Acceptance Rate Competitiveness Index
Calculates a Competitiveness Index (CI) that combines acceptance rate, applicant volume, and yield rate to produce a single score reflecting how selective and desirable an institution or program is.
Percentage of applicants who receive an offer (0.01–100)
Total applicants in the cycle
Percentage of accepted applicants who enroll (0.01–100)
Reference acceptance rate for relative comparison (default: 65%)
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Formula
CI = (0.40 × S + 0.25 × D + 0.20 × DS + 0.15 × R) × 100
- S (Selectivity) = 1 − (Acceptance Rate / 100)
- D (Demand) = min(log₁₀(Applicants) / log₁₀(500,000), 1)
- DS (Desirability) = Yield Rate / 100
- R (Relative) = min(Benchmark AR / Acceptance AR, 20) / 20
All four components are normalised to [0, 1] before weighting. The final CI is expressed on a 0–100 scale.
Tier Thresholds: Elite ≥ 80 | Highly Competitive ≥ 60 | Competitive ≥ 40 | Moderately Competitive ≥ 20 | Less Selective < 20
Assumptions & References
- The 500,000 applicant ceiling for the Demand Score is a practical normalisation cap; adjust for niche fields.
- Default benchmark acceptance rate of 65% approximates the US national four-year college average (NCES, 2023).
- Weights (0.40 / 0.25 / 0.20 / 0.15) reflect the academic literature consensus that raw selectivity is the dominant signal (Hoxby, 2009; Barron's selectivity rankings).
- Yield rate is used as a proxy for institutional desirability and student preference (NACAC State of College Admission Report).
- The relative component is capped at 20× to prevent extreme acceptance rates (e.g., 0.1%) from dominating the index.
- This index is comparative and directional; it should not be used as the sole criterion for institutional ranking.