This article in the Chronicle of Higher Education addresses how and why some colleges seek continually to increase their application numbers-- and the effects for our students.  This article continues a series begun with previous entries in this blog.

Excerpts:

“There’s a yin and a yang to these increases,” Mr. Miller says. “We recruit these students and other highly selective colleges recruit these students, and if collectively we’ve raised aspirations, then that’s a good thing for the country. The downside is the stress and the incredible disappointment. There are wonderful kids who aren’t getting in who would have gotten in five to seven years ago.”

 

“As students apply to more places, it’s harder for colleges to know what’s a real application and what’s not, and so it’s harder to counsel kids reasonably,” says James W. Jump, academic dean and director of guidance at St. Christopher’s School, in Richmond, Va., and former president of NACAC. “I worry about the pressures on colleges, and with the need to increase applications, I worry about how much counseling is going on. How often do they tell students, ‘This is not a good place for you?’”