Interest in Highly Selective Colleges Higher than Ever While Other Colleges are Struggling
We like to follow data and these three articles explain a lot of what we have been seeing as far as this year's admissions trends. Please take a few minutes to look at them both, as there is a lot of information.
The highly selective colleges are booming while the rest are struggling. This is not just a story of privilege but of top academic students versus average students. It also shows how students have flocked more than ever before to those name-brand universities. A lack of college visits and test optional dynamics have magnified the already common phenomena.
The Common App reports: "The larger and more competitive colleges and universities are having a good year and getting many applications. But smaller and less competitive colleges are not. And first-generation students and those who lack the money to pay for an application are not applying at the same rates they used to."
Of worthy note is that colleges like Tufts report the most diverse applicant pool they have ever received with a record high number of 17% of first-generation students and "for the first time, students of color comprise a majority of U.S. applicants: 51 percent." Tufts meets 100% of demonstrated need, as do many highly selective universities, and many of them also offer no loans under a certain income level.
While the New York Times reports, “We saw the largest declines by far among students from low-income high schools, high-minority high schools, urban high schools, who ordinarily would have gone to community colleges this fall, and who just vanished, said Doug Shapiro, the vice president for research at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which publishes educational reports.”
A better job has to be done to ensure our most vulnerable students make it to higher ed.
Many other interesting insights include those parts of the country are attracting more students and which international students are more or less interested in studying in the US.
Lastly, "'Students are hedging their bets by applying to more colleges due to COVID-induced uncertainties and the unknowns surrounding how and if test scores are being considered," he said. "Families are also increasingly concerned about costs and value, so applying to more colleges gives them potentially more choices or more chances of being admitted to an institution they can afford.'"