Why Does it Seem so Hard to Get into College?
In this emailed blog post, my team and I at Tigerway will share our opinion on why it feels like getting into a top University is getting more and more difficult each year. More importantly we’ll talk about what Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors in High School can do about it.
We think there are multiple reasons for this phenomenon but we’ll discuss our top 2 opinions here, and save the other ones for later.
One of the reasons that Top Universities in the U.S. are seeing their admission rates drop year after year is that the Global Demand for international parents OUTSIDE of the U.S. to have their children attend schools in America is on a large long-term uptrend.
This is resulting in an influx of international students who typically have to pay full tuition at U.S. colleges. International students are an exceptionally valuable cohort of applicants to U.S. colleges because of their financial resources.
See the image below that the economic impact to the U.S. economy in one single year from international student enrollment is close to $40 BILLION and these cohorts of students support over 350,000 jobs in one academic year.
In other words, the International Student who is able to pay full tuition satisfies a couple institutional higher education mandates all at the same time: a full paying student, a high achieving student, and a diversity candidate in terms of geography.
Because the U.S. economy is perceived to be the best in the world, post college graduation opportunities for students in the U.S. tend to be viewed as the most desirable place to gain work experience. International Students often gain local networks and work experience before deciding whether to continue staying in America or return back to their native country.
For this reason, with more and more international students competing for the fixed limited number of spots in freshman incoming classes at the most selective schools in the U.S., the admission rates will continue its existing trend, which means falling acceptance percentages to even lower levels than they are today in the coming years.
The second reason we think the admission rates at schools are falling year after year is that the Common Application (which is the portal that allows High School Seniors to submit college applications) makes it easy for students to send in multiple college applications.
Because of this convenience, many students are applying to as many as 20 schools to spread their chances given how competitive the admission landscape has become.
From this changing admissions landscape phenomenon, there are a couple logical observations we can make to understand why the volume of applications at colleges is skyrocketing and the admission rate is falling like a stone:
Schools are receiving more applications, and because their incoming class size is typically fixed, their admission rates by default will fall.
Standardized Test Optional has vastly increased the number of applications that a College receives. We think the test optional policy actually makes it Easier for students who have that school’s median incoming scores to get accepted. Anyone who applies with mediocre grades and goes test optional is statistically putting themselves at a severe disadvantage in top 50 U.S. admissions.
There is a psychological aspect where if your friend/classmate at high school is sending in 20 applications, then so must you. Otherwise, it feels like you’re not maximizing your opportunities.
All of this has shaken up the admissions landscape and introduced a certain degree of randomness into the process.
However, one thing remains the same and it always will: the best Application will always have the better chance of admission, and especially if the student has the “best fit” with how admission officers are attempting to shape the university’s incoming class.
High School Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors who start thoughtfully prepping for college admissions early hold the advantage (better Grades, better SATs, better extracurriculars, better Letters of Recommendations, better essays, better positioning).
One of the things we believe that will help high school students tremendously is having dedicated mentorship and guidance along in this process.
Being the best possible applicant from YOUR own high school is the most powerful strategy to stand out among a surge in rising college applications.
If an upcoming post, we’ll review some high school application profiles and assess the probability (our own forecast) on university admission chances. If you want your application stats to have our commentary (no personal details will be shared publicly), just fill out this form. You have to be either a Sophomore (10th Grade) or a Junior (11th Grade)
Application Review Form
We’ll randomly select a few profiles and evaluate them and discuss our findings in an upcoming email later in December!
Talk to my team directly to discuss how our private coaches can help you with your SAT Scores (and Grades) as well as shaping your college profile to best stand out. We do have a waitlist for some of our coaches. Thank you for your patience.
Calvin Cheung, Director (617-749-8421, text today to book a call)
WeChat ID: CalvinGCheung
Sreya Ravi, Program Officer (774-432-7381, text to book a call)
Website: www.tigerwayprep.com
Book a Call Directly
If you only speak Cantonese or Chinese Mandarin, send me a message on WeChat ID: LarryCheungCFA.
