Admissions Blog

Colby College has announced that it has been selected as an inaugural member of the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network.

The STARS College Network is a group of sixteen colleges and universities across the United States working together to increase access, affordability, and college advising for students from rural and small-town communities. The other current colleges STARS colleges include Brown University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University in the City of New York, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, The University of Chicago, The University of Iowa, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University.

As part of its membership, Colby will help fulfill a critical role as the sole small liberal arts college in the network, ultimately committed to helping students from small-town and rural communities enroll in, succeed at, and graduate from the undergraduate program of their choice. Events, workshops, and college access opportunities in conjunction with this new membership are in the works beginning as early as this summer.

Colby College is a private liberal arts college located in Waterville, Maine, in the northeastern United States.

With easy access to outdoor recreational activities, including hiking, skiing, and rafting, strong academic programs, particularly in the fields of environmental science, biology, and economics, a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, a commitment to becoming carbon-neutral by 2025 and large investment in sustainable infrastructure and practices on campus, a vibrant campus community with a wide variety of clubs and organizations, and a strong athletics program, Colby College offers a unique combination of academic excellence, environmental stewardship, and a dynamic campus community in a beautiful location.

Colby College has an Island Campus on Benner Island.

University of Chicago shared more about the STARS initiative as well, including the fact that it is supported by a $20 million gift from Trott Family Philanthropies, the foundation of University of Chicago trustee Byron and Tina Trott.

John O. Gaines, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Vanderbilt University, announced some interesting tidbits of information that should be of interest to students and others who want to learn more about the selectivity of Vanderbilt’s overall Early Decision first-year student admissions process for its Class of 2023. The highlights include:

The middle fifty percent of students accepted into Vanderbilt’s Class of 2023 via ED I and ED II who reported their SAT scores had SAT Evidence Based Reading and Writing scores of between 710 and 760.
Meanwhile, The middle fifty percent of students accepted into Vanderbilt’s Class of 2023 via ED I and ED II who reported their SAT scores had SAT Math scores of between 770 and 800.
Of those students accepted to Vanderbilt’s Class of 2023 ED I or ED II who reported their ACT scores, the middle fifty percent had ACT composite scores of between 33 and 35.
No statistics were given regarding GPA averages of accepted students, which is not surprising because GPA scales different from school to school and some schools are ditching GPAs all together. A significant percentage of high schools also do not rank students, and an even greater percentage of high school counselors severely guesstimate students’ ranks in their counselor evaluation reports to colleges; yet, that didn’t stop Vanderbilt from reporting that of those students accepted ED I or ED II this admissions cycle who attend high schools willing to give a decile rankings for their students, ninety-seven percent of accepted students were in the top ten percent of their graduating classes.
Overall, Vanderbilt’s average ED acceptance rate for its Class of 2023 was 19.8 percent.

In recent years, Vanderbilt has filled more than fifty percent of its first-year classes with students accepted Early Decision. Also in recent years, Vanderbilt has become a college that has an ED acceptance rate that is at least twice as high as its Regular Decision acceptance rate. With that in mind, it would not be surprising to see Vanderbilt announce later this spring that its Regular Decision acceptance rate has fallen to seven percent or below. We’ll keep you updated.

In closing, we know we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all, but what’s up with colleges combining their Early Decision I and Early Decision II admissions statistics for public dissemination? What we didn’t learn today is how students accepted to Vanderbilt ED I compared to students accepted to Vanderbilt ED II. If Mr. Gaines would like to fill us in on how Vandy’s ED I admits compared to Vandy’s ED II admits, he is respectfully invited to contact us here, and we will happily and thankfully share his response with our loyal audience.

In the interim, congratulations to Vanderbilt and to those students accepted to Vanderbilt ED I and ED II during this admissions cycle.

Colby Working to Help Rural Students Attend College

Vanderbilt Class of 2023 Early Decision Stats Released