<p>I once read somewhere that the number of students graduating high school in '11 is significantly smaller than some of the more recent years. If that were true, it would probably be easier to get into an ivy league school than it has been the past few years. Does anybody know whether this is true or not?</p>
<p>I heard something similar but I doubt it’ll make much of a difference.
Don’t raise your hopes for it; just as fewer kids might be applying, they seem insanely smart and more competitive this year.</p>
<p>Where might one find statistics on this?</p>
<p>Every year is split between the dreamers who want to think that they are in a particularly easy year and the masochists who like to think they’re in a particularly competitive year. There is no relation between the relative sizes of this split and reality.</p>
<p>Didn’t know I was a masochist…thanks for informing me that I fit in that category.</p>
<p>Personally I think that even with a slight population reduction the competition for getting into top schools will be just as brutal for a variety of factors, the big one being that the Ivies keep on reaching out to all socioeconomic groups.</p>
<p>US birth stats indicate that this year’s senior class is likely to be 2% smaller than last year’s. statistically significant but not huge. Class of 2011 should be roughly the same size as class of 2007.</p>
<p>That is really refreshing news to hear. I wonder if the admit rates will increase this year regardless of the aggressive advertising campaigns of the Ivy league, and similar caliber schools.</p>
<p>I would bet the selectivity will be just as brutal. Princeton and the Ivies continue to increase their outreach to minorities as well as advertisement of the financial aid initiative to middle-class families. More internationals are applying, and more U.S. students from less-traditional Ivy feeder schools are applying. </p>
<p>With the internet, CC, and all the media exposure of Princeton (“House”), Yale (Gossip Girl), Brown (Emma Watson), the Ivies are more and more well-known and desired by pop-culture-influenced teens and families.</p>