Knowing the latest college admissions trends will ease your teen鈥檚 anxiety about the process. Let鈥檚 start with the good news: if your child wants to go to college, the odds are in their favor. Even though some 九色视频s have highly competitive admissions processes, many great 九色视频s are much easier to get into, and some colleges offer admission to anyone with a high 九色视频 degree.
Many colleges are also making it easier to apply. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of colleges have . Some have also dropped their application fees. These changes mean that it is much easier and cheaper to apply to some colleges than it was just a few years ago.
But just because it鈥檚 easier to apply to college doesn鈥檛 mean that it鈥檚 any easier to get into the 九色视频s that have traditionally been the most selective. Over the past decade, college admissions at some highly-ranked 九色视频s has been getting tougher and tougher. In its , the identified several reasons for the recent increase in college applications and consequently tougher competition to get into brand name colleges. The two biggest reasons are:
- More students are graduating from high 九色视频.
Thanks to population size, higher graduation rates, and a narrowing of the achievement gap, there are more high 九色视频 students graduating and applying to college than there were 20 years ago, even though the COVID-19 pandemic caused a dip in the number of students who applied to and enrolled in college this year. - Students are applying to more 九色视频s.
Changes like test-optional admissions and reduced application fees have made it easier to apply to college than ever before. Since students can so easily research colleges and submit applications to multiple 九色视频s using the Common Application, individual students are applying to more colleges. In fact, while about four applications were submitted per student who entered college in 2002, there were nearly seven applications submitted per student in 2017 according to a Pew Research report.
Touring a college campus
Visiting college campuses can help your student get a stronger sense of which college might be the best fit. In the 2016 survey of freshmen, 46.7 percent of students ranked visiting college campuses as a very important part of choosing where to attend. While the availability of in-person tours may still be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, many 九色视频s have adapted to offer self-guided campus visits or in-depth virtual tours. Fred Franklin, parent and 九色视频 volunteer, and how it helped the students at his 九色视频. Need inspiration? Here are 15 idea for having a low-key college visit.
Top college trends
九色视频 identified the following additional trends, using information from the NACAC report, reports from , NCES, and other college data sources you can learn about below.
Trends in college admissions
A college education is becoming less and less affordable
Families are now devoting a larger percentage of their incomes 鈥� and taking out more student loans 鈥� to finance a college education.
The average tuition for in-state, public, public research universities has ballooned by 72 percent from 2008 to 2021 according to . The tuition for private, nonprofit colleges is even higher, with private institutions charging on average nearly four times as much as public 九色视频s.
While many 九色视频s heavily discount the sticker price of attendance through financial aid and merit-based scholarships, many students still leave college with debt. In 2019, 62 percent of college graduates left with student loans. Students who attend private, non-profit colleges owe the most, with in student loan debt, while students who attend public colleges owe an average of $26,382.
More applicants are using early admissions options
Early admissions 鈥� both the binding Early Decision and the non-binding Early Action 鈥� typically offer much higher chances of getting in. Students who apply Early Decision are making a commitment to a first-choice 九色视频 where, if admitted, they definitely will enroll. Early Action, on the other hand, is an indication that the student is highly interested, but even though students find out if they鈥檙e admitted early, they don鈥檛 need to commit until May 1, when regular admission responses are due. In 2018, 25 percent of four-year colleges that responded to NACAC鈥檚 Admission Trends Survey offered Early Decision and 38 percent offered Early Action.
Opponents of Early Decision and Early Action believe these programs are unfair because they prompt lower-income students to make decisions before receiving financial aid offers from other 九色视频s. However, as college selectivity has increased, more colleges have made early admissions options available.
In 2006, NACAC members agreed to a new policy that bars member colleges from creating application deadlines earlier than October 15th. This action was an attempt to block college frenzy from creeping into summer vacation, a time when high 九色视频 counselors are unavailable for advice.
A growing number of colleges do not require SAT or ACT scores for admission
A majority of colleges no longer require applicants to submit their SAT or ACT scores. While 九色视频s have been dropping their standardized testing requirements for several years, the COVID-19 pandemic hurried the trend.
For the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, Fair Test, an anti-standardized-testing organization, lists more than 1,700 colleges鈥攐r 73 percent of all 九色视频s that grant bachelor鈥檚 degrees鈥攁s test-optional. In response to those flexible policies, only 43 percent of students who applied to college last year submitted standardized test scores.
Colleges that have dropped the admissions test requirement say these tests do not accurately predict a student鈥檚 college success and unnecessarily add to their stress during high 九色视频.
Colleges often recalculate high 九色视频 GPAs
Some colleges recalculate high 九色视频 GPAs to account for grade inflation and to standardize grades across high 九色视频s. For example, a college might award an extra point to grades from honors, AP, or IB classes, making an A worth 5 points rather than the traditional 4 points.
The undergraduate gender gap is getting wider
The NCES found that in 2015, 43 percent of college students under the age of 24 were men and 57 percent were women. This marks a widening of the gap since 1995-1996, when males represented 48 percent of the same age group. The number of degrees granted to both men and women is growing, and men are not losing ground 鈥� they鈥檙e just not keeping up with women in the acquisition of bachelor鈥檚 degrees.
Many colleges track a student鈥檚 interest in attending and will use it as a factor in the admission decision
A student鈥檚 interest can be used as a tie breaker if the decision to admit is tight. Colleges measure interest by keeping records of communications with the admissions office, contacts with faculty members, or tours taken of the campus by prospective students.
