<p>I’m from NY so just a note about some SUNY schools: i recently heard that the better SUNYs like Binghamton, Geneseo and Stony Brook will have higher standards because SUNYs are quite cheap and with the economy in this mess, the cheaper the school is, the better. Especially when you’ll still get a good education, like those schools offer. I’ve heard some admissions people go so far as to say that they would want kids with credentials good enough for the Ivies - especially Binghamton. They’ll stay the same cost, but the original thread was asking about admissions, yes? So get ready for lots of competition in schools that normally aren’t extremely difficult to get in to. good luck!</p>
<p>Maybe some admissions people “want” Ivie qualifiers but who would go SUNY over IVY ??</p>
<p>What will be the impact of the bad economy on Class of 2014 Admissions?</p>
<p>With regard to the Publics, I see a dual-edged sword. On one hand, I see an increasing applicant pool. On the other hand, I can see them reaching out to more OOS applicants that can pay full tuition to bridge the budget gap. What is the net effect for OOS applicants - harder or easier to get into the Publics?</p>
<p>Will schools be increasing their enrollment to make up for endowment/budget shortfalls?</p>
<p>Will the wait list be a more important tool for managing uncertainty, resulting in a bigger wait list and more students being admitted from wait lists?</p>
<p>Will small LAC’s see a declining applicant pool? </p>
<p>What other trends will we see?</p>
<p>Advice, apply widely and realistically. Unfortunately it costs $$ for apps and a lot of time. Mix publics and and don’t rule out (like my D did) privates as privates seem to be giving more aide this year however by next year that may not be so because their endowment might be down due to the economy. I don’t think anyone can predict addmissions and any predictions should be taken with a grain of salt. You can hope but don’t assume IMO. We have gone through admissions with 3 kids now over 6 years and it really doesn’t make much sense. My kids used the old formula; 2-3 reaches, 3-4 matches, 2-3 safeties depending on their stats. From our experience and picking wisely, all three kids were accepted to at least 5 of their choices and all are happy where they are at. We also visited the schools (on West Coast) and ruled out ones they didn’t like prior to the application. We visited when we were on vacation or in the area for something else so we didn’t make a special trip. Of course the youngest benefited from the visits with older siblings. You guys still have time to make wise and realisitic choices.
And it is always fun to be accepted at your far reach, you never no, it happend to S. Good luck everyone in class '14</p>
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<p>I agree with this, especially with the “widely.”</p>
<p>It’s getting more and more competitive every class. An aunt of mine who just recently began to interview prospective students as an alumna and has said things about them and how they are getting much more competitive than when she was a student at UPenn (of course, right).</p>
<p>It has been said that 2013 is the most competitive year yet for colleges. Is supposed to be going down next year. Based on some study by an MIT professor. Not sure in its validity though.</p>
<p>yeah 2013 was sposed to be the peak, and so it will probly be less competitive for you '14ers</p>
<p>Then my sister did an excellent job of getting into an upper-tier college.</p>
<p>This year will is definitely one of the hardest years for applying to college. As some previous posters said, it will probably be easier for those of you applying next year.</p>
<p>Why will next year’s applicants have an easier time applying? Is there anything in particular?</p>
<p>My claim is still that the colleges that are hard to get into (the most selective colleges) are not going to be easier to get into next year, or the year after, or any time in the next decade.</p>
<p>Token – I agree the most selective will be as hard as ever, but unless the economy gets better, as I suspect it will not (at best, it will stop getting worse) there will be some very good privates very open to full pay kids.</p>
<p>I think that, in the current economic situation, places like Harvard, etc., which have great FA policies for low-income kids, are going to get harder to get into, not easier. Not so auspicious for students like me, but there’s not much we can do about it (save take a deep breath and say: semper fi).</p>
<p>I think like many of you the top tier will always be difficult and the instates will become more selective as Ivy denied kids will pass on pricey LAC’s. I also believe that the career training majors, i.e. nursing, teaching, engineering and even two year medical programs at the Community Colleges, will get more competitive. More middle class parents will want their kids to come out of school with a practical skill. The uneasiness of the future will make kids rethink art history, sociology and English as their majors.
I would also look to the technical schools to see an uptick from kids who would usually go to CC. They will go for hands on training in something they are interested in. I expect more people looking into apprenticeship programs. The thinking will be why send the B- or C+ kid to college when he doesn’t like school anyway, when he can learn a marketable skill, and get licensed while being paid.</p>
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<p>This is a very interesting comment. I wish I could give you a citation to where I read this, but I once saw in a study of IQ scores and how they relate to people’s occupational choices and occupational success that at ANY level of ability, being an engineer always outearns being a technician. Of course, gaining the credentials to be an engineer is more expensive than gaining the credentials to be a technician as well, but there always seems to be positive return to pursuing the credentials of an engineer rather than settling for being a non-engineer in a technical occupation. Something to think about, I guess, and something to verify since I haven’t sourced this statement.</p>
<p>I see three trends relevant to this quesiton:</p>
<p>1) High School Population – I believe it will be down about 1% for 2010 applicants vs. current. Not much change there.
2) % of high school population applying to colleges: I’ll eat my hat if this % increase is not GREATER than the % decrease in HS student population —</p>
<p>to me, 1) and 2) cancel each other out.</p>
<p>3) Arms race in high school AP/IB/Honors classes, college classes taken by high schoolers, standardized test preparation, and focus on EC building.</p>
<p>I believe factor 3) will cause college admissions to be ever more competitive. </p>
<p>As to the differential effects of a recession, as others posted, it will drive students increasingly to generaous need-based financial aid schools (HYPSM + Ivies + select Top 20), to the publics (in California, I can see Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego picking up kids who would have been destined for WashU, Georgetown, or Northwestern, etc.), and away from full priced privates not known for aid, especially those ranked below the top 50 Uni and Top 15 LACs. </p>
<p>Oh, and the free or almost free schools (Military Academies, Cooper Union, BYU, Grove City, the better Community Colleges) will see big spikes in applicants.</p>