The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has released the 2008 version of the State of College Admission. This report has been issued annual for the past 6 years to document what is happening generally in the world of college admissions. The report confirms that this years high school graduating class will be the largest ever and that nationally the size of the graduating class will start to decrease for the next 8 years. Furthermore, for the third year in a row, three-fourths of 4 years colleges reported an increase in the number of applications.
But not all is bad news. The average rate of acceptance among 4 years colleges was 68%. Yes, despite what you read everyday about how difficult it is to get admitted, colleges on average accept almost 70% of the students that apply. Yes, there are 100 or so colleges in this country where admission rates are getting very selective but at most colleges, including many great ones, getting in is not a huge issue.
According to the colleges themselves, the top factors used in making admission decisions are, in order:
1. Grades in college prepartory classes
2. Strength of curriculum
3. Standardized admission test scores
4. Overall high school grade point average
5. Application essay
6. Class rank
Other factors considered included a student’s demonstrated interest in attending, the counselor recommendations and the teacher recommendations.
Details on all of this information, and more, can be found by reviewing the report. And for those with limited time, just review the first three pages which is the Executive Summary.
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