Selective College Admissions: A Four-Year ProcessWednesday, October 29, 2014

Presenters:Mr. Tom KulickDr. Richard ClintonCollege Counselors, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

Agenda:

• Overview of selective schools• Attributes of a competitive candidate• Schools where our students do well• Special issues

Overview

• Which schools are selective?• How selective are they?• What are the key trends and forces that

impact most of the selective schools?• A caveat about Naviance statistics

Lowest Acceptance RatesSource: U.S. News & World Report

Many students aspire for admission to a prestigious college or university, but the supply of open seats often does not meet the demand from applicants. Earning admission to the schools on this list can be especially difficult. With the lowest acceptance rates among all undergraduate institutions surveyed by U.S. News, regardless of ranking category, the colleges and universities listed here are among the most selective, based on the Fall 2013 entering class.

Lowest Acceptance Rates (cont).

Institution Rate Institution RateStanford University 5.7% Dartmouth College 10.4%

Harvard University 5.8% California Institute of Technology 10.6%

Columbia University 6.9% Claremont-McKenna College 11.7%

Yale University 6.9% University of Pennsylvania 12.2%

Princeton University 7.4% Duke University 12.4%

U.S. Naval Academy 7.4% Vanderbilt University 12.7%

Cooper Union 7.7% Northwestern University 14.0%

M.I.T. 8.2% Amherst College 14.3%

Chicago University 8.8% Swarthmore College 14.3%

U.S. Military Academy 9.0% U.S Air Force Academy 15.4%

Brown University 9.2% Cornell University 15.6%

Lowest Acceptance Rates (cont).

Institution Rate Institution RateWash. U – St. Louis 15.8% Univ. of Southern California 19.8%

U.S. Coast Guard Academy 16.5% UCLA 20.4%

Rice University 16.7% Wesleyan University 20.4%

Olin College of Engineering 16.8% Barnard College 20.5%

Georgetown University 17.1% University of Notre Dame 22.3%

Johns Hopkins University 17.1% Vassar College 24.1%

Middlebury College 17.5% Bates College 24.2%

Williams College 17.5% Carnegie Mellon University 25.5%

Univ. California - Berkeley 17.7% Davidson College 25.6%

Washington & Lee Univ. 18.4% Colby College 26.0%

Tufts University 18.9% Tulane University 26.4%

Harvey-Mudd College 19.1% Emory University 26.5%

Tonight’s definition of selectivity

• Average GPA of an accepted SJ applicant is 3.8 or higher

• There are 52 schools that meet that criteria and to which at least 8 students have applied over the past four classes

• There are 10-20 other schools of comparable selectivity but to which our students do not apply regularly

New England

HarvardMITBrownTuftsWilliams

AmherstBoston CollegeDartmouthYale

Middle AtlanticColumbiaCornellNYURPINaval AcademySwarthmoreLehigh

Johns HopkinsGeorgetownPrincetonPennVillanovaCarnegie Mellon

Southeast

VirginiaWakeForestN. CarolinaDukeWash& Lee

Ga TechEmoryVanderbiltGeorgiaWm & Mary

UTRice

Midwest

ChicagoMichiganWash UIllinois

Notre DameNorthwesternCase WesternCarleton

Colorado School of MinesCalifornia

UCLAUSCStanfordCalTechSanta ClaraUC BerkleyUC San DiegoUC Santa Barbara

52 schools:2 or more SJ applicants per yearaverage accepted GPA > 3.8

Washington

Bands of selectivity within this sample

1. Extraordinarily difficult without a preference; our most outstanding candidates often face low probabilities– Ivy League; Stanford; Cal Tech/MIT; Duke

2. Highly selective but accessible to strong students with strong applications– Most common: UT; Rice; Notre Dame; BC– Many others including USC; Vanderbilt; Georgetown;

Chicago; Service Academies3. Very likely admission for strong students– Many including Tulane; Georgia Tech; Case Western;

Michigan

Illustration: ultra-selective schools

1515

SJ admits to Ivy/Stanford/MIT/Duke

2010-13AthleteUnder-represented populationFirst generationLegacy

No PreferenceGPA SAT-1600 Sub Test

AvgAP’s

taken4.25 1550 780 6.5

Average profile of students admitted

without preferences

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• Schools: IVY/Stanford/Cal Tech/Duke/MIT• Student Profile: 4.2+ GPA, SAT-1450+; 33+ ACT

2012 2013 2014 # of students 12# applying to ultra-selective

8

# admitted to ultra-selective

3 (38%)

# of students 18# applying to ultra-selective

14

# admitted to ultra-selective

6 (43%)

# of students 17

# applying to ultra-selective

13

# admitted to ultra-selective

3 (23%)

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• 2012-2014: 35 students applied to ultra-selective schools, 12 were accepted (34%)

• Which ultra-selective schools are these 12 SJ students currently attending?

