Acceptance Statistics 2015 - Request

[hypervodka]

I'd love for us all to work together to demystify the acceptance rates of these universities for this application season. 

 

Rejection letters and acceptance letters often use the same language. "Congratulations! From a qualified pool of 240 applicants, you were selected..." or "Unfortunately, we received over 240 applications, rendering the decision process extremely competitive..." "You were one of eight applicants selected!" or "We were only able to offer admission to eight applicants this season..."

 

If you feel comfortable, I would appreciate it if we used this thread to compile as much information as you've been able to gather regarding how many applicants (for example, 300 at Vanderbilt) and how many offers (4 at Syracuse) each of your target institutions entertained, whether it be for a position in a PhD program or an MA program.

 

Here are mine:

 

Emory (PhD): 7 accepted, 170 applied.

Vanderbilt (PhD): 300 applied.

 

As the decision process winds to a close, I'll begin compiling them in an openly editable Google document (closed for now). By April 15th, we'll have a PDF version (hosted on pdf.ly or a similar website), that is infinitely share-able for the next generation of prospective applicants! 

Edited February 17, 2015 by hypervodka

[lazaria]

This is an excellent idea, hypervodka. Anything to add more transparency to this process is a great contribution. 

[allplaideverything]

USC creative/critical dual program--6 accepted (3 fiction writers, 3 poets).

[1Q84]

Thanks for starting this, hypervodka! Is incomplete data okay? If so:

 

USC English Lit - 8 acceptances sent out of ? total applicants.

 

Though I have been told by several POI there that in previous years they sent out only 3-4 acceptances on average.

[Dr. Old Bill]

UMD: "8 or 9" acceptances to the Ph.D. program from "some 200" applicants.

 

UW-Madison: "Less than 12%" from "several hundred applications."

 

The others I have received are even more amorphous in terms of numbers.

 

Great idea though, Hypervodka!

Edited February 17, 2015 by Wyatt's Torch

[christakins]

UNC-Chapel Hill (PhD): 15 accepted, 266 applied.

 

Columbia (PhD): 19 accepted, 543 applied.

[goldfinch1880]

I'd love for us all to work together to demystify the acceptance rates of these universities for this application season. 

 

Rejection letters and acceptance letters often use the same language. "Congratulations! From a qualified pool of 240 applicants, you were selected..." or "Unfortunately, we received over 240 applications, rendering the decision process extremely competitive..." "You were one of eight applicants selected!" or "We were only able to offer admission to eight applicants this season..."

 

If you feel comfortable, I would appreciate it if we used this thread to compile as much information as you've been able to gather regarding how many applicants (for example, 300 at Vanderbilt) and how many offers (4 at Syracuse) each of your target institutions entertained, whether it be for a position in a PhD program or an MA program.

 

Here are mine:

 

Emory (PhD): 7 accepted, 170 applied.

Vanderbilt (PhD): 300 applied.

 

As the decision process winds to a close, I'll begin compiling them in an openly editable Google document (closed for now). By April 15th, we'll have a PDF version (hosted on pdf.ly or a similar website), that is infinitely share-able for the next generation of prospective applicants! 

 

Tufts told me they cut 10 slots down to 8 this year, and their website says they get about 120 applicants on average. The 120 isn't a set statistic from this year, and it's been 10 slots for a while, but that should give a general idea.

 

Also....how do we interpret statements like "180 applications for 7 slots." does this mean they accepted more than 7 assuming some will turn them down? Or do we assume that they only extended offers to 7 people, and will draw from the waitlist when they get openings?

Edited February 17, 2015 by goldfinch1880

[lyonessrampant]

While it depends on the program, most places accept the number of slots they have and extend offers to the waitlist as people decline.  This avoids the problem of having too many people accept an offer, resulting in a larger-than-expected cohort.  I believe that happened to UChicago last year.

[goldfinch1880]

While it depends on the program, most places accept the number of slots they have and extend offers to the waitlist as people decline.  This avoids the problem of having too many people accept an offer, resulting in a larger-than-expected cohort.  I believe that happened to UChicago last year.

 

makes sense! I was hoping UChicago's method wasn't standard when I first heard about it! Makes me feel a little better about my waitlist conversion probability....

[ráiméis15]

FWIW, the number of students accepted vs target cohort size can (and often does) differ considerably. In my experience, acceptance/rejection emails often mention the number of funded spots rather than the total number of acceptances. The programs I visited during my application year (Fall 2013), including the one I currently attend, all accepted significantly more students than they thought would come. Most schools have a good sense of their yield rates, and can strategically over-admit without too much of a problem. While this does carry some risk--as lyonessrampant notes--this is still a very common practice. 

