Just when Yale thought they had crested in their app. volume, they see another spike.
From a little over 15,000 apps in 2002.
To now over 30,000 apps in 2013.
And what is even crazier is that it is not just the Ivies.
I call it the "bucket down" effect.
Our Vandy rep reported last week to our community that they too have crested over the 30,000 application volume.
I've written extensively about the "perfect storm" in college admissions, specifically about five forces that have helped create this application tsunami that will inevitably obliterate many admissible kids' dreams.
High School graduation rates.
The Common Application.
International Students.
Marketing (attract to reject).
And our (America's) obsession with rankings.
Combine these forces with the growing concern over student loan debt and job prospects after graduation, and you have thousands of students clamoring to gain admission into the highly selective schools (admit 25% or less).
And of course, without a "hook", or as one colleague put it, without being "well angled", the chances at gaining admission are fairly bleak.
The good news, though, is that over 80% of the colleges and universities out there are still admitting more students than they are denying.
And there are still many excellent schools that are rewarding students with merit scholarships to make college affordable.
