What is really behind the surge in applications to top colleges?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Applications to UVA have jumped from about 21,500 applications 6 years ago to a record 37,500 this year http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/. All the Ivys that have reported stats this year cite record numbers as well (for ex, Dartmouth http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2018/02/college-receives-22005-total-applications). And a NESCAC college Bowdoin reports a 25% jump in applications just this year https://bowdoinorient.com/2018/01/26/number-of-applications-hits-all-time-high/. Flagship state universities report the same phenomenon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/12/26/from-berkeley-to-gainesville-applications-surge-to-flagship-universities/?utm_term=.a533a25def0a. The US population of college age kids has been fairly stable and is set to decline in a few years. Intl applications are reported to be down this year. So what is really going on??? |
Anonymous
| Everyone is reading DCUM and is stressed. I think DCUM is secretly funded by the Russians to undermine our society. |
Anonymous
| The cost of college is now so high that more parents only want to pay for something that is “worth it”. My DH said, “I’ll pay for Ivys and a few others, but other than that, state school. I’m not paying those prices for random privates”. So applications are up at the schools perceived to be “worth it”. |
Anonymous
| Bowdoin ranked #3 in US News for the first time which drove a lot of applicants, so that's a bit of an outlier. Most schools are reporting a 6-10% increase in apps. In addition, this is the year those born in 2000 are applying (century year + dragon year for the Chinese New Year), so that accounts for an increase. |
Anonymous
|
"There are typically spikes in the birth rates of countries that use the Chinese zodiac during a Year of the Dragon, because such "Dragon babies" are considered to be lucky and have desirable characteristics."
"In a working paper published this month by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, the researchers found that dragon children receive higher test scores in China’s national college examination and are more likely to go to university than people of a similar age born in other Chinese zodiac years" |
Anonymous
| People are throwing more applications out there to see who will give them the best deal. It makes sense in light of how expensive this is, but I've heard people who know a school doesn't have merit money still apply thinking maybe, just maybe, some will show up for the,. |
Anonymous
I joked about this before but if I was a FSB section chief, I would be running an operation recruiting assets in the admissions offices of top 30 schools who had access to raw detailed admissions data, as well as conducting cyber ops, in order to leak admissions results. That would be another method to sow huge racial and class discord in the country. |
Anonymous
| My two Asian cousins from Cali put in close to thirty applications each. |
Anonymous
My three white cousins put in close to forty applications each. |
Anonymous
My one white kid put in 3 applications. He got accepted at two, just waiting to hear back from the last (reach school.) Still, 2 out of 3 isn't bad. |
Anonymous
This. Many kids who previously went to privates either can't afford to and/or their parents only want a school they perceive will be sought by employers. |
Anonymous
I understand. I want my kids to apply to no more then 9 schools but then statistics reveal that as Asians, we have to apply to more schools. |
Anonymous
Ain't that the truth. |
Anonymous
|
The only reasons apps are up is because it is so easy to apply to colleges and click off what you want.
I wish they were hand written and mailed. Cut out a lot of crap admissions just to see if they get in. |
Anonymous
| And it's a windfall for these schools. UVA - $70 per app. |