Oberlin just emailed that they extended the deadline for applications to Feb 1, which I suspect is due to lack of HOTness.
Here in southern CA, UCLA and Berkeley remain the top choices, and Cal Poly. As far as privates, USC almost has a cult following. Despite the fact that the Claremont’s are more highly ranked, most kids dream of USC. Very few LACs outside of CA are considered. The new midsize university lots of kids are applying to is Elon, a school I had never heard of until recently. My daughter got in and although she will likely get into some higher ranked schools, she is seriously interested.
Regarding Posse. I know some kids that applied with that program. They were told that once they are matched to the school, there is a 40-50% chance of acceptance. So if a school wants a ‘Posse’ of 10, they likely get 20-22 kids to choose from. I believe Questbridge odds are just slightly lower.
@Sue22, many apologizes - it was that @suzyQ7 character (who I know didn’t mean it that way either).
@frutsun, except CA is a top-3 student population location for most NE and Mid-Atlantic LAC’s - granted CA has a huge population.
@4junior, yes, it sounds like Oberlin has suffered from some administration stumbles, bad press and being a very liberal LAC buried in a now Red state - got to be uncomfortable on campus. A great school wit some work to do.
@wisteria100, regarding Questbridge, those that are Finalists rank their preferences so I think all get into a participating school, but yes maybe not their first choice. I’m sure there are CCer’s who know much more about these wonderful programs.
Ohio State is hot. Alabama is hot. As much as it may be a corrosive force in higher education, I think big time sports drives interest in many institutions.
Most non-elite LACs are cold, unfortunately. Parents are terrified that their grads will be saddled with debt and no job to pay it off. Students are looking for places with more action.
@Chembiodad For questbridge, unfortunately many finalists do not get accepted. In the past about 40-50% made it all the way thru. For Posse, you match to only 1 school, and a school’s ‘Posse’ would be made up of 10 students from the same geographical area.
@wisteria100, that’s unfortunate as all of the Finalists would make great contributions to these schools. That said, given the avg. acceptance rate at these schools is less than 20% it’s still a great outcome.
The schools that can best deal with affordability and helping start careers will be hot. That’s any state school and especially those with outstanding business schools. The smaller liberal arts colleges will have to justify their high price tags or bring down their price tags. Where they were headed was not sustainable. Oh, this is why Kelley (IU) is very popular. It is ahead of its time because Kelley, on its own, is larger than many middle size universities.
@frozencustard, you have to separate the need blind/meet 100% of the demonstrated need schools, whether a university or LAC, from the others.
In many, many cases a top private or public school that meets 100% of demonstrated need can be much more affordable then even one’s state flagship. That’s in addition to others that aren’t need blind, but provide substantial merit aid.
The top-tier LAC’s will always thrive - their applications are soaring just like most of the top universities, whether public or private. IU Kelley School of Business has been a top-tier program for many years so no surprise there.
Sports doesn’t drive this as much as some would think.
@TomSrOfBoston: Absolutely! UCLA and Berkeley deny incredibly ambitious kids all the time. CA kids are thus applying more and more to OOS options like Purdue.
@Chembiodad, know that, but those CA kids who go to LACs are generally coming from CA boarding schools and independent day schools. The typical, top public school kid does not have LACs on the list.
@frutsun, I guess there are a lot of private HS’s as CA is literally the #3 state represented at many highly ranked NE/Mid-Atlantic LAC’s. I can understand the lack of familiarity for many as there aren’t many highly ranked LAC’s out West, and I can certainly understand why so many head to CA public universities as there so many great ones.
That may not be a new thing, in that a poster who graduated from Oberlin some time ago has mentioned stories of racism in the local area (that poster was non-white). But it may be something that students and parents notice more now.
University of South Carolina is a hot school in the NYC Metro Area - the kids actually refer to it as USC!
FWIW, Pomona posted a video to their YouTube channel with their new president, Gabi Starr, saying the school received over 10,000 applications. That breaks last year’s record of 9,045 applications.
@Corinthian, a 10% increase in applications is what Hamilton just reported, so it sounds like application compression is continuing. Did Pomona also report a big jump in ED I applicants - I wouldn’t be surprised as its an amazing school.