Not shocked, but the college that my son attended ~20 years ago has become a lot more selective. When he applied to UChicago about 35% of applicants were accepted. Now it’s 9%. When my son applied, the adcom at Uof C wasn’t aggressive in pursuing applicants, though it was highly selective in the kinds of students it admitted. In recent years, the adcom has taken a very aggressive approach in encouraging early admission. My son didn’t apply early anywhere.
My son’s stats then are toward the top end of the range of enrolled students now. I knew he was well suited to UofC’s academic culture. But he didn’t know enough about Chicago to apply early action. I was the one who put it on his shopping list. He only visited it for the first time after he was admitted.
Now it’s a different world.