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Digest of Education Statistics
2008 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 327. Number of applications, admissions, and enrollees; their distribution across institutions accepting various percentages of applications; and SAT and ACT scores of enrollees, by type and control of institution: 2007–08
Application, admission, enrollment, and SAT and ACT score All institutions Public institutions Private institutions
Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year Not-for-profit For-profit
Total 4-year 2-year Total 4-year 2-year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Number of undergraduate institutions reporting
application data1 
3,959 2,290 1,669 1,639 608 1,031 2,320 1,682 638 1,331 1,241 90 989 441 548
Percentage distribution of institutions by
their acceptance of applications
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
No application criteria 44.8 19.7 79.2 65.7 14.5 95.9 30.0 21.6 52.2 15.3 13.4 42.2 49.7 44.7 53.8
90 percent or more accepted 8.4 9.3 7.1 4.1 8.1 1.7 11.4 9.8 15.7 9.8 9.8 10.0 13.5 9.8 16.6
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 13.4 19.9 4.5 10.4 26.3 1.0 15.6 17.6 10.2 19.5 20.5 4.4 10.3 9.3 11.1
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 21.8 33.8 5.3 14.6 38.0 0.8 26.9 32.3 12.5 37.5 38.7 21.1 12.5 14.3 11.1
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 10.1 15.1 3.2 4.6 11.5 0.6 13.9 16.3 7.5 14.6 14.7 12.2 13.0 20.9 6.8
10.0 to 24.9 percent accepted 1.3 1.8 0.7 0.4 1.2 0.0 2.0 2.1 1.7 2.9 2.4 8.9 0.8 1.1 0.5
Less than 10 percent accepted 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.4 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
                               
Number of applications (in thousands) 6,952 6,776 176 3,833 3,758 75 3,119 3,018 101 2,889 2,872 17 230 146 84
Percentage distribution of applications by institutions' acceptance
of applications
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
No application criteria
90 percent or more accepted 4.2 3.4 32.1 5.0 4.4 33.9 3.1 2.2 30.7 1.9 1.8 7.1 19.1 9.6 35.6
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 17.7 17.7 16.0 21.0 21.2 11.2 13.5 13.3 19.6 13.2 13.2 10.1 17.9 15.8 21.5
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 45.5 45.8 33.4 50.8 51.0 42.3 39.0 39.4 26.7 40.0 39.9 56.7 26.0 29.2 20.5
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 25.7 25.9 17.5 20.6 20.7 12.6 31.9 32.3 21.2 31.7 31.8 18.5 34.7 42.1 21.7
10.0 to 24.9 percent accepted 5.9 6.0 1.0 2.5 2.5 0.0 10.1 10.4 1.8 10.7 10.7 7.5 2.3 3.3 0.6
Less than 10 percent accepted 1.1 1.2 # 0.1 0.1 0.0 2.4 2.5 # 2.6 2.6 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
                               
Number of admissions (in thousands) 4,048 3,919 129 2,412 2,355 56 1,636 1,564 73 1,489 1,479 10 147 84 63
Percentage distribution of admissions by institutions' acceptance
of applications
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
No application criteria
90 percent or more accepted 6.8 5.6 43.0 7.5 6.6 44.6 5.7 4.0 41.8 3.4 3.3 12.2 29.1 16.1 46.4
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 24.6 24.8 18.1 27.2 27.6 12.3 20.7 20.6 22.6 20.5 20.5 14.0 23.0 22.3 24.0
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 49.4 50.0 28.4 51.1 51.4 35.8 46.8 47.9 22.7 49.0 49.0 60.5 24.4 30.0 16.8
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 17.3 17.5 10.2 13.4 13.6 7.4 22.9 23.4 12.4 22.9 23.0 11.3 22.9 30.6 12.6
10.0 to 24.9 percent accepted 1.8 1.9 0.2 0.7 0.8 0.0 3.4 3.6 0.4 3.7 3.7 2.0 0.7 1.0 0.2
Less than 10 percent accepted 0.2 0.2 0.0 # # 0.0 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
                               
Number of enrollees (in thousands) 1,537 1,439 98 950 911 39 587 528 59 468 462 6 119 66 53
Percentage distribution of enrollees by institutions' acceptance
of applications
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
No application criteria
90 percent or more accepted 9.5 7.1 44.9 9.4 7.9 44.4 9.6 5.6 45.3 4.8 4.7 18.1 28.4 12.4 48.3
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 24.7 25.2 16.9 27.1 27.7 12.5 20.8 21.0 19.8 21.0 21.2 11.4 20.1 19.5 20.7
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 46.5 47.8 26.6 50.0 50.6 36.3 40.8 43.1 20.2 44.8 44.7 52.8 25.1 32.0 16.6
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 16.6 16.9 11.3 12.3 12.5 6.8 23.5 24.5 14.2 22.8 23.0 14.6 25.9 35.4 14.2
10.0 to 24.9 percent accepted 2.4 2.5 0.3 1.2 1.2 0.0 4.4 4.8 0.5 5.4 5.4 3.0 0.5 0.7 0.2
Less than 10 percent accepted 0.3 0.4 0.0 # # 0.0 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
                               
SAT scores of enrollees                              
Critical reading, 25th percentile2  473 475 408 457 458 411 482 483 405 483 484 405 422 422
Critical reading, 75th percentile2  584 585 522 566 568 516 593 595 528 594 595 528 542 542
Mathematics, 25th percentile2  477 479 411 468 469 419 483 484 405 483 485 405 438 438
Mathematics, 75th percentile2  588 590 520 578 579 532 594 595 511 594 596 511 553 553
                               
ACT scores of enrollees                              
Composite, 25th percentile2  19.9 20.0 16.5 19.1 19.3 16.0 20.3 20.3 17.4 20.3 20.4 17.2 18.2 18.0
Composite, 75th percentile2  24.9 25.0 21.3 24.0 24.1 21.0 25.5 25.5 21.7 25.5 25.5 21.6 23.3 23.5
English, 25th percentile2  18.9 19.0 15.4 18.0 18.1 15.1 19.5 19.5 15.9 19.5 19.6 15.5 17.1 16.7
English, 75th percentile2  25.1 25.2 21.2 24.1 24.2 21.2 25.7 25.8 21.2 25.7 25.8 21.1 22.8 22.9
Mathematics, 25th percentile2  18.9 18.9 16.3 18.3 18.4 15.9 19.2 19.2 16.9 19.2 19.2 16.5 17.4 16.9
Mathematics, 75th percentile2  24.5 24.6 20.5 23.9 24.1 20.0 24.9 25.0 21.4 24.9 25.0 21.2 22.1 22.0
† Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
1 Excludes institutions not enrolling first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates. The total on this table differs slightly from other counts of undergraduate institutions because approximately 0.4 percent of undergraduate institutions did not report application information.
2 Data are only for institutions that require test scores for admission. Relatively few 2-year institutions require test scores for admission.
NOTE: Excludes information for the 0.4 percent of institutions that did not respond to survey questions. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007–08 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Fall 2007. (This table was prepared July 2008.)

2008 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest