Application Statistics

[resDQ]

How true are the numbers given? A friend already currently attending a program (a T20) said that his program only gets about 150 applications each year and admit ~40. On the website of this school, it says they get 300 applicants each cycle... Not that any of this matters. 

[Warelin]

A lot of websites aren't kept up to date on the latest application numbers. Some count numbers towards the MA and PHD under the same pool of applicants.

[PoliticalOrder]

Probably not very accurate. Although, at some level you have to think that it is almost completely irrelevant how many applications they receive. A high number of applications =/= a high number of quality applications. There is probably a lot of competition at the high end that many will seem strong and inseparable, but on the median and lower end you are going to get a bunch of incomplete applications, ill advised or weak applications, and people that had no idea what they were really applying for.

[changeisgood]

A person in my department who keeps track of this stuff said about 80% of the graduate applications they get are either not serious or the applicant clearly doesn't belong in grad school.

[resDQ]

5 hours ago, trossier said:

A person in my department who keeps track of this stuff said about 80% of the graduate applications they get are either not serious or the applicant clearly doesn't belong in grad school.

when you say doesn't belong in grad school you mean in terms of overall grads, gre, etc.?

[changeisgood]

On 9/3/2016 at 4:29 PM, resDQ said:

when you say doesn't belong in grad school you mean in terms of overall grads, gre, etc.?

Somewhat yeah, but at most programs (those outside the top 20) you *really* have to have bad grades to get tossed out without a second look.  What I mean is they don't know what grad school is about or what it's for, how much work is involved, etc.  They don't want to do research, or teach, or they're just looking for something to boost their potential income as opposed to really understanding what an advanced degree really means.  A lot of times they're better off going to law school or getting an MBA, or something else.