You don’t even think about applying to Harvard and Yale unless you think you’re elite college material, crème de la crème. But the number of students who feel they meet this criteria brings to mind the old poll in which, amazingly, 80% of Americans felt they were “above average.” (That figure can never rise above 50%, of course, but all you Ivy League applicants knew that!)
Anyway, either it has never been more challenging to get into an elite college, or else there have just never been so many delusional aspirants. Application numbers keep rising, especially now that the Common Application makes applying to most schools a one-size-fits-all proposition. There’s an application fee, but who wouldn’t wager $75 on a chance to walk around for the rest of your life saying “I went to Harvard”? You may have heard — that opens some doors.
But that $75 wager has increasingly long odds of paying off. Last year, to fill its class of 2021, according stats it released to the public, Harvard selected 2,056 out of 39,506 applicants. Yale chose 2,272 out of 37,389 applicants. Together the two universities rejected 68,078 kids. That’s a lot of thin envelopes. Or does Harvard just break hearts and smash dreams with a text these days? At least these traditional institutions aren’t ghosting. Yet. As of now, for $75, you can at least be assured that the courtesy of a reply remains protocol.
