What Does it Take to Get a College Acceptance Letter: New Report from Center for Public Education

Alexandria, Va., – January 21, 2010 – The Center for Public Education’s report, “Chasing the College Acceptance Letter,” gives students, parents, and school officials new information about the credentials needed to get into a competitive college in today’s environment.

The thousands of high school seniors sending off college applications this month might be surprised to know that taking harder and higher-level courses, especially in math and science, would do more to increase their chances of being accepted than would a higher GPA. A higher score on college entrance exams (such as the SAT or ACT) also beats out a higher GPA.

Who earns the right credentials? CPE researcher Jim Hull found that minority and low-income students are less likely to earn the credentials that will give them a 50/50 shot of being accepted into a competitive college. For instance, while 66 percent of white students earn these credentials, only 37 percent of minority students and 38 percent of low-income students do.

And low-income students’ situation has worsened. While there was almost no difference between the acceptance chances of low and high-income applicants with the same qualifications in 1992, by 2004 high-income students were over 20 percent more likely than their low-income classmates (80 and 66 percent, respectively) to simply get admitted into a competitive college.

The good news is that “the right credentials” doesn’t have to mean straight A’s, a perfect ACT score, or spending 50 hours a week on extracurricular activities. It just means students should earn decent grades, take college-preparatory courses, and perform well on their college entrance exams. According to the most recent national data available, the average applicant earned a 21 on the ACT, completed trigonometry and chemistry, and earned a 3.12 GPA. This translated into a 75 percent chance of being admitted into a “competitive” college (as defined by Barron’s Profile of American Colleges).

 Other highlights:

• If an average applicant was able to pass pre-calculus instead of stopping at trigonometry, his or her chances would have increased from 75 to 79 percent.
• Lower-achieving applicants could increase their chances from 52 to 57 percent if they simply completed trigonometry instead of stopping math at algebra II -- a greater increase than if the student earned a 3.0 GPA. 
• If minority students earn the same grades, take the same courses, and score the same on their college entrance tests, they have just as good a chance of getting into college as their white classmates. However, minority students are much less likely (15 percent versus 39 percent) to earn the credentials of the average applicant.
• Only 16 percent of low-income students earn the credentials of the average applicant. Even if they do, they are less likely to be accepted than their high-income peers.

The author, policy analyst Jim Hull is available for interviews.  Contact Linda Embrey at 703-838-6737 or lembrey@nsba.org for scheduling.