<p>According to Bwog and Spec, Columbia College and SEAS received a combined 31,818 applications from the prospective Class of 2016, an 8.9% decrease from the record of nearly 35,000 apps (just below Harvard) last year. Spec speculates that the overall admissions rate for this year will be 7.5%, compared to 6.9% last year. Obviously, this is largely the result of Harvard and Princeton bringing back SCEA. It's also something of a stabilization from the insane 33% increase Columbia saw last year after switching to the Common App.</p>
<p>@Calexico, I am wondering the exact same thing. It’s presumable to think it may help us more than RD applicants. My logic is that the decrease in apps is due to the few thousand accepted to Harvard and Princeton early. So not only are there fewer apps, but perhaps fewer “acceptance material” apps. My thinking, agree? Any way it could hurt us?</p>
<p>It could be that a few kids were scared off by the crazy numbers from last year. More than likey a combination of a lot of factors. One the question of whether it will impact 2016 ED deferrals? One can only hope!</p>
<p>Might this be the end of the ‘echo baby boom?’ Does the top five percent include a smaller actual number? This might, combined with the factors mentioned above, produce a smaller number.</p>
<p>Huh? Top five percent? @mardad what are you referring to?</p>
<p>Is this the end of the second filial set of the baby boom? Quite possibly. My father was born in 1956 and my mother in 1960, so yes that just about rounds it out. My parents are older than most of my friends’ and I am the youngest child. This likely has little effect on the grand scheme of college applications. Take Cal-Berkeley for instance. They received 10,000 more apps than they did last year. The change is in the number of applications to elite universities, so the statistic isn’t necessarily proportional to the entire pool when gauged against the rising competitiveness of high school students. With the increased focus on GPA and standardized testing, it is likely a flawed vantage to view the apps to schools like Columbia in correlation with the potential pool. As far as the top five percent, I am really lost, or perhaps I answered it already.</p>