Diploma Drop to Make College Entry Easier

College freshmen share their lessons about admissions success

(NEWSER) - Applications continue to flood into top US colleges despite the economic slowdown. With admissions as competitive as ever, the Wall Street Journal talks to six people who know—college freshmen—and asks for their advice:

• Don't let naysayers deter you from your dream school: "It pays off to keep on going for it even if you're told you can't do it," says a Stanford product design major.

Thin-letter notices reach students in record numbers

(NEWSER) - The dreaded thin letter from college admissions offices is cluttering mailboxes in record numbers this year, but you'd think the elite of the elite would be safe. Not so, reports the Austin American-Statesman, which talks to local top students, including one who capped his impressive high school record with perfect scores on his SAT and ACT but failed to sway Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and others. More»

Harvard accepts just 7% of applicants

(NEWSER) - Acceptance letters from the nation's top colleges will begin to arrive on prospective students' doorsteps today, but far more rejection letters are in the mail than ever before, reports the New York Times. Harvard and Yale accepted only 7.1% and 8.3% of applicants, respectively, both record lows as schools struggle with changing demographics. More»

School sees 50% jump in applications over 4 years

(NEWSER) - Harvard has drawn 35,000 applications this year—a 15% increase over last year and a whopping 50% increase in four years. That means about 6% of Class of 2014 applicants will be admitted, compared to about 9% of Class of 2010 applicants. About one in 50 high school seniors now applies to Harvard, writes Daniel de Vise in the Washington Post . That’s largely due to students each applying to a greater number of schools, pushing peers to do the same in a “self-perpetuating cycle,” De Vise notes, adding that the "30,000 club is growing"—Northwestern and Penn both entered it this year. More»

Uncertain economy has schools, students hedging bets

(NEWSER) - The odds aren't looking good for the 3,382 high school seniors currently wait-listed by Duke—the college thinks it will probably end up taking only about 60 of them. Duke is far from the only college to dump record numbers of applicants into admissions purgatory this year, as economic uncertainty has both colleges and applicants hedging their bets, the New York Times reports. More»