Bucking the trend - BC wants FEWER applications

Parents Forum
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<p>From today's Boston Globe. Boston College deliberately added a second essay to their application, in an attempt to reduce the number of applications from kids who weren't truly interested in BC, but were just looking for another college to fill out their list. It worked - their apps dropped by 26% and they are happy about it. </p>

<p>Applications</a> rise at Harvard, MIT, and BU, but BC celebrates its decline - Metro - The Boston Globe</p>

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BC saw its applications decline by 26 percent after it made a strategic effort to raise admissions requirements. The school added a supplementary essay to its application, university officials said, with a goal of attracting more serious students and deterring less interested ones from applying.</p>

<p>“This was a deliberate move on our part,” said John Mahoney, the director of undergraduate admission for BC, who explained that the new supplementary essay helps the university make more informed choices about which students to accept. “We’re trying to make good decisions.”In 2012, 34,061 students applied to BC; this year, the number dropped to about 25,000. The college admits about 2,270 to its freshman class.</p>

<p>High school counselors and education observers say the less-is-more approach by BC and other schools reflects a growing trend as colleges confront an applications “arms race.”</p>

<p>At BC, the number of applicants had become overwhelming since the birth of electronic applications in the 1990s, Mahoney said. From 2004 to 2012, BC’s applicant pool grew by 52 percent."

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<p>There is discussion in the article about how this will affect their rankings. Lower number of applications leads numerically to a higher percentage of kids being accepted (hence less "selective") - but if these kids are more serious about BC, then they should have a higher yield which could offset the lower selectivity.</p>

<p>BC doesn't appear to be alone in this. Loyola Marymount did the same thing. BU tried it for a year, but then dropped it (they said the second essays were disappointing and generic). Elon went this route 2 years ago - they have never been a Common App school, and 2 years ago Elon dropped "topic of your choice" from their essay options, forcing all applicants to write a unique essay just for Elon. Their applications immediately dropped 15%. They rose slightly last year, then fell again slightly this year - but Elon says the quality of the applications they did receive is higher, as are the stats of applicants, so all should work out well in rankings-land.</p>

<p>As a parent, I liked the Common App and "topic of your choice," because it did make it easy to apply to multiple colleges. But with so many kids applying willy-nilly to a dozen or more colleges, this attempt to weed out less-interested applicants sounds like a good idea to me. What college wants to hire enough people to weed through 50,000 applications?</p>

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<p>Reporters should learn the lingo. BC does not admit 2270 students, but around 28 to 30 percent of its applications. Not a small difference.</p>

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<p>IMO, it makes good sense for small schools which are selective enough to admit several times as many students as they want who are all strong students in the school’s eyes. In addition, this might help their “selectivity,” as they should have higher yields (applicants will be more interested in the school), thus not having to admit as many students. </p>

<p>I think one of the biggest benefits is for the students though. Fewer admissions will go to those who don’t want them, and more to those who very much do. </p>

<p>I don’t think a similar strategy would make sense at large state universities however. Large state universities are generic and consist mostly of the “I want to go to college and this is the best one where I get instate tuition” students. Instate students will still apply, high paying OOS students who would attend at a high tuition if that was their only admission might not.</p>

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<p>MIT does the same thing.</p>

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<p>I believe UBC made the move towards holistic applications because of a “less-is-more” strategy…</p>

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<p>At least as of 2 yrs. ago, Georgetown had the same policy. They required extra essays, required an interview with an alum, required a 3rd sat subject test, and wouldn’t accept the common appl. The admissions director said at the time that they only wanted applicants who were really serious about wanting to attend.</p>

<p>The end result - the U. was much more selective in admissions than it appeared from their admissions rate.</p>

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<p>Had to laugh–I did EXACTLY what BC is trying to avoid. If you knew me even a little bit it seems totally bizarre that I would ever, ever, EVER think BC was a good fit for me. I wouldn’t quite say that I applied on a whim, but I can’t imagine how I convinced myself that it was a worthwhile application. Anyway–end result: I was admitted to the Honor’s College, I made a short campus visit (couldn’t make their accepted students days), and I eliminated the school in about 5 seconds. I kept their admissions packet, though–it is very glossy and fancy! Can’t imagine I would have applied if they had another essay and clearly, that would have been good for both BC and me! So, I think it is a worthy idea, although who knows if they will stick to it (Remember UChicago’s famously weird application? Remember how no ED/EA at Harvard and Princeton was going to finish ED for everyone, forever? Etc!).</p>

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<p>35 years ago I did not apply to Harvard business school because they asked for your 3 greatest accomplishments and I only had 2, and I didn’t want to list “being potty trained” as one of my greatest accomplishments.</p>

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<p>“MIT does the same thing.” - Yes. MIT requires 5 unique essays AND a special teacher recommendation form/questions. And still they have only about a 10% admit rate. Can you imagine how many apps they’d receive w/o those hurdles?</p>