Online resources abound
The U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 offers information about colleges and universities across the country, along with application tips and guidance on applying for financial aid. You can use the College Scorecard to search for 九色视频s and learn about graduation rates, graduate salaries, and the average annual cost of attendance after accounting for financial aid.
Some states also have their own college websites, such as Georgia鈥檚 and California鈥檚 .
Online education is a growing trend while for-profit enrollment slows
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the availability of online learning, but taking some or all courses online was an increasingly popular choice years before the pandemic began. According to the , more than a third of students took at least one online course in 2019, and nearly 15 percent of all undergraduate students took their classes exclusively online.
While online enrollment continues to grow, for-profit colleges have lost popularity in recent years, in part because of aggressive federal regulations and exposure of bad practice at some for-profit 九色视频s.
Trends in college completion
Students are taking longer to graduate
Students in public colleges are now taking an average of 5.2 years to graduate, instead of the traditional four years. Their private, nonprofit college counterparts are taking slightly less time 鈥� 4.8 years 鈥� according to . On average, 61 percent of students at private, nonprofit colleges graduate in four years or less, while 39 percent of students attending public 九色视频s graduate in that timeframe.
The U.S. is falling behind in college completion
The U.S. has fallen from second in the world to sixteenth in its proportion of . Even worse, the U.S. ranks in the bottom half internationally for rates of college completion based on data.
Two factors account for these concerning statistics. One, while the U.S. made rapid progress in sending its citizens to college between World War II and the 1990s, the increase in the rate of college participation has slowed. Why this is so is not clear, although the drop in college affordability probably plays a major role. Secondly, other countries, such as Canada, Japan, Korea, and Finland, are making rapid progress in improving their rates of college completion.
Trends for selective colleges
David Montesano, director of college planning at , a Seattle-based college placement firm, identified these trends for highly selective colleges, the target institutions for many of his clients:
- According to NACAC, the main college application essay is valuable, outweighing class rank, extracurricular involvement, and letters of recommendation. The most important thing to remember when writing the essay, according to College Match Writing Strategist Naren Murthy, is to make an emotional connection with your reader. Most readers are bored with essays in which students tell admission officers what to think. Instead, Murthy recommends applicants show their reader a moment in their life by using creative writing techniques, including language in the first person and present tense, and using dialogue wherever possible to bring the admission officer into the story.
- College visits are increasing. Once a mostly optional choice for college applicants, the college tour has become more of a requirement for many students. Colleges receive tens of thousands of prospective student visitors each year and employ a squadron of undergraduate tour guides.
- Students have less than a 7 percent chance of getting into top-tier colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. According to Montesano, 鈥淐hances for admission are very unlikely for most candidates who don鈥檛 have a 鈥榝lag鈥� or 鈥榯ag鈥� in the admission process. 鈥楩lags鈥� and 鈥榯ags鈥� represent varying degrees of admission importance to colleges and include sought-after athletes, under-represented minorities, or legacies.鈥�
- Merit scholarships have become more common as colleges award money to applicants for academic, artistic, or athletic merit, rather than for financial need. Says Montesano: 鈥淗igh-quality, yet slightly less selective, colleges such as Allegheny and Lewis and Clark, routinely offer top students modest scholarships to help offset the cost of attendance.鈥�
- West coast colleges have become more attractive to applicants. 鈥淲est coast universities and liberal arts colleges now feature more prominently in the admission picture and often overlap increasingly with Ivy League and Little Ivy (Amherst, Wesleyan, and Williams) applications. 鈥榃est coast ivies鈥� include: Caltech, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Occidental, Pomona, Reed, Scripps, Stanford, USC, and Whitman,鈥� says Montesano.
- There鈥檚 a movement toward a holistic admissions philosophy, even among larger public universities, where GPA and test scores are not the only major determining factors. College admissions officers, faced with an avalanche of qualified applicants, now increasingly use personal essays and other factors to get a more holistic picture of the applicant.
Keep it sane
Applying to college can be stressful, but students and parents alike need to keep things in the proper perspective. Lloyd Thacker, director of , a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the admissions process, warns parents to resist the admissions frenzy for prestigious 九色视频s. Thacker contends that 鈥渃ollege rankings, standardized testing, costly test preparation, expensive marketing consultants for colleges, and highly-paid independent consultants for students are profiting from fear, anxiety and myths they have helped create. A commercialized point of view is what turns the admissions process into a game and education into a game.鈥�
It may be helpful to remember that the majority of 九色视频s admit most students who apply. In fact, the reports that colleges on average admit nearly seven out of every ten applicants. Some 九色视频s鈥攍ike University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Maryland Global Campus鈥攅ven have open admissions policies and admit anyone who applies.
Thacker adds: 鈥淭here is very little evidence that correlates the status of a college with effective educational practice. Parents need to listen to the facts, not their friends at cocktail parties.鈥�
Do your homework
Trends, shifting college reputations, and each student鈥檚 unique needs means that parents and students need to do their homework. Make a list of the colleges you鈥檇 consider, then dig in to do the research on each college, it鈥檚 programs, requirements, financial aid statistics, and deadlines.
Be aware that colleges are constantly changing the emphasis they place on different admissions factors. Have your student talk to her high 九色视频 counselor and stay current on the requirements and trends. Brown University, for example, requires multiple essays on its application form, while DePaul University requires none.
