<p>The New York Times had an article on in their Education Life section a couple of weeks ago and it discussed the current college admissions rates. As most of us now, colleges are getting more selective in terms of their admissions percentage.</p>
<p>But is this totally true?</p>
<p>One person told the Times (I think it was from the University of Chicago) that the reason why admissions rates are lower now than they were five years ago is because of an increase in applications received, mainly due to the rise of the common and online application. So the admissions percentage is merely an illusion because they are still using the same criteria, and just rejecting a whole bunch of people who would have been rejected anyway.</p>
<p>Except for cheap Public Universities and a few other exceptions, colleges are open admission despite what they claim. Rejects are offered Non-Matriculated status, so the school looks like they are selective. Heck, you think a college will turn down $35,000 in tuition? Wake up.</p>
<p>I think this holds true for many top tier institutions. There are some places that are still looking to grow but due to a variety of factors (such as commonly accepted rankings and the common app) many of the “top” colleges are being blasted with apps. It at one time was that the places you applied to were places that you researched and the app fee limited the number of colleges you applied to. Because of that places like Amherst Swathmore and the like probably recieved fewer apps. Places like HYSP have probably always had many more apps than spots though.</p>
<p>Students are applying to more colleges than before - probably because of the CA. Schools are spending more money to attract candiates - partially to get a larger and better pool, but also to increase the selectivity numbers for USNWR and other publications.</p>
<p>This is a good discussion point. It is true that the number of applications to highle selective colleges / universities has gone up and likely due to the common application but I’m not sure that those new applications are not competetive. I have looked at the middle 50% SAT scores at several of these colleges and they seem to be increasing nearly every year. My conclusion would be that the additional applications are strong and they are not toss aways. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Well if some schools middle level SAT scores are rising, then wouldn’t some schools be experiencing a drop. </p>
<p>I am not sure what it does. I do know that if you look at selectivity and average SAT scores, you should know that they can be manipulated. Selectivity - by reaching out to more students, and average SAT scores - by concentrating more on that part of the application. Neither of those measurements are going to make a better school, though there may be a bootstrap effect.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to imply that SAT scores indicate better students. I was just making an observation based on stats that are available. Gpa would differ from school to school. On the other side there are an increasing number of schools that do not require sat/act tests at all</p>