1. Selective College Admissions: A Four-Year Process Wednesday, October 29, Presenters: Mr. Tom Kulick Dr. Richard Clinton College Counselors, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

2. Agenda: Overview of selective schools
Attributes of a competitive candidate
Schools where our students do well
Special issues

3. 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

4. Lowest Acceptance Rates Source: 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.

5. Lowest Acceptance Rates (cont).
Institution
Rate
Stanford 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
University of Pennsylvania
12.2%
Princeton University
7.4%
Duke University
12.4%
U.S. Naval Academy
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
U.S. Military Academy
9.0%
U.S Air Force Academy
15.4%
Brown University
9.2%
Cornell University
15.6%

6. Lowest Acceptance Rates (cont).
Institution
Rate
Wash. 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
Olin College of Engineering
16.8%
Barnard College
20.5%
Georgetown University
17.1%
University of Notre Dame
22.3%
Johns Hopkins University
Vassar College
24.1%
Middlebury College
17.5%
Bates College
24.2%
Williams College
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%

7. 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 other schools of comparable selectivity but to which our students do not apply regularly

8. Colorado School of Mines
52 schools: 2 or more SJ applicants per year average accepted GPA > 3.8
New England
Harvard
MIT
Brown
Tufts
Williams
Amherst
Boston College
Dartmouth
Yale
Midwest
Chicago
Michigan
Wash U
Illinois
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Case Western
Carleton
Washington
Middle Atlantic
Columbia
Cornell
NYU
RPI
Naval Academy
Swarthmore
Lehigh
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
Princeton
Penn
Villanova
Carnegie Mellon
California
UCLA
USC
Stanford
CalTech
Santa Clara
UC Berkley
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
Colorado School of Mines
Southeast
Virginia
WakeForest
N. Carolina
Duke
Wash& Lee
Ga Tech
Emory
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Wm & Mary UT
Rice

9. Bands of selectivity within this sample
Extraordinarily difficult without a preference; our most outstanding candidates often face low probabilities
Ivy League; Stanford; Cal Tech/MIT; Duke
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 Academies
Very likely admission for strong students
Many including Tulane; Georgia Tech; Case Western; Michigan

10. Illustration: ultra-selective schools
Average profile of students admitted without preferences
GPA
SAT-1600
Sub Test Avg
AP’s taken
4.25
1550
780
6.5

11. Ultra-selective schools (cont.)
Schools: IVY/Stanford/Cal Tech/Duke/MIT
Student Profile: 4.2+ GPA, SAT-1450+; 33+ ACT
# of students 17
# applying to ultra-selective 13
# admitted to ultra-selective
3 (23%)
# of students 18
# applying to
ultra-selective 14
# admitted to
6 (43%)
# of students 12
# applying to ultra-selective 8
# admitted to ultra-selective
3 (38%)

12. Ultra-selective schools (cont.)
: 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)

13. Ultra-selective schools (cont.)
: 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

14. Ultra-selective schools (cont.)
: 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

15. 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. )

16. 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.

17. 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 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

18. 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

19. Key trends (continued)
Yield management; early decision/early action may be worth 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

20. 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

21. Naviance/Family Connection scattergram

22. A competitive candidacy
Component
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

23. A competitive candidacy (continued)
Component
Comment
Test 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 intensifies
Interviews

24. 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

25. 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 data.
Institution
Overall accept. rate
Jesuit HS accept. rate
Strake Jesuit accept. rate
Boston College
34%
48%
Georgetown
17%
43%
Holy Cross
61%
63%
Loyola Chicago
54%
80%
89%
Marquette
57%
74%
78%
St. Louis Univ.
60%
93%
98%

26. 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