April 04, 2007

Competitive admissions for '11

Today’s New York Times adds to a string of articles in recent years describing the current incredibly competitive environment surrounding college admissions. Of course, Amherst is cited:

The competition was ferocious not only at the top universities, but at selective small colleges, like Williams, Bowdoin and Amherst, all of which reported record numbers of applications.

Amherst received 6,668 applications and accepted 1,167 students for its class of 2011, compared with the 4,491 applications and 1,030 acceptance letters it sent for the class of 2002 nine years ago, said Paul Statt, an Amherst spokesman.

As we read “A Great Year for Ivy League Schools, but Not So Good for Applicants to Them” we found ourselves thinking how lucky we were to have attended the College when we did; admissions were tough in our day, but not this tough. And then we found that Statt was thinking the same thing:

“Many of us who went to Amherst three decades ago know we couldn’t get in now; I know I couldn’t,” said Mr. Statt, who graduated from Amherst in 1978.

That thought leaves us with some questions, though. Is the total pool of “qualified” applicants (as defined by the admissions office) really bigger? Is the College getting more unqualified applicants? Or has the pool of qualified applicants always been the same, but more of them are now applying to the College? A spokesman for the National Association of College Admission Counseling suggests a mix of the first and the third: demographics and more applications per student.

“Multiple applications per student,” Mr. Hawkins said, “is a factor that exponentially crowds the college admissions environment.”

Parker Morse '96 | April 4, 2007 09:08 AM | Campus

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