The report, which used statistics from the Department of Education, showed that the average acceptance rate at four-year universities and colleges dropped from 71.3 percent in 2001 to 66.8 percent in 2007. This was partly owing to the 24-percent uptick in applicants during that six-year span, according to the report.
College enrollment reached an all-time high in 2006, and enrollment numbers are expected to continue to climb until 2017, according to the admissions study.
The report also measured the impact of the economic downturn on college applicants and their advisors. Nearly six out of 10 counselors surveyed said they had seen a steady increase in the number of high school juniors and seniors planning to apply to public universities instead of pricey private colleges. One-quarter of public schools counselors surveyed reported an increase in the number of students planning to delay college application for financial reasons.
While school districts nationwide trim operating budgets in the down economy, counseling departments have seen severe cuts in the past year, according to a study conducted by EdSource, a California-based nonprofit organization that focuses on public policy research and analysis.
The average student-to-counselor ratio is 500 to 1 nationwide, while California’s ratio is closer to 1,000 to 1, according to EdSource research. Three out of 10 secondary schools have had their counseling budgets slashed in the past year.
Sarah Sutherland, a senior at Winchester High School in Winchester, Mass., submitted her college essay–which she sent to nine campuses this fall–to iAdmissions last month. A counselor worked with Sutherland online to make the essay less wordy without making the application impersonal.
An iAdmissions advisor “had me condense the essay and put all the emotion into it while eliminating the word count,” said Sutherland, 17. “I felt like she helped me keep the tone while improving it. It strengthened it a lot, I think.”
Completing mounds of application and financial aid paperwork and constructing and critiquing the perfect college essay, Sutherland said, was made easier with professional advice online.
“I had no idea what I was getting into,” she said. “But I knew I could … trust [iAdmissions], because it’s made up of people who do this for a living.”
Go4College.com doesn’t offer help on essay writing. Instead, its online analysis helps students understand which colleges they should apply to. The site claims that it is 94-percent accurate, and co-founder and president Christine Schuldt said Go4College.com can serve as “a supplement” to any advising they get in high school. The site charges $14.95 to generate a percentage chance for admittance to one college. Students can buy a six-college package for $74.75, and a 20-college package for $224.25.
“There are just too many variables [for students] to know how to weigh all of them,” Schuldt said, referring to factors examined by admissions officers. “Students are not getting a lot of guidance. … It is a reality check, but it’s not meant to be negative. It’s just meant to show them a range of colleges they should take a closer look at.”
Links:
National Association for College Admissions Counseling study
- Lawmakers to colleges: No more social media prying - April 25, 2013
- Number of college applications affected by social media triples - October 9, 2012
- Gates Foundation supports college readiness apps - September 28, 2012