Getting In Gets Harder

So, despite the fact that some schools are turning away larger and larger numbers of hopeful applicants, colleges are spending big bucks on marketing, about $2,000 per student, to keep applications rolling in. And it's not just glossy brochures and interactive Web sites. Ball State, for instance, recently hired a public relations firm to create a brand image for the school and come up with a tag line ("Education, redefined"). These days the university advertises itself on billboards and through a series of slick television ads. When it comes to marketing, "sometimes it feels like we're all locked in an arms race," admits Bryn Mawr admissions chief Jenny Rickard. "But no college wants to back away," even though they are getting more than enough applicants to keep their institutions healthy.

At some colleges the bumper crop of applications is causing crowd-control problems. For years Rutgers University has run a private bus to ferry prospective students and their parents around its sprawling New Brunswick, N.J., campus. But in the last five years, as the number of applicants has jumped from 26,000 to 43,000, there's no more room on the bus. By the first week in September parents had already reserved most of the spots through December. The university is looking at building a massive new visitors center to handle the overflow.

By 2015 the number of high-school graduates will begin to drop back out of the stratosphere. But admissions directors are already worrying about the shrinking pool of future applicants, especially the sliver of those who can afford to foot the $40,000 annual tab. The most selective institutions have begun to aggressively recruit applicants from China, Korea, India and South America. Publicly, college admissions officers say they're encouraging international students to enroll in order to improve diversity on campus. At most colleges, though, the active outreach is directed at wealthy international students who can afford to pay the full sticker price of a private four-year education.

For her part, Maxine Wally is sad but resigned. The sheer numbers of applicants this year, she says, makes the process "feel almost random." But a few days after her rejection from Northwestern she'd dried her tears and was putting the finishing touches on her applications to Barnard, New York University and Boston University. "I know I'm one of many, but that doesn't mean I'm not smart and driven and ready to be a committed student."

© 2008