Can students be blamed for thinking they have to apply to 100 colleges just to get admitted somewhere? Think about it. The population of high school graduates was supposed to have peaked in 2008, but colleges and universities are still finding creative ways to round up new applicants. As a result, admit rates are being driven down to staggering levels. A few examples:
- After reinstating Early Action, and despite a slight decline in applications, Harvard College lowered its admit rate to 5.9 percent this year: 18 percent for Early Action, and 3.8 percent for Regular Action.
- The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s applicant pool increased 23 percent after it joined the Common Application this year. And last year, the University of Michigan and Columbia University in New York saw similar increases of 25 percent and 32 percent respectively when they joined the Common App.
