<p>It is known widely among CCers that this particular year for admissions to colleges (esp. competitive colleges) was the hardest one. Does this happen once every few years? Or is it just a coincidence that it was this year? Is it expected a decrease of the applicant pool in the coming years?</p>
<p>Not from what is shown. In fact, the number HS seniors will steadily grow into at least the next decade. I wish I bookmarked some of the articles about this.</p>
<p>well the population has been increasing exponentially and so it only makes sense that competition becomes more heated.</p>
<p>I heard it will get harder from here on least until the class of 2013 starts applying... It's crazy.. Too many students.</p>
<p>oh no.... Im gonna be a senior class of 2008. Gotta expect some rough competition still at that time...</p>
<p>Every year in the past few years has been the hardest one so far. 2002 was the hardest at that time, 2003 was harder, 2004 was even harder... etc etc. Until Generation Y gets through college, and then the number of students will decrease - and therefore the competitiveness of admissions will decline.</p>
<p>Also, applications being simpler and more accessible increases every single school's applicant pools to the point where they have to be more selective and opt for an incredibly large waitlist pool.</p>
<p>Isn't it a mini-baby boomlet? Most of our parents are the baby boomers, aren't they? My class, the class before and after it have always been the largest ones as I've been going through school. </p>
<p>I just figure that colleges are allowing the students to come to them, choosing the best, and they don't even have to change their selectivity or their admissions process--just let the competition weed itself out and choose the best of the best.</p>
<p>It's mostly because of the population bubble. The number of h.s. seniors are rising whereas the number of slots at colleges generally are not.</p>
<p>I don't buy the Common Application explanation since most top colleges require a supplement that requires extra essays - and the questions cannot be easily recycled from one app to the next. My d. applied to 11 schools and used the Common Ap for all but two. The time she spent on each was extensive.</p>
<p>I disagree, Mom, I think it is pretty easy to recycle essays. I think lots of people are trying to use ED to their advantage, because people perceive that to be a leg up. Once they get rejected, they get really nervous and apply to a large number of schools.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of 06ers are kids of baby boomers, so it is mostly due to the population bubble. It will probably get ugly in the next few years. Some Ivy Admissions officers have said they could fill their freshman class three times with qualified applicants (Of course, I'm not sure I believe this. It kind of reminds me of Animal Farm's "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.") But, this does mean that the school slightly below the Ivies are going to see a lot more Ivy-caliber students coming in.</p>
<p>Heybucs, maybe it depends on the schools. Or maybe my daughter made it harder on herself. :-)</p>
<p>wow, this is wicked. it's creepy, too.</p>