I applied to three colleges, visited one, and wrote zero essays. Upon realizing the complexity of today’s college process, I immediately sought expert guidance from iCC.
Gone are the days when applying to college meant “filling out a few forms” and perhaps “writing a college essay.” Today, most students must simultaneously write numerous essays, manage online application platforms, and navigate multiple deadlines. Colleges expect students to follow specific procedures for submitting test scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation and often have different policies regarding standardized testing. Colleges also differ in terms of whether they admit students by major, school, or the university as a whole. They also offer various admissions plans that can potentially maximize admissions chances. Over the past few decades, the number of spots in first-year classes at most colleges has remained relatively consistent while the numbers of applicants for those same spots have exponentially increased.
*2021 admit rate; Princeton declined to release its 2022 rate to “tamp down the anxiety of applicants”
* 2021 acceptance rate; Penn declined to release its 2022 acceptance rate.
**The chance of any one applicant being accepted to USC plummeted from 69% in 1980 to less than 17% in 2016.
Many public flagship state universities are especially competitive for out-of-state students. The chart below illustrates the selectivity of some of the nation’s top public flagship institutions:
| Overall 2022 Admit Rate | In-State | Out-of-State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Texas-Austin | 28.7% | 100% automatic admits ~10% non-auto admits | ~8% |
| University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | 16.8% | 43.1% | 8.2% |
| University of Virginia | 19% | 28% | 15% |
| UCLA | 8.5% | 9.1% | 7.5% |
