Drastic Changes in College Acceptance Rates in Recent Years

As we all know by now, many colleges and universities in the United States became much more selective during the most recent application cycle, largely due to a surge in applications resulting from both short- and long-term changes. But the extent of that change can be hard to see, especially when acceptance rates are already so low at so many schools.

To that end, we’ve compiled the most recent data on acceptance rates at top schools and how they changed from the prior year. Note that the “Change” column represents the total magnitude of the change, not the arithmetic difference. That is, a drop from a 30% admission rate to a 28% admission rate represents a less significant change than a drop from 5% to 3%, because that 2% accounts for a much larger share of the total applicants in the latter scenario.

Changes to Overall Acceptance Rates

The overall acceptance rate at a school is the total number of admitted students divided by the total number of applicants, including both early and regular applicants. As you can see in the table below, the majority of top-100 universities saw their acceptance rates drop, some precipitously so. On the other hand, a handful did rise, even in this challenging year.

School	Most Recent Overall Acceptance Rate	Prior Year Overall Acceptance Rate	% Change in Likelihood of Acceptance
Boston College	19%	24%	-20.8%
Boston University	18%	19%	-5.3%
Brandeis University	30%	31%	-3.2%
Brown University	5%	7%	-28.6%
California Institute of Technology	7%	6%	16.7%
Carnegie Mellon University	17%	15%	13.3%
Case Western Reserve University	30%	27%	11.1%
Columbia University	4%	5%	-20.0%
Cornell University	11%	11%	0.0%
Dartmouth College	6%	9%	-33.3%
Duke University	6%	8%	-25.0%
Emory University	18%	18%	0.0%
Georgetown University	12%	16%	-25.0%
Georgia Institute of Technology	18%	20%	-10.0%
Harvard University	3%	5%	-40.0%
Johns Hopkins University	7%	9%	-22.2%
Lehigh University	45%	32%	40.6%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	4%	7%	-42.9%
New York University	13%	15%	-13.3%
Northeastern University	20%	18%	11.1%
Northwestern University	7%	9%	-22.2%
Pepperdine University	32%	31%	3.2%
Princeton University	4%	6%	-33.3%
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	47%	43%	9.3%
Rice University	9%	10%	-10.0%
Santa Clara University	51%	48%	6.3%
Stanford University	5%	4%	25.0%
Tufts University	11%	15%	-26.7%
Tulane University	11%	13%	-15.4%
University of California-Berkeley	18%	17%	5.9%
University of California-Davis	47%	39%	20.5%
University of California-Irvine	30%	27%	11.1%
University of California-Los Angeles	14%	12%	16.7%
University of California-San Diego	38%	32%	18.8%
University of California-Santa Barbara	30%	30%	0.0%
University of Chicago	6%	6%	0.0%
University of Florida	29%	29%	0.0%
University of Georgia	39%	46%	-15.2%
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign	59%	62%	-4.8%
University of Miami	33%	27%	22.2%
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	26%	23%	13.0%
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill	24%	23%	4.3%
University of Notre Dame	15%	16%	-6.3%
University of Pennsylvania	6%	8%	-25.0%
University of Rochester	30%	29%	3.4%
University of Southern California	12%	16%	-25.0%
University of Texas-Austin	32%	32%	0.0%
University of Virginia	21%	21%	0.0%
University of Wisconsin-Madison	54%	53%	1.9%
Vanderbilt University	7%	10%	-30.0%
Villanova University	25%	29%	-13.8%
Wake Forest University	30%	30%	0.0%
Washington University in St. Louis	13%	13%	0.0%
William and Mary	42%	38%	10.5%
Yale University	5%	7%	-28.6%

Changes to Early Acceptance Rates

However, as you no doubt know, overall acceptance rate is not the only statistic that matters.      During such an uncertain and unprecedented time, many schools relied more heavily on early admission applicants than ever, at least where offered. Nevertheless, even early acceptance rates fell at most schools, particularly the most selective, or else remained the same.

In addition, these data also show another interesting trend: namely, that a growing number of colleges are not reporting their early acceptance data. In almost all cases, early admission rates are higher than the overall rate, and much higher than the regular decision rate. But exactly how much higher is not something that schools necessarily want to advertise.

School	Most Recent Early Acceptance Rate	Prior Year Early Acceptance Rate	% Change in Likelihood of Acceptance
Boston College	Not Reported	37%	No Data
Boston University	33%	28%	17.9%
Brandeis University	56%	42%	33.3%
Brown University	16%	18%	-11.1%
California Institute of Technology	10%	10%	0.0%
Carnegie Mellon University	25%	19%	31.6%
Case Western Reserve University	Not Reported	39%	No Data
Columbia University	10%	15%	-33.3%
Cornell University	24%	24%	0.0%
Dartmouth College	22%	21%	4.8%
Duke University	17%	21%	-19.0%
Emory University	39%	33%	18.2%
Georgetown University	11%	12%	-8.3%
Georgia Institute of Technology	21%	21%	0.0%
Harvard University	7%	7%	0.0%
Johns Hopkins University	20%	29%	-31.0%
Lehigh University	73%	66%	10.6%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	5%	7%	-28.6%
New York University	Not Reported	28%	No Data
Northeastern University	38%	Not Reported	No Data
Northwestern University	24%	25%	-4.0%
Pepperdine University	61%	48%	27.1%
Princeton University	14%	14%	0.0%
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Not Reported	47%	No Data
Rice University	16%	22%	-27.3%
Santa Clara University	69%	82%	-15.9%
Stanford University	7%	7%	0.0%
Tufts University	Not Reported	Not Reported	No Data
Tulane University	23%	32%	-28.1%
University of California-Berkeley	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of California-Davis	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of California-Irvine	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of California-Los Angeles	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of California-San Diego	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of California-Santa Barbara	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of Chicago	20%	20%	0.0%
University of Florida	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of Georgia	59%	43%	37.2%
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign	Not Reported	Not Reported	No Data
University of Miami	Not Reported	Not Reported	No Data
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Not Reported	Not Reported	No Data
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill	28%	31%	-9.7%
University of Notre Dame	22%	26%	-15.4%
University of Pennsylvania	15%	20%	-25.0%
University of Rochester	33%	33%	0.0%
University of Southern California	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of Texas-Austin	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of Virginia	33%	35%	-5.7%
University of Wisconsin-Madison	Not Reported	Not Reported	No Data
Vanderbilt University	18%	21%	-14.3%
Villanova University	56%	56%	0.0%
Wake Forest University	Not Reported	41%	No Data
Washington University in St. Louis	29%	37%	-21.6%
William and Mary	51%	49%	4.1%
Yale University	11%	11%	0.0%

Final Thoughts

Broadly speaking, gaining admission to top colleges is more competitive than ever these days, which means that it’s more important than ever that students stand out from the thousands of other applicants to these highly selective colleges. The more they can identify and articulate what makes them outstanding scholars and unique individuals, the more likely they will be to rise to the top of the pile and join the ranks of that year’s accepted students.

Spark Admissions college counselors are dedicated not only to closely tracking this data, but also to helping students use it to their advantage.  Despite the challenges this year, our acceptance rates at top schools remain significantly higher than the national average. If you want to know how these changes may affect your college admission plan, contact us for a free consultation today.