Didn't get past the Ivy League barrier? Join the ever-growing club
This article appeared in a Duke University publication on Tuesday.
Competitive doesn't even begin to describe the atmosphere surrounding the 2008-2009 admissions season for many of America's colleges. Even schools not typically viewed as being particularly selective were forced to sift through their applicant pools numerous times before finally deciding who to admit this spring. Before we get to the astonishing numbers themselves, let's review the reasons behind the dramatic increase in applications.
The primary reason, of course, is that this is the year that the Baby Boomer's children begin applying to college. This, alone, is responsible for a 15-30 percent spike in applications from last year at some colleges. But another, often overlooked, reason is the cancellation of early decision programs at several prominent schools, including Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth, and the introduction of a wait-list at two of them. This, too, has led to a 10-15 percent increase in applications at some colleges -- namely, the more selective institutions that are just a tick below the Ivy League level.
A third reason for the application volume increase is simply the ever-growing intelligence of schools nationwide. Scarcely, ten or 20 years ago, did children and parents know about the wonders of colleges beyond their own state-line. Now, with the internet and increasingly effective college counseling services, all that has changed, and nearly every selective university in the country receives a decent group of applicants from every state. And, finally, the newfound affordability (due to the falling dollar and integrated world economy) of an Ivy League education has made it possible for international students -- primarily from India, Australia, and Great Britain -- to study here.
So, with all that in mind, let's take a look at just how insanely selective some of America's most competitive schools needed to be. Dr. Howard Clark, a former dean of admissions and current college counselor, maintained close contact with 52 of the country's most selective institutions this winter, and was shocked to discover their admissions data on April 1st.
At Harvard, there was but a single spot to be won among every 18 applicants. That led admissions officers to turn down 87 percent of their applicants who had a perfect 4.0 GPA, and 68 percent of their applicants who had an SAT score of 2300 or above. Moreover, Harvard denied admission to eleven of its 23 applicants who had a perfect 2400 on the SAT.
And Harvard wasn't alone, either. Dartmouth had one open spot for each 16 applicants, and was similarly tough to impress with numerical credentials. Just 15 percent of applicants with a 4.0 GPA gained admissions, and a paltry 24 percent with SAT scores above 2300 were welcomed. Perhaps most incredibly, of Dartmouth's 12 applicants with perfect scores on the SAT, only four were admitted.
And it wasn't just the Ivy Leagues, either. Duke University had one spot to offer for each nine applicants this winter, and admitted only 24 percent of its applicants who had a 4.0 GPA. In addition, Duke accepted under a quarter of its applicants with SAT scores of 2300 or above. Said Duke University admissions associate Kevin Brenady, "There's simply too much talent in the applicant pool for us to use the numerical credentials as the primary qualification for admission."
The non-numerical component is the most difficult part of a student's application for admissions officers to comprehend. In many cases -- over 90 percent -- admissions officers must determine whether an applicant will fit their institution's community having never seen, met, or talked to him or her. "The personal statement and supplemental essays are one important component of the unquantifiable portion of an application," says Howard Clark, "but they can be misleading, and the same is true of extracurricular activity lists."
So, how exactly do admissions officers gauge the quality of a fit between student and college? Dartmouth admissions associate Derrick Plains notes that he'll often look back at students the college has accepted in the past to see how they've fit into Dartmouth's community and how well they've done in the classroom. "Hindsight is 20-20, and that's one thing we like to make use of in admissions at Dartmouth. I know that many colleges frown upon it, but it's something we value."
In fact, one of the most common methods of hindsight in admissions is the so-called "legacy box" that appears on every Ivy League institution's application. Admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania have been known to look back a few decades at the experience an applicant's parents or relatives had at the school. Says Marianna Agurekova, a former associate director of admissions at UPenn, "legacy was one of the things that could make the difference for an applicant who was right on the border of being accepted or denied." Indeed, UPenn has historically been easier for second-generation applicants to get into, with admission rates differing by as much as 23 percent between applicants with a legacy to continue at the school and those who don't have one. The same is true of every other Ivy League college, except Brown (whose admit rate is actually lower for legacy applicants), and particularly of Harvard, whose rates can differ by as much as 16 percent.
