As the U.S. population grows, so does the pool of top students applying to the nation’s top colleges. But until recently, some of the country’s elite schools (eg. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford etc.) haven’t done much to expand their student bodies, leaving more and more “astonishing applicantsâ€? facing rejection, Amherst College president Anthony W. Marx tells The New York Times.

Fortunately for Ivy wannabes, that is changing, the Times reports, with several schools embarking on or at least considering expansion efforts.

In the meantime, students have had to alter their expectations and make back-up plans in the ever-more competitive college application environment. After the break, I’ve posted a story from earlier this year by colleague Diana Costello on application bulges and the agony of college wait lists.

Tough year for college admissions

Diana Costello

The Journal News

Friday, April 20, 2007

With record numbers of applications flooding the nation’s colleges, it’s become tougher than ever for students to get into their top schools — or even the ones they thought were a sure bet.

“I took that word ‘safety’ out of my vocabulary a long time ago,” said Henry Cafaro, director of guidance and counseling at White Plains High School. “To me, there’s no such thing.”

Preliminary reports suggest that colleges are turning down a higher percentage of applicants and bulking up their wait lists, leaving students in an agonizing state of limbo.

Binghamton University, SUNY, for instance, got so many applications this year it had to stop accepting candidates six weeks earlier than scheduled. The school ended up accepting 38 percent of 25,132 applicants, down from 43 percent of the 22,748 applicants last year.

Similar trends have been reported at schools across the nation — from state schools to liberal arts colleges to the Ivy League.

Several factors have been spotlighted. A demographic bulge is working its way through the education system, with the children of baby boomers graduating from high school in record numbers. Online applications have made it easier for students to send out more applications. And the common application, which is accepted at more than 320 colleges and universities, frees students from the burden of completing separate applications for each.

Lastly, the nation’s colleges are attracting greater attention from abroad. International applications grew by 19 percent at the University of Pennsylvania and 12 percent at Harvard University, according to CollegeAdmissionsInfo.com.

All this has created a predicament.

“Colleges are becoming less predictable and so kids are filing many more applications. And kids need to file more applications because colleges are less predictable,” said Ken Fox, chairman of the admission-practices committee at the National Association for College Admission Counseling. “The concept is a little bit like the chicken and the egg — which came first?”

Many now are stuck in the most excruciating phase of the whole process:waiting to hear whether they’ve been pulled off the wait list. Colleges are expanding their lists in an effort to better manage their “yield,” the percentage of accepted students who attend.

But with more students on the wait list, the more difficult it is to get off. Last year, the University of Pennsylvania admitted only 42 students from a list of about 1,800.

“Students have to be realistic about the wait lists,” Fox said. “They are oftentimes the most competitive part of the process.”

It can also be expensive, since deposits are often due before final offers are made to students.

Savannah O’Malley, a Haldane High School senior, has been on a wait list at three of the six schools she applied to. She would like to attend Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., but must wait to hear if she gets pulled off the wait list.

In the meantime, she must send a $500 deposit to one of the schools she got into.

If she ends up getting into Muhlenberg and accepting, she will lose it. Many students send deposits to more than one school, she said. “It’s this whole big process,” said O’Malley, 17.

Guidance counselors and admissions officers say students who have been placed on wait lists at their top schools should write a letter to express their interest and list any recent accomplishments, and make sure a school counselor knows in case an official calls to follow up.

Quirky antics will not boost the chances of getting in, they say.

“We ask people to sit tight,” said Sandra Starke at Binghamton. “It’s not fair just because someone calls us five or six times … for us to view their application differently than someone who doesn’t.”

Clarkstown South High School senior Carrie Filipetti said she was “very lucky” and “really quite surprised” to get into the six schools she applied to. But, she was quick to point out, she wasn’t interested in any of the Ivy League schools and didn’t waste time applying.

She initially thought she wanted to go to Georgetown University and applied there for an early decision. But after being deferred, she took a closer look at the University of Virginia and “fell in love with everything about it.”

She will go to Virginia with a full scholarship.

“Even if you don’t really know why you’ve been deferred, there must be a reason for it,” she said. “A lot of people put so much stock into their first choice and they’re not letting themselves be open to different colleges.”

Reach Diana Costello at dcostell@lohud.com or 845-228-2278.