Lessons Learned from Admissions 2012

Admission rates are out for 2012 and as expected applicant numbers have only continued to increase across the board at almost every institution! Nearly every Ivy League School, as well as a few other top institution rates have lower than 10% admission rates, as seen in the chart below. Now, what do these numbers mean? How can we help the next applicant pool become a member of the class of 2017? Sometimes it is good to know what one is up against before preparing an action plan

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1. Do your Research and Apply Early. As you can see when comparing early versus regular decision applicants, in nearly every institution it is advantageous to apply early. At the very least, there is no disadvantage. Think about it; schools want to accept students they think will assuredly come, to help with their own statistics. Additionally, timeliness and a willingness to commit proves to be a stronger application. In many cases, a college is early action, rather than decision. Additionally, many private schools will allow a student to apply to state or public schools where they may receive a scholarship. Lastly, won’t it feel great to know where you are going to school next year as soon as possible?

2. Wait Lists. Schools vary on their wait listing policies, ranging from handing out almost as many wait listers as admitees to hardly any at all. College Match does a great job of an action plan if you do happen to fall into this category. Depending on the school, it may mean that no hope is lost at all! With others, perhaps where many admitted students do choose their school in the end, it may mean a more difficult road. Either way, it is sometimes good to know what you are up against, in order to accept scholarships or opportunities elsewhere if they are presented.

3. More Students Less Seats. Upon looking at acceptance rates, clearly many more students are applying and acceptance percentages are going down. Yet, it is less easily noticeable that there are less seats being offered! Perhaps, admissions offices in 2011 were unprepared for the quality and numbers of candidates received. We will have to see if the numbers of students admitted in general is also decreasing, or if this is just an unfortunate circumstance for the 2012 class. Ideally, there will be more places for next year’s class to claim!