In other discussion threads we are talking about kids who get rejected from their “safeties”, and how to avoid that in our families or try to prevent it in others. One of the reasons that kids overestimate their chances at safety schools is that perhaps their parents think of a school as a safety when it has become much more selective since their parents’ school days.
So, parents, when you started looking at schools for your teens were there any institutions that you once considered as safeties that shocked you with their new prestige rank and lower acceptance rates?
For me, it was University of Maryland, College Park. When I was doing my college search back in the '80s, it was where B and C or occasional D students went if they couldn’t get in anywhere else. I was quite shocked to read about kids with perfect 4.0 getting rejected or waitlisted.
I was surprised at the GPA and test scores needed to get into Michigan State now. “Back in the day” the bar was much lower. I think that 'push down" is at work as in California. As UofM got more difficult for in-state kids, they went to MSU and those that would have gone to MSU a decade or two ago now go to one of the rest of the unis in the state.
The big state schools in the midwest certainly have gotten much more selective! Thankfully we had friends with older kids that paved the way and gave us the heads up before it was time to compile our list.
I think you have to look really closely at those big state schools because the acceptance rate hides many different acceptance rates: one for athletes, one for engineering, one for business, one for nursing, one for psychology, one for music, etc. The average of all those acceptance rates together into one overall university rate doesn’t really tell you much.
Why are acceptance rates down so much this year? Was there a significant increase in applications? Did students apply to many more schools?
If the pattern is - acceptance rates go down, students panic that there are no safeties and apply to more schools, the number of applications increase, causing acceptance rates to go down. Vicious cycle!
Acceptance rates are probably down because more of more kids applying. The year 2000 was not only the millennial but also the year of the Golden Dragon, so there was a double baby boom.
Colleges that have become “hot” in recent years have the following characteristics:
1-Large metropolitan area location, preferably in the city itself
2-The city is a popular destination for students e.g. Boston, Washington, Montreal
3-Emphasis on professional or pre-professional education
4-The college itself is large with a wide variety of programs
Note, however, that the Chinese zodiac year (which begins in late January or February in the Gregorian calendar; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac ) for this purpose is split across two kindergarten classes (how evenly or not depends on the birthday criterion used in the state or district and how many parents “redshirt” their kids; see https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp ). This means that any bulge in college applications from kids whose parents preferred a “dragon year” kid would be split across this year and next year.
Compare the admit rates by GPA for UCD, UCSB, and UCI for 2017, versus 2007, versus 1997. Lots of applicants have been unpleasantly surprised in recent years. (Add the tendency to compare exaggerated weighted GPAs against the lower UC-recalculated weighted-capped GPAs to produce even more overconfidence and overreaching when applying.)
University of Florida. When I graduated, UF and FSU were perceived as roughly equivalent and kids chose which to apply based on which football team they preferred. I only knew of one kid who was denied admissions.
And being from a non-New England area, admission to the Ivy League schools was perceived differently. Not as many students were interested in many of the Ivies and it appeared that admissions were more skewed to people with connections - legacy and athletes. Top students without family connections were often attracted to schools like Duke, UChicago, MIT and GA Tech (whose admissions were harder than UF’s but still very much achievable.)
@milee30 I was going to say the same about UF. We know how much ti has changed because we live here, but someone who hasn’t been around or paying attention to college news might not realize how competitive it has become. When H was in a private high school here in FL they made every senior apply to UF. Back then it was almost guaranteed admission and the school wanted to be able to say they had 100% college acceptance rate. H did end up going there for 1 year because he wasn’t sure where he wanted to go, luckily he then transferred to my tiny college in upstate NY (that couldn’t be any more different than UF) so I was able to meet him.
@ninakatarina Mr. InfiniteWaves is from Maryland. UMCP was definitely an in-state safety for him. He got in but chose the private college where we ended up meeting. Now, we have lots of friends whose kids were offered spring admission or no admission to UMCP.
We currently live in PA. Not sure if Penn State main campus was ever a true in-state safety, but it is most definitely not now.
UConn Storrs would have been my safety if I had wanted to stay in-state. Seems like it is similar to UMCP now.
@ninakatarina When I applied to U of Michigan in the early 1980s it was my safety with a 65% acceptance rate. I was a high stat student then and a school like Tufts was considered my “match” (today it would be a reach) and Penn was a low reach. I attended an out-of-state high school in the New York metropolitan area and after I got accepted to Michigan the local regional admissons representative called my house to speak with me and try to recruit me to go to there. How times have changed!! The deciding factor for me was I got into the Honors Program and that made me feel it was Okay to attend Michigan as my “safety.” Also Ohio State was basically open admissions back then. Anyone with a pulse got in. Well, not anymore!
“when it has become much more selective since their parents’ school days.”
The state flagship school that is my daughter’s top choice (due to the quality and availability of her intended major) has become much more selective in just the past year. The acceptance rate was reduced by 20 percentage points this year - from about 75% to 56%!. In two years, it has gone to being a safety/match for my D1 to a reach for my D2 (who has a better GPA than D1 had).
I called the admission’s office to ask about the trends and the person I spoke to willingly gave me that information and also some very helpful advice for her application process this fall. So we won’t be shocked if she doesn’t get admitted, but I bet a lot of kids and parents will be next year.
