Table 2.
Percentage Accepted by Sector and Institution Ranking
| Private institutions |
Public institutions |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Top 20 private” |
Top 21–50 universities |
Top 21–48 liberal arts |
Other private 4-year |
Top 20 universities |
Top 21–47 universities |
Other public 4-year |
|
| 1986 | 38.58 | 62.46 | 59.75 | 78.13 | 63.15 | 75.59 | 73.75 |
| 1991 | 38.39 | 67.39 | 57.95 | 76.82 | 56.78 | 73.47 | 68.49 |
| 1996 | 37.55 | 62.41 | 61.85 | 78.73 | 58.98 | 76.53 | 72.96 |
| 2001 | 31.49 | 51.30 | 52.68 | 77.41 | 50.55 | 71.92 | 71.85 |
| 2002 | 30.72 | 49.51 | 51.26 | 75.58 | 48.81 | 71.23 | 71.07 |
| 2003 | 29.85 | 52.35 | 47.88 | 74.35 | 47.72 | 70.56 | 69.19 |
| Percentage change |
−22.63% | −16.19% | −19.87% | −4.84% | −24.43% | −6.65% | −6.18% |
| # of schools | 38 | 26 | 28 | 419 | 17 | 21 | 208 |
Source: American Survey of Colleges, College Board, 1986–87 to 2003–04.
Notes: The “Top 20 private” category includes the top 20 private universities and top 20 liberal arts colleges. To be included in the sample, institutions must have had at least 16 of the 18 possible years of data.