Ivy Admit Rates Reach New Lows; Delusions of Grandeur Dashed For Most Applicants
The ruinous state of our economy has done little to deter this year's batch of Ivy aspirants; for the class of 2013, acceptances rates fell at six of the eight Ivy League schools.
Harvard and Yale solidified their positions as the toughest schools to get into, at 7% and 7.5%, respectively, though the school formerly known as the College of New Jersey - while maintaining its third place position - slid, much to the dismay of some prestige-hungry Princetonians, precipitously close to its proletarian New York City peer.
If we had to hazard a guess, we'd say the general rise in applications to the Ivy League may be owed in part to its constituents' sizable endowments and commitment to need-blind financial aid; in marked contrast, several other selective colleges and universities - including Colby and Oberlin - are, according to the New York Times, looking more favorably on wealthier applicants as they make admissions decisions this year."
Perhaps the decrease in selectivity at both Princeton and Penn is due to the fact that they are, or rather have been, traditional feeders into Wall Street - a Wall Street that is no longer as glamorous as it was a few years before. If that yawn-inducing class on financial derivatives or corporate valuation isn't going to net you that super sweet 100-hour a week gig at Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns you might as well learn hot boxing 101 and take creative writing classes pass/fail at Brown.
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Read more: Admissions, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, new york times, Penn, Princeton, Yale
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April 2nd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Damn it, Penn!
Looks like this was an off-year, but Furda better get his shit together.
*Sigh*. On come the trolls, I guess. They’re so sore that we’re always better ranked.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
[Kills self].
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I chose Penn over Brown and Dartmouth, and this is the thanks I get!? Two years ago, they were all within a percentage point of each other, and Penn had been more highly ranked for 8 years!
FUCK THIS SHIT. Brown and Dart suck.
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:52 pm
LSU is down to a 74% admit rate.
Or is it up to?
Go Tigers!!
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Oops, I meant
Geaux Tigers!!
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
@Iheartcollege
God damn economy crushing our Wall Street/Wharton rep…
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
You Penn A-holes should have learned to diversify your portfolios as well as your academic strengths.
Then your school’s relevance wouldn’t be quite so cyclical.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
What’s a portfolio?
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Wharton makes up 19% of the school, you nitwit. The reason Penn stagnated is because fucking Stetson left on the eve of an admissions season, and was fully replaced only months ago.
SAT averages and GPA all went up with this class, so our selectivity was preserved; the admit rate, however, stayed the same, and this is because we need to ACTIVELY RECRUIT the fuck out of Cali and the southwest.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Now I can join this site. I’ll be sure not to hit the submit comment button more than once.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 am
Princeton’s down a bit because this is the finaL year of the multi-stage size increase, so they admitted a larger class this year than last.
Another likely factor is that, unlike 6/7 of the other ivies, princeton no longer has an early admissions program, which hurts its selectivity but goes a long way in ensuring a fair application process.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:04 am
Whatever, Columbia ALSO increased its class size this year, and its admission rate is right at Princeton level. In fact, Columbia College’s had an admit rate of 8.9%, it was just the School of Engineering’s 14.4% that threw it off.
Not to mention… Columbia had over 3000 more applications than Princeton this year. YEAH, that’s what I thought.
PROLETARIAT UNITE!
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 am
EXPANDED TABLE
Harvard 7.1_7
Yale 8.3_7.5
Stanford 9.5_7.6
Princeton 9.5_9.8
Columbia 10_9.8
MIT 11.6_10
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
EXPENDBLE TABLE
LSU 78.2_74.1
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
The Princeton link is hysterical. It’s the bitchiest string of comments I’ve seen in a long time.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Creative writing courses pass/fail? Now I remember why I applied there…
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Those Princetonians sure seem to hate their administration over there. Too bad, it was always such a unique sort of school
April 4th, 2009 at 4:28 am
Congrats to those who now have the opportunity to dig themselves into 6 figure debt. The joys of being middle class! you will then work for spending money, sacrificing relationships and networking events that are vital in The Real World. In 4 years, you’ll get a piece of paper worth over a $100K and a job that pays as much as your campus job.
If your parents can afford it or you have a scholarship, sign up immediately. Otherwise, I strongly suggest that you consider those safety schools that offered you full tuition scholarships.
April 4th, 2009 at 5:19 am
By “Brown and Dart suck,” we ALL know you mean PENN IS ABSOLUTE SHIT and you’re getting an “education” provided by teaching assistance and post-docs.
@yummy: was that really necessary? you’re a stanford troll, i’m guessing….
April 4th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
You’re a fucking moron; you probably attend Brown or Dartmouth. in 3 years and 29 classes, I’ve never had a single one that was taught by anything less than a professor, including my freshman writing seminar.
Now go weave baskets or cry out in the wilderness, you mongoloid man-child.
April 4th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
At least I can weave baskets knowing I won’t be shot at…
April 5th, 2009 at 3:18 am
^ Now if only you could remember the finer tenants of English grammar, namely, ending a sentence in a preposition = state school. Or in your case, fake school. Pass/fail and you still fail.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Finer tenets of the English grammar, not “finer tenants of English grammar”.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Yeah, ViolentQuaker undercut his or her point entirely. Hah. Ass.
The juvenile tone of this blog’s commenter is kind of disgusting. Or hilarious.
April 5th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Don’t try to exclude yourself from human drama. You’re no existential hero.
April 5th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Are you sure? I think I might be. My god, what powers (that is to say, existential powers) I must have. Away!
April 6th, 2009 at 3:04 am
Oh you bitter idiot. Enjoy your 50-person, post-doc-led classes. By “I chose Penn,” you clearly mean “I got rejected from Brown and Dartmouth.”
April 6th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
You’re someone who can’t process information: obviously a Brown graduate. It’s not your fault, you simply never had to use your brain for the entirety of your “COLLEGE” education.
As I’ve said, I have never taken a class led by a non-faculty member, and I got into both Brown and Dartmouth – which are ranked in the TEENS right now, I believe.
What utter shit and squalor you live in; I feel for you.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:16 am
^ Is Dartmouth, being 11th in the teens? Doesn’t it have to end in -teen to be in the teens?
April 7th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I think that being 11th means it’s ranked in the TWEENS right now.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:02 am
@ iheartcollege and others involved:
it’s really unfortunate that y’all’s bickering has such a powerful negative impression on the schools you’ve wound into this mess, both of which are fabulous institutions. the fact that you’re putting so much emphasis on one statistical aspect of such an amazingly unquantifiable field as “what makes a college great” unfavorably affects perceptions of the intelligence involved in the prior exchange as well.
play nice, you guys — especially you, iheartcollege. if belligerence like this were to carry into other aspects of one’s life it could catastrophically limit what he or she would be able to accomplish :(, an especially big loss considering you obviously demonstrate a lot of potential, having been accepted into the schools you listed.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:08 am
^ okay, who told my grandmother about ivygate?
April 14th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
someone do me
April 15th, 2009 at 1:11 am
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38091999704#topic_top
October 14th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
With so many schools decreasing their admission rates, I used AcceptEdge (acceptedge.com)–a program online that made suggestions for schools based on my GPA, test scores and personal interests. It definitely opened up my eyes to some other schools I hadn’t even considered!
October 21st, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Weird, my counselor just mentioned Accept Edge to me today. Maybe I SHOULD try and see what it’s like… Keep you posted!
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
hmmm… i’m going to have to try the site out. Thanks for the advice!