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Today on MSN:
ten toughest colleges to get into:
MIT
Princeton
Caltech
Yale
Harvard
Upenn
Stanford
Swarthmore
Columbia

By Celebrian23 (Celebrian23) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 08:48 am: Edit

and Duke sorry I accidently omitted it

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 10:15 am: Edit

That is an interesting list and those certainly are tough schools to get into. However, as I had a daughter apply to both Brown and Penn, we felt that Penn was easier to get into (the admit rate alone and other reasons) than Brown. She got into both so it is hard to say. But at Penn, she was one of 100 Ben Franklin Scholars (applied RD) which makes me think she kinda was "up there", whereas I think just getting into Brown was very difficult with the 15% admit rate there. Can't really say but that is one thing on that list that I might question. I also think Amherst is pretty darn tough to get into.

Susan

By Toblin (Toblin) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 01:41 pm: Edit

The school with the lowest acceptance rate in the country is the US Coast Guard Academy. CGA's acceptance rate is less than 8%.

By Mini (Mini) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 01:52 pm: Edit

Doubt it. Probably Deep Springs. And for programs (like Wharton, etc.), the Middlesex Community Community Nursing Program probably has them all beat.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 02:01 pm: Edit

but there are lots of nursing programs. While you may have a long waiting list, as spaces are scarce as an instructor can make a lot more working in the field than as an instructor, there are also other ways to get into the field of nursing.
Take all prereqs while waiting, many students may not have had organic chemistry even if they already have a college degree.
http://www.allnursingschools.com/
Get into a practical nursing program and after you are sure that field is right for you get into one of the many programs that are designed for nurses. to upgrade their skills.
Deep Springs is pretty unique as are schools like MIT and Caltech, nothing else like them, and if you don't get in, it isn't really going to matter how fast the wait list moves

By Marite (Marite) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 02:11 pm: Edit

EK:

I was the person who originally posted the article describing the low admission rate at Middlesex Community College Nursing Program (it's located in Bedford, outside Boston). The gist of the article was that nurses are in great demand, and training programs are not expanding fast enough to meet demand. While there may be many alternative ways of getting into nursing, there are as well many colleges a student can apply to, so Mini's comparison does not lack validity.
The original list of the 10 toughest colleges to get into did not set parameters, so it is legitimate to include Caltech, MIT, Deep Springs, etc... From reading these boards, I also suspect that some music programs can also be very tough to get into.

By Mini (Mini) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 02:16 pm: Edit

Actually, speaking from experience (my wife!) at South Puget Sound Community College, no one is accepted into the program until they have already taken the prereqs - and admissions are based solely on grades in the prereqs. This year, admissions required 7 As and 1 A-minus; if you had any B-pluses, or more than 1 A-minus, it wouldn't matter if you took the prereqs at Harvard, you wouldn't get in.

Many students used the 4-colleges -- (UW and PLU) as their backups, as they are easier to get into than the local community college program. And there are no waiting lists - yield this year was 97%. The wait list doesn't move (you have a much better chance at Caltech or MIT.)

There are lots of liberal arts colleges and Ivies just as there are lots of nursing programs. (and there is a nursing program at an Ivy - Penn -- though it is easier to get into than Middlesex Community College.)

By 1moremom (1moremom) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 02:47 pm: Edit

Not last year at MIT.

By Mini (Mini) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 03:14 pm: Edit

Ah, but MIT has a much, much lower yield than Middlesex or South Puget Sound. Nor is admission restricted to what are essentially transfer students with a minimum 3.95 collegiate GPA. (LOL!)

To give you a sense of how competitive: my wife was on the bottom of the 32 selected (out of more than 250 applicants.) She has ten years of experience as a licensed health care practitioner (massage therapist), with a significant practice working with geriatic and Alzheimer's patients. She had 7 As and 1 A-minus in the prereqs. But she almost didn't get in. Reason? One of the courses she took on-line with a college is Seattle. Aced the course. However, the way they graded courses up there, the top grade is marked as an "A-minus/A".South Puget Sound initially decided that, despite the fact that there was no way to get a higher grade, counting it as an A-minus put her below the threshold of acceptance. It took some appeals and legwork to make it happen!

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Seattle has a different application process for it's CC programs
New students are accepted into the six-quarter program each fall. Students are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis from October 1st through April 1st only. Application deadline may be earlier than April 1st, depending upon the number of applications received. Students should apply as early as possible. The student may complete any or all of the required non-nursing courses before entering the Nursing Program. In addition, a medical terminology course is highly recommended. Applicants MUST complete the six prerequisite classes before being accepted to the Nursing Program approved list. (See Procedure for Admission.)}

By Toblin (Toblin) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 03:50 pm: Edit

The question was: What are the toughest colleges to get into? Not programs/majors. If you want to talk about tough programs then it would be any BA/MD program.

By Mini (Mini) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 03:59 pm: Edit

Well, the list is still wrong. It doesn't include Deep Springs, Julliard, Curtis, New England Conservatory, Cooper Union, the Coast Guard Academy, the Naval Academy and probably a half a dozen others. I doubt that more than one or two of those listed is in the top 10 (and when you remove international applicants, accepted at a 2-3% rate at a bunch of them, I doubt they would all be in the top 10 in any case.)

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:22 pm: Edit

I don't think that UPenn itself should be on the list; when you throw Wharton in there, it makes sense. Otherwise, though, it's harder to get into Dartmouth, Tufts, Williams, Brown (as Susie said), and several others.

Did they use straight acceptance rates? Do they take into account that many schools are less numbers-oriented (i.e. GPA and SAT) - that they would rather take the 1350 disadvantaged Olympic athlete than the 1400 white upper-middle class prep school kid? Just asking...

By Momsdream (Momsdream) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:47 pm: Edit

It seems like they may have looked at the median SATs and High School rank for selected students, as opposed to % admitted. Maybe they confused selectivity factors with how hard it is to get into. A school can be less selective, yet be harder to get into based on size.

By Celebrian23 (Celebrian23) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:47 pm: Edit

as the original poster, I just thought you would find it interesting, I didn't think you would analyze a simple list so much

By Voronwe (Voronwe) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:50 pm: Edit

Then you haven't been on CC very long! ;-
(Note the relationship between our names!)

By Ohio_Mom (Ohio_Mom) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 06:02 pm: Edit

Celebrian -
we're so used to reading between the lines of admissions statements that we've started reading between the characters, as well! And moon-letters, too...

By Achat (Achat) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 06:09 pm: Edit

Lists like this are arbitrary as Mini points out. Getting into a nursing school is harder these days because there is a real demand for nurses.

By Musicmom (Musicmom) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 06:10 pm: Edit

Juilliard has about an 8% acceptance rate.

By Achat (Achat) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 06:18 pm: Edit

yes, Juilliard and Tisch and U Michigan school of MT (BFA in MT).

By Mackinaw (Mackinaw) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 08:57 pm: Edit

Agree with others that Juilliard, Cooper Union, and Curtis are tougher admits than most of the schools on that initial list.

I might add that Juilliard and Curtis and Cooper are also a lot tougher to finish than a few of those schools. The work is unrelenting and the competition fierce. There are also some other very demanding programs that would put a few on that list to shame (Chicago and Reed and RISD among them).

By Aparent4 (Aparent4) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 10:31 pm: Edit

Maybe the list didn't include conservatory programs.

By Celebrian23 (Celebrian23) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 07:05 pm: Edit

i believe it was for just regular high school, not special programs, like conversatories and other specialized fine art programs