Why Has College Admissions Become So Competitive? : Which Colleges Are the Most Selective?

Why So Much Interest in Such a Small Group of Colleges?

What is behind such intense interest in this small group of colleges and universities? Why, in particular, does such a mystique surround the colleges included in the Ivy League, as well as a few others accorded similar status? What benefits do these elite colleges bestow (or do people believe they bestow) on their graduates?

Prestige, of course, is one obvious answer. By definition, the more selective a college, the more difficult it is to get into and the greater the prestige associated with being admitted. The student enjoys the prestige directly (after all, the student is the one who was admitted!), but parents enjoy prestige by association. Parents are often the primary drivers of the push toward prestige, but students also report similar pressures from peers in high school. Just in the last generation, going to a highly ranked college has become a status symbol of greater value than almost any other consumer good, in part because it cannot simply be purchased if you have enough money.

Although some people openly acknowledge considering prestige in college choice, many more will cite the assumed quality of the educational experience as the basis for their interest in an elite college. But this rationale often depends on the unstated, and often untested, assumption that a good indicator of the quality of something is how much others seek it. This means that selective colleges are presumed to offer a better education; the more selective, the higher the quality. But is this really true?

I was happy and proud when my son was accepted at Stanford. I quickly became embarrassed, though, by the gushing responses I received when friends asked where he was going. He had just been accepted to college, after all—he had not won the Nobel Prize. Things have gotten rather warped.  - Parent of Stanford freshman

Take the eight colleges of the Ivy League, for example—Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and Columbia University. One counselor we know, whose children attended two of these institutions, refers to the group as the “Climbing Vine Schools” to take away a little of the allure of the name. The Ivy League originally referred only to a football league. (Only seven colleges belonged at first. Brown University eventually joined as the eighth member, although several other colleges were considered possibilities at the time.) Over time, though, Ivy League colleges have become known among the general public primarily for academics rather than athletics and are accorded high prestige. The admission rate of each Ivy places it in the super-selective or highly selective category, and each has renowned faculty as well as fine students. Everyone agrees that they are excellent schools, but do the Ivies automatically offer undergraduates an educational experience better than that at many other institutions? The answer, well known in academic circles but surprising to many others, is assuredly no.

The college admissions process should be about fit—the fit between a student and a college. Finding a good fit does not mean that there is just one perfect school for a student—it means exploring an array of factors that can enhance a student’s academic and personal success.