 

All this to say: visiting weekends can be a good time to get a better sense of the number of acceptances. Though not everyone can make any given open house, you can usually get a decent idea of how many students were accepted. 

Edited February 17, 2015 by ráiméis15

[__________________________]

I'd be curious to know y'all know these statistics, I've gotten three results and have none of this information...

[hypervodka]

Emory I actually found out about from the Results Search. They wrote as much in the rejection letter sent to applicants. Vanderbilt volunteered that info (which is 350 applicants, not 300) when I inquired about the status of my application a couple of months ago.

[kurayamino]

I wish I could help more but the only hard numbers I have are from the CUNY graduate center.

 

"This year, we had a large and competitive pool of 197 candidates.  We have made initial offers of admission and funding to 21 applicants."

 

Perhaps more can be gleaned from visiting weeks.

Edited February 18, 2015 by kurayamino

[hypervodka]

Thanks a lot, you guys! I've filled in all of this information and opened up the document so that anyone can edit. It looks pretty good so far, but I know we'll know a whole lot more come March.

[goldfinch1880]

Thanks a lot, you guys! I've filled in all of this information and opened up the document so that anyone can edit. It looks pretty good so far, but I know we'll know a whole lot more come March.

 

you're the best, hypervodka! I looked everywhere for something like this when I started this process for myself....

[bhr]

From my MA experience last year, I got the sense that some programs over-accept, anticipating a certain number of rejections, then repurpose those unused funding slots for MA offers.

 

Also, that Madison stat has to be bullshit, unless they really have a 30+ person cohort. 12% of several hundred applicants seems ridiculously high.

[hreaðemus]

What if we know ballpark stats? Like, I know Berkeley gets between 300-400 applications, and accepts a maximum of 14-15 for an ideal cohort of 12, but I don't know the EXACT number for each of those this year. I know Yale got 300+ applications, and I believe they took 14 people total. My Cornell rejection letter was very vague - "hundreds of applications" for "very few places." But I'd guess at a similar ratio! I don't know if that helps though...

 

Edit: My point being that those are two programs, at least, that don't over-accept - they must draw from the waitlist as people decline.

Edited February 19, 2015 by hreaðemus

[toasterazzi]

Also, that Madison stat has to be bullshit, unless they really have a 30+ person cohort. 12% of several hundred applicants seems ridiculously high

 

I don't know specifics about Madison, but I do think they have a pretty big department like we have at OSU. Between MA/PhD, MFA, and PhD students, my cohort is like 33 people. I think there's like 120ish grad students currently in the program overall.

[mmmscience]

Also, that Madison stat has to be bullshit, unless they really have a 30+ person cohort. 12% of several hundred applicants seems ridiculously high.

I was pretty shocked by how big the list of emails was when they were coordinating the welcome weekend thing. So that number might not really be too far off.

[__________________________]

I don't know specifics about Madison, but I do think they have a pretty big department like we have at OSU. Between MA/PhD, MFA, and PhD students, my cohort is like 33 people. I think there's like 120ish grad students currently in the program overall.

Edited February 19, 2015 by mollifiedmolloy

[>>>]

 Like, I know Berkeley gets between 300-400 applications, and accepts a maximum of 14-15 for an ideal cohort of 12, but I don't know the EXACT number for each of those this year. 

does berkeley really take so few per year? they have close to 150 grad students listed on their website. if they were taking even 15 a year, some of these grad students would be like ten years in. 

[hypervodka]

What if we know ballpark stats? Like, I know Berkeley gets between 300-400 applications, and accepts a maximum of 14-15 for an ideal cohort of 12, but I don't know the EXACT number for each of those this year. I know Yale got 300+ applications, and I believe they took 14 people total.

[hreaðemus]

Starting 2010 Berkeley cut its cohort in half, from 20+ to 15 or less, with the difference being that they guarantee funding to all admitted students - so there are a lot of grad students in the program right now, especially because of what hypervodka was saying about the number of years it takes some people to graduate, but it'll be shrinking over time. I have my info from several very reliable sources!

Edited February 19, 2015 by hreaðemus

[__________________________]

some of these grad students would be like ten years in. 

Edited February 19, 2015 by mollifiedmolloy

[LurkerNoMore]

I know it doesn't show the current cycle, but UVA does provide the past several years. You could extrapolate that they receive 225-300 applications and give 20-25 offers or there-about. Found here: http://gsas.virginia.edu/sites/gsas.virginia.edu/files/Profile-English.pdf(I find their GRE statistics surprisingly high).