<p>I'm not too knowledgeable on the topic, but I've heard that the influx of students/competition can be attributed to the baby boomers kids. So, technically, if all these kids are going to college at this time, will we see a lot more qualified individuals in the genrations to come? Basically, will the already elite schools and the upcoming schools become more selective than ever?</p>
<p>Supposedly this is the peak year for baby-boomer kids. However, given that more and better education seems to be driving society into information haves and have nots, you can bet the stress on getting more kids into better schools will likely increase. The internet and sites like this help disseminate information and knowledge gained in the selection and application of colleges. Hence, more people know how it works. As more find such sites more will know and hence more will likely work at being better qualified. At least that is my take on it.</p>
<p>Population trends in the United States are not the only issue influencing the competitiveness of college admission here. The children already born show us what the expected number of high school students are in various years, but the number of high school students in the United States, which is expected to begin declining in a few years, isn't the whole story. </p>
<p>First of all, if more students who begin high school go on to college, there will be more applicants to college even with a declining number of high school students. And that is the trend in the United States and worldwide. </p>
<p>Second, colleges in the United States accept applications from all over the world, so it is quite possible that demographic trends in the United States will not be the main influence on how many students apply to college. The cohorts of high-school-age students are still increasing in size in some countries (NOT most of Europe). </p>
<p>Third, even if the number of applicants to colleges overall stays the same, or even declines, the number of applicants to the most competitive colleges may still increase. The trend around the world is a "flight to quality" of students trying to get into the best college they can in increasing numbers, and increasing their consensus about which colleges to put at the top of their application lists. I do not expect college admission to be any easier for my youngest child than for my oldest child, even though she is part of a smaller birth cohort in the United States.</p>
<p>Newsweek recently reported that colleges, including ivies,are heavily recruiting international full pay students because the number of American applicants will soon drop for some time. It makes sense anyway, the top schools in America should have more interntional representation.</p>
<p>American does not need to increase the number of international students if those students return to their own countries and cause those countries or the companies they ultimately work for to become more competitive (as a result of the excellent education received here) and cause the US economy to become weaker. Yes, I am for isolationism.</p>
<p>I am hoping that somehow we realize that we are making ourselves crazy over these admissions process and in the interim, we are leving a big chunk of youth, of "being silly, being just a kid" behind.</p>
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It makes sense anyway, the top schools in America should have more interntional representation.
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<p>why? at the expense of american students? so those students can take their education and add value to their own countries instead of the country that educated them?</p>
<p>i think american schools have plenty of international representation</p>
<p>every time we have established isolationism we have broken the world, french rev., world war I , for example</p>
<p>Usually young people who study in the United States are quite likely to stay here and help the United States to thrive.</p>
<p>I remember reading somewhere that the high school class of 2009 will be the peak year for the echo baby boom. Then it starts to ease up.</p>
<p>^ doubt it would ease until 2011 or 2012</p>
<p>I googled Live Births United States</p>
<p><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005067.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005067.html</a></p>
<p>1988 3,913,000
1989 4,021,000
1990 4,179,000
1991 4,111,000
1992 4,084,000
1993 4,039,000
1994 3,979,000</p>
<p>The peak seems to be births in 1990-1991 which is the class of 2009</p>