As we settle into our college years, millions of high school seniors across the nation are starting college applications. We all know what that feeling is like. Dreading writting an essay based on a fruit that best describes you, to sending in your transcripts, to reviewing your SAT/ACT scores. As I reminisce my days of filling out college applications at Starbucks, I started to wonder if getting into college nowadays was harder than it was for me and my classmates. Are the next batch of high school seniors going to have it worse?
When I think back to my days in high school, I remember my experience of senior year. Senior year was a rollercoaster ride. One of the downs of senior year, which could easily be one of your ups of senior year, was applying to college. To give you an insight into my school and my classmates- I was part of the International Baccalaureate program (IB). Of course, with any group of high school students, you have those who excel in school and those who just do not care. I had my list of colleges. I categorized these universities as safety schools, definitely getting into schools, and my dream schools. As the school year passed, I did not get into my dream school- Georgetown University (still proud to be a FIU Golden Panther- till the day I die). However, a lot of my classmates did not get into their dream schools either. For example, there was this one girl in particular who did not get into Duke University. She was the national secretary of Technology Student Association (TSA), top 4% of our class, and super well-rounded (admissions favorite word). We all thought she was going to get into her dream school, but unfortunately, she did not.
When it comes down to it universities are making it harder for high school seniors to get accepted, there are many factors that play a role in acceptance. The first thing is to look at the universities acceptance rate. While some schools will have a lower acceptance rate, others might have a higher acceptance rate. This leads to why some students get rejected from their dream schools while, others get accepted to theirs. Another factor is that, admissions are reviewing more applications than ever before. In the 60’s and 70’s, most high school seniors would apply to one or two schools. Now, students are applying to multiple universities. For example, my category of universities consisted of at least 8 different colleges. This obviously means, there is more competition due to the higher volume of applications. As well as, there are more international students applying to schools in the United States. That being said, even though the applicant pool is getting a bit more competitive, some universities are increasing their acceptance amount.
Take it with a grain of salt. It is how you perceive the information. As more students are applying to the same universities as you, there is a higher level of competition. That being said, more students, could mean universities will increase their acceptance rate. It truly depends on the school you are applying to. The key factor is looking into the acceptance rate.
References:
Urist, Jacoba. “Is College Really Harder to Get Into Than It Used To Be?” The Atlantic, Atlantic
Media Company, 4 Apr. 2014,
www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/is-college-really-harder-to-get-into-than
-it-used-to-be/360114/.