If we take the stats from this year's admissions - admitting for the class of 2019 - we can see that the acceptance rates are quite low (between 5 and 15 percent) compared to the average acceptance rates for the majority of not-as-selective colleges in the nation (60 to 70 percent in recent years).
Here is a list of Ivy colleges - including Stanford, the Ivy college of the West - with the number of applications, number of acceptances, and resulting rate of acceptance, according to Business Insider and other sources:
Total Apps/Accepted (Accept Rate)
Stanford 42,487/2,144 (5.05)
Harvard 37,307/1,990 (5.33)
Columbia 36,250/2,228 (6.1)
Yale 30,237/1,963 (6.49)
Princeton 27,290/1,908 (6.99)
Brown 30,397/2,580 (8.49)
Penn 37,267/3,697 (9.9)
Dartmouth 20,504/2,120 (10.3)
Cornell 41,907/6,234 (14.9)
In addition to the low acceptance rates for all these colleges, six of the nine lowered their rate from the previous year (not shown), while one stayed the same, indicating that, as far as the Ivies are concerned, it was slightly more difficult to get admitted to the Class of 2019 than to the Class of 2018.
For the Class of 2020, the rates may rise or fall slightly, but clearly these colleges will remain among the most selective in the US, if not the world.
Nevertheless, if an Ivy League college is on your radar, and you think that you have what they are looking for, then by all means you should apply. Your specific chances of acceptance are tied exclusively to you. If you have what the college wants, and if you present it properly (very important), you will be admitted, regardless of the admit rate. Indeed, at that point, you will become a part of the admit rate.
Of course, though educated guesses about your chances of admission may be helpful in guiding your expectations, expectations will not get you in. Only the admissions committee's assessment of your credentials and presentation will matter.
Seniors interested in the Ivies who wonder "Should I apply?" should understand this - in and of itself, an admit rate - no matter how low - should not prevent a candidate from applying. Every year, at every Ivy League college, countless students are admitted even though they were not given much of a chance by their peers or their counselors.
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