As a whole, the Ivy Leagues placed a scant 8 percent of the applications they received in the accept pile, and another 4 percent in the waitlist pile. For every one person accepted, more than 12 were denied -- the lowest ratio ever, or at least since the colleges began keeping detailed records in 1973. In fact, the admit rate for the Ivy Leagues has been progressively declining for years now. Harvard's rate was 14 percent in 2000, 12 percent in 2003, 11 percent in 2005, and 10 percent in 2007, before plummeting to 6.4 percent this year. Yale's has halved, from 14 percent a decade ago to 7.1 percent this year; the same goes for Princeton's, from 13 percent in 1998 to 6.7 in 2008.
But the increasingly hard-to-penetrate Ivy League barrier isn't necessarily bad news for applicants. Indeed, some colleges that were previously far less selective than the Ivy Leagues are now on par with where Harvard and Yale were a few years ago. Elite liberal arts colleges such as Amherst and Bowdoin, as well as larger institutions like Duke and the University of Vermont, are gladly accepting the so-called Ivy League rejects. Lee Coffin, the dean of admissions at Tufts University, recently noted that the increase in competition for Ivy League spots has upped his school's prestige. "There are many phenomenal young men and women who aren't accepted into Harvard or Yale; it's our pleasure at Tufts, and surely the pleasure of admissions folks at many other institutions, to welcome them with open arms." Tufts, by the way, saw its admit rate plunge from 24 percent last year to 17 percent this year -- the lowest in the school's history. Similar drops were witnessed at Amherst, Bowdoin, and all of the other 13 liberal arts colleges that submitted data for this study.
The list of the aforementioned Ivy League rejects is growing faster than ever before. And, as Lee Coffin noted above, that's not necessarily such a bad thing.
As the Harvards and Yales inch their doors shut, the Amhersts and Bowdoins are glad to push theirs ajar.
Competitive doesn't even begin to describe the atmosphere surrounding the 2008-2009 admissions season for many of America's colleges. Even schools not typically viewed as being particularly selective were forced to sift through their applicant pools numerous times before finally deciding who to admit this spring. Before we get to the astonishing numbers themselves, let's review the reasons behind the dramatic increase in applications.
The primary reason, of course, is that this is the year that the Baby Boomer's children begin applying to college. This, alone, is responsible for a 15-30 percent spike in applications from last year at some colleges. But another, often overlooked, reason is the cancellation of early decision programs at several prominent schools, including Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth, and the introduction of a wait-list at two of them. This, too, has led to a 10-15 percent increase in applications at some colleges -- namely, the more selective institutions that are just a tick below the Ivy League level.
A third reason for the application volume increase is simply the ever-growing intelligence of schools nationwide. Scarcely, ten or 20 years ago, did children and parents know about the wonders of colleges beyond their own state-line. Now, with the internet and increasingly effective college counseling services, all that has changed, and nearly every selective university in the country receives a decent group of applicants from every state. And, finally, the newfound affordability (due to the falling dollar and integrated world economy) of an Ivy League education has made it possible for international students -- primarily from India, Australia, and Great Britain -- to study here.
So, with all that in mind, let's take a look at just how insanely selective some of America's most competitive schools needed to be. Dr. Howard Clark, a former dean of admissions and current college counselor, maintained close contact with 52 of the country's most selective institutions this winter, and was shocked to discover their admissions data on April 1st.
At Harvard, there was but a single spot to be won among every 18 applicants. That led admissions officers to turn down 87 percent of their applicants who had a perfect 4.0 GPA, and 68 percent of their applicants who had an SAT score of 2300 or above. Moreover, Harvard denied admission to eleven of its 23 applicants who had a perfect 2400 on the SAT.
