Acceptance rates to top colleges are lower than ever, with many falling below even five percent. There are many reasons for this, but one which we do not believe is discussed enough is how colleges themselves manipulate acceptance rates.
In this article we’re going to examine why colleges would do this, and then go through examples of how they have done so. We’ll cover examples from real colleges, but know that almost every top college does this to some extent. While they may not all use all of these techniques, they all have the same concerns, and the same end goals.
Why Would Colleges Manipulate Their Acceptance Rates?
This is a reasonable question. After all, why do schools care if they admit everyone who applies or almost no one? The answer, as with so many strange things colleges seem to do, comes back to rankings. US News and other college rankings use acceptance and yield rates as an important factor when ranking colleges; the more selective a school is, the higher the score they get.
This doesn’t just happen in the official rankings either. Colleges which seem more selective, or with a lower acceptance rate, are seen as more prestigious. After all, if so many people want to attend that school, then they must be great, right?
These colleges are in constant competition with each other, and the more prestige they have, the better. More prestigious schools attract more donations, more grant money, and are more attractive to top professors.
Of course, acceptance rates are only one of many factors, and colleges often manipulate several of them. Indeed, this was the basis of the scandal which recently plagued Columbia, and saw them demoted several places in the rankings. Columbia is not the only college doing this; they’re just the only one to get caught quite so publicly.
In this article, however, we’re going to focus specifically on acceptance rates, since these are the most relevant concern for most students, who are eager to compete for a spot at these top schools. But then, how do schools manipulate these rates?
Accessibility of Applications – UChicago
For a long while, UChicago was not on the Common App, instead choosing to use their own application, which they called The Uncommon App (because they’re like that). When they switched to using the Common App instead, something interesting happened: the number of students applying shot up significantly.
This was, in fact, their intention. They noticed that their application rates were lagging behind those of other institutions, and their acceptance rate was higher. After joining the Common App, applications went up, and the acceptance rate correspondingly dropped.
Another method practiced by UChicago was going test optional. This is an interesting one, because there are many legitimate reasons to promote test optional admissions. What some schools have noticed, however, is that they receive more applications when they are test optional. These often come from students who performed poorly on the SATs, and who may not be qualified for the school, but who believe they have a shot due to test optional policies.
Not all schools which have gone or remained test optional are doing so purely out of cynical motivations. That said, they can have multiple driving impulses behind a decision, and the numbers don’t lie: test optional policies increase application rates at top schools.
Both of these choices made applications more accessible to more students, and in so doing drove application rates up. While we do approve of increased accessibility generally, the cynicism with which some colleges do so is impressive, and deserves to be noted.
Advertising and Branding – Northeastern
Colleges have an advertising budget. This isn’t something students think about often, but it’s true. After all, how many emails and letters have you received from colleges you never heard of, all extolling their virtues, inviting you to visit their website, and courting applications.
Colleges use advertising to attract applicants who they think would be a good fit for their school. This is reasonable; after all there are thousands of colleges in the country, and you may not have heard of many of them. Some colleges go further than others with this, and advertise very broadly, to attract as many applicants as they can.
Northeastern is not the only school to do this, but they have had remarkable success in doing so, and in manipulating their place on college ranking lists. Both were done as deliberate, targeted efforts, meant to increase the prestige of the institution.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a prestigious institution, but by reaching out to students who otherwise would not have applied, and who often do not have a realistic chance of gaining acceptance to Northeastern, they enter murkier waters.
The moral of this story is that just because a college sends you mail, or emails, does not necessarily mean you have a good chance of acceptance. Colleges buy student’s contact information in lots, frequently from College Board, and send out advertising material broadly. Many students think these indicate a personal interest in them by the college, but this is unfortunately not the case.
Just Lying – Columbia
This past year, Columbia got caught in a rankings scandal when it emerged that they had systematically manipulated their data in order to improve their rankings. It’s very likely that Columbia is not the only school doing this; indeed most colleges ranked highly do some version of this due to the importance of rankings.
These rankings then draw applicants by themselves. This is especially true for international applicants, who may know less about US schools, and therefore are more likely to rely on the rankings to decide which schools are worth applying to.
This is akin to how Northeastern has manipulated their ranking, but is inherently dishonest, as opposed to merely highly cynical. We do know many of these colleges view the rankings cynically, and care highly about their place on them. While there is no evidence that many of them are manipulating their data the way Columbia was, they likewise have not been investigated with the same rigor.
Our advice here is to take all college rankings with a grain of salt. While the rankings can be a useful tool for searching for colleges initially, they are far from the final word on the subject. You should not decide on where to apply to college based on where it is ranked alone.
Waitlisting as Convenience
Let’s say you’re a college who wants a lower acceptance rate. What’s the easiest way to do that without attracting more applicants? Admitting fewer of your existing ones, of course. This then leads to a secondary problem, because you need to admit that many students in order to have an incoming class of the size you want.
This is where the waitlist comes in. Placing a student on the waitlist counts as a rejection for metrics, but that student can then be admitted later if it turns out they didn’t actually admit as many students as they needed. Is this stressful and no fun for students? Well sure, but that’s a secondary concern.
Luckily, this is not a majorly common practice, though many colleges do use the waitlist, it is less as a means of manipulating acceptance rates. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do as a student to avoid this, and it is hard to know if it has happened at all. Like many parts of the college application process, universities have all of the power here, and students just have to live with that.
Selective Rejections and Enrollment Management
It is possible to get rejected from a college by being too overqualified. This is not common, and affects a very small number of students, but is a problem. Here’s how it happens.
A very high achieving student applies to a large number of colleges, in tiers 1 through 3, as part of a balanced college list. Admissions officers at top colleges are impressed with this student, but at some schools, they may have questions. If, for example, a student is fully qualified for Columbia, NYU may wonder if they really intend to enroll if admitted.
These students are seen as likely to not attend the tier 2 university if admitted, since their profile makes them a clear contender for a top tier school. While NYU is very proud of what it offers, they know most students would choose Harvard over them if given the choice.
Admissions officers will reject these students in order to protect their yield rates. After all, there’s no point in admitting a student you’re pretty sure won’t attend. There are ways around this of course, with demonstrating interest being the easiest. If you are able to clearly signal to admissions officers that a school is your top choice (even if it isn’t), then they are much more likely to admit you in these circumstances.
Final Thoughts
Colleges have a whole bag of tricks they use to manipulate acceptance rates, most of which make the college application process more stressful for students. This is on top of the stress induced by the shrinking admissions rates themselves. We understand that this may not be the most encouraging article we’ve ever written, but we hope that by examining how and why things happen in the admissions process, the whole ordeal becomes less daunting.
There are many nuances to college admissions, and while colleges don’t lie directly to you, they often don’t tell the full truth either. We hope that this article has given you an inside look into how and why colleges make some of the choices they do. If you’re looking for help with your own admissions journey, or have other questions for us, schedule a free consultation today. We’ve mastered all of the ins and outs of the admissions process, and are always happy to hear from you.
