Whether we like it or not, we’re headed into a new “state” of college admissions. Unfortunately, this “state”, “era” or “phase” is not going to advantage the seniors applying to college UNLESS they start applying to a broader list of colleges.
What’s the concern?
Let me reiterate that the concern isn’t on the college side, it’s on the student side. A lot of the “name brand” colleges are continuing to get more applications over the last two years coming out of the pandemic which is “gold” to them. Why? Because the more applications they get, the more students they can deny, the lower their admission rate gets, which makes them seem more desirable (which isn’t true since nothing changed at their school the last two years). It also lets them give out less merit based scholarship money since they can convince more students who were accepted to pay more since they are now more competitive to get in to.
How did this happen?
There are a few factors that led to this. The first was when the pandemic started, all schools went test optional, so now a senior can apply not needing to send a test score to the college and try to get accepted solely on grades, courses, extracurriculars, essays and letters of recommendation. More seniors applied to the competitive or moderately competitive admission colleges because now some of them, who have pretty good grades and weren’t great test takers, could see if they would get in. This rise in applications was expected in 2021 and most competitive admission colleges received 20% or more applications.
Second, colleges have made it easier to apply to colleges now, especially through the Common Application, so instead of seniors applying to 6-8 colleges on average, now they are applying to 10-12 colleges. I have nothing against applying to 10-12 colleges, but in doing the math, if millions of high school seniors are applying to 10-12 colleges now, that’s millions more applications going to colleges which creates this issue in the first place. If you think of how a lottery works, people get all excited when the amount gets higher and higher that you can win, but in order to get that amount higher, more people need to buy tickets. The more people that buy tickets, the less your chance of winning becomes.
Third, and the biggest issue of all, is the perception that the colleges in the top 50 or even 100 of the rankings give to potential seniors, getting them (and their parents) to think that they are “better” or will set them up for future success more. The 10-12 applications that seniors are now completing, are really to the same 50 to 60 colleges, really driving up their numbers and allowing them to deny more students.
What should seniors do moving forward?
DON’T BUY INTO THE HYPE! What do I mean by that? As soon as you think you need to go to a college because they are “known”, “better” or “prestigious”, you just bought into the hype that these colleges want you to and now they have you applying to their school, along with others, driving up their application numbers even higher. I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply to a few of these colleges if you take a look at their admissions profile and determine that you could be competitive for admission when you apply. The frustrating thing is that over one third of the seniors that apply to these colleges, have less than a 1% or no chance of getting in. So basically, they just bought a lottery ticket.
THERE ARE PLENTY OF GREAT COLLEGES THAT NEED APPLICANTS! I visited four colleges with my junior daughter over spring break and 3 of them were colleges I would say need applicants and one is part of this “hype admission train” barreling down the tracks. I don’t mind mentioning them here but I know this is my daughter’s college planning journey and not someone else’s. We visited Anderson University, North Greenville University and Furman University. All great schools with admissions rates over 60%. I know my daughter would get an awesome education and be cared for, prepared and enjoy her experience at each of these colleges. All three of these schools would give significant merit scholarship aid to my daughter to encourage her to come. I would recommend they colleges to anyone out there. AND THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF COLLEGES JUST LIKE THESE!
We also “visited” Clemson University, which is a great school as well, however, they keep receiving 30% more applications and now their admission rate for out-of-state students is getting below 30%. They’re so “desirable” now, we couldn’t even get a tour and they didn’t have one available all through April (even though we walked in the Visitors Center when we were there and nobody was in there with 6 people sitting at the welcome desk…hmmm”). My daughter realized on the self-guided tour that she would have just as great of an experience at one of the other three schools above and pay less than half of what we’d pay for Clemson.
What’s a solution?
There are a few changes that colleges and the Common Application can make, but they won’t because why would they if they are benefiting greatly and have such an advantage over the applicants? These include admitting more students (which would make their admit rate go up), eliminating Early Decision (which would mean having to admit more in early action and regular decision and makes their admit rate go up), the Common Application can limit how many college apps a seniors can complete on Common App (which hurts their bottom line).
There is something you can do!
- Only apply to colleges that you know you will be competitive for admission. For example, if you don’t have all A’s and didn’t take all or almost all of the most rigorous classes at your high school, you probably aren’t going to be accepted at any colleges with less than a 10% admit rate…so don’t apply. Move on and apply to more colleges with a 20% admit rate or higher.
- Find some colleges that have a 50% admit rate or higher and apply to 3-4 of these schools. These colleges will give you merit scholarship money to come to their school.
- Only apply to 6-8 colleges total. Choose a couple of “reach” colleges, a couple of “target” colleges and a couple of “likely” or “safety” colleges. If you want to apply to a couple more “target” or “safety” to see what merit aid you may get, then great! However, don’t apply to more “reach” colleges thinking the more I apply to the more chance I have of getting in. You are just entering into the “lottery” at all of them. Go ahead and apply to the few you think are a better fit and put your best foot forward.
I have not visited a college yet (and I have visited many colleges), that didn’t offer so much to all of their students and were very excited for any new student to join their campus. I know that whatever college my daughter attends, she will have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of, clubs and organizations to join, classes that will challenge her and professors that will provide her with a great education.
The problem becomes when people in society today think that certain colleges, who have built their brand by marketing well, made their name more desirable and worked their way up the “flawed” US News and World Report rankings, are “better” than others because that’s what they hear others in their “sphere of influence” say and people they talk to on a daily basis also believe. It’s dangerous if we make decisions based on other people’s opinions and perceptions. If seniors understood the plethora of options they have, how they can make wiser financial decisions when it comes to staying out of debt after college, and know that at almost any school they will have plenty of opportunities to succeed, then we can end this “era” in college admissions and enter a new era that benefits the student more than the college.
