Private College Admissions Bubble

tokenadult
Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:13:40 +0000

Fiske’s Book Getting into the Right College identifies them.



Thank you. I’ll check that book, which I’ve just requested from my public library, for the list of elite colleges you mentioned. The larger Fiske guidebook, which I have at hand, doesn’t identify a smaller list of most elite colleges in that same way.

I agree with your point that some elite colleges are essentially immune to short-term economic effects, especially because they draw from applicants all over the world. I also agree that at the margins, some colleges are going to have fewer eager applicants, because they will be perceived as just plain too expensive for what they offer in a declining economy. But in between those two points you made that I agree with, I think there are some colleges that are

a) not “elite” in the Fiske list sense

but

b) plainly very expensive for all but a few families

that will still draw students, because students from those few wealthier families will stay wealthy enough even in the current economy to exercise their taste for colleges at which their children can meet other children from wealthy families. Thus, among the expensive-but-not-quite-elite colleges, there will be competition for that wealthy echelon of students, and there are enough of those around to preserve the existence of some, but perhaps not all, of those colleges.