NewsAcademicsCollege Guidance
College admission has good year at Darlington
May 8, 2007 12:58 PM
By Tannika King - Faculty
Darlington School is pleased to report that 2006-07 has been a great year for college admission, with students attending Harvard, Princeton, Duke, the University of Virginia, Emory, Washington University, Vanderbilt, and other extremely selective schools this fall. This is outstanding news, considering this year will mark the largest number of high school seniors nationwide to have ever entered college.
"This population trend began in 1995, has risen each year, and demographic studies tell us it will continue through 2013 - and most likely through 2018," said Sam Moss, dean of college guidance. "With the increase in application numbers, predicting outcomes has become virtually impossible. Amont factors that have driven up application numbers are the growth in international students in the United States and the widespread use of the common application, by which students may easily apply to many schools simultaneously."
Rising college costs have made many public universities, such as the University of Georgia, more appealing than ever.
"In the early 90s, for example, UGA received approximately 9,000 applications per year. This year, the university received over 17,000 applications, admitted 9,000, and denied 8,000," said Moss. "Of the admitted students, the average unweighted academic GPA was a 3.84, with a 1270 SAT, and an average of five AP courses. Half of Darlington's applicants were admitted."
Throughout the nation, highly selective, elite colleges such as Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania report record-breaking numbers of applications and a consequent drop in the percentage of students accepted.
"In their reports to us, those colleges all refer to the most selective year in the history of their institutions, the largest application pools, the most selective process, and the smallest percentage of admitted applicants," said Moss. "The Wall Street Journal has described this year's process as 'brutal' and 'increasingly frustrating for students;' the New York Times has referred to the competition as 'ferocious.'"
Perhaps the most extreme example of that degree of competition is Harvard, which rejected 91 percent of its record 22,955 students - the highest deny rate in its history - and consequently the lowest admit rate in Harvard's history, nine percent.
At Darlington, the College Guidance Office set a record as well. This year, staffers processed the largest number of applications ever turned in by a senior class - 766 - a 32 percent increase over last year.
"This has been an extremely strong senior class in terms of their acceptances and scholarship offers - especially given the fact that their SAT average is lower than in the past few years," said Moss. "We had extaordinary good furtune at a number of highly selective institutions where our students were admitted at a much higher rate than the norm."
UVA admitted six out of nine applicants; Vanderbilt admitted six and denied only one; Georgetown, three of four; American University, two of two; Smith College, two of two; Davidson, two of three; Rhodes, four of five; Washington & Lee, two of three; Sewanee, five of eight; UNC Chapel Hill, four of six; Boston College, three of four; Duke, two of three; Emory, six of 10; Furman, six of seven; Rice, two of three; and Washington University, two of three.
Perhaps more important than the number of impressive acceptances, though, is Darlington's philosophy of finding a good fit for each student.
"Whether students are at the top of their class, the bottom, or in the middle, we are all committed to helping them find schools where they will be happy and successful," said Moss. "While it is great fun and good publicity to brag about a Harvard acceptances, it is more important to know that our students will succeed once they get to college - wherever they may go. We should never lose sight of this fact. In my view, that is true success in college admission."
"This population trend began in 1995, has risen each year, and demographic studies tell us it will continue through 2013 - and most likely through 2018," said Sam Moss, dean of college guidance. "With the increase in application numbers, predicting outcomes has become virtually impossible. Amont factors that have driven up application numbers are the growth in international students in the United States and the widespread use of the common application, by which students may easily apply to many schools simultaneously."
Rising college costs have made many public universities, such as the University of Georgia, more appealing than ever.
"In the early 90s, for example, UGA received approximately 9,000 applications per year. This year, the university received over 17,000 applications, admitted 9,000, and denied 8,000," said Moss. "Of the admitted students, the average unweighted academic GPA was a 3.84, with a 1270 SAT, and an average of five AP courses. Half of Darlington's applicants were admitted."
Throughout the nation, highly selective, elite colleges such as Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania report record-breaking numbers of applications and a consequent drop in the percentage of students accepted.
"In their reports to us, those colleges all refer to the most selective year in the history of their institutions, the largest application pools, the most selective process, and the smallest percentage of admitted applicants," said Moss. "The Wall Street Journal has described this year's process as 'brutal' and 'increasingly frustrating for students;' the New York Times has referred to the competition as 'ferocious.'"
Perhaps the most extreme example of that degree of competition is Harvard, which rejected 91 percent of its record 22,955 students - the highest deny rate in its history - and consequently the lowest admit rate in Harvard's history, nine percent.
At Darlington, the College Guidance Office set a record as well. This year, staffers processed the largest number of applications ever turned in by a senior class - 766 - a 32 percent increase over last year.
"This has been an extremely strong senior class in terms of their acceptances and scholarship offers - especially given the fact that their SAT average is lower than in the past few years," said Moss. "We had extaordinary good furtune at a number of highly selective institutions where our students were admitted at a much higher rate than the norm."
UVA admitted six out of nine applicants; Vanderbilt admitted six and denied only one; Georgetown, three of four; American University, two of two; Smith College, two of two; Davidson, two of three; Rhodes, four of five; Washington & Lee, two of three; Sewanee, five of eight; UNC Chapel Hill, four of six; Boston College, three of four; Duke, two of three; Emory, six of 10; Furman, six of seven; Rice, two of three; and Washington University, two of three.
Perhaps more important than the number of impressive acceptances, though, is Darlington's philosophy of finding a good fit for each student.
"Whether students are at the top of their class, the bottom, or in the middle, we are all committed to helping them find schools where they will be happy and successful," said Moss. "While it is great fun and good publicity to brag about a Harvard acceptances, it is more important to know that our students will succeed once they get to college - wherever they may go. We should never lose sight of this fact. In my view, that is true success in college admission."
