I believe St. John's is becoming more selective with their admission process. I think the free internet application helps to get #'s up to cook the books so to speak. I'm not sure St. John's will ever be extremely selective because thats almost against the vincentian values.
I really wish they would have chosen some resident students for the video interviews. Also I wish they would have picked some better representatives. Yikes! Too funny though thats St. John's and for every dim star just made me shine brighter.
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/features/collegeclicktv
According to the St. John's latest numbers, which are a year old, the acceptance rate is now 43%.
The acceptance rate, which can definitely be an apples and oranges issue (as it is often self-selective), is now significantly below, for example, Syracuse's acceptance rate of 60% (that number is as of this August, according to the NYT).