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April 05, 2006
A fat envelope no more
If today I were a high schooler applying to my undergrad school, I'd probably be rejected. The Wall St Journal reports on unusually low admission figures, but the article only slightly mentions that this is a long-term trend that shows no sign of slowing. The supply of seats at popular universities is flat, while increasing numbers of students from around the world compete for the limited seats.
It used to be easy to get into Harvard if you came from the right prep school and weren't Jewish. Now, the WASPs from Groton and Exeter have to compete against not just middle-class midwestern Catholics but also a few million Chinese, Indian, and Turkish 17-year-olds. The long-term trend is that admissions rates will continue to go down, the process will become less and less predictable, and the stress levels will rise even higher.
Concluding one of the most brutal admission seasons ever, college officials say they are accepting an unusually low percentage of applicants.Elite colleges including Brown University, Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania say they have accepted a smaller percentage of applicants than ever before. Brown admitted only 13.8% of applicants, down from the 14.6% of applicants it accepted last year. That is a record-low rate, says Jim Miller, dean of admission. It saw a record 18,313 applications this year -- up more than 8% from last year.
...
The University of Pennsylvania admitted 17.7% of the record 20,479 applicants -- down from around 21% last year. A surge in applications -- coupled with an expected increase in the number of students who will enroll if admitted -- has meant a stingier year in admissions, says Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson. [continue reading]
Posted by adrianjo at April 5, 2006 01:17 PM