IQx.com – Colleges Information Online

Tag: acceptance

  • Importance of SAT Scores

    SAT test scores are listed after your transcripts. While that may mean that they’re less important than a student’s grades these scores are still extremely essential. Sometimes, they can make or break an application.


    In general, it’s fair to say that admission officials prefer students who demonstrate their ability to perform well in school. This information will be reflected on the transcript. Test scores are important because they help admission officers get a more focused picture of the type of student they’re looking at.

    A student may barely squeeze in for a spot if his/her test scores are terrific but his/her transcript is loaded with C’s. On the other hand, the student’s favorite college may never admit the student based solely on poor test scores. For that reason, it’s a good idea to take tests seriously, even if the student has amazing grades and does not consider the tests important. Especially at the most selective colleges, the smallest differences between applications can mean the difference between an acceptance and a rejection.

    Keep in mind that there are more activities to take into account than a student’s transcript and test scores

  • Applying Early

    Finally a student has cut down the list of schools and is considering applying early to get the ball rolling on his/her college plans. Typically, there are three ways that a student can apply early and some universities may offer more than one of the following options:

    • Early Action (EA), which allows a student to apply to more than one school early and gives him/her an early answer about his/her acceptance. EA applications shouldn’t be used liberally by applying this way to every school on a student’s list. Having the ability to submit multiple EAs doesn’t mean the student should feel free to overuse it.
    • Early Decision (ED), which also gives a student an early answer, but restricts him/her to applying ED to only one school and requires that the student will guarantee up front that (s)he’ll enroll if he/she is accepted. If the student is, that student must withdraw his/her applications to any other colleges. He/she is committed to the school and can’t apply anywhere else, even during the regular admission season.
    • Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) or Restrictive Early Action (REA) is the newest option, which limits a student to applying early to only one school to get an answer in advance about acceptance. It’s not binding, but restricts the student from applying anywhere else under an EA or ED application. The student can apply elsewhere during regular admission and does not have to make a decision to enroll until the school’s regular deadline.

  • College Letters

    With this economy in this shape, college admissions officers sent out record marketing letters. I know a few high school kids who receive at 20 letters per day from colleges, universities and even vocational schools. The admissions office is now busy with their acceptance notifications–sending out fancy certificates, T-shirts, tubes of confetti, or Internet links to videos of fireworks–in an effort to inspire loyalty and lock in commitments from today’s worried high school seniors. Even a traditionalist school like Kalamazoo College is printing its hand-drafted and hand-signed letters on better-quality paper and is sending out bigger packets so that acceptances will look more impressive.

    For some students, that personal touch is what really makes the difference. Old-fashioned personal letters that show an admissions officer actually read the essays may actually made the difference. For others real things could be the trigger for the final decision. Which school do you want to go? Should it be the school that sent you a personal letter or the school that sent you a T-shirt? What about other things such as:

    • This year the school’s acceptance package from St. Bonaventure University in western New York contains a T-shirt.
    • MIT sent out a tube filled with a poster and confetti to its early admissions.
    • A lot of schools are shipping bumper stickers, decals, and other knickknacks.
    • Ithaca College sent out “Phat package”–a foot-long envelope emblazoned with the words “Something big is about to happen.”
    • Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. sent out a fancy new translucent envelope holding a green linen folder embossed with the college seal and the words: “You have been accepted.”
    • Baylor, Rutgers and Elon sent out suitable-for-framing acceptance certificates.
    • St. Bonaventure upgraded the college’s T-shirt package this year.

    What about dean letters? Are you going to cry? We have had tears and cheers at inappropriate places and times, this is unnecessarily upsetting many students and their classmates. School’s preference for electronic rejections aggravated feelings of worthlessness. The new electronic rejections–some of which are little more than “Admissions decision: Deny”–feel much harsher than the traditional letters enclosed in ominously thin envelopes. Some posters on collegeconfidential.com have complained that after all their hard work on essays, electronic rejections can feel especially brutal. Someone said he felt awful when he logged on to read “Admissions decision: Deny” and then got what he called a “hard, cold” formal rejection in the mail.

