Finding acceptance rates to a program within a university

[Grantmom]

Hello,

Is it possible to find online the acceptance rate to a particular program or major within a school?  For example, the engineering program might have a lower acceptance rate than general admission.  I have been looking online but can't find it.  Anyone know?  Thanks!

Edited February 10, 2016 by Grantmom

[JanetC]

Hello,

Is it possible to find online the acceptance rate to a particular program or major within a school? For example, the engineering program might have a lower acceptance rate than general admission. I have been looking online but can't find it. Anyone know? Thanks!

I'm pretty sure you'd have to get that from each individual school you are considering. It is not part of the Common Data Set, so generic search engines won't have it.

[Grantmom]

That's what I was wondering.  So, if it's not on their website, then probably just emailing the department is the way to get the info?  Will that come across oddly?

[JanetC]

That's what I was wondering. So, if it's not on their website, then probably just emailing the department is the way to get the info? Will that come across oddly?

I think it depends on how you phrase the question. I would ask how competitive the program is and what is the typical profile of an accepted student, not just "what are my kid's odds?"

[fourisenough]

I think it depends on how you phrase the question. I would ask how competitive the program is and what is the typical profile of an accepted student, not just "what are my kid's odds?"

I think just asking what percent of applicants are admitted to the program is pretty straight-forward. I've asked it many times; sometimes they have data on hand and answer on the spot, and sometimes they have to do some digging, but I've always gotten a response without much fuss.

[Grantmom]

Yes, I mean, it's just something I'm curious about. 

[Bootsie]

I think you are going to find that the question you are asking means different things at different schools.  For example, some schools admit students to the university and then, from that subset, students can be admitted into particular programs.  At other schools, students are admitted to the university and then are not admitted into specific programs until after they have completed a particular number of hours.  So, when you ask what % of applicants who are accepted, the size of the pool of applicants can vary quite a bit.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I think you are going to find that the question you are asking means different things at different schools.  For example, some schools admit students to the university and then, from that subset, students can be admitted into particular programs.  At other schools, students are admitted to the university and then are not admitted into specific programs until after they have completed a particular number of hours.  So, when you ask what % of applicants who are accepted, the size of the pool of applicants can vary quite a bit.

 

I was going to point out something similar.  

 

Purdue admits students to particular colleges within the university.  It's possible to be turned down for one program, but have another program at the university suggested.

 

Another way of asking the question is to ask how difficult it is to be accepted into a particular degree program.  They can then tell the student if it's a matter of taking courses as a freshman and being accepted into the program or applying as a high school student.

[Heather in VA]

We found three different kinds of "program acceptance". Some will accept a high school student directly into a specific program based on their tests/GPA etc. Some accept the student to the school and then after the student successfully completes certain courses with certain minimum grades they are admitted to the degree program. And some we ran into require the admitted student to meet certain course/grade requirements AND have a maximum number of students they can accept. We ran into this when looking for a nursing program for my oldest. One school we talked to said that after 2 years you apply to the nursing major and need X GPA. But they also said they only have so much space so they regularly have to turn away kids who have met all the requirements and either have to find another school or another major. Uh - no thanks LOL. 

 

We asked this kind of question to each school that she looked at and they had no problem answering nor did they think it was weird. 

[JanetC]

The reason why I suggested getting more details than just a percentage is because my DD was looking at art programs, where qualifications are more complicated than just test scores.

 

But, I think the advice applies generally to any type of program: They're not taking X% of a uniform sample of students. Some of the applicants are highly qualified, some are generally qualified, some marginally or un- qualified. Understanding that most of the kids who got in to the engineering program took AP Calc in high school lets you know something important, for example. You really want your kid to be a well-qualified applicant. hopefully without stressing them out unnecessarily or falsely raising your expectations. Get as much detail as you can about what they are looking for in that program.

[Grantmom]

Thanks all.  It varies so much, I just was wondering if, in general, there was info posted somewhere about specific programs within the school.  I guess you have to dig it up yourself.  In looking at colleges, people say to look at the Common Data Set to see if your scores and abilities line up to determine if something is a safe school, a good fit, or a reach.  However, in looking at programs like engineering, those admissions rates and requirements seem to vary greatly, with the admission rate often being much lower than the general population of the school.  Most of the programs do at least have what requirements are different for different programs on their websites, though.  So that's helpful.  I was mostly just curious about this whole notion of how to figure out what is a safety/fit/reach school.

[fourisenough]

We found three different kinds of "program acceptance". Some will accept a high school student directly into a specific program based on their tests/GPA etc. Some accept the student to the school and then after the student successfully completes certain courses with certain minimum grades they are admitted to the degree program. And some we ran into require the admitted student to meet certain course/grade requirements AND have a maximum number of students they can accept. We ran into this when looking for a nursing program for my oldest. One school we talked to said that after 2 years you apply to the nursing major and need X GPA. But they also said they only have so much space so they regularly have to turn away kids who have met all the requirements and either have to find another school or another major. Uh - no thanks LOL.

 

We asked this kind of question to each school that she looked at and they had no problem answering nor did they think it was weird.

I hear you. My DD just went through the application process this year as a nursing major and we ONLY considered schools that offered a direct-admit pathway into the nursing school. No way were we willing to allow her to start at a school that had a competitive admission process after prerequisite courses are completed- there are just too many possible ways that could go wrong!

 

More generally, though, we always asked how many applications they receive for the specific program and how many spots are available- for most, it was VERY different than their overall 'admit' percentage. And certainly more relevant and thus helpful for our situation.

Edited February 11, 2016 by fourisenough