<p>In the UK, students can only apply to 5 schools, and they can not apply to both Oxford and Cambridge - they must pick one.</p>
<p>Given the explosion in the number of applications selective schools are receiving, and the ever-shrinking acceptance rates, the UK system appeals to me, as a way to stem some of this.</p>
<p>If students could only apply to 2 or 3 of the HYP type schools, and only 5 - 8 overall, it might help to make the admissions process more straightforward and less of a crap-shoot for so many.
What do you think?</p>
<p>If I only applied to five schools, it could’ve been possible that I didn’t end up getting into any besides my safety schools. Or I guess it would be school in this case. </p>
<p>I think the concern over HYP admission rates are overblown. We shouldn’t limit people’s options based on a concern that only affects a select proportion of families and that most people forget by the middle of summer. I can see an ordinary family that doesn’t care about selective admissions too much applying to a multitude of schools to compare FA and merit scholarship offers. </p>
<p>Also, I think the US has a larger range of colleges that the UK has. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I do believe that there are a high amount of colleges per capita in the US than in the UK.</p>
<p>And whether you get HYP isn’t going to determine where you’re going for the rest of your life. I think getting into those schools for some might be important because of the financial aid those schools have. I don’t think having to go to Duke or Brown instead means you’re a failure. </p>
<p>I think it’s plainly ridiculous how some CC members seem to live in a bubble and not remember that other people’s lives don’t revolve so much around college admissions. Even in my competitive high school, I think only 30 people AT MOST applied to an Ivy out of over 300. Even fewer applied to HYP. I think with careful planning, everybody in my class who is going to college can have a great time, even if it is just a plain old commuter school.</p>
<p>I’d think we’d need a larger limit than 5, given the population. But, if everyone was limited, then there would be far fewer applicants for many schools and your admissions chances would be more realistic at the schools you applied to. It would force students to think carefully about applications and make meaningful choices.</p>
<p>The change in application numbers is relatively recent. I think the common application is a big factor. It was only a few years ago that parents and students did research and visited, and then applied to 4-6 schools total (or sometimes even less) that they really wanted to go to.</p>
<p>I feel really badly when a student uses a school as a backup, or as one of 20 applications, when a classmate really wants to go there- and then the former gets in, having lowered the chances of the more eager classmate w/no real intention of going.</p>
<p>My kids didn’t apply to any schools that were top choices of friends to avoid that. Oldest, 25, applied to 4, youngest, 19, applied to only 2. It was lower stress and since they chose carefully, it worked out really well.</p>
<p>I think we should go back to individual applications for each school and get rid of the common app, for starters, and everyone has to change attitudes somehow and try to increase chances of happiness by choosing favorites before applying, and not sending out so many random applications and then choosing after acceptance.</p>
<p>One reason why applications are limited in the UK is because students are applying not just to a university, but to a course of study. Once you are accepted for medicine or PPE or English literature, that’s it, and you can’t change your program. In the US, many students don’t even know what they are going to major in, and many who think they know end up changing their minds. </p>
<p>Also, in the UK there is a real chance that you won’t get a place in your chosen course of study. How is that any better than getting shut out of HYPS and then having to attend, god forbid, your state university? At least in the US you can still study what you want.</p>
<p>While I do think this would help hyps admissions rates, I can’t say I’d prefer it. I applied to a bunch of schools and do regret doing so, but I think the number you apply to is a personal problem. Still, finding a way to raise hyps rates by limiting apps somehow within the ivy League and other universities would be cool. </p>
<p>No, at least not with respect to limiting the number of applications. The UK system is almost entirely academically driven (with a few exceptions), and as a result it is much more predictable for UK students. They don’t need more than 5 applications, because they have a reasonable idea of what the outcomes will be, given the results at A level. Probably they don’t even need the 5 applications.</p>
<p>(Well, technically they don’t usually have the A level results when they are applying, so they get contingent offers of a spot–so some students probably do need 5 applications to cover the range of possible outcomes from the A level exams.)</p>
<p>Does it really matter what hyps admit rate is? They’re still going to enroll the same number of kids every year, and they’re still going to be difficult to get into…</p>
<p>I think the point was to reduce the number of people who apply to all of the schools and are admitted to multiple Ivies. Since they can only choose one, they take up multiple spots in the admitted classes that could have been offered to someone else. Also, I love how the UK system is much less “crapshoot” cause you know your odds of getting in much more than here in the US. The thing is is that there are thousands of qualified applicants for HYP etc. but they cannot accept all of them. In the UK I’m assuming they have less Oxbridge etc. qualified students so the “knowing your odds” system can work. I hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>I think limiting the number makes kids refine their choices. Scatter-shot approaches only clog the system. That might hurt the lesser LACs, though, if kids spent their “five” on all top selectives. </p>
<p>And, then what about kids who get rejected at all five? I have mixed thoughts about the way the whole system is structured in the US.</p>
<p>Obviously this is not the case, since all the Ivies end up with the class sizes they want (at most erring on the side of classes being too large.) Every school is entirely aware that it is accepting students who have been accepted at other schools. This is why measures such as yield were invented, and why each school accepts far more students than the intended class size. </p>
<p>The answer to the OP is a resounding NO. Limiting applications is one of the dumbest proposals ever. Helping students make judicious and realistic choices is a very different issue. For some students, it makes perfect sense to prepare dozens of applications; for others, one suffices. Fwiw, eroding admit rates have little to no impact to the pool of students who are and HAVE BEEN admitted in the past years. The enrolled student body remains remarkably consistent; only the non-admitted one is different.</p>
<p>Come to think about it, is there anything the US should consider importing/adopting from the UK? With the exception of the Premier League for the soccer fanatics, I draw a blank. London is a hopeless mess. The social system stinks. The openness to full diversity is a failed model that makes almost everyone who has been impacted by it unhappy, locals and immigrants alike. The media is even worse than in the US, a coup in itself. </p>
<p>There must be something. Someone. Oh yes, we got Piers Morgan on our Communist National Network. A reasonable upgrade to the aging Larry King. And Simon Cowell makes our shows less boring. </p>
<p>Kids getting accepted to multiple Ivy’s only take up one spot, and not even that at times. That is why they have waitlists, isn’t it? </p>
<p>I have to agree with others. There is no need to restrict applications and why would you want the government interfering in that process to begin with. </p>
<p>Also, the sooner kids learn that life is not fair, the better off they will be. Once parents realize that there are more than 17 colleges around the country, the better off the kids will be.</p>