How credible are US News acceptance rate statistics?

[Anonimus.Maximus]

I was looking at the data for Northwestern and BU, and I saw that only 1/3rd of those offered spots at these schools ended up matriculating. This seemed strange at first, but then I figured that anyone good enough to get into one of those schools was likely to get multiple acceptances, and good as those schools are, they don't have quite the draw of a Penn or a UCSF. So I can see how a good number of people admitted to them might end up matriculating somewhere else.

But then I saw that SLU supposedly accepted all 551 people they interviewed, which doesn't seem believable at all. So I dunno what to make of this.

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[ndafife]

Just get MSAR

 

[Anonimus.Maximus]

Just get MSAR

Did, but they only have matriculation data.

 

[Goro]

Did, but they only have matriculation data.

figure 2-x accepts/seat.

There's a reason why we in medical education refer to that rag as "US Snooze and Worst Report". The only people who seem to take it seriously are pre-meds and medical school Deans.

 

[Anonimus.Maximus]

figure 2-x accepts/seat.

There's a reason why we in medical education refer to that rag as "US Snooze and Worst Report". The only people who seem to take it seriously are pre-meds and medical school Deans.

Lol, never heard that one before.

 

[Professional Student]

But then I saw that SLU supposedly accepted all 551 people they interviewed, which doesn't seem believable at all. So I dunno what to make of this

MSAR says that SLU typically interviews right at 1000 applicants (1007 last year). I remember reading somewhere that SLU has approximately a 50% acceptance rate after the interview, and 551 acceptances for 180 spots is very reasonable. It may be that the acceptance number of 551 on US News is correct, but the interview number is actually just over 1000.

 

[efle]

I was looking at the data for Northwestern and BU, and I saw that only 1/3rd of those offered spots at these schools ended up matriculating. This seemed strange at first, but then I figured that anyone good enough to get into one of those schools was likely to get multiple acceptances, and good as those schools are, they don't have quite the draw of a Penn or a UCSF. So I can see how a good number of people admitted to them might end up matriculating somewhere else.

But then I saw that SLU supposedly accepted all 551 people they interviewed, which doesn't seem believable at all. So I dunno what to make of this.

UCSF actually has a yield of only about 50%! Same for Stanford. And down in the 30-40% range includes places like Yale, Vandy, Cornell, WashU, etc. There are a bunch of top schools all interested in the same upper crust of applicants, so most people they admit will also get offers at a couple other big names.

There's def something wrong with the SLU numbers if it says 551 interviewed and 551 admitted. The highest post-interview admit rates are usually around 70% (at U Mich and Northwestern). Most places admit something like 35-50%.