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<p>I should have titled this differently - instead of “bucking the trend” I think BC is actually joining in a backlash against the past decade’s widespread practice of collecting as many applications as possible and setting up policies that make it as easy for students to apply as possible. Those same policies have lead us down the rabbit hole of kids applying to a dozen or more colleges (back in the day, 3 - 5 was much more normal), driving up the number of applicants for the same number of spots, and driving down admit rates. Ever lower admit rates make parents and students MORE panicked so they apply to MORE colleges in the thinking that it raises their chances of getting in SOMEWHERE. It’s a vicious, crazy circle and it needs to stop. </p>

<p>I don’t know whether to blame the USNWR rankings or the Common App - or maybe both.</p>

<p>I agree with our school’s GC - 6 - 9 apps is all anyone needs. 1 - 2 reaches, 3 matches, 2 - 3 safeties.</p>

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<p>One other thought…beginning in 2009, BC has seen a slight divergence in their % applicants accepted & yield. It doesn’t look like much here but it is noticeable on a graph they provide. I imagine this year and next will see more extensive use of the waitlist, but it will be interesting to see if this change results in a decrease in the % if applicants accepted and an increase in the yield. One would think so.</p>

<p>2008: 26% & 27%
2009: 30 & 25
2010: 31 & 25
2011: 28 & 23
2012: 29 & 25</p>

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<p>I think this is a smart move by BC and hope others follow suit. The application inflation has gotten out of hand and favors those whose parents don’t blink at $500 or more in application fees for 10+ colleges.</p>

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<p>Lafalum,</p>

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<p>Absolutely.</p>

<p>The percentage of students who submitted three or more applications per year jumped from 67% in 2010 to 79% in 2011. Those who applied to seven or more colleges reached 29% in 2011, up from 25% in the prior year.</p>

<p>Last year, the average adcomm was responsible for reading 622 applications — up from an average of 359 in 2005. Public universities generally have higher review loads than their private-school counterparts.</p>

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<p>i dont see whats wrong with applying to as many colleges as you like (i think the commonapp shd remove its 20 college limit as well)</p>

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<p>I can’t imagine behind closed doors BC can be truly happy with this no matter how they spin it in the Boston Globe. I mean 26% is pretty drastic - in a time where everyone is experiencing anything from minor to major increase in applications.</p>

<p>I have a hard time believing one single essay dropped interest by 26%. If you told me 5% I would buy it. Maybe something else is going on. I guess its personal experience. My D had interest, applied and got accepted. If she had little to no interest she wouldn’t have applied…one simple essay had no impact. She is unlikely to attend but wouldn’t have applied just for the heck of it. I guess they must have determined that they are a big “saftey” for Ivy type schools and are growing tired of it.</p>

<p>Bottom line I, and I think many, got a chuckle reading a headline that says how thrilled BC is with such a whopping decrease. I bet Northeastern U officials chuckled also as interest in their school and the reputation they have continues to soar!</p>

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<p>“It’s a vicious, crazy circle and it needs to stop.” I so TOTALLY agree!</p>

<p>“MIT does the same thing.” Yes, and it works very well. My son is MIT-qualified (was accepted to Rice, Mudd, and Caltech), but it wasn’t one of his top choices. He would have applied, because that’s where students like him are supposed to apply, except for their admissions difficulty. He got into his top-choice school, and saved himself and MIT a lot of money and time. Win-win.</p>

<p>“I can’t imagine behind closed doors BC can be truly happy with this” I think they are. They’ll have a higher yield, have plenty of good students to choose from, and save a ton of money. What’s not to like?</p>

<p>“I have a hard time believing one single essay dropped interest by 26%.” I don’t, not at all. People apply to schools as safeties, and if it doesn’t cost any effort to throw another essay at BC, people would do it, whether or not they intended to go. I applaud BC, AND MIT, and hope more schools go that way.</p>

<p>I think the Common App is great, and I wish all schools used it, because the tedium of the administrative stuff is silly. But making personalized essays is great for both the lottery schools and the schools that serve as safeties to those lottery schools. “i dont see whats wrong with applying to as many colleges as you like (i think the commonapp shd remove its 20 college limit as well)” Yeah, I agree with this too. If the schools and the students want to put themselves through it, I don’t think the CA should stop them.</p>

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<p>I think parents are detached enough from the application process that it’s easy to fall into a “It’s just an essay” mindset. Supplemental essays add a significant amount of time to applications since they require planning, writing, and revising. Applicants have school, work, and EC commitments and may have to write other supplemental essays.</p>

<p>It’s not surprising at all that adding an extra essay can be a turn-off to potential applicants.</p>

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<p>Yes, and writing a SINCERE essay on “why X?” gets a little harder when you are indiscriminately applying to a dozen or more schools.</p>

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<p>I agree with Sally. Any extra essays narrow the field. Just for the record, applying to grad school is even harder. Two of the main essays, e.g. your background and research interests, can be reused. The essay on why that program requires extensive research into the labs & profs takes work.</p>

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<p>When we were in boston in the late fall to see some schools, it looked like BC stopped giving tours in early November. There may be something to cutting down on the # of apps. I know a kid that applied to 20 schools.</p>