Was the high school class of 2018 just a really intense group of kids? I have been looking at colleges like NYU and Rice, and for some of these colleges acceptance rates have been halved. As a rising junior, should I be worried for even lower acceptance rates and even more competition when I apply for college in 2019-2020?
Well, there is this:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2079473-college-admissions-is-about-to-get-way-less-stressful.html#latest
I think it will remain a competitive field, though. As has been said on these boards: there is a spot for every student who wants to attend college, but the problem is that everyone wants to attend the same 150 colleges.
I’m seeing more and more kids start out in CCs. Promise (free) tuition programs are enticing even top notch students to start there.
Should you be worried? No. Read “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania” by Frank Bruni. You are going to be just fine.
This year could be an anomaly and perhaps next year too because of higher than usual numbers of births among Asian Americans between Feb 2000 and Feb 2001, the year of dragon. Two third of them had already gone thru this admission cycle. Of course, this is all speculation at this point. It remains to be seen in the next few years whether the trend continues.
I think a lot of it has to do with schools receiving more applications for a set number of slots. More applicants usually means lower admission rates.