Getting Into The Ivies Is Harder Than It Used To Be
By Dr. Marciene Mattleman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - High school juniors and seniors are finding that getting into the Ivies, selective colleges, is harder than it used to be. But, as suggested in The New York Times, the reasons aren't well understood.
Although the 40 and 50-year-olds did get into the Ivy schools more easily, the number of spots for American kids now has dropped; at Harvard it's dropped 27%. Taking those seats are foreign students, who bring diversity and greater revenue.
Yale is down 24%, Brown and Amherst 19%, while the University of Southern California and NYU, have improved by increasing the number of those elite seats. And, every college has legacy seats, children of alumni, varsity athletes and underrepresented minorities set aside.
One passage in the Times article should bring comfort. There's little evidence that selectivity of college matters much...later in life if you had identical SAT scores whether you attended Penn or Penn State.
