High School Grad Numbers

High School Grad Numbers December 11, 2013 High school graduate numbers will drop in the next couple of years. But highly selective college admissions will remain as selective as ever. Theres an article today in Main Street written by Kristin Colella in which the Founder of Ivy Coach, Bev Taylor, is featured entitled Will Fewer High School Grads Make College Acceptance Easier?. As stated in the article on high school grad numbers, According to a report  by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), which was cited in the  Los Angeles Times article, the number of high school graduates  nationally rose from 2.6 million in 1996-97 to a peak of 3.4 million in 2010-11. After the 2010-11 school year, a decline began and the low point will be this school years projected 3.2 million high school grads. The decline can be attributed to the fact that the children of Baby Boomers—the Echo Boom generation—are getting older. But will fewer high school graduates lead to an easier time getting into highly selective colleges? In a word, no. Highly selective college admission will remain as competitive as ever, though it may be easier for students to get into their safety schools in the next few years. So thats always good! Its always nice to have a fallback plan in your back pocket. But dont think for a second that the Ivy League colleges and schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Northwestern, Georgetown, Rice, Duke, Williams, Amherst, the University of Chicago, and similarly competitive schools will be easier to get into. Because that would be fiction were calling it now. Heck, weve called it before. Are you of a different opinion? Do you think the drop in high school graduates in the next couple of years will make it easier to get into highly selective colleges? Let us know your thoughts on the subject by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you! And, while youre here, check out our compiled Ivy League Statistics.