Acceptance Rates, Apparently, Are Poor Predictors of Getting In

Sush Krishnamoorthy, a student from New Delhi, is part of “The Choice” class that includes student-bloggers from Nairobi, Kenya; Topeka, Kan.; Seattle; Rogers, Ark.; Las Vegas; New York City; and Hunting Valley, Ohio. Her ninth post is below. - Tanya Abrams

Early in the college application process, I classified colleges as “dream” schools and “reach” schools based on their acceptance rates. It is popular advice to do so. Also, the terms “selectivity” and “acceptance rate” are often used interchangeably, and this indicated to me that the higher the acceptance rate of a college, the easier it is to get in.

I was in for a surprise.

In the third week of March, I received an e-mail from Cornell University stating that I would be offered admission later in the month. This was followed by a package for accepted students in the mail. I have been offered the Tata Scholarship, which makes a Cornell education affordable for me without loans.

Having received a dream acceptance, I have a more logical and less emotional response to my remaining admission notifications.

I applied to two women's colleges of comparable standing: Wellesley College and Bryn Mawr College. My applications to both were similar, the only major difference being an excellent interview with a Wellesley alumna but no interview with Bryn Mawr.

I had high hopes for Wellesley, especially after my Cornell acceptance: Wellesley has a 28 percent acceptance rate and Cornell has a 15 percent acceptance rate. But something funny happened. I was accepted to Bryn Mawr, which has a 48 percent acceptance rate, but rejected by Wellesley.

In another instance, I was wait-listed by the California Institute of Technology, which is very similar to Harvey Mudd in academic spirit but has an acceptance rate of about 11 percent, compared with Harvey Mudd's 18 percent. I thought this meant I had a better chance of being accepted to Harvey Mudd. Later, I was amused by a rejection e-mail.

There seems to be no simple, linear relationship between acceptance rates and the difficulty of admission. This makes me doubt the very concept of “dream,” “reach” and “safety” schools. The process is inherently unpredictable. A “reach” school rejected me, one “dream” school wait-listed me and another “dream” school accepted me.

I believe there are no “reach” or “dream” schools. There are only colleges that accept you and colleges that don't.

In the past month, I have experienced at least one acceptance, rejection, wait-list and likely letter. After being a dedicated college applicant for more than a year, I might be expected to understand the admission process better. Ironically, I am only more baffled by it. I have learned just one thing: on an individual basis, admission statistics are meaningless.

Ms. Krishnamoorthy, a student at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi, is one of eight high school seniors around the world blogging about their college searches for The Choice. To comment on what she has written here, please use the comment box below.