A story repeating itself at colleges and universities across the country is falling acceptance rates sending shock waves through homes and high schools across the country. The Washington Square News (NYU’s paper) reported yesterday that NYU’s acceptance rate fell 8% to “its lowest rate in years”–24%. The reason for the drop is not unique to NYU. Too many students accepted places in last year’s class forcing NYU admissions to limit even more the number of students offered places in the class of 2012.

Some suggest this shortage of capacity is “only at the few most competitive schools” or “the result of students submitting more applications”. I have watched the trend of falling acceptance rates at schools that accept 40% and more of their applicants. Sadly, there are no “sure things” anymore.

Many colleges and universities have gotten creative in attempts to expand their capacity by offering freshman placement at abroad programs in the fall or admission in January taking advantage of juniors who typically go overseas opening campus housing. [Query: With the dollar at its current low, will predicted numbers of juniors go overseas? What if they stay on campus?]

Demographers promise “Within a few years, fewer high school students will be applying for college nationwide, and the admission rates will probably start going back up.” …How many is “a few years”? How many “fewer” high school students? And which college admissions rates will rise, when and how high? I dont see anything tangible in that prediction to help high school students in their college search.
One fact we do know is there are no “Do overs” with a student’s applications. For that reason, I strongly encourage you to listen carefully to advice of your high school counselor and others who have been through multiple admission cylces. In addition, I caution you that when you look at the numbers in any of the college reference books realize they are often as much as two years old and may very well be 10-16% above current levels in acceptance rates, test scores and GPA’s.
But don’t despair. There are plenty of colleges out there where your student will thrive. The times dictate that you as parents and students need to look beyond “the big names”, be open to colleges you may never have heard of and find the diamond in the rough that will welcome your student AND most important give them a great college education/experience.