<p>So when do the colleges figure that they will address the problem that every year they have more and more kids applying. Eventually they will be rejecting even some of the people they accepted now because they were not the best but still great but now there is no room for them.</p>
<p>i just feel horrible cause both of my non acceptances have stated we had a huge turnout this year...more than usual. No i am not asking to go to those schools, but that excuse is going to become a problem.</p>
<p>One other thing i see is that colleges tend to let in way too many people with subpar stats in ED. yes i understand they really want to go, but what about the people who apply RD and have the normal stats they look for.</p>
<p>Yes, i am a bit mad because of yesterday and i dont see how tonight will be any better. But these are 2 serious problems, none of which have yet to be addressed and what will happen is one year they will ruin the admission process for good.</p>
<p>I got a rejection, and they too based it on the huge numbers of applicants. </p>
<p>You have an extremely good point. In as less as ten years it's going to be an outrageous problem. I guess that some of these super-selective schools will either expand (doubtful) or we will just see a rise in top applicants at more 'normal' schools, so I guess all the talent will become spread more thoroughly throughout the country. which I guess is a good thing, except for you won't get to attend that dream school.</p>
<p>also, I'm betting in ten years most schools will follow harvard and uva's lead and drop ED, so that won't be a problem anymore.</p>
<p>Actually the super-selective schools will expand - though not in the sense you're thinking. The number of school's that are super-selective will increase significantly.</p>
<p>Joshuars: My condolences for the issues you've faced. However, may I posit that your opinion would be different if you had instead rec'd two "accepts"?</p>
<p>The fact is you're discussing the open market for freshman slots in US colleges. Is it a frenzy? Yes -- but it was a frenzy 10 years ago too. But who is causing the frenzy and what is the solution?</p>
<p>My thinking is that it's got to be the market adjusting itself. Look at Yale. Last year they had the higest no. of apps ever. Since the physical space in New Haven didn't expand, they had the lowest rate of admissions (and largest no. of rejects) ever -- below 10% for the 2nd straight year. What happened this application season? The no. of apps decreased by about 10% -- my guess is that some students who saw Yale as a "dream" school self-selected and just didn't apply given the crushing odds against them.</p>
<p>There are certainly enough slots for the entering freshman class as a whole -- but there are coveted slots less than students obviously. It's just that although the current system has tremendous perils and stresses for students and their families -- I can't think of a better alternative. I'm an alumni recruiter for a top school and the tension I sense from my audiences is palpatable. Perhaps if people didn't feel so enslaved to the blind need to place themselves in the best ranked schools, then some of the hysteria might calm down.</p>
<p>Good luck to you -- you've touched upon a real issue that those of us involved in admissions deals with. However, it's the only system we've got and I can't think of a more fair way to make it work.</p>
<p>About schools admitting seemingly subpar ED applicants, I would bet those are "2nd tier" schools that feel they need to lock in good students because many "top tier" applicants (HYPS) will be applying to them as backups. Again, I'm using quotation marks for discussion purposes -- not because I particularly fancy those designations. The 2nd tier schools feel forced to do this in order to capture what they see as a good selection early.</p>
<p>T26E4 it was not a subpar school. It was duke.
