Tough admissions at elite schools.

[usc4valpo]

These videos are frequent on YouTube, TicToc, you name it. student with truly outstanding credentials such as a 4.3 GPA out of 4, 1500 SAT, activities galore, national merit finalist, job, service, etc., are getting rejected consistent by elite academic schools like Yale, Duke, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, MIT, Rice, Harvard, Stanford, USC(?) Vanderbilt, etc. the admission criteria for these schools is a real crapshoot.

Also, as a proud USC alum, I am dumbfounded how their academic standards have become so stringent of late.

[crusader05]

It's hard to tell how much is this being a new thing or just a thing that is now being video taped for all to see.  BUT the reality is that all of these schools are probably all pulling the best candidates out there and even if an individual's credentials are spectacular on an individual level they are competing with people who have similar credentials or different life experiences that make them an interesting candidate.

I think it also doesn't help that over the past two years or so applications to the most elite schools soared with the test optional part for SATS/ACTS. More students throwing their hat in the ring.

[valpo95]

The reality is that of the schools mentioned above, other than UC Berkeley, most of them have small undergraduate programs. This means that they are enrolling between 1,000 and 2,000 new first year students. UC and USC probably enroll as many undergraduates as all of the other eight programs combined. These are all great schools to be sure, yet much of that reputation comes from their graduate programs.

Beyond that, one of the consequences of the connected world is that the elite universities also get more applicants from all over. It used to be that filling out another paper application had a cost in terms of time, and a student from say Illinois might not think about too many of those schools: They might apply to Northwestern, plus one or two "dream" schools on one of the coasts. I know for me, I only applied to schools that I might want to attend.

In addition, it was objectively harder to get information about schools outside of your region - you looked at brochures or talked to admission counselors that visited your school. Now, it is easy to get information about Rice or Vanderbilt when those might not have been on the radar at all. Now, with a few clicks and the common app, that student can apply to all ten. So, the elite universities get more "selective" because the number of applications has gone up.

The downside is that schools like Valpo are competing with many more possible choices. I'd guess the common app has improved the number of applicants to Valpo, yet probably the interest in actually attending Valpo is lower with each applicant.

[vu72]

yet much of that reputation comes from their graduate programs.

I've often said this to high schoolers I visit with when doing a college fair for Valpo.  If the "elites" are getting even more elite, it begs the question--do you want to have an experience of learning with a broad cross section of society or one where your fellow students can't get there brains beyond quantum physics?  At Valpo, about 5% of a typical incoming class are valedictorians. Obviously, most end up studying in Christ College, but others major in business, nursing or engineering or, at Valpo, do both.  It just makes sense to me to get an under grad experience at a high level university like Valpo and then seek your graduate degree at the Princeton's of the world.  Agree usc4valpo?

[usc4valpo]

Good discussion and something I am talking to my daughter about. She wants to major in biomedical or chemical engineering, although I am trying to influence her that perhaps an electrical engineering degree at the undergrad level can lead to graduate level education in those specific majors. She also has Iowa State on her radar which is strong overall in engineering, and Iowa which has great connected to the medical school if she wants to go biomedical. Honestly, I'd like to see her go that route instead of private school route - I'd like to retire at a point in my life! But she is very ambitious, talking several AP classes and involved in school. We'll see...