Applications to Top Colleges Up, Acceptance Rates Down – Don’t Worry

The New York Times reports today that Harvard rejected 1100 students with perfect 800s on the SAT Reasoning Test's Math Section. It seems that admission to the top universities in the country gets tougher each year. Why? Here are a few key factors:

- Each individual student applies to more colleges than students in past years did

- More students are graduating high school than ever before (3.2 million members of the class of 2007 versus 2.4 million members of the class of 1993)

- A greater percentage of high school graduates going directly to college

It is certainly not about to get easier to get into a top school in the near future. As more schools accept the common application and acceptance rates continue to decline, students will apply to more schools. Students graduating high school will peak with the Class of 2008 so that pressure may ease. That being said, as higher education becomes increasingly important in a globalized economy and the returns to a college education increase, a greater percentage of high school graduates will go to college.

That being said, worrying about it won't make it any better. As any good counselor will tell you, focus on your grades and test scores, participate in a couple of extracurricular activities and show commitment to them, and build strong relationships with your teachers, mentors, coaches, employers, etc. so that they will someday write you a strong recommendation.

It is my guess that with so many more highly talented high school graduates on the market that the quality of schools across the country is rising. That's good for everyone. It means that universities can raise their level of teaching because their student population is higher quality than it used to be, it means students benefit from having amazing classmates, and it's good for the economy - America's companies have more highly qualified, bright college graduates ready to create the innovations of tomorrow.

We at PrepMe are here to help. We have been where you are and can help you get to where you are going