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<p>Why? An increase of women (especially international students) applying to college? Or possibly the increased use of the common application and ease of applying to multiple colleges facilitated an increase. The deliberate recruitment of very low income students from areas traditionally not served by admission representatives, as is the practice of Smith, has increased their applications.</p>
<p>The only definitive way to know if women’s colleges are as popular as decades past is to ascertain the total number of women (US and international) who applied to college each year from~1970 to 2013, and of that number, what percentage applied to a women’s college.</p>