College admissions For high school students graduating in 2007, college admissions to the nation’s most selective schools were the most competitive in memory (Source: The New York Times, “A Great Year...

College admissions For high school students graduating in 2007, college admissions to the nation’s most selective schools were the most competitive in memory (Source: The New York Times, “A Great Year for Ivy League Schools, but Not So Good for Applicants to Them,” April 4, 2007). Harvard accepted about 7% of its applicants, MIT 10%, and Penn 14%. Jorge has applied to all three. Assuming that he’s a typical applicant, he figures that his chances of getting into both Harvard and MIT must be about 0.7%.

 a) How has he arrived at this conclusion?

 b) What additional assumption is he making?

 c) Do you agree with his conclusion?