<p>No it was not unless you happen to go to the minority of schools that actually have enough acceptances to top 20 schools to make a conclusion. Personally, it would be clearer to see what type of person got into what type of school more now than if I was born even 10 years ago because I’m able to look at what people are doing on the internet and I wouldn’t be limited to my own community or my own high school.</p>
<p>As I think about it more, I think the internet might have a lot to do with the increased numbers at top schools and qualifications. It’s a lot easier for people to be aware of what’s out there, not just colleges but ideas for extracurriculars, competitions, summer programs, SAT prep, etc. CC definitely helped me in thinking about colleges that weren’t just local state schools, and I feel like that could be true for a lot of other people too.</p>
<p>I just wanna say that if colleges didn’t flood thousands and thousands of mailboxes multiple times a month with 2 inch thick packets and brochures and cardboard, brightly colored, posters etc etc, application fees would not need to be upwards of $60 each…and maybe tuition could even be lower. No one takes the mailings seriously, and those who do…yeaaaaaa. They’re a wast of paper and money–this is the digital aid, flooding our email inbox enough.</p>
<p>Not really. As other posters said, it’s all about maximizing the number of applicants to get a lower acceptance rate and thus move higher in the USN&WR rankings. That only highlights why ranking colleges based on acceptance rates is a very bad idea.</p>
<p>Really no one else on here when they started getting those letters, back in 10th grade, felt insanely good? That is, before you figured out all of your friends were getting the same ones, thanks to the PSAT. No one told you anything about getting junk mail from <em>colleges</em>, certainly my parents didn’t. Maybe this is just because we’re lower class and not so familiar with this process, but I remember even my dad getting insanely happy because he thought I was being recruited.</p>
<p>It’s really not so hard to misinterpret the letters if you aren’t familiar with the whole college application world…</p>
<p>And I’d say that app inflation at higher ranked schools is due to the attitude of this generation. “Generation Me.” We’re all narcissistic as hell. So many of my friends with average grades (~83/100) and no ECs think that they’re going to get into a really great college (by USNR rankings) because they’re ~special~ so their ~specialness~ will just shine through the app and the admissions officers will accept them regardless of their blandness.</p>
<p>I move a lot, and I’ve seen it at every school I’ve moved to. These are just public schools, not even competitive ones. Your average high school kid’s an egotistical ****, of course we all believe we’re going to get into god damn Amherst. We’re amazing…</p>
<p>mathmom - I observe every year that elite colleges love to brag about having a record breaking number of applications and - as a result - a lower acceptance rate. These two numbers seem to be of utmost importance. I think it matters in terms of USNWR rankings and it matters to the alumni and board of trustees. So - colleges have an incentive to keep recruiting record numbers of applicants through the use of these somewhat misleading mail pieces.</p>
<p>Do you think that Harvard or any other elite school will brag the year their applications go down? Do you think they will brag when their acceptance rate goes up - meaning they become less selective? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Well, they won’t brag about those things this year, because they won’t happen. If they did happen, however, I would expect Harvard to do a mailing early the next fall telling people that it was getting easier to get in so they should apply.</p>
<p>Really, I don’t think Harvard is motivated by trying to get its acceptance rate down any lower than it already is, which clearly discourages some desirable candidates from applying. Harvard doesn’t need more fractions of a point in the USNWR ranking system, and I suspect anyone who suggested, out loud, that they do something solely to manipulate USNWR points would probably be fired. Infra dig., as Bertie Wooster used to say.</p>
<p>I highly doubt Harvard wants to lower acceptance rates for 1.5% of the USNWR ranking or for a single press release. And if that’s all they cared about, why don’t they send applications along with the letters, or lower/remove the application fee? That would be an extremely easy way to boost numbers.</p>
<p>Like, I don’t see the need to be cynical about things. Is it really that ridiculous to suggest that there are people out there that are good fits for Harvard, but don’t even have Harvard on their radar?</p>
<p>I think Harvard probably really is trying to cast a wide net to get students who might not consider applying there. I think some other schools are trying to move out of regional status–the poster child for this is Wash U, and it seems to have worked.</p>
