As a mom, the one thing that drives me crazy....

ucbalumnus
Wed, 23 Oct 2013 12:01:50 +0000

HPuck35:

The birth rates vary and go in cycles (baby boomers!!). The number of 18 year olds today is about the same as when I was applying to college.

[…]

Therefore, I believe it is no harder today to get into a good college.



In previous generations, fewer people wanted to go to college, so even if the number of high school seniors was the same, the number of students trying to get into colleges was smaller.

Admission thresholds are higher now than a generation ago. When I went to college, more than half of the frosh were placed into remedial English composition courses. Today (with the same placement standards), fewer than 10% of the frosh are placed into remedial English composition courses at the same school.

When I applied, the school was a safety for me for all divisions and majors, although I did not know that while in high school (found out a few years later how the admissions process worked then and what the thresholds were). Now, with my high school stats (adjusted for SAT rescaling), it would probably be a match to low reach, depending on division and major.