<p>2008 was clearly the hardest year of college admissions, and will be for a long time. Birth Rates declined after 1990 which was this class year, and so thus 2009 admissions will be a little easier, about as easy as the class of 2007.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005067.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005067.html</a></p>
<p>Not necessarily, 2008 is the class year of 89/90 and 2009 is the class year of 90/91. It really depends on the district/school system as well as the months kids were born in.</p>
<p>geez. this is an interesting topic. I was born in 1990 and i'm class of 2009. i don't know how easier class of 2009 admission would be, compared to class of 2008</p>
<p>It won't be. It will be worse. The national birth rate was highest for the class of 2009 - look it up in the dozens of threads about it.</p>
<p>You can blame parents for having too much babies!!!!!!</p>
<p>kara, that doesn't make sense. The math says otherwise. The 16.5 is more weighted towards the Class of 2009 while the 16.7 was more weighted to the Class of 2008 even though they shared slightly, but there are few people of the Class of 2009 born in 1990 than in the Class of 2008. </p>
<p>All the other threads about it are just evidence-less ponderings, such as people who say "in 20 years there will be 1% acceptance rates at HYP"...haha, very funny.</p>
<p>no, 2009 will be the hardest...it's been confirmed, it's definitely the peak year, I would find the article by the NY times, but I don't care enough to prove you wrong</p>
<p>Confirmed? You can't predict something without knowing both the numbers and how colleges will react to this year's sudden craziness and the possibility of having a weird series of acceptances due to cross acceptances by multiple ivies due to the abolition of early action programs. Colleges might see a dreaded mistake in their actions, and might fix a aspect in the admissions process because they had misunderstood the nature of the abolition of early programs in relation to the patterns of acceptance and then yield at top colleges.</p>
<p>Give me the NY Times article though please, I'd be happy to be enlightened</p>
<p>It doesn't much matter whether or not there will be a couple hundred thousand less graduating seniors. More students will be applying to top colleges than ever before, as accessibility to better schools,SAT preparation programs,general increase in awareness of college admissions, increases. Don't worry, your year will be competitive enough.</p>
<p>I heard that 2011-2013 will be the peak year.</p>
<p>From the NY Times:
By GERRI HIRSHEY
Published: January 13, 2008
....
What you may not know is that January through mid-March are the cruelest of months — worse this year because seniors face an unusual demographic convergence. The majority of the class of 2008 was born in its generation’s peak birth year, 1990, making them the largest graduating class in two decades. They are also going on to higher education in record numbers.
“Some institutions are accommodating the bulge with slightly larger freshman classes,” says Tom Murphy, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Education. “But the very selective schools don’t budge. With the combination of these population and application factors — well, the skies have to open or something.”
....
Had sent it to a friend in Class of 2008.</p>
<p>Here's my FAQ on demographic trends: </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>what about class of 2010 will it be hard then?</p>
<p>Interesting. My mistake then. However, in the end I still believe the increased difficulty aspect will only affect some people in a drastic way - namely at Top 50 colleges. </p>
<p>Strangley enough, UChicago's acceptance actually has increased since last year...weird.</p>
<p>I've heard some rumors that the class applying to college next year is going to be the most competitive yet and other rumors saying competition is going to let up a little. Any verification on these?</p>
<p>No its decreased, by about 9-10 percent lol.</p>
<p>They are both rumors. Seriously... no one will be able to figure it out until the stats come out next year. People can make educated guesses, but you never know what will really happen.</p>
<p>They are both rumors. Seriously... no one will be able to figure it out until the stats come out next year. People can make educated guesses, but you never know what will really happen.</p>
<p>Lock topic that's all that needs to be said.</p>
<p>"The swelling population of 18-year-olds is not supposed to peak until 2009, when the largest group of high school seniors in the nation’s history, 3.2 million, are to graduate."</p>
<p>Not a rumor people. Next year is going to be the most competitive yet.</p>
<p>Oh nvm, I had seen the wrong statistics. It decreased by about 3%, from around 38-40% to 35%. A minor decrease.</p>