Have there really been years that admissions have been easier than in other years? Hasn’t every year
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Anonymous
| just been more difficult that the last since…forever? I have kids with a 6-year age gap and it seems like every year there are “this is the absolute hardest year ever.” So, are there any specific years in which that has not been the case re: admissions to top schools? Have acceptance rates ever gone upon YOY for a particular selective college? |
Anonymous
| I agree. I’ve been reading this board for six years due to my kids age spread, and every year is proclaimed a “bloodbath.” |
Anonymous
| I started following UrbanBaby (now defunct NYC version of DCUM) 12 years ago and EVERY year the college admissions posts referenced a “bloodbath.” Test optional has obviously changed the process and increased numbers of applicants, but really it hasn’t changed all that much |
Anonymous
Acceptance rates are literally half what they were just 2 years ago, and the number of urm, and first Gen has doubled. Even if you believe in those institutional priorities (which I do), that’s a substantial decline in the number of slots available for white and Asian umc students. |
Anonymous
Those acceptance rates two years ago, were half of what acceptance rates were four years ago. And so on. |
Anonymous
This. Things have changed. |
Anonymous
Acceptance rates have gone down every year since the 90s. What is your point, exactly? There is no particular year that is special to point to. |
Anonymous
| Every year is a bloodbath, hardest year ever, an outlier etc. |
Anonymous
Not to this degree, and not in a way that affects certain demographic groups exclusively. |
Anonymous
| Actually, 2020 was easier. Yes it felt more uncertain, but there were much greater admissions rates due to 1) internationals assumed not coming 2) more kids taking gap years assumed. So it turned into a waitlist and regular decision windfall for kids getting admitted to high reaches |
Anonymous
Once in a while, a school will see its acceptance rate go up YOY. And then down again the following year. Overall, rates are lower every year, which IS harder than the year before. Test optional policies, due to covid test date cancellations, have been a significant factor since they occurred. Test optional dramatically expanded (for better or for worse, depending on one's viewpoint) the what constitutes "qualified" for top schools. Test optional also made gauging one's chances much more difficult. Greater uncertainty = more apps = yet greater uncertainty. Yes, every year HAS been more difficult than the year before. |
Anonymous
This is true. And being the last year tests were required, makes comparisons from 2020 to 2021, 2022, and 2023 all the more clear. |
Anonymous
Well no, RD certainly not impacted. Those decisions almost all released by time everything shut down and nobody knew what was happening in fall until many months into the pandemic. |
Anonymous
| The point made about URM and FGLI is the key when it comes to selective schools. Colleges are allocating more slots and more financial aid to these students who previously would be unable to attend either because they were deemed unqualified (fixed by TO) or they couldn’t afford it (fixed by bulging endowments). So affluent DCUM types are getting a diminishing slice of the pie and less than they used to. Also, the overall number of graduating seniors has risen substantially since the 90s and is basically peaking. It’s all supply and demand, like everything in life. |
Anonymous
Regardless, most colleges took hundreds off the waitlist that year, |