The Casey Jones Era: Aims

[Old Red]

There's a strange fixation on this forum about Q's questionable academic standards when in reality almost every school in the country, including almost every D-1 hockey school and some in our own conference, has a similar lack of standards, especially for those on the hockey team.

I think it is born, at least in part, from the ECAC's traditional positioning as a conference of schools that take academics seriously. Adding Q rather than RIT or Holy Cross undermined that positioning.*

That's at least in part because Q is so insufferable in it's marketing of itself. If the university positioned itself more as a serious school and not as a boarding school for wealthy kids to drink in new haven (or was quieter generally), it'd probably be less of an issue too.  My experience in fairfield county is that it's not taken super seriously and is wildly too expensive.  They run billboards bragging that they were included in USNWR rankings. Not where they rank just that the magazine includes them. It's be great if they improved their academic profile but for a lot of folks they'll always be seen as the diploma mill Trotsky sees.

*- yes I know it wasn't strictly a choice of those three at the time to replace UVM. But the perception at the time was that RIT and HC would be better cultural fits for the conference than Q.

From Chatgpt:

ECACHL Schools:

Ivies:

| School               | Approximate Recent Acceptance Rate                     |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Brown University** | \\~5.6% for Class of 2029 ([The Brown Daily Herald][1]) |
| Yale University      | \\~3.7% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])        |
| Harvard University   | \\~3.6% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])        |
| Columbia University  | \\~3.85% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])       |
| Princeton University | \\~4.62% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])       |
| Dartmouth College    | \\~5.3% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])        |
| Cornell University   | \\~8.41% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])       |

[1]: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/03/brown-admits-565-of-applicants-to-class-of-2029?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Brown admits 5.65% of applicants to class of 2029 - The Brown Daily Herald"
[2]: https://www.crimsoneducation.org/ge/blog/ivy-league-acceptance-rates/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Ivy League Acceptance Rates For The Class of 2028 - Crimson Education GE"

Non-Ivies:
| School                                 | Approximate Acceptance Rate           |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Clarkson University                    | \\~77% ([U.S. News & World Report][1]) |
| Colgate University                     | \\~12% ([U.S. News & World Report][2]) |
| Quinnipiac University                  | \\~77% ([U.S. News & World Report][3]) |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) | \\~58% ([Niche][4])                    |
| St. Lawrence University                | \\~58% ([U.S. News & World Report][5]) |
| Union College (NY)                     | \\~44% ([U.S. News & World Report][6]) |

[1]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/clarkson-university-2699?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Clarkson University - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"
[2]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/colgate-university-2701?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Colgate University - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"
[3]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/quinnipiac-university-1402/applying?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Quinnipiac University Admissions - US News Best Colleges"
[4]: https://www.niche.com/colleges/rensselaer-polytechnic-institute/admissions/facts/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Admissions & Acceptance - Niche"
[5]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/st-lawrence-university-2829?utm_source=chatgpt.com "St. Lawrence University - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"
[6]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/union-college-new-york-2889?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Union College (NY) - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"


Notes:
1. Sorry for the formatting. I'm still working my way into the 21st Century.
2. I realize admission rates are not a very good measure of academic quality. And there may be considerable self-selection. E.g., Clarkson's emphasis on technology may screen applicants without considerable STEM backgroun in high school.

Yikes! Is admitting less than ten percent of your applicants something to be proud of?  Something that makes these schools better than others?  Or is it just bad marketing that wastes the time and resources of the AI admissions bots?

I think it would be better to target the proper audience and admit somewhere between 30% and 60% of their applicants.  We are clearly wasting the time and maybe even the hopes of 75% of our applicants.

A better measure of school quality for me would be the number of accepted students who decide to attend.  That reflects on the safety school considerations.

[BearLover]

There's a strange fixation on this forum about Q's questionable academic standards when in reality almost every school in the country, including almost every D-1 hockey school and some in our own conference, has a similar lack of standards, especially for those on the hockey team.

I think it is born, at least in part, from the ECAC's traditional positioning as a conference of schools that take academics seriously. Adding Q rather than RIT or Holy Cross undermined that positioning.*

That's at least in part because Q is so insufferable in it's marketing of itself. If the university positioned itself more as a serious school and not as a boarding school for wealthy kids to drink in new haven (or was quieter generally), it'd probably be less of an issue too.  My experience in fairfield county is that it's not taken super seriously and is wildly too expensive.  They run billboards bragging that they were included in USNWR rankings. Not where they rank just that the magazine includes them. It's be great if they improved their academic profile but for a lot of folks they'll always be seen as the diploma mill Trotsky sees.

*- yes I know it wasn't strictly a choice of those three at the time to replace UVM. But the perception at the time was that RIT and HC would be better cultural fits for the conference than Q.

