What's behind the surge in applications to some schools?
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Anonymous
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Also, the games colleges play.
Ivy legacies at our school (with top grades, big donor parents) are often deferred and then accepted RD. They all eventually get in. But when they get deferred, they put in another 20-25 apps out of panic. So 20-25 top schools get an app from a kid that is never going to matriculate. I saw this happen 5 times last year and know at least 5 this year. It's just dumb behavior (by the Ivy). |
Anonymous
Not just ivies. Northwestern and Duke began doing this as well. |
Anonymous
My kid did Pitt; Case; Vermont - all merit. Waiting for Wisconsin etc. and deferred from ED at T20 so now you never know. It was likely a smart move. |
Anonymous
| so simple people. The year 2007 (year that most applicants this year were born) was the largest baby boom in history. So simple. |
Anonymous
Wait, I don’t get it. Why are early rolling schools “not real safeties”? |
Anonymous
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I think applying to 20 schools is normal if aiming for selective schools, no financial need, and deferred in REA or ED.
Makes sense. Don’t think that changes with population issues. |
Anonymous
I think the PP means that the kid does not intend to go. But, of course, the point of a safety is in fact to attend if nothing else works out. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the kid hopes to attend elsewhere instead but would prefer to attend the safety rather than community college. A rolling school that returns an early acceptance becomes a safety as soon as that acceptance is in hand and it is certain to be affordable. |
Anonymous
PP They are. But the kids I'm talking about really are hoping for T20 schools and the safety of choice is Macalaster or Santa Clara or GW or Wisconsin. And they should apply to a couple, but they apply to all of them plus Pitt but SUNY and then also GMU and maybe McGill because there's no essay and also UVM because they like to ski and it's like .. you really don't need 10 safeties, guy. You have a 1540, you're full pay, and are coming from a private school. More and more I think private schools that limit apps are doing god's work on this. |
Anonymous
Hmmm. I don’t know. I can tell you are just a commentator on the side without a kid going through the process today. My kid applied to: 5 safeties. 6 targets and 11 reaches. Pretty balanced. |
Anonymous
THIS. |
Anonymous
Actually I have a kid in the class of 25. Got into their SCEA so one and done. And our school does limit apps so doing 22 is far far outside my experience though |
Anonymous
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It's interesting to see how things are shaking out. Anyone still in high school is going to be looking at $100,000 per year if they choose to attend private universities or OOS like Michigan or UCLA. $400,000 is a lot of money for most families. And then times 2 for average families with two kids. At this price point, people are really focused on what's worth it and what's not. Unsurprisingly, apps at pretty much every state flagship are way up. And that will likely continue even as the number of students nationally declines. That is driven by price. But also because state flagships tend to be pretty good in the STEM majors. It's already extremely difficult to gain acceptance as an engineering major to state schools like UMD, UIUC, Georgia Tech, Washington, Purdue and so on. It's not going to get any easier.
Among the expensive private universities, there is a clear preference for urban schools in desirable cities - USC, BU, NEU, NYU. I have no idea how expensive privates in less desirable locations like rural New England or the Midwest are going to manage over the next twenty years. They are going to struggle. It's unclear how to read things at the T20 private universities. Test Optional and the Common App have distorted things in recent years. A whole bunch of 1250 SATs saw a window to apply to the Ivies and similar. And so they applied TO, because why not? There are hundreds of thousands of 4.0 GPAs out there in the grade inflation era. SAT/ACT scores used to be a barrier, and for roughly five years that barrier went away. But as schools start to demand test scores again, the barrier is coming back up. It seems certain schools are out of favor - Harvard and Columbia - and certain schools are experiencing a surge in popularity - Cornell and Brown. But it's hard to make generalizations. Harvard and Columbia have suffered through exceptionally bad press for a few years now. I suspect the top urban schools - Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Rice, Chicago, Penn - will continue to see record applications year after year. And so too will the schools with exceptionally strong brands like Duke and Notre Dame. It comes down to what's worth it at this price point. State flagships and strong urban schools seem to be where it's at for the foreseeable future. Expensive privates outside the top 70 or so are going to struggle to attract students at these prices. And all schools in bad locations are going to have a hard time. |
Anonymous
I completely agree with this. My kid was deferred early and then between EA apps already submitted and RD submitted 25 apps. In large part because other kids from the school also submitted that many, including several of the kids that are assumed to be at the very top of the class (but were also deferred). So worry set in that the top kids would get all the spots and then the thinking became "i have to make sure i apply to a school that my very top friend did not". It's all so stupid. I would 1000% love if the school only allowed 10 apps a kid. It would have really helped this. |
Anonymous
All of this is part of the new normal. No surprises here. |
Anonymous
Lol. Sure. |