Monday, January 19, 2026

How Some Colleges Make Their Acceptance Rates Look More Impressive

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I'm a huge fan of Mark Stucker, the earnest, knowledgeable, and sweet college admissions expert who produces the Your College Bound Kid Podcast. There are many similarities and differences between college admissions and medical school admissions. Still, the economics and incentives of the college process are really fascinating and reflect on how strange and faulty both systems are.

Mark covered a really interesting topic in episode 604: Tactics some colleges use to make their acceptance rates look more impressive. While the techniques are technically ethical, they're certainly not student centered! Listen to the episode (at about seven minutes in) here.