From Chatgpt:

ECACHL Schools:

Ivies:

| School               | Approximate Recent Acceptance Rate                     |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Brown University** | \\~5.6% for Class of 2029 ([The Brown Daily Herald][1]) |
| Yale University      | \\~3.7% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])        |
| Harvard University   | \\~3.6% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])        |
| Columbia University  | \\~3.85% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])       |
| Princeton University | \\~4.62% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])       |
| Dartmouth College    | \\~5.3% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])        |
| Cornell University   | \\~8.41% (Class of 2028) ([Crimson Education][2])       |

[1]: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/03/brown-admits-565-of-applicants-to-class-of-2029?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Brown admits 5.65% of applicants to class of 2029 - The Brown Daily Herald"
[2]: https://www.crimsoneducation.org/ge/blog/ivy-league-acceptance-rates/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Ivy League Acceptance Rates For The Class of 2028 - Crimson Education GE"

Non-Ivies:
| School                                 | Approximate Acceptance Rate           |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Clarkson University                    | \\~77% ([U.S. News & World Report][1]) |
| Colgate University                     | \\~12% ([U.S. News & World Report][2]) |
| Quinnipiac University                  | \\~77% ([U.S. News & World Report][3]) |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) | \\~58% ([Niche][4])                    |
| St. Lawrence University                | \\~58% ([U.S. News & World Report][5]) |
| Union College (NY)                     | \\~44% ([U.S. News & World Report][6]) |

[1]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/clarkson-university-2699?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Clarkson University - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"
[2]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/colgate-university-2701?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Colgate University - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"
[3]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/quinnipiac-university-1402/applying?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Quinnipiac University Admissions - US News Best Colleges"
[4]: https://www.niche.com/colleges/rensselaer-polytechnic-institute/admissions/facts/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Admissions & Acceptance - Niche"
[5]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/st-lawrence-university-2829?utm_source=chatgpt.com "St. Lawrence University - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"
[6]: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/union-college-new-york-2889?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Union College (NY) - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges"


Notes:
1. Sorry for the formatting. I'm still working my way into the 21st Century.
2. I realize admission rates are not a very good measure of academic quality. And there may be considerable self-selection. E.g., Clarkson's emphasis on technology may screen applicants without considerable STEM backgroun in high school.

Yikes! Is admitting less than ten percent of your applicants something to be proud of?  Something that makes these schools better than others?  Or is it just bad marketing that wastes the time and resources of the AI admissions bots?

I think it would be better to target the proper audience and admit somewhere between 30% and 60% of their applicants.  We are clearly wasting the time and maybe even the hopes of 75% of our applicants.

A better measure of school quality for me would be the number of accepted students who decide to attend.  That reflects on the safety school considerations.

The Ivies could enroll an equally qualified class five times over.

Ivy yield rates for class of 2029 based on random website I found:
Cornell 64%
Dartmouth 71%
Columbia 61%
Yale 68%
Harvard 85%
Princeton 75%
Brown 73%
Penn 69%

Harder to find the yield rates for other ECAC schools but they seem to be much lower, between 10% (Quinnipiac, Clarkson) and 28% (Colgate).

Becoming an adult is realizing that none of this actually matters.

[Trotsky]

Becoming an adult is realizing that none of this actually matters.

Also that it is all manipulated.  A few years ago an article brutally exposed Vandy for marketing to unqualified students with the express purpose of rejecting them, inflating their acceptance rate, and moving up the USnooze rankings.

On matters of finance, universities are the moral equal of car companies, and with the Apotheosis of the MBAs everything in academia since 1980 has been reduced to finance.

[George64]

Becoming an adult is realizing that none of this actually matters.

Also that it is all manipulated.  A few years ago an article brutally exposed Vandy for marketing to unqualified students with the express purpose of rejecting them, inflating their acceptance rate, and moving up the USnooze rankings.

On matters of finance, universities are the moral equal of car companies, and with the Apotheosis of the MBAs everything in academia since 1980 has been reduced to finance.

Apropos, an interesting opinion piece in today's NY Times.

[Trotsky]

Apropos, an interesting opinion piece in today's NY Times.

"Here's why that's bad news for Biden."

[adamw]

Becoming an adult is realizing that none of this actually matters.

Also that it is all manipulated.  A few years ago an article brutally exposed Vandy for marketing to unqualified students with the express purpose of rejecting them, inflating their acceptance rate, and moving up the USnooze rankings.

On matters of finance, universities are the moral equal of car companies, and with the Apotheosis of the MBAs everything in academia since 1980 has been reduced to finance.

Apropos, an interesting opinion piece in today's NY Times.

Written by Ithaca College alum Jeff Selingo - one-time editor of The Ithacan.  Proving, of course, that being an Ivy doesn't matter