Over at his New York Times blog, The Choice, Jacques Steinberg is keeping and updating a chart outlining the admssions numbers at some of the most selective colleges and universities, which have just sent or are about to send out their yes-or-no letters. The most notable trend at this point, he says, is that
applications to elite private colleges rose again this academic year, despite the economic constraints on many families, and admission rates often fell to record lows.
Not all the numbers are in, but so far the biggest jumps in applications are at University of Pennsylvania, up more than 18 percent, and Brown, up more than 20 percent. (A commenter reported a 42 percent increase at U. of Chicago, but that’s not verified.) At Stanford, the acceptance rate was 7.2 percent and at Harvard, it was 6.9 percent, which is ridiculous.
My only response is to quote the last line of Wolcott GIbbs’ New Yorker profile of Henry Luce (written in Time-ese): “Where it all will end, knows God.”
—Ben
