<p>We can all name colleges that get increasingly difficult to be accepted to each year (American and George Washington, off the top of my head)...but do any get easier and accept more students as time goes on?</p>
<p>This will probably be the case in 5 years or so.</p>
<p>I agree with Kcirsh</p>
<p>nah not five years, a little earlier than that. I say minimum 2 years and maximum four years.</p>
<p>why do you guys say it will get easier to get in? It seems to me like few selective universities really expand their incoming class sizes much, and with a growing population doesn't this always just bode an increasing competitivness to get into the top schools...</p>
<p>Getting into Harvard today is a hella of alot easier than getting in 30 years ago...</p>
<p>Actually the amount of graduating seniors in 3 years or so will be less than the amount graduating this year. Don't just assume that the amount grows every year, even though it has been for a while.</p>
<p>i dont understand how its necesarily getting more competitive, cornells data shows that from 1970 onwards, the acceptance rate has always consistently been around 30%</p>
<p>More graduates, increasing importance of a college degree, increased demand for the top colleges.</p>
<p>no. getting into Harvard today is harder than it was 30 years ago...</p>
<p>30 years ago, you just had to have rich parentage. Now you need a whole host of things. Just look at the numbers.</p>
<p>'hella'... california by any chance?</p>
<p>deff tulane will be much easier this year</p>
<p>kind of makes me regret not applying tulane as a safety</p>
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i dont understand how its necesarily getting more competitive, cornells data shows that from 1970 onwards, the acceptance rate has always consistently been around 30%
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<p>Acceptance rates are very misleading because they depend more on the number of people applying rather than the "selectivity" of the school. A college can have tons of local applicants with 1150/1600 scores applying and have a acceptance rate of well below 30%. Obviously the school is not more selective than Cornell. - A college like Cornell can become much more selective over the years and still maintain a 30% percent accepted simply because less qualified people give up and don't even apply.</p>
<p>Large numbers of people started going to college in the 1970's. This was a result of the original baby boom. Selectivity has gone up ever since due to:
1) increase in number of applicants due to increase in population and increase in percentage of hs graduates attending college
2) a funnel effect that everyone is applying to the same few schools at the top
3) the top schools have not significantly increased class sizes </p>
<p>Population trends are supposed to drop off in about 5 years.</p>
<p>I'd say Bryn Mawr - it used to be the centerpiece gem of the 7 sisters. Now that the days of the all girl schools are over it's struggling to regain its former prestige.</p>
<p>Probably will get easier as time passes.</p>
<p>aot of womens schools have become easier, because lack of applicants</p>
<p>barnard</p>
<p>JMU and Washington and lee changed to coed because of this, and have now become more selective, but a few years ago they werent</p>
<p>Astrife, getting into Harvard is EASIER these days? Hmm. And what is this assertion based on? 'Cuz you see, you are the very first and only person I have seen here who believes that. Would you care to elaborate?</p>
<p>Nope. Population is rising, so more people are applying to a limited number of schools (the good unis getting flooded with applications). Globalisation is spreading, so more and more people from around the world are applying to countries with the most renowned universities (US, UK are obvious examples)...
Not to mention this powers the vicious "selectivity" circle, as the more people apply to any given school, the more selective and prestigious the school becomes and vice-versa.
Also, the educational system in developing countries is taking a while to build up so while globalisation runs rampant it's all education can do to try to keep pace.
Anyway I can only see this trend stopping when developing places get better (and most importantly wider, i.e. that serves more people) education, and of course if the world slows down a bit with population growth. Then the vicious circle might slow down.</p>
<p>Yes, the selectivity "problem" is that so many people concentrate on such a small number of schools due to brand-consciousness. Try reading "Harvard Schmarvard" by Jay Mathews to get an idea of the real importance of graduating from one of the super-elite colleges. (Yes, Mathews is a Harvard alum.)</p>