Saw this today: an analysis that mapped every four-year college in the U.S. higher education along two dimensions — institutional resilience & post-college market position.

Very interesting to see where we and our fellow Sunbelt members land.

https://x.com/profgoose/status/2035722572957122716?s=46

It looks interesting, but I'll have to look at this with more time. We seem to sit pretty well overall.

https://kylesaunders.com/university-map/

So, I saw App, JMU, SoAl and LaTech in the good quadrant?

When did our selectivity decrease so much much? 85% or so applicants are admitted? Maybe that reflects lots of applicants who can get accepted to other schools and never attend App if they get into other first choice schools. Or has an increased enrollment push decreased our selectivity?

app97 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 9:24 am

When did our selectivity decrease so much much? 85% or so applicants are admitted? Maybe that reflects lots of applicants who can get accepted to other schools and never attend App if they get into other first choice schools. Or has an increased enrollment push decreased our selectivity?

I think that is pretty universal, and not specific to just ASU. The bloated bureaucracy and infrastructure spending spree are not going to fund themselves.

We keep adding more and more undergrad it seems and applicants have dropped it seems from the 2008 and following years.
Pretty much none of my daughter's friends wanted App. Most had it as their 2nd or 3rd back up and that was only for ones that couldn't afford to go out of state.
My daughter hates the cold, so App was her 4th choice out of the 5 she applied to, with App being ECU only. But Clemson and UT-K were the other 2 and we couldn't do the OOS tuition. And she even refused to go to App over UNCCH even with multiple scholarships at App.

biggie wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 9:56 am

We keep adding more and more undergrad it seems and applicants have dropped it seems from the 2008 and following years.
Pretty much none of my daughter's friends wanted App. Most had it as their 2nd or 3rd back up and that was only for ones that couldn't afford to go out of state.
My daughter hates the cold, so App was her 4th choice out of the 5 she applied to, with App being ECU only. But Clemson and UT-K were the other 2 and we couldn't do the OOS tuition. And she even refused to go to App over UNCCH even with multiple scholarships at App.

My daughter is cold natured too but she applied to App because I went there. She had to SETTLE on uncch because she didn't get into Duke, her first choice. Duke came to Winston and interviewed 5 or 6 students of which she was one of them. I was disappointed she didn't get in to Duke and had to drop down to uncheat.

We wouldn’t have afforded Duke either. So mine would have been stuck with CH. But she had friends there already and had spent some weekends there last year. As well as both of my wife’s step siblings grad’ing from there recently.

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

I suspect former App administrations also had a hand in increasing enrollment and decreasing entrance requirements.

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

Congratulations!!
Nothing beats free

While it is not great that we take nearly everyone that applies, at least we still fill our entering classes. I really think that is the reason we take nearly everyone that applies. Many schools are struggling with numbers and many smaller schools are completely shutting down (or merging with another small school). Less kids are applying to colleges than 20 years ago so the only way App can keep numbers up is to admit nearly everyone that applies. I am not sure that this is a good policy but nobody asked me. When everyone can get in, the best and brightest won't want to.

Appalachian may be easier to get into some schools than others, but it takes a special kind of person to finish at Appalachian. It is not for everyone. Besides that if you really want to go to a school, apply to go in the spring when they are hurting for students. Some flunk out, some get kicked out, and some start families before they meant to do so.

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

That's a bit deceiving since UNC had nearly four times the applicants , which will significantly reduce the acceptance rate. But yes, the UNC system really wanted to boost admissions at ASU. Acceptance rate also includes Hickory and online.

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2026 6:02 am

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

Congratulations!!
Nothing beats free

That would be way better than us paying full price, I have no clue what it takes to gets scholarships these days. Daughter wasn't awarded any. There were some that graduated with her that had full rides and then got scholarships on top of that.

fjblair wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2026 9:34 am

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

That's a bit deceiving since UNC had nearly four times the applicants , which will significantly reduce the acceptance rate. But yes, the UNC system really wanted to boost admissions at ASU. Acceptance rate also includes Hickory and online.

Wonder how many full time undergrad students are fully online?

fjblair wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2026 9:34 am

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

That's a bit deceiving since UNC had nearly four times the applicants , which will significantly reduce the acceptance rate. But yes, the UNC system really wanted to boost admissions at ASU. Acceptance rate also includes Hickory and online.

It is not deceiving...it is literally the definition of an acceptance rate.

Just to be clear...I would still choose AppState over every other school in NC. I don't think anything compares to the AppState experience.

To be clear I don't think I would get in much of any NC school these days with my HS grades at the time. It is insane what it takes to get in some schools now.

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2026 2:26 pm

fjblair wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2026 9:34 am

spacemonkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2026 8:22 pm

My daughter just got a full ride to UNC.....She for a long time planned to attend App. One day she looked at me and said "Everyone gets in App...they have a 90% acceptance rate" I didn't believe her. I looked it up. She was right. The UNC system has pushed us back down by making us take so many students.

That's a bit deceiving since UNC had nearly four times the applicants , which will significantly reduce the acceptance rate. But yes, the UNC system really wanted to boost admissions at ASU. Acceptance rate also includes Hickory and online.

It is not deceiving...it is literally the definition of an acceptance rate.

Of course but if one school has far more applicants the acceptance rate will be far lower assuming similar freshman class sizes. It isn't the same number of applicants, so it isn't exactly apples to apples. I suppose "deceiving" may have been a poor word choice.