Hype or fact: Are Colleges More Competitive?

Each year, the media picks up on trends the colleges put forth, and lately it seems it is getting harder and harder to be accepted to college. But is that really true? Is college admission today really more competitive than ever?

There is no denying that many parents wouldn't be accepted at their own alma maters if they were applying today. SAT scores have inched up, and acceptance rates have dropped. But why is it so much more difficult to be admitted?

The statistics each year demonstrate just how much more competitive the world of college admission has become. Stanford rejected more than 96 percent of its applicants, and many of them had perfect SAT or ACT scores. It’s obviously not enough to be a strong student with great test scores. Those objective characteristics will get you considered, but it is the softer, subjective items that end up sealing the deal. 

Think about it… there is a valedictorian and a salutatorian at every high school in the country. There’s also a newspaper editor and student government president. Then think about the number of soccer and cheerleader captains, BETA club members, and National Honor Society inductees. It’s difficult for students to set themselves apart. 

To be fair, the frenzied college admission panic is among only the country's most elite 50 to 100 colleges and universities. Nationally, the acceptance rate for undergraduates is actually close to 70 percent.

At the top tier of public and private liberal arts institutions, the number of applications has increased significantly in the last few years, partly driven by the welcoming of test-optional applications. Yet, the available spaces have remained the same.

There are a number of reasons for the increased competitiveness in college admission. Although the number of high school graduates in each state has either plateaued or decreased in recent years, there are more applicants because a larger percentage of graduates apply to four-year colleges. Thirty years ago, only half of high school graduates applied to college. Today, due in large part to our increasingly global economy, more than two-thirds of all high school graduates seek a college education.

In addition, many students try to hedge their bets by applying to more and more colleges. In 1975, only 3.2 percent of students applied to seven or more colleges. Today, seven or more applications is the norm.

Use of the Common Application makes applying to college even easier: www.commonapp.org. It's one application used by over 900 colleges across the country. With a keystroke and the cha-ching of a credit card, students are able to spontaneously apply to more and more colleges.

So, is it really more competitive to be accepted to college these days? According to an annual survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 76% of first-time applicants are accepted by their first-choice college. That number has held relatively steady since 2007. So while the number of applications and of applicants is increasing, most students will have many wonderful options for college.