Let the typical spring media frenzy over admissions begin. Stanford University has announced that its acceptance rate for the fall has hit a record low: 9.5 percent. More than 25,000 students applied for a spot in the fall’s incoming class and only 2,400 were accepted. Stanford’s acceptance rate last year was 10.3 percent.
With a record number of applicants, other colleges are likely to announce similar low acceptance rates in the coming weeks. The media will report these numbers leading high-school students and their parents to think it’s impossible to get into college. Not so, according to a recent article in The Chronicle, which reported that 80 percent of current first-year students were admitted to their top-choice college. —Jeffrey Selingo