A recent post on the New York Times blog graphically showed the winners and losers among the Ivy League schools in this past admissions cycle. The University of Pennsylvania was the big winner, with an increase of applications of just over 14%. Dartmouth, my alma mater, was the big loser, with a decrease of just over 14%.
Columbia and Harvard saw small decreases in applications, too, while the others (Cornell, Yale, Princeton, and Brown) had modest gains in their application numbers.
Why does this happen from year to year? Hard to know. UPenn credits its partnership with KIPP charter schools for at least part of the increase: more applicants applied for application fee waivers than ever before.
Dartmouth’s precipitous drop may be due to a lot of factors, including ending the practice of accepting AP (Advanced Placement) courses for credit, its lousy publicity in recent months, and the continued dominance of the fraternity system in campus social life. The director of admission, Maria Laskaris, is leading an analysis of the reasons for the decline.
Whether winners or loser, we can expect that overall it will continue to be more and more difficult to get into the Ivy League in coming years.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant for Students Bound for the Ivy League
