To Choate seniors, April is anything but a picturesque time for blooming flowers or fantasies of a summer of fun. Instead, April 1st represents the tolling bell when college decisions roll in, the final day of college decisions culminating the long “college process” for the class of 2008.
College admittance decisions for Choate seniors this year have been consistent with previous years—some students have done remarkably well while others have not. “It is a hard time of the year because there are some people who have gotten good news, and there are also those who haven’t,” observed Director of College Counseling Dean Jacoby. However, it is also a time of great relief because the end of the college process for the class of 2008 is imminent. Soon nearly every senior will have plans for next year firmly in place.
In the interest of preserving confidentiality, the college office would not provide The News with college entrance statistics for the current seniors.
On a national scale, this past year has been “the most competitive year ever” for college admissions, said Mr. Jacoby. This increased competitiveness comes from a spike in applications to most colleges across the country. For example, Swarthmore, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, has seen a fifty percent increase in applications in the past three years alone.
“Applications for the Ivies exploded—the numbers were up fifteen to twenty percent,” Mr. Jacoby noted. “Other college admissions directors… have noticed this increased competitiveness as well. The process is getting harder.”
The spike in applications can largely be attributed to how easy the Common Application, especially in its online form, makes sending applications out to numerous schools. The Common Application describes itself as a “general application form used by over 150 independent schools.” With a simple click of the mouse, it is now possible to send the same application to ten schools simultaneously, with very little additional work for each school. This enables students who otherwise would not bother trying to garner an acceptance at a school like Amherst to “give it a shot” with a quick movement of a mouse.
The increased competitiveness of most schools nationally meant several things for the seniors, and will mean several things for younger Choate students who will soon be faced with college applications. Rising numbers of applications to schools places more importance on testing as a possible screening mechanism for applicants. SAT scores are likely to play a larger role in decisions, although other aspects of the application such as course rigor and transcript will remain the most important factors in acceptance decisions. “Colleges are interested in students who have pursued rigor and who have an ability to discuss intellectual ideas,” commented Mr. Jacoby.
The new trends in application numbers have led some seniors like Andrew Silberstein to feel that the college process is “a game of luck based on what colleges want and need at the moment, not necessarily how bright you truly are.”
Another change in the college admissions landscape is the fact that both Harvard and Princeton are no longer taking Early Decision applications. This has led many other colleges to increase the sizes of their waiting lists to ensure that they have students to fill their classes, because they don’t know what their yield will be. It is “possible that schools will go to their waitlists to fill their classes,” continued Mr. Jacoby, a fact that has many students who didn’t get into their favorite school optimistic for May.
To meet students’ needs in light of these trends, the college office is working with students to help them put together “the best possible applications and lists,” according to Mr. Jacoby. The college counselors are also visiting colleges, as well as speaking with other college counselors and admissions officers, to stay on top of trends. Next year, Ms. Tina Grant, a current counselor, will replace Mr. Jacoby as head of the college office; Mr. Jacoby observed, “Tina Grant’s work for helping students in the future is exciting.”
Mr. Jacoby encourages students not to worry about recent trends in the college process: “In an enormously competitive environment Choate students have done well. Choate kids will go to colleges that challenge them and make them happy, and they will be successful.”
Senior Anne Kearney agreed: “[The college process] was, in a way, something that taught me about myself. I learned a lot about myself and discovered that there are a lot of schools out there besides the Ivies that provide wonderful college experiences academically and socially.”
