College Admissions Misconception

College Admissions Misconception April 3, 2013 Its not more difficult to get into an Ivy League college this year as compared to last year. Its a misconception. One of our objectives with our college admissions blog is to point out inaccuracies as they relate to the highly selective college admissions process. There is a post on TIME today written by Kayla Webley that is a bit misleading and wed like to clarify a college admissions misconception or two. First of all, Ms. Webleys article is entitled, Ivy League Schools Accepting Even Fewer Kids. This is a misleading and inaccurate title. The eight Ivy League schools are accepting just about as many students as theyve accepted for the past several years. If you dont believe us, check out the Ivy League admissions statistics. Now lets move on to the first sentence of the article which reads, Gaining entry into an Ivy League school is getting tougher every year. This too is misleading as it is not in fact getting tougher every year to get into an Ivy League school. Just because admission rates may drop at some schools in the Ivy League, that doesnt mean those schools are getting tougher to get i nto. And whys that? Just because more students apply to a school doesnt mean the admissions cycle is more selective than the previous year. Students with C averages dont make an applicant pool more competitive. But because the US News World Report rankings are so important to Ivy League colleges and other highly selective universities, theyll encourage even unqualified applicants to apply. Maybe theyll send them mailings. Maybe theyll flood their email inbox. You get the idea. Ms. Webley obviously didnt intend to write anything that was inaccurate. Weve read her work before and shes an excellent education reporter one of the very best. We just wanted to set the record straight on this issue as it makes us roll our eyes when people say that its getting harder and harder to get into the top colleges. It isnt really. Statistics can be misleading!