And Harvard wasn't alone, either. Dartmouth had one open spot for each 16 applicants, and was similarly tough to impress with numerical credentials. Just 15 percent of applicants with a 4.0 GPA gained admissions, and a paltry 24 percent with SAT scores above 2300 were welcomed. Perhaps most incredibly, of Dartmouth's 12 applicants with perfect scores on the SAT, only four were admitted.
And it wasn't just the Ivy Leagues, either. Duke University had one spot to offer for each nine applicants this winter, and admitted only 24 percent of its applicants who had a 4.0 GPA. In addition, Duke accepted under a quarter of its applicants with SAT scores of 2300 or above. Said Duke University admissions associate Kevin Brenady, "There's simply too much talent in the applicant pool for us to use the numerical credentials as the primary qualification for admission."
The non-numerical component is the most difficult part of a student's application for admissions officers to comprehend. In many cases -- over 90 percent -- admissions officers must determine whether an applicant will fit their institution's community having never seen, met, or talked to him or her. "The personal statement and supplemental essays are one important component of the unquantifiable portion of an application," says Howard Clark, "but they can be misleading, and the same is true of extracurricular activity lists."
So, how exactly do admissions officers gauge the quality of a fit between student and college? Dartmouth admissions associate Derrick Plains notes that he'll often look back at students the college has accepted in the past to see how they've fit into Dartmouth's community and how well they've done in the classroom. "Hindsight is 20-20, and that's one thing we like to make use of in admissions at Dartmouth. I know that many colleges frown upon it, but it's something we value."
In fact, one of the most common methods of hindsight in admissions is the so-called "legacy box" that appears on every Ivy League institution's application. Admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania have been known to look back a few decades at the experience an applicant's parents or relatives had at the school. Says Marianna Agurekova, a former associate director of admissions at UPenn, "legacy was one of the things that could make the difference for an applicant who was right on the border of being accepted or denied." Indeed, UPenn has historically been easier for second-generation applicants to get into, with admission rates differing by as much as 23 percent between applicants with a legacy to continue at the school and those who don't have one. The same is true of every other Ivy League college, except Brown (whose admit rate is actually lower for legacy applicants), and particularly of Harvard, whose rates can differ by as much as 16 percent.
As a whole, the Ivy Leagues placed a scant 8 percent of the applications they received in the accept pile, and another 4 percent in the waitlist pile. For every one person accepted, more than 12 were denied -- the lowest ratio ever, or at least since the colleges began keeping detailed records in 1973. In fact, the admit rate for the Ivy Leagues has been progressively declining for years now. Harvard's rate was 14 percent in 2000, 12 percent in 2003, 11 percent in 2005, and 10 percent in 2007, before plummeting to 6.4 percent this year. Yale's has halved, from 14 percent a decade ago to 7.1 percent this year; the same goes for Princeton's, from 13 percent in 1998 to 6.7 in 2008.
But the increasingly hard-to-penetrate Ivy League barrier isn't necessarily bad news for applicants. Indeed, some colleges that were previously far less selective than the Ivy Leagues are now on par with where Harvard and Yale were a few years ago. Elite liberal arts colleges such as Amherst and Bowdoin, as well as larger institutions like Duke and the University of Vermont, are gladly accepting the so-called Ivy League rejects. Lee Coffin, the dean of admissions at Tufts University, recently noted that the increase in competition for Ivy League spots has upped his school's prestige. "There are many phenomenal young men and women who aren't accepted into Harvard or Yale; it's our pleasure at Tufts, and surely the pleasure of admissions folks at many other institutions, to welcome them with open arms." Tufts, by the way, saw its admit rate plunge from 24 percent last year to 17 percent this year -- the lowest in the school's history. Similar drops were witnessed at Amherst, Bowdoin, and all of the other 13 liberal arts colleges that submitted data for this study.
The list of the aforementioned Ivy League rejects is growing faster than ever before. And, as Lee Coffin noted above, that's not necessarily such a bad thing.
As the Harvards and Yales inch their doors shut, the Amhersts and Bowdoins are glad to push theirs ajar.