Some selective colleges are reporting that up to 30,000 students applied for places in a 2010 freshman class of 1500 students. (See the New York Times Education Life article: Application Inflation: When Is Enough Enough?)

This situation raises various questions:

  • Is a college able to give each of these applications the proper review?
  • Since each college has a particular mission and personality, are colleges really communicating what they are looking for in a student?
  • With so many terrific students out there, do so many of them need to hear “no” at particularly popular schools?

There are well over 3,000 colleges in the US and not all of them have such high application numbers. They may know the type of student they wish to attract and communicate this effectively. They then receive a more reasonable number of applications relative to the size of their freshman class.

College applicants also need to hear the messages of the different colleges and understand that every college is not for every student. Good research is essential to identify the the best fit college.