April 1 is the deadline, the deadline when most students hear if they were accepted to the college of their choice. Your chance of being accepted on April 1, 2009, can only be based on this year’s acceptance figures. Unfortunately, it appears the competition is UP!
Based on 2008 acceptance figures from Alan Finder’s article Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows In Admission, here is a look at just how hard it is getting into the BEST of the best.
Yale: in 1997 Yale had 12,000 applicants; in 2007 it had 22,813
Harvard: rejected 93 out of each 100 applicants
Columbia: admitted 8.7 percent of its applicants
Brown and Dartmouth: admitted 13 percent
Georgetown and Bowdoin: admitted 18 percent
And these figures come from an applicant pool which is stellar. Again Finder’s provides some figures. 2,500 of Harvard’s applicants scored 800 in critical reading and 3,300 scored 800 on their math test. More than 3,300 ranked first in their high school class.
In addition to this news, other factors figure in. Harvard and Princeton stopped accepting Early Decision applicants putting more great applicants to compete against into the regular applicants’ pool; and more colleges are wait listing students, trying to have a reserve for students who ultimately turn down their acceptances, leaving still more applicants out in the cold.
It looks like it’s going to be tough out there for college applicants. Just remember there are many great schools beyond the most elite! Maybe you should start checking them out now!
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