<p>Just in case it is not clear to everyone just how competitive college admissions were this year, the Wall Street Journal gives us some idea an article, headlined: Top Colleges Reject Record Numbers
Schools Say Surging Applications Produce
Unusually Competitive Year; Stanford Admits 11%
By ANNE MARIE CHAKER
"
Those who are interested can read the whole thing here. At one point, it notes that one selective college had to reject almost 400 valedictorians who applied! </p>
<p>Can't access the link without a subscription.</p>
<p>Yikes, I am not sure if it is a copyright infringement to copy the story in its entirety here. I will, instead, offer highlights. That should be OK under the fair use clause!</p>
<p><<Concluding one of the most brutal admission seasons ever, college officials say they are accepting an unusually low percentage of applicants.</p>
<p>Elite colleges including Brown University, Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania say they have accepted a smaller percentage of applicants than ever before. Brown admitted only 13.8% of applicants, down from the 14.6% of applicants it accepted last year. That is a record-low rate, says Jim Miller, dean of admission. It saw a record 18,313 applications this year -- up more than 8% from last year.</p>
<p>Other top colleges also say the huge surge in applications translated to an unusually competitive year. The number of applications to Dartmouth College rose 9.3% to 13,937 this year -- the largest pool ever, says Admissions Dean Karl Furstenberg. He admitted little more than 15% of those applicants for the 1,075 seats available next fall. That is a new low, down from around 17% at this point last year.>></p>
<p>The story went on to say that <<several factors="" have="" shifted="" the="" admissions="" math="" in="" recent="" years.="" students="" are="" sending="" out="" more="" applications="" to="" better="" their="" chances="" of="" landing="" somewhere.="" a="" 2005="" survey="" than="" 200,000="" college="" students,="" over="" quarter="" said="" they="" applied="" six="" or="" colleges,="" compared="" with="" 18%="" who="" did="" so="" decade="" earlier,="" according="" ucla="" higher="" education="" research="" institute.="">></several></p>
<p>They then said that colleges have been forced to be "stingier with admissions," with some of them leaning more on wait lists, where kids are neither accepted nor rejected. A Penn rep said that he guesses that about 800 students will be waitlisted, compared with 500 last year. </p>
<p>The story then said: <<online applications="" make="" it="" easier="" to="" apply="" more="" schools.="" roughly="" three-fourths="" of="" are="" online,="" estimates="" the="" common="" application,="" a="" herndon,="" va.,="" nonprofit="" application="" provider.="" swarthmore,="" for="" instance,="" attributes="" part="" huge="" surge="" in="" fact="" that="" began="" this="" year="" accepting="" credit-card="" payments="" $60="" fee.="">></online></p>
<p>The story stated that one reason for the flood of applications is just demographics. The number of high school grads is rising, and a lot. According to the story, by 2012, that number is expected to be up 11% from 2000.</p>
<p>More from the story: <<It's not just the sheer number of applicants that makes schools competitive. The colleges indicate that they are also seeing large numbers of highly qualified students. The University of Pennsylvania turned away 394 of the 1,045 valedictorians that applied. Also, about 70% of applicants who got near-perfect scores in the math and critical-reading sections of the SAT were turned away, says Mr. Stetson. At Brown, 94% of admitted students this year were in the top 10% of their class.</p>
<p>Some public universities are also seeing increases in applications. The University of California-Berkeley received 41,700 applications for the fall -- nearly 13% more than last year. It admitted about 24%, or about 9,800 students. That is similar to the number of students it admitted last year.>></p>