<p>I hear that the graduating class of 2009 is supposed to be the largest and the most competitive, is this true?</p>
<p>That is what I hear. It seems to be common knowledge in the college community, as I visited 9 colleges with my s this year and they all say the same thing.</p>
<p>All the more reason to have all the t's crossed and i's dotted to be the very most competetive! :)</p>
<p>It's the largest but i don't think it is a whole lot larger than class of '08.</p>
<p>Yes. 10chars.</p>
<p>yes thats correct</p>
<p>again, i have to say i don't agree with largest=most competitive. </p>
<p>I know a lot of '09s and '10s and appearantly the number of uber good '10s is double of '09s at least.</p>
<p>You can check the report here that actually details out the hs class size
by state and nation for '08 and '09 amongst the many other years it
details.</p>
<p>Nope, at least my school, the HS graduating class of '11 is the "best" and "most competitive." The new freshman '12ers were supposed to be "smarter" but I've overheard some teachers saying that they aren't...</p>
<p>It's time for the demography FAQ again: </p>
<p>DEMOGRAPHICS </p>
<p>Population trends in the United States are not the only issue influencing the competitiveness of college admission here. The children already born show us what the expected number of high school students are in various years, but the number of high school students in the United States, which is expected to begin declining in a few years, isn't the whole story. </p>
<p>First of all, if more students who begin high school go on to college, there will be more applicants to college even with a declining number of high school students. And that is the trend in the United States and worldwide. </p>
<p>Second, colleges in the United States accept applications from all over the world, so it is quite possible that demographic trends in the United States will not be the main influence on how many students apply to college. The cohorts of high-school-age students are still increasing in size in some countries (NOT most of Europe). </p>
<p>Third, even if the number of applicants to colleges overall stays the same, or even declines, the number of applicants to the most competitive colleges may still increase. The trend around the world is a "flight to quality" of students trying to get into the best college they can in increasing numbers, and increasing their consensus about which colleges to put at the top of their application lists. I do not expect college admission to be any easier for my youngest child than for my oldest child, even though she is part of a smaller birth cohort in the United States. </p>
<p>And now I would add to this that at the very most selective colleges that have just announced new financial aid plans, next year's (and the following year's) crush of applicants will be larger than ever. When colleges that are already acknowledged to be great colleges start reducing their net cost down to what the majority of families in the United States can afford, those colleges will receive more applications from all parts of the United States, and very likely from all over the world. </p>
<p>The Austin American-Statesman newspaper in Texas published news about these trends in an article about a particular applicant in April 2008. </p>
<p>The Economist magazine published a brief article about these trends in April 2008. </p>
<p>University</a> admissions in America | Accepted | The Economist</p>
<p>All I have to say is good luck to all.</p>
<p>Tokenadult, I know what you are saying about all of that, but the consensus around here among GCs I know is that this past year was the worst for them in terms of kids not getting into their first choice schools, % of schools accepted and selectivity. More kids did not get into schools where the GCs thought they would or might. A lot more disappointments. I know that the accept %s at the schools where my son applied went waaay down this year. Also had read that this was a big population of college aged kids here in the US.</p>
<p>You are right about other factors making a big impact. This year at my younger son's high school, too many freshmen showed up, causing a big space problem. The exact same numbers were accepted but the yield changed drastically, and they did not get the "summer melt" that they usually get where kids who say they are coming do not show up. They actually got a zero this year for that which is amazing. This, paired with the construction that is happening at the school which is going to shut down even more space available is going to drastically cut the number of freshmen this school is going to accept next year. They already know this. Which is already causing undercurrents of panic at my son's elementary school which feeds heavily into this high school. Ironically, it is making the school "hotter" than ever! Amazing how quickly the word spreads about this and what the reaction is. I talked to the headmaster last night who confirmed that inquiries are waaaay up this year and that they are cutting the number of accepts for space reasons and the overaccept from the prior year.</p>
<p>This year's PSAT NMSQT score cutoffs did not even exceed 221. In years past, the number had gone to 224. Additionally, the test seemed easier this year compared to past years, so the competition to top colleges this year should be easier based on this observation.</p>
<p>^That observation correlates to the fact that MORE students are taking the PSAT, particularly more students who get low scores on it and therefore drag down the average score. If more students are taking standardized tests for colleges, then it is a logical assumption that more students will be applying to colleges - so your conclusion is false. The quality may or may not be increasing, but the quantity has indisputably risen.</p>
<p>Your assuming the number of National Merit Scholars is proportional to the number of test takers, which only means that you need to research your facts buddy!!!</p>
<p>There are only 16,000 Semifinalists each year regardless of the number of test takers. This means that the competitiveness of this year has dropped because a higher population we would assume, correlates to a higher number of smart students.</p>
<p>Go research your facts karajanahahaha :P</p>
<p>Its the same every year, "ohh THIS year's applicant pool is bigger, and more competitive." More people apply to college every year, therefore it gets more competitive every year, its a trend. They were saying the same thing for my class a year ago, ohh the class of 2008 is going to be really competitive compared to last year...</p>
<p>lol...i guess this trend will slow down after these couple years, with 08 and 09 being the biggest.</p>