<p>The eroding acceptance rates for ED/SCEA simply means that the SAME APPLICANTS end up submitting even more applications. In other words, all other things being equal (they never are), the result would be more applications. I did mis-speak perhaps - maybe we should be looking at the Ivy 'attendance rate' (85% yield?) rather than acceptance rate, though that won't make much difference. </p>
<p>What is true is that the high number of applications will likely result in less in the way of "fit", either from the school's point of view or from the students. In other words, the law of diminishing returns gets to the point that the schools are LESS likely to get the students they want, even as the number of student they turn down goes up.</p>
<p>So, if you don't care "which Ivy" or "which prestige LAC", and have the stats for them, chances are very good you'll be attending one of them (almost 50/50 for the Ivies, higher for the LACs), and there is no indication that this has changed.</p>