Aside from the quality of education, one of the key metrics that high school students consider when applying to college is a school’s admission rate: the percentage of students that are accepted to attend the institution out of the total number of applicants. Although this metric, varying vastly from the 5% rates of the likes of Harvard, Columbia, and Yale to the 80%+ rates of state schools, is a consideration, it does not show the full story and may sometimes be misleading.

Beyond showing the obvious bracket that a school falls under in selectivity, acceptance rates are complicated by many other factors than “all applicants who apply have a 20% chance of being admitted.” In many cases, a university’s acceptance rate only says that it receives far more applicants than it is able to admit: schools like the University of Pennsylvania simply can’t admit all 56,332 total applicants that applied. Additionally, the population of students that apply to selective, as compared to non-selective, schools largely varies. Generally, only the most dedicated and motivated individuals bother applying to top-tier schools, meaning the admission rate of 5% represents 5% from the top 10% of all high school students; for the average student who applies hoping for a miracle, this means that the school has a much lower acceptance rate for them personally than it actually does overall. Academically-driven students with outstanding extracurriculars and a genuine interest in attending these schools, however, would personally have a much higher chance of acceptance than the overall rate. It all depends on how well those elements are conveyed in a student’s application and essays.

Take this analogy. An admissions officer sorts through the thousands of applications that they have received into two piles: one of students with academics on par with the university, and one with students that do not meet such a criteria. Because all applications are reviewed holistically, the officer still fully evaluates all students. However, out of the first pile, the officer will have a higher likelihood of choosing to accept a student, while that rate is comparatively lower in the second pile. Therefore, while the overall acceptance rate of this school may be 20%, the true, individual acceptance rate of a student depends on their personal qualifications. Of course, this analogy is not representative of every school, but it does illustrate how the overall rate does not always reveal the full picture.

The real challenge arises when every applicant is sorted into the first pile of “highly qualified,” which forces admissions officers to make tough decisions. Realistically, the assessment process is a lot more complicated than the simplistic overview of “grades, extracurriculars, and essays.” Applicants may have significantly differing odds depending on their need for financial aid, especially when a school is not need-blind. Legacy students, those with a familial relationship to a school’s alumni, generally also have a comparative advantage. Whether a student applies Early Decision or in the regular cycle also has an important effect on their odds. Finally, a student’s international status also impacts their individual rates.

For now, acceptance rates are just that: a rate. They are simply a number that can provide a rough overview of how selective a school is, but surely do not report the full story. Additionally, there is so much more to a college than its acceptance rate, with different vibes and fits for each student; ultimately, where an individual attends for post-secondary education depends not only on admissions officers and maybe a stroke of luck, but also on the student themselves.