Yes i know SAT scores are not everything but still.</p>
<p>You know the colleges may state that well we want people who really want to go to our school. However, its very similar to job searching. When i search for a job i have one place in mind i want...but yet i dont only apply to that one place because they may not need hiring. I can not just place my egg in one basket...especially if a school is not need blind. yes this may be selfish/greedy but then your calling 90 percent of Americans going to college greedy.</p>
<p>its a real problem and yes one day they will not be able to handle it. Especially when what has happened is now the 2nd tier schools have become more selective. It is a trickle down effect for colleges...not economics. heh.</p>
<p>Yes i may not be writing this if i had been accepted but now i am and now i will make sure i can do something about. Whether that is calling a news station to do a 5 minute story on this or something else.</p>
<p>Hi Joshuars: I can't really speak on behalf of adcoms of schools. Like I said, I'm an alumni recruiter but try to stay abreast of the needs of respective admissions offices. I'm guessing here but since you named the school, Duke, let me take a stab. Without a doubt Duke is an excellent school and its adcom has a tremendous mission to pull in the best possible class. That being said, they are aware that many students who will by HYPS applicants may also apply at Duke. If doubly accepted, they also track the rates that students will refuse Duke to attend HYPS. Therefore they know the likelihood that they will be turned down -- their "yield" will be lower with those students they percieve may be accepted at HYPS (again, my use of "HYPS" is only for discussion's sake). So it's in Duke's best interest to lock in very, very good ED applicants. On paper, they may not be as strong as others but they're willing to accept that but I don't believe the university as a whole, suffers.</p>
<p>It is a trickle down effect -- I absolutely agree. But every school behaves as a rational actor. Yale, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, etc. look at its applicant pool one way; Duke, Columbia, Tufts, UPenn, etc. look at their applicant pool another. Collusion isn't allowed so we're left with what we see here.</p>
<p>The problem with multiple apps for available slots MUST be handled through this market system. How else would it be determined that for the 1250 Yale slots that only 1800 applictions are accepted? Who decides that? Does Yale then have a lottery for the 1800 "approved" applications? What would that solve? It's the fact that the "buyers (applicants)" outnumber the demand for the coveted spots. Therefore there is a downward ordering of eventual buyers in the respective slots.</p>
<p>Again, good luck w/you college endeavors and continue to champion areas where you see injustice or inefficiency.</p>
<p>Badman89 is right. The number of schools considered "super-selective" increases as the number of applicants who are "super-competitive/qualified" increases. Forty years ago, the only selective schools were HYP, MIT, and a few LACs. Now all the Ivies are super competitive, as are Stanford, UChicago, Northwestern, Georgetown, Duke, Tufts, the Pomona colleges, Wesleyan, Middlebury, etc. etc. etc.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for commenting. I do understand and we will see what Dateline can pull if they will cover my story. If they don't reply, dont worry i have 50 other news programs i can call.</p>
<p>The number of highschool graduates is increasing as is the number wanting to attend college. However the peak is the HS class of 2009. At this point the number will start decreasing. Housing at most colleges is overcrowded. As this is temporary, colleges are reluctant to do the things necessary to increase class sizes significantly.</p>
<p>This isn't just a college problem as the post title implies. Med school applications continue to increase while med school spots stay stagnant. Just about all of the top 50 med schools now have acceptance rates below 10%.</p>
<p>GolfingMom is right. I remember hearing about this phenomenon when my kids were in elementary school. It's the "baby boomer's babies bubble."<br>
Unfortunately for this year's seniors, they are the largest demograhic up to this point, but the numbers will start to decline in a couple of years.</p>
<p>Wow, read a newspaper. This problem of the last several years is indeed a baby boomlet. It's also compounded by the information age, everyone now has access to info on the top schools.</p>
<p>What exactly is the story for dateline, that you were qualified stats wise but didn't get in? I'm sorry for your pain but really, it's all too common and is the case for MOST applicants to top schools.</p>
<p>The other part of the problem is caused by students themselves. With the advent of online applications, students think nothing of applying to a dozen or more colleges. So it isn't just an increase in the number of students applying, it is also an increase in the number of applications each of those students file. </p>
<p>And US News just feeds into the whole thing by upping your ranking if you have lots of applicants and lots of rejections. It helps schools to appear more selective that way which causes schools to solicit applications from students it is very unlikely to accept. </p>
<p>However, I think that students need to be a bit more selective about where they apply. Choose your schools carefully. Don't apply to schools merely for the name. Look outside of the northeast. There are many excellent schools out there that are not nearly as competitive but which will give you a wonderful education.</p>