College Admissions: The Numbers by Dr. Paul Lowe – College Admissions Guru

I often hear from parents during my seminars that it really doesn’t matter where you attend college.  Really!  However, this time of year, I’ll call it “The Post-Decision Dimension”; I continue to emphasize that college admissions is a global competition based on the numbers!   If you are from the suburbs  in Connecticut , for example, Greenwich, Woodbridge, Guilford, Avon, Simsbury, Roxbury, Kent, Columbia , or in New York:  New Rochelle, Scarsdale, Larchmont, and Chappaqua, or Manhattan, you are competing with international students.  Then of course, there are students who attend private schools who are competing with students from public schools vying for those coveted slots.    We also must include home-schooled students, and transfer students from community colleges as well as legacy applicants who compete with other legacy applicants.  These are only some of the “entities” represented in the tens of thousands of applicants who are “unique just like everyone else.

The bottom line here is that the number of applicants, competing for these coveted slots at the Elite Eight and top-tier colleges, continues to grow and admission to these schools remains hypercompetitive.  However, beyond the numbers, and in my experience, the students who are accepted are those who can standout and lucidly articulate their achievement, goals and personalities as future contributing members of an incoming class in a positive light to a committee of six to ten diverse people!

No need to believe me, just review some this year’s numbers:

Harvard:  34,295 applicants applied.  2,023 applicants or 5.9% were admitted.

Yale:  30,932 applicants applied.  1,935 applicants or 6.26% were admitted. 

Princeton:  26,641 applicants applied.  1,939 applicants or 7.28% were admitted.

Columbia:  32,952 applicants applied.  2,287 applicants or 6.94% were admitted.

Cornell:  43,041 applicants applied.  6,025 applicants or 14.0% were admitted. 

Dartmouth:  19,296 applicants applied.  2,220 applicants or 11.5% were admitted. 

Brown:  30,432 applicants applied.  2,619 applicants or 8.6% were admitted.

Penn:  35,868 applicants applied.  3,351 applicants or 9.9% were admitted.     

MIT:  18,357 applicants applied.  1,419 applicants or 7.7% were admitted.

Stanford:  42,167 applicants applied.  2,138 applicants or 5.07% were admitted.

Duke:  32,480 applicants applied.  3,475 applicants or 10.7% were admitted.

When you review the numbers one may ask what parent would possibility want his or her child to receive an acceptance letter from an Elite Eight school and be subjected to an average annual tuition bill of $50,000?  Answer:   Parents of my clients who were accepted  this year to:  Brown University, Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Harvard College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. 

The numbers clearly indicate that some parents still believe that a superior education is the best investment in a child’s future and that the return on this investment is infinite!

Dr. Lowe is President of Pinnacle Educational Center and Managing Director of the Admissions Advisors Group.  He is the lead admissions expert at the Admissions Advisors Group: Woodbridge Admissions Advisors (www.woodbridgeadmissionsadvisors.com) (203) 387-1574 and Greenwich Admissions Advisors (www.greenwichadmissionsadvisors.com) (203) 542-7288, Manhattan Admissions Advisors (www.manhattanadmissionsadvisors.com) (212) 829-4341 and International Admissions Advisors (www.internationaladmissionsadvisors.com).

Ivy League Admissions Advisors (www.privateschooladmissionsadvisors.com) and corresponding Ivy League Application Boot Camp: (www.ivyleagueapplicationbootcamp.com) assist U.S. and international families navigate the competitive, global admissions.

Dr. Lowe is an active member of several professional organizations including: the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), the New York Association of College Admission Counseling (NYACAC), the New Jersey Association of College Admission Counseling (NJACAC), the Overseas Association for College Admission Counseling (OACAC), and NAFSA: Association of International Educators, American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and the Admissions Leadership Consortium (ALC).