Rejection Rate Calculator

Total Number of Applications/Items:

Number of Rejections:

Rejection Rate:

Understanding the Rejection Rate

The rejection rate is a critical metric used across various industries, including Human Resources, Manufacturing, and Academic Publishing. It measures the percentage of items or candidates that failed to meet specific criteria out of a total pool of entries.

How to Calculate Rejection Rate

The math behind the rejection rate is straightforward. You divide the total number of rejections by the total number of applications (or items) and multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage.

Formula: (Rejections / Total Applications) × 100 = Rejection Rate %

Common Use Cases

College Admissions: Top-tier universities use rejection rates to measure selectivity. A high rejection rate often correlates with higher perceived prestige.
Human Resources: Recruiters track how many candidates are rejected at various stages of the hiring funnel to optimize their sourcing strategies.
Manufacturing Quality Control: In production lines, the rejection rate (or scrap rate) indicates the percentage of products that do not meet quality standards.
Journal Submissions: Academic journals use this metric to show the competitive nature of their peer-review process.

Example Calculation

Suppose a prestigious medical residency program receives 1,200 applications for a single year. After a thorough review process, they send out 1,152 rejection letters.

Step 1: Identify Rejections (1,152) and Total (1,200).
Step 2: 1,152 / 1,200 = 0.96.
Step 3: 0.96 × 100 = 96%.

The Rejection Rate is 96%, meaning only 4% of applicants were accepted.

function calculateRejectionRate() { var total = parseFloat(document.getElementById('totalItems').value); var rejected = parseFloat(document.getElementById('rejectedItems').value); var resultDiv = document.getElementById('rejectionResult'); var rateDisplay = document.getElementById('rateValue'); var acceptanceDisplay = document.getElementById('acceptanceValue'); if (isNaN(total) || isNaN(rejected) || total total) { alert("Rejections cannot be greater than the total number of items."); return; } var rate = (rejected / total) * 100; var acceptanceRate = 100 – rate; rateDisplay.innerHTML = rate.toFixed(2) + "%"; acceptanceDisplay.innerHTML = "This corresponds to an Acceptance/Yield Rate of " + acceptanceRate.toFixed(2) + "%"; resultDiv.style.display = "block"; }