Anonymous
03/15/2026 22:42
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Because its like my kids club baseball tryouts every summer in clarksburg. Coach tells the parents tough cuts to boys on the team will happen because "we had 30 strong athletes at tryouts"
But its the same 30 kids going to all the local tryouts, making every coach believe they are going to reap a windfall of talent.
It has nothing to do with our team being desirable. Parents want to be recruited for every team so their kid can decide which meets their goal best.
Every summer our coaches end up calling parents of kids already on the team begging them to stay and having to make unnatural promises just to field a team.
But its the same 30 kids going to all the local tryouts, making every coach believe they are going to reap a windfall of talent.
It has nothing to do with our team being desirable. Parents want to be recruited for every team so their kid can decide which meets their goal best.
Every summer our coaches end up calling parents of kids already on the team begging them to stay and having to make unnatural promises just to field a team.
Anonymous
03/15/2026 09:32
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:As soon as every kid stops applying to 20 schools on common app, it will immediately become much much easier. But that wouldn’t happen.
Why?
Anonymous
03/15/2026 09:27
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Vassar has become a bit less challenging to get into, with a recent acceptance rate of 21% for both male and female applicants.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 21:45
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:That list shows that Elon and Minnesota became substantially easier to get into.
Thoughts on how the Elon merger with the nearby school will affect Elon moving forward?
Wasn't Elon always easy to get into?
Elon places first among the schools, which includes examples such as UChicago and Brown, that have increased the most in selectivity across previous decades:
https://www.educationnext.org/yes-it-really-is-harder-to-get-into-highly-selective-colleges-today-comparison-sat-scores-over-time/
Anonymous
03/14/2026 21:42
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Are any colleges in the general top 100 actually
becoming (or will become) easier to get into ?
Yes.
Schools with admit rates above ~25% will have to get a little less picky
Schools with admit rates above ~50% will have to get a lot less picky.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 20:55
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Case Western is one
Anonymous
03/14/2026 20:50
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
It's already easier to get into college now than it was 10-20 years ago at all uni/colleges except for the same 40-ish schools that everyone applies to (that are often called "top 20-25" but are more accurately a rotating group of 40-45 schools that cycle in and out of the T25).
So if you focus primarily on schools ranked 40-100, it's already easier. It's all about applying to some less known but equally solid schools and getting excited by them.
Look past the logos.
Which schools do you suggest in this criteria?
Anonymous
03/14/2026 19:35
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Are any colleges in the general top 100 actually
becoming (or will become) easier to get into ?
It's already easier to get into college now than it was 10-20 years ago at all uni/colleges except for the same 40-ish schools that everyone applies to (that are often called "top 20-25" but are more accurately a rotating group of 40-45 schools that cycle in and out of the T25).
So if you focus primarily on schools ranked 40-100, it's already easier. It's all about applying to some less known but equally solid schools and getting excited by them.
Look past the logos.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 19:11
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
UVA sure isn't easier.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 18:35
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Full pay helps at every level
Anonymous
03/14/2026 18:24
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are any colleges in the general top 100 actually
becoming (or will become) easier to get into ?
All colleges past T30.
+1. Demographic plus raise of AI will make more people rethink going to college. Outside of T30 there'll be plenty of open seats.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 18:23
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Are any colleges in the general top 100 actually
becoming (or will become) easier to get into ?
All colleges past T30.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 18:18
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:It would be better to ask about specific institutions that might be affected more by local demographic trends.
What is expected is more applications to robust institutions that have no risk of closing. Top 100 counts here.
Also, if you look at the long-term cohort size, the cliff effect looks more like reversion to the cohort size of a few decades ago. It's not a very big cliff considering a lot of the top universities are 100+ years old and have very low acceptance rates compared to when Gen-X went to college.
There are 4000 schools in the us today. The top 100 is meaningless.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 16:54
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Fordham, MI State both considerably easier
Pitt and American, too.
There are always ups and downs, these are not related to the demographic cliff. They're just about trends.
Anonymous
03/14/2026 16:38
Subject: “Demographic Cliff” college admissions?
If you are fully pay (outside of the top 75sih schools) you will have many choices! They will be fighting for your $$$.
Since there are over 1,000 colleges in the US - that is the vast majority of schools.
Since there are over 1,000 colleges in the US - that is the vast majority of schools.