Admissions Tally 2011

By ERIC PLATT, The New York Times

A few weeks ago, colleges and universities notified millions of restless high school seniors of their admissions decisions for fall 2011. In an environment that becomes more competitive year after year, we asked a sampling of colleges and universities for a sense of how things were stacking up. Over all, admittance rates continued to decline. For example, the Ivy League on average admitted 10 percent of applicants, down from the 11 percent recorded last year. The results shouldn’t surprise. Some 2.2 million online applications have been filed for the fall using the Common Application alone, up almost 22 percent from 2010. The glut of applications means admissions offices must deny an increasing proportion of students. But take heart: when the dust settled on last fall’s freshmen class, the average acceptance rate was 67 percent.