A handful of top universities around the nation have recorded banner years in freshman applications, including a 42 percent increase at the University of Chicago, a 19 percent rise at Princeton and a 17 percent increase at the University of Pennsylvania. The number of applications to Chicago has doubled since 2006, and the number to Harvard topped 30,000 for the first time.<\/p>\n
“It’s a migration of high school seniors to strong institutions, strong brands,” said John Latting, dean of undergraduate admissions at Hopkins. “Either they are prepared to pay, or they are confident that the aid is out there for them.”<\/p>\n
Some admissions experts say the increase simply means each senior is applying to more schools. Each new group of seniors applies to a larger number of schools, “with the hope of hitting the merit-money jackpot,” said Sally Rubenstone, senior adviser at the Web site College Confidential. “Acceptance rates plummet, which, in turn, terrifies the next crop of seniors, who then apply to an even longer list of schools.”<\/p>\n