The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Admissions Cycle of 2022 and What To Learn From It For Next Year
Harvard = 3.19%
Yale = 4.47%
Dartmouth = 6.2%
Georgia Tech = 17%
NYU = 12.2%
Minerva = <1.0%
Yes, those are 2022 admissions acceptance rates. No, they are not typos.
Given that colleges are not shrinking themselves, you could correctly infer that application volume is up. Most of these colleges (along with others in the top 100 or so US schools) are experiencing record numbers of applications. This is as simple as supply-and-demand situations come; more applications for the same number of seats equals lower acceptance rates.
Okay, but why? Why are there more applications? This is less simple.
As it did with everything, the pandemic threw the admissions cycle off kilter. Some students last year chose to take a year off, either by waiting to apply to college at all until this year, or by applying and accepting admission, but then deferring their entry date until Fall 2022. Understandably, these students (and parents) bristled at paying full tuition for a Zoom-only college experience. As a result, some spots in this year’s cycle were reserved for students admitted last year, and on top of that there were more applicants once those who sat out last year entered this year’s pool.
The number of individual students using the Common App is up 13% from two years ago, and each of those students applied to 6% more schools than the average user did two years ago. The whole test-optional movement has also had a big influence on application numbers; when students aren’t worried that their test scores may disqualify them for acceptance, they’re emboldened to apply to more schools. There’s still more complexity to the situation, but suffice it to say, it was a hard year for those seeking admission to elite colleges. This is particularly true for those who might have traditionally expected to get in on the basis of test scores, prep school pedigree, and legacy, all three of which have been largely neutralized in the current cycle. (For more on this, see the excellent article by Nicole Laporte in the May 2022 issue of Town and Country).
“It was a hard year…
for those seeking admission to elite colleges. Most colleges are experiencing record application numbers.”
As a junior or sophomore, what can I do to avoid this fate?
Develop a college list with real range, including reach schools, target schools, and safety schools that you would actually want to attend. I got a call last week from a family whose senior had not used a consultant. The student had only applied to Ivies, Seven Sisters schools, UChicago, and one tiny local college. She got waitlisted everywhere but the local school, which she has no desire or intention to attend. Make your list as ambitious as you like, but fill out both ends of the spectrum with schools you would like to attend. Look for schools that aren’t as “elite” but might be a great fit for you. Look at Chapman in addition to UCLA. Look at Emerson as well as Harvard. There are hundreds of smaller, less “famous” schools that are going to nurture you as an individual, maybe more than a giant prestigious university that spends its time and money on graduate students and research facilities.
Take at least one SAT or ACT. As much as the test-optional phenomenon has captured media attention, some schools are backing down from the policy. The university system of Georgia (UGA, Georgia Tech) started requiring tests in the middle of the cycle last year. MIT is going to start requiring tests again for applicants this year. The UNC system just announced they will keep the system test-optional for another year, but it was a close vote. Additionally, now that we’re starting to see the results of a couple of years of test-optional policies, the anecdotal evidence is that applicants who submit test scores are being admitted at higher rates than those who don’t. While correlation doesn’t equal causation, it’s a correlation worth noting.
Start on your applications early, especially the essays. When applying to elite schools with a 5% acceptance rate, you can guess that 30% of applicants are “perfect” students (SAT above 1500, GPA above 4.0, lots of activities, etc.). Therefore even if you are a “perfect” student, you still only have a one in six chance of acceptance. How do you stand out from the other five competitors? ESSAYS. Be funny, be serious, be inspirational, but most of all be AUTHENTIC. Readers can spot a contrived essay a mile away. And for Heaven’s sake, be interesting! These folks are reading hundreds and hundreds of student essays. Do almost anything, but don’t bore them.
(Here comes the advertisement) Work with an admissions consultant! Your high school counselor will do their very best to help you, but the average school counselor is responsible for 500-600 students, and has to help not only with admissions, but with high school graduation requirements, and a dozen other things. In my consultancy, on the other hand, I only accept 20-25 students per year, and college admissions is all I do.
My clients have been accepted at Ivy League colleges, international schools, big state universities, and smaller schools from the elite to the quirky. Mine is a boutique practice; you will never be handed off to an assistant or intern, because there are none. If you call or text, I’m the one who answers. You will get my personal attention to every question and concern.