Hectic. Fierce. Difficult.
These are the words Susan Clancy ’11 used to describe the process of applying to college during her senior year of high school.
“I thought there was definitely some real competition,” she said. “Kids were all doing so many activities and getting their resumes ready to apply to college.”
Despite the rise in college applicants seen over the past 15 years, projections show that the annual number of high school graduates in the United States will peak at approximately 2.9 million by next year or the year after and then continue to decline until about 2015, according to a recent New York Times article .
This will open spots for college-bound seniors and lower the selectivity level of most of the institutions. In other words, college applicants will have less competition.
Karen Pellegrino, director of admissions, said the number of applicants to Fairfield has increased each year for the past three years, setting a record this year.
“We received 8,035 applications for the class of 2010, 8,557 for the class of 2011, and 8,717 for the class of 2012,” she said. “The admit rate for the class of 2010 was 60 percent, for the class of 2011 it was 55 percent and, to date, the admit rate for the class of 2012 is 56 percent.”
Brooke Angelo, a high school senior from Coyle ‘ Cassidy High School in Taunton, Mass., said she knew Fairfield was a great school and was nervous that she would not be accepted.
“When I applied to Fairfield it was one of my top choices, and I did nothing but count down the days to seeing my acceptance letter,” she said. “I was deferred to the regular admission pool but was ecstatic when I found out I got into the Dolan School of Business.”
Pellegrino said that despite the fluctuation in the number of applicants, Fairfield weighs many factors before deciding whether to admit a student.
“The size of the class is determined by a number of factors,” she said. “This includes the availability of space in the residence halls as well as classroom space.”
Even though the application process is over, students acknowledge the competition associated with applying to college.
“Fairfield was my first choice,” said Colleen Kennedy ’09. “A lot of my friends were rejected from the schools they applied to. It was a difficult process.”
Chris Winslow ’10, however, said that the level of competition between applicants was lower because his peers applied to a wide range of schools.
“Kids applied to schools from all over,” he said. “Even though a lot of kids were applying to school, the competition really wasn’t that intense.”
“I did really well in high school,” said Rich Lauria ’10. “I wasn’t really too concerned applying here that I wouldn’t get in.”
In addition to the decrease in high school graduates, the demographics of applicants are changing drastically.
One example of the changes experts anticipate is an increase in poor- and working-class applicants.
In response, colleges and universities are already increasing their recruitment of students and expanding their financial aid offerings to low-income students with academic potential, according to the Times article.
Katie Hanson ’11 said that family and personal pressures to succeed could create more acceptance competition.
“Parents are pushing kids more and more, and it will only get more difficult in the upcoming years,” she said.
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