<p>I’ll just add that my daughter, a junior, is eagerly awaiting the onslaught of college mail. She’ll be very disappointed if it doesn’t materialize.</p>
<p>I had long suspected but until now did not know for certain that the standardized testing services sell the names and scores of test takers to colleges and universities. Everyday my younger son who is a senior in high school receives multiple mailings from colleges and universities from all over the country with some of them being among the most elite and selective schools. My son is intelligent and had very high SAT scores but he also has ADHD and refuses to take medication that could help him focus better and get decent grades in school. It saddens me to know that when these schools who purchased his test scores will send him invitations to apply to their institutions based on his SAT scores but would reject him the minute they saw his high school transcript. He is doing much better in school this year, even getting an A so far in AP Physics, but he will not be going to Johns Hopkins or Dartmouth next fall with his GPA through junior year, he will be going to a California Community College with the hope that he can transfer to a University of California campus in two years.</p>
<p>And that’s the most important post on this thread so far…</p>
<p>The kid who goes to a JC, transfers to a research university, then spends a couple of years at a “big name school” will likely be just as successful in school, work, their marriage, child rearing, as the kid who sent in his app after getting the form letter from Harvard (and actually was accepted there).</p>
<p>Schools like MIT make no bones about it, you have 0% chance of getting in if you don’t apply. Yes, $75 x 10 might hurt a lot of family budgets but how much work is it to blast out ten applications and then see what happens?</p>
<p>Sombody else mentioned the “high” application fees but unless I’m crazy in the mid 1970s the application fees were $35 - $50 and in general we applied to maybe three colleges (I know I had 2 privates and the state flagship). So many colleges don’t even charge a fee now for applying and even the most expensive app fees have not risen anywhere near the percentage that tuition has. That said if kids are applying to a bunch of colleges they may have a good chunk of change invested in application fees. App fees is one area that colleges/unis have not gouged the customer and those that are very poor can get fee waivers or utilize programs like Questbridge.</p>
<p>My son received to a financial aid letter along with an application in the envelope. They sent this packet twice. He also received emails which appeared to be a bit more personal indicating his high school. At first I was impressed, but after researching it was obvious that he had a very low probability of acceptance. His stats gpa 3.8, sat cr 670 m770 w620, urm puerto rican. I believe the letter will spark a “wow factor” to a lot of these kids who will apply. Harvard wins by upping application numbers and reducing admit rate. They also make a few extra dollars in the process.</p>
This student has good chances at a lot of very selective schools.</p>
<p>
I question if this is really true, since they spend quite a lot of money on staff, mailings, tours, etc. But I would also say that Harvard probably doesn’t need to give every app a thorough reading, because there are probably a significant number that pretty obviously aren’t going to make the first cut.</p>
<p>Admission office a profit center? Certainly not at Harvard or any other well-funded school. The application fees total less than 3 million dollars a year. That’s peanuts, and it’s gross peanuts, not net. Staff salaries alone eat up most of that. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has an annual budget of over $1 billion.</p>
<p>Maybe you could consider admissions a profit center insofar as it interacts with the development office to admit students who may bring multimillion-dollar donations with them. But that’s really a development matter.</p>
<p>The best way to curb application inflation is to limit the number of applications a single student can send. It will make colleges and students much more thoughtful about the process. = momofthreeboys</p>
<p>I completely agree. Get rid of ED decisions. Make it EA and RD with NO applications accepted, or any periferal information, before Dec 1. Make everyone use the Common App and limit the number of apps to 10. Require all schools to admit needs blind, and enforce that by not requiring financial aid information with any application and requiring a separate form to a separate office later than the application date. Get RID of legacy admits and prohibit disclosure of legacy and implied quid pro quo donations if admitted (happens a LOT in Ivy cases.)</p>