Columbia (2) Cornell

Dartmouth Duke (2)

Harvard M.I.T.

Princeton Yale

* adds up to 10 students (more on this in a moment)

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• 2012-2014: 35 students applied to ultra-selective schools, 12 were accepted (34%)

• Of the 23 students who were not accepted, where did they end up going?

Univ of. Texas at Austin (11) Texas A&M

Rice University (4) Univ. of Southern California

Georgetown University of Virginia

Univ. of Michigan Vanderbilt

Pomona College Washington U. – St. Louis

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• 2012-2014: in addition to the 35 “elite” students who did apply to ultra-selective schools, there were another 12 such students who did not do so. Where did these students end up going?

Rice (3) Georgetown

Vanderbilt (3) Univ. of Virginia

Notre Dame (2) St. Louis University

Baylor

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• Finally, did all students who were accepted at an ultra-selective institution end up at that school? While most did, there were a couple of exceptions:

• One student chose Rice over M.I.T.• Another chose Boston College over Princeton• Shows that there are many other factors at

play; not simply rank and selectivity (cont. )

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• Other factors may include:• Financial – cost, financial aid, scholarships• Personal preferences: weather, size, location,

distance from home, religious faith, etc.• Bottom line: complex interplay of many

factors; very personal decision for student and family.

Ultra-selective schools (cont.)

• One final question worth examining: Were any students who did not meet the “elite” threshold admitted to ultra-selective colleges?

• The answer is “Yes.” 7 students from 2012-2014 at: Columbia (3), Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard, and U. Penn. Three were recruited athletes; two applied Early Decision; one was a highly-qualified twin of an accepted brother; one was Native American [with proper documentation (tribal papers)]. However, it is important to note that these students all had very respectable credentials: collectively, 3.94 GPA, 32 ACT

Key trends• Diversity. Diversity. Diversity.– Not just ethnic diversity– Gender balance, geography and first generation

college are also key factors• Athletes and legacies get significant advantages– Athletes are often admitted with academic records

well below the school norms– Legacies tend to mirror the school norms but have

much higher admit rates

Key trends (continued)• Yield management; early decision/early action may

be worth 100-150 points on the SAT• Many schools are selecting for highly distinctive

applicants, not well-rounded ones– Schools want well-rounded classes filled with

highly distinctive applicants-NACAC • An emerging tilt toward engineering and hard

sciences at many highly selective universities

Caveats on Naviance statistics

• Naviance records the admissions results and the GPA and test score distributions of SJ applicants (not the entire student body of the college)

• Information may not be representative when sample sizes are small– % admit rate is lumpy– Average GPA/SAT may be skewed by a single

preference recipient

Naviance/Family Connection scattergram

A competitive candidacyComponent Comment

Transcript • Strive for maximum rigor in course work•“B” in an AP class is better than an “A” in a regular class• Calculus BC is a positive differentiator

Extracurricular Activities

• Selective schools discount gratuitous “résumé building”• Priority should be on consistency of

involvement and leadership• Athletics are a strong positive even if

you won’t be a recruited athlete

A competitive candidacy (continued)Component CommentTest Scores •Use the PSAT and Plan to prioritize your test prep

efforts•Don’t go overboard on test prep at the expense of coursework or extracurricular activities•Have good scores in hand by the end of junior year•Factor subject tests into your testing plan

Essays • Write them during the summer before senior year• Have a hook (e.g., start the essay in the middle of the story in order to grab the reader’s attention)

Recs • Increasing in importance as competition intensifiesInterviews • Increasing in importance as competition intensifies

Schools where SJ students do very well compared to the aggregates

• UT (non-automatic admission; Plan II; Honors Engineering; Honors Business)

• Rice• Notre Dame• University of Virginia• Georgetown

The Jesuit advantage - Acceptance rates at Jesuit colleges

• Source: 2014 Enrollment Data from Conference of Jesuit Admissions Directors (CJAD); Strake Jesuit acceptance rates based on 2007-2014 data.

Institution Overall accept. rate

Jesuit HS accept. rate

Strake Jesuit accept. rate

Boston College 34% 48% 34%

Georgetown 17% 34% 43%

Holy Cross 43% 61% 63%

Loyola Chicago 54% 80% 89%

Marquette 57% 74% 78%

St. Louis Univ. 60% 93% 98%

Special issues• Military academies have unique nominations process– Congressional and Senate web sites have information– Our students do very well in these processes

• Athletic recruiting – Division I-A is driven largely by athletic ability. If recruited,

the vast majority of SJ students will qualify academically even at highly selective schools like Rice or Vanderbilt

– Ivy League is a balance of ability and academics. Academic requirements for athletes are much higher than D 1-A, but valued athletes have a much easier path to admission

– Division III largely academic driven, but coaches often can help applicants with demonstrated athletic ability to get an edge in admissions