class boasts middle 50% test score ranges of 27-31 (ACT) and 1200-1410 (SAT).”

Meanwhile, on Denison’s campus, the brand-new, 108,000-square-foot Michael D. Eisner (former Disney CEO) Center for the Performing Arts is now open. Denison’s dance, music, and theatre departments moved into their new home recently and look forward to putting the center’s new technology to good use.

While Denison’s name and location may not be as well known as its peer institutions further north and east, it’s certainly worth a visit for students interested in a strong liberal arts education. Clearly, an increasing number of students are getting this message.

How did Ivanka Trump get into Wharton?

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Craig

Recently, Tucker Carlson of Fox News asked on his evening program, “How did (CNN host and child of a former Democrat Governor) Chris Cuomo get into Yale?”

The answer to this question is important for all Americans to know for the reasons Tucker Carlson explains in his monologue.

Yet, just as important, if not more important, would be for Americans to get answers to the following two related questions:

How did Ivanka Trump (who is obviously the most powerful woman in America right now by virtue of her personal and professional proximity to President Trump) get into Penn’s Wharton School of Business in 2002 – as a transfer student no less?
Would Ivanka still have gotten into Wharton with the same qualifications if she had submitted her transfer application after her father made his famous escalator speech announcing his run for president in 2015?

As thousands of rising high school seniors around the world embark on completing their college applications for “selective” American colleges over the weeks ahead, the answers to the above two questions would be clarifying and important for these young people to know.

Update: The powers-that-be at Penn changed their admissions policy just a couple of weeks after this post was published. The change, had it been implemented in years/decades prior, would have meant that Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump both would have been denied admission to Penn. Learn more here.

Ivanka Trump and family pose between Locust Walk and Jon M. Huntsman Hall on Penn’s campus in May 2004