University Statistics

We seem to be on the same wavelength for using donut charts to imply percentages where there shouldn't be! :)

There are two parts of this project I thought could be improved (at the time of this writing, these projects aren't final, so there's still that chance):

• Given that you're using a donut chart with a faux-3D element, you could have gone into detail about how misleading 3D pie charts can be. The Codepen example you gave allows you to adjust the angle and depth of the chart, so it can make slices look proportionately smaller or larger, which can be further misleading. Maybe it gives the impression that Stanford accepts more people than Yale because the bottom of its sector is larger. I referenced this page on 3-D charts in my writeup, and I thought it might be useful to explain a source of misinformation.

• I feel that your intent goes the opposite way of what you say is your product. You create the impression that there is an overall 100% chance of getting accepted by one of the listed universities, which seems the opposite of being selective and stressful. If I looked at the graph alone without the documentation, I would not have discerned your intention.

Thank you for your response! I'll definitely look into those points you mentioned. I had some difficulty really articulating my motivation, and I'll try using the 3-D element to heighten the effect. :)

This is a wonderful idea of showing illusion (or lie)! Because as the stats show, if someone applies for more than 10 universities, no matter how selective they are, he will get into at least one, which is not the truth. (I know a student who got rejected by all since all he applied are highly-selective universities) But to be honest, I did not really understand your intention until I saw your documentation. I was quite confused by the donut charts and the way it could be deepen or adjusted ( just like only a toy..) Some improvements can be made about the graph itself, because it is not intuitive enough. I didn't notice what the percentages represent and why you combined them in a donut chart at the beginning. But the idea is awesome. I like it.

I thought this was a very clever graphic. By taking the actual statistics from universities and manipulating them properly, you were able to show how the data given by universities actually gives a false impression that given 10 applications from one person to 10 universities, at least one would accept them. I think it was a very subtle and clever means of manipulating the information, though I agree with Ming that your intentions were not quite so clear until you read the documentation, but that was rather the point I think -to hide the fact that university acceptance isn't all it seems and the data given by universities is biased via careful manipulation. I think if I were to change your project I would change the title in your chart so it doesn't have the = 100%. It's much more subtle when you don't slap in people's faces that the data implies that acceptance is 100%, unless that was what you were aiming for.

I agree that maybe a bit more subtlety with the 100% acceptance rate would've been good, but otherwise I think the intention is pretty clear. You already told me about your idea so I don't have much more to say. Nice use of the 3D, don't know if you could've exaggerated it more, although actually I'm not sure why you've want to exaggerate it anyways since the intention isn't really to make one university appear more or less likely to accept an applicant.

I think that this project does a good job of highlighting a mistake that is quite common when people look over data statistics. Data can very easily be taken out of context to come up with fake conclusions, which is exactly what your project does. Because of this, many "official" sources (like Fox, for example) can misuse statistics in ways like this to make claims that perhaps are not necessarily true. Your project might be simple, but I think it drives the point home clearly enough. Good job!