<p>A Southern school surge, an international boom, and even tougher admissions, here are 10 College Admissions Trends compiled by Newsweek’s Kristina Dell.</p>
<p>1) 2011 Was the Hardest Year to Get into CollegeEver
2) College Applicants Are More Interested in Southern Schools (CC’s Sally Rubenstone quoted)
3) International Student Applications Are Surging
4) Ivy League for Graduate School Is the New Goal
5) Applicants from Technology Havens Have the Admissions Edge
6) The Waitlist Is Huge This Year
7) More Applicants Are Interested in Creative Writing
8) Homeschoolers Are on the Rise
9) More Californians Are Applying Out of State
10) Public Schools Are Accepting More Out-of-State Students</p>
<h1>1 definitely felt this as many of my D friends were rejected or waitlisted from great schools with literally perfect stats and stellar ECs. i’m not talking about Ivies where that is expected. she and i feel that the only reason she has received offers of admission and significant scholarships is the fact that she is 16 and graduating a year early; it appears to have acted as something of a hook and made her stand out. i doubt she’d have had as much success if she stayed and applied normally after senior year.</h1>
<h1>2 also agree… D applied to 4 southern schools and will most likely be attending one of them. we live in the rocky mountains.</h1>
<p>Well, we’re part of Trend #8. We actually found that “home-school cooties” were a liability, though, at least when it came to getting merit aid from in-state publics (including publics where DS’s stats were way above 75th percentile). At the Catholic colleges where DS applied, home schoolers were welcomed, appreciated, and rewarded. But in-state publics, although they did admit him, were a lot stingier with $$. We received the distinct impression that they didn’t quite know how to handle home-schooled kids.</p>
<p>Result: We became part of yet another trend, not mentioned in the Daily Beast article: kids who opt for full rides at schools that buy National Merit Finalists. In this economy, paying full freight’s just not worth it for us, even for a more modestly priced state school. (Everything is relative!) So, DS is turning down UNC Chapel Hill in favor of Alabama. As more and more families are learning, it’s really hard to beat “FREE.”</p>
Eh, a lot of other unis are well recognized for being better/on the same level as Ivys for grad school, depending on the subject area. Even as someone who plans on majoring in the humanities, I’ve never been interested in any of the Ivy League schools. Most other people I know who plan on going to graduate school aren’t either.</p>
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Hell yes. I’m really excited about how our/my generation is taking on literature, especially poetry. Would be chill to witness a literature revolution; it’s been long enough.</p>
<p>Ummm… doesn’t number one have to have the caveat: Hard to get into college of choice?</p>
<p>The fact is Americans are attending colleges at historic rates. That douses #1 completely. The typical CC denizen is EXTREMELY out of the norm for most graduating seniors who will attend college this Fall. For the vast vast majority of them, they will apply to one maybe two colleges. These colleges will admit them most likely as they admit due to GPA and stats alone.</p>
<p>Tougher to get into college? For who? Not most of America. And getting easier for internationals looking to populate middle tier US colleges, too. People need to look outside of the College Confidential bubble…</p>
<p>I was waitlisted at four places, I think…and rejected at two, where decision letter stated that this year, they had the biggest applicant pool ever.</p>
<p>I agree with all of these!!!
It is difficult to get into a lot of schools even safety schools seemed questionable.
I have heard about a lot of people getting wait listed as well =/<br>
I love to write but sadly so do many others so I’m kind of screwed on that boat.
I also applied out of state even though California has good schools.</p>
<p>I realize that schools are seeing more applications than ever, but does this really mean it’s harder to get into college? With students applying to 12-20 schools as opposed to 4-8 schools a couple years ago, colleges may be seeing a record number of their own offers being refused. It may be that colleges are offering more spots than ever before just to adjust to a lower yield when students find themselves with as many as ten great offers.</p>
<p>I definitely saw #2 in my admissions process. I was from Maryland, and a ton of my friends went South. Very few went north. I made it to Texas, and a lot of my friends ended up in GA/NC/SC/VA</p>
<p>True, most don’t go to community college, but a larger number than you might think do. Latest figures I’ve seen say about 70% of HS grads now go to college; of those, 60% enroll in 4-year colleges and 40% in 2-year (mostly community) colleges. And the recent growth has been almost entirely in the community college sector.</p>
<p>Nearly 3 times as many attend public institutions as private. And while it’s true that some public flagships are becoming more selective, the public flagships represent only about 10% of students in public colleges and universities. So I think bottom line, what an earlier poster said is true: it can’t be harder than ever to get into college, because more people than ever are going to college. But it may be harder to get into the college of your choice, especially if you’re aiming somewhere high up on the selectivity scale (including the more selective public flagships).</p>
<p>Californians are certainly expanding their horizons (no question about that). I think this is a very positive development for the students (and for the institutions smart enough to capitalize on this emerging trend…). It has been very beneficial for D to live elsewhere and experience a different part of the country.</p>
<p>Accidental!addition to Trend #2. I applied to two Southern schools - Sewanee and University of Alabama - on a whim, for scholarship money. I received a partial scholarship from Sewanee and a full ride from Alabama, the latter of which I’ll be attending in the fall. I never expected to go to a large public Southern state school known for its football; it’s literally the complete opposite of what I wanted, and until November snubbed every Southern school that crossed my path. And yet. I’m wearing the sweatshirt and ending my emails with Roll Tide!</p>
<h1>2-Could it be that southern schools are proving to be just as academically special as their northern counterparts? In the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have numerous fine institutions of higher learning, and we are proud to know that the rest of the country is realizing the same.</h1>
<p>My daughter was accepted to a number of out-of-state schools but chose Mary Baldwin College for its unique Women’s Institute of Leadership (VWIL), which happens to be the only all-female cadet corps in the world.</p>
<p>daydream – we’re right there with you!! We’re already in the South (NC), but we assumed DS would be attending UNC Asheville (quirky little public LAC, just his cup of tea) or UNC Chapel Hill. He was accepted at both places but without merit $$. Then a CC regular, mom2collegekids, told me about Alabama’s full ride for NMFs…and the rest is history. DS is excited, and so are we. ROLL TIDE!!! LOL!</p>
<p>I really think that should be Trend #11 – bright kids turning down privates and even hoity-toity publics for full rides at places like Bama, Oklahoma, Auburn, and Central Florida. It’s economic reality, folks. As we advertising hacks can tell you, “FREE” is the most powerful word in the English language.</p>