    Schools hire webmasters and web designers to design new digital letters. For example videos through email a link to a video of cheering crowds and the words “Congratulations. You’ve been accepted to Elon!”. Binghamton University added flash animation to its E-mail last year. The University of Georgia greeted accepted students with a link to an animated graphic of fireworks, says this year’s fireworks will be flashier than ever. Bryn Mawr launched its video acceptance last year, is promising an even better video this year. California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo provides a flashy acceptance video because studies show an average applicant applies to anywhere from nine to 12 other schools and will choose from about six offers. In addition, as a science and tech school, Cal Poly attracts applicants more fluent in text messages and Tweets than snail mail.

    At IQx.com, we are going to publish some of the example acceptance and rejection letters. You will have a taste of the new buzz.

  • 2008 College Acceptance Rates

    These are 20 universities with low acceptance rates for 2008. Some of these are record rates such as Harvard’s 7.1%.

    Harvard University – 7.1%
    Yale University – 8.3%
    Princeton University – 9.5%
    Stanford University – 9.5%
    Columbia University – 10%
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 12%
    Dartmouth University – 13.2%
    Brown University – 13.3%
    Washington and Lee – 15%
    Swarthmore University – 15%
    University of Pennsylvania – 16.4%
    Bowdoin University – 18%
    Georgetown University – 18%
    Duke University – 19%
    University of Southern California – 21%
    University of California, Berkeley – 21.5%
    University of California, Los Angeles – 22.1%
    Cornell University – 22.9%
    Vanderbilt University – 23.1%
    New York University – 24%

  • UC Schools New Ethnic Acceptance Plan

    Recently announced by Mercury News, UC Schools will now be accepting a lower percentage of asian and oriental heritage. In addition to this, UC schools have agreed to accept more African Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians. This is because students with asian background are taking up a larger majority of the UC universities every year. California wants its colleges to be more diverse and therefore implementing this plan. UC has also agreed to eliminate SAT subject tests as a requirement and to consider “lower-ranking” students more.

  • 2007 – College Acceptance Rates

    According to US news, twenty eight colleges accepted every single person that applied. The lowest acceptance rates are also provided.

    Here are the Fall of 2007 college acceptance rates of 100% for the United States:

    Weber State University – Ogden, UT

    Pikeville College – Pikeville, KY

    CUNY–Medgar Evers College – Brooklyn, NY

    West Virginia University–Parkersburg – Parkersburg, WV

    Golden Gate University – San Francisco, CA

    Shawnee State University – Portsmouth, OH

    Bellevue University – Bellevue, NE

    Morris College – Sumter, SC

    Boston Conservatory – Boston, MA

    Utah Valley State College – Orem, UT

    Wayne State College – Wayne, NE

    Mountain State University – Beckley, WV

    Tabor College – Hillsboro, KS

    National University – La Jolla, CA

    Peirce College – Philadelphia, PA

    Oklahoma Panhandle State University – Goodwell, OK

    Wilmington University – New Castle, DE

    Northwestern Oklahoma State University – Alva, OK

    Granite State College – Concord, NH

    Southern Nazarene University – Bethany, OK

    City University – Bellevue, WA

    Gratz College – Melrose Park, PA

    University of Texas–Brownsville – Brownsville, TX

    Concordia College – Selma, AL

    Glenville State College – Glenville, WV

    Baker College of Flint – Flint, MI

    CUNY–College of Staten Island – Staten Island, NY

    University of Maryland–University College – Adelphi, MD

    Here are the top 10 lowest acceptance rates for the United States:

    Curtis Institute of Music – Philadelphia, PA – 4.8 %

    Juilliard School – New York, NY – 7.7 %

    Harvard University – Cambridge, MA – 9.2 %

    Princeton University – Princeton, NJ – 9.7 %

    Yale University – New Haven, CT – 9.9 %

    Stanford University – Stanford, CA – 10.3 %

    Columbia University – New York, NY – 10.6 %

    Cooper Union – New York, NY – 10.7 %

    United States Naval Academy – Annapolis, MD – 11.8 %

    College of the Ozarks – Point Lookout, MO – 11.8 %