Why is it so hard to get into college these days?

<p>Ive noticed that a lot of people on here are talking about a drop in the acceptance rates for the 2010-2011 school year. I came up with 3 possible causes that could be lowering acceptance rates for incoming freshmen-</p>

<p>1) More people are choosing to go to college
2) The 2014 class is significantly bigger than in previous years
3) People are applying to more colleges than usual, causing an increase of applications and a decrease in acceptance rates.</p>

<p>Does anyone know the true reason why this is occuring? Every year, it seems to be harder to get into college!</p>

<p>It’s not hard to get into college. It’s hard to get into a TOP college. There’s a big distinction. </p>

<pre><code> I would think that your theory on more people choosing to attend is closest, if not the whole explanation for dropping acceptance rates. This is only anecdotal, but I was speaking to a staff member of a local community college, and learned that their enrollment had gone up 25% in one year, after the recession hit. In hard economic times, people who can’t find jobs recognize the value of higher education. As they fill up the ‘lesser’ schools, more of the top students may be aiming higher in search of greater prestige.

Personally, I see it as a product of the economy, electronic applications like the Common App, and a greater willingness of students to travel across the country for their education. Applying to college is easier than ever, perhaps causing more to apply to those ‘reach’ schools for the heck of it, and moving to the other side of the country seems much smaller when you have the internet and cell phones (Spoken from experience- raised in WA, moving to PA in two months.)
</code></pre>

<h1>1 and #2, definitely. More people are getting the opportunity to get an education, plus the need for college to aquire a, uh, adequate (don’t know the right word) life. Don’t know if #3 really has that much effect so I don’t know.</h1>

<h1>3 is the primary reason for top-tier colleges.</h1>

<p>Features that make applications easier to complete, such as the UCA and the Common Application, mean that you can apply to Harvard or Yale with just one more click of the mouse and a couple of reusable essays. People can extend their lists to 20 or even 25 colleges long just to increase their chances. But the fact that everyone is doing this means that it is having the opposite effect.</p>

<p>Get used to it – without major intervention, this paradigm is here to stay.</p>

<p>^Harvard, at least, get a lot of “trash” applications every year from people who has no chance of getting in. Now it seems that Yale and others are becoming one, too.</p>

<p>^Definitely. People at my school are dropping applications for Princeton without even completing the two required SATIIs. Way to throw away all the application money. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>

A lot of those are likely older students returning to college. Now, I do know several people who went off to college and came back to the community college. . . most of them went to a school outside of a major town and realized it just wasn’t worth it to pay thousands of dollars more when there was less to do in the college town!</p>

<p>It’s not only top schools that are decreasing their acceptance rates, its “average” schools as well. In my area, the University of Maryland continues to get more competitive each year. UMD used to be known as a backup school. Now, their acceptance rate is in the high 30%'s. Even lower schools in my area, such as Towson and UMBC, are becomming harder to get into. Maybe its just where I am from, but many students are having trouble getting into college. Many will be attending community college for their freshman year.</p>

<p>Bad economic times = more students are casting a wider net. The amount of applicants hasn’t increased too much, but the college applicants per student have increased significantly.</p>

<p>Relevant article:</p>

<p>[News:</a> Competitiveness Reconsidered - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/27/hoxby]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/27/hoxby)</p>

<p>The top schools are getting tougher, but college as a whole isn’t. There was a discussion on CC as well:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/803753-selectivity-myth-most-colleges-less-selective-not-more.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/803753-selectivity-myth-most-colleges-less-selective-not-more.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;