Colleges' Admission Worries Can Benefit Applicants

With the college admission spotlight almost exclusively focused on the field's heavy hitters (we know who they are), it can seem that college admission is nearly impossible for anyone. Even students with good grades, plenty of AP and honors courses, high testing and plenty of substantial activities can find themselves relegated to the pile of what I used to call the "merely wonderful." Shiny as a new penny, these applicants still couldn't break into the upper echelons of collegiate status-ville.

Surprisingly, perhaps, no serious harm usually ensues after those rejections. Students found themselves comfortably ensconced at schools with less lustrous names or perhaps rejected at one big name while being accepted at another.

In a word, the process only makes sense if you assume it takes a form that makes string theory look like something the cat plays with. But if there's one things to remember it's that who applicants are and what they've accomplished can be overshadowed, sometimes positively, by the needs of the institutions to which they've applied. Put aside the ideal that applicants should be accepted purely on their "merits." The meaning of that word is vitiated once the applicant pool forms and admission directors receive the good or bad news about what's needed from the president, trustees, treasurer, athletic directors and anyone else with a stake in the makeup of the next class.

If applicants want to be strategic in their applications and if they're willing to explore outside the realm of the blessed, it would help to consider some revelations contained in the 2017 Survey of College and University Admission Directors: A Study by Inside Higher Ed and Gallup. It's based on a survey of 435 college admission directors. The best news is that colleges' distress can be your way to access.

Before I get to some of the observations made in the report, I want to emphasize that many of the institutions experiencing difficulties around receiving enough applications or building a class aren't necessarily second-rate or incapable of supporting good liberal arts and science programs. They're often excellent schools with unique programs located outside the mythical Northeast or Southern California. They take some thoughtful consideration to discover their good qualities. They may not have the budgets or the window dressing of Nobel Prize-winning professors or the "national arboretum" designation that every campus with a few trees seems to have, but they do offer genuine opportunities for teaching and learning as well as good post-graduation possibilities.

To get you thinking about these opportunities, here are some of the Survey's findings:

1. A majority of admission directors --85%--were very or moderately concerned about meeting their institution's enrollment goals for this coming academic year.
2. Only 34% of respondents said that they had reached their enrollment goals by the traditional May 1 deadline.
3. Nearly 40% say they've stepped up efforts to recruit rural students since the 2016 election and 30% say the same about low-income white students. Interestingly, only 8% say they've increased efforts to recruit "politically conservative" students. (Information about a student's political orientation is not generally requested on applications, however.)
4. In a move that can cause controversy, 63% of admission directors say their institution has sought more out-of-state students, including "roughly" 9 in 10 at public four-year institutions.
5. 80% of respondents say they're losing potential applicants because of student debt concerns. That breaks down to 89% at private colleges and 71% at publics.
6. Two-thirds of admissions directors say their institution now provides financial aid awards earlier in the admission process in response to the changes in the FAFSA process (use of "prior-prior year" financial information). But they aren't making admission decisions earlier as a result.
7. Just over 40% of admission directors believe colleges should add optional questions about sexual orientation or gender identity on their applications. (Something the Common Application already offers to students.)

Focusing just on the concerns directors have about meeting their goals, it may be helpful to look at rising acceptance rates for the Class of 2021. A rising rate can mean several things: fewer applicants, a decision to increase the size of the freshman class or a dip in the previous year's enrollment numbers. Whatever the cause, an awareness of this development can be part of a strategic application plan.

Here's a sample of schools that have had rising rates of acceptance, making them likely possibilities for students who feel shut out of the most competitive institutions. These data are from the excellent website College Kickstart (The first number is this past year's acceptance rate; the second is the year before; the percentage is the change itself):

This list is only a partial review; subscribers can get more detailed information.

Also useful in this context is the U.S. News data published along with its rankings each year. Whatever you think of the rankings (I try not to), the information published along with them is worth consulting. Some of it is startling: Oberlin, for example, took 63% of its class Early Decision last year, another strategic consideration if Oberlin is a top choice. (To get full access to this year's data also requires a subscription, good for a year.)

With time and patience, researching colleges' own admission situations can help students and families get into the game more confidently. Instead of relying on hope and good fortune and with a willingness to expand educational horizons, students can find exceptional schools that really could use them. And you might even be a standout there where you might only have been just another student at the more competitive school. This kind of strategizing may not ensure an acceptance, but it does help increase the odds.