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An article in today’s New York Times names Lafayette as one of the colleges “traditionally perceived as being a notch below the most elite, [which] have seen their cachet climb because of the astonishing competitive crush at the top.” These “new Ivies” are seeing large increases in their admissions applications.
An excerpt of the article, “Ivy League Crunch Brings New Cachet to Next Tier,” follows. The full article can be seen here:
John Dunham, a senior at the private Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J., had trained his sights on Bucknell University and Lafayette College. He was rejected by Bucknell and put on the waiting list at Lafayette. His college counselor pushed him toward Kenyon College in Ohio, or as the counselor put it “the Williams of the Midwest.”
But Mr. Dunham, a solid student who played football and baseball in high school, decided to play baseball on an athletic scholarship at Central Connecticut State.
“People are definitely broadening their horizons, because it’s gotten so competitive,” Mr. Dunham said.
The logjam is the result of supply and demand. The number of students graduating from high school has been increasing, and the preoccupation with the top universities, once primarily a Northeastern phenomenon, has become a more national obsession. High-achieving students are also applying to more colleges than they used to, primarily because of uncertainty over where they will be admitted.
Supply, however, has remained constant. Most of the sought-after universities have not expanded their freshman classes.
There are other reasons, too, why these colleges and universities find their stock climbing. To position themselves in the fiercely competitive market, they have hired stronger faculty; built new libraries, science complexes, dining halls, fitness centers and dormitories; and created international programs and interdisciplinary majors. Many have also sought to transform themselves from regional institutions to national ones, recruiting across the country.
High school guidance counselors have become the reality instructors, encouraging students and parents to think more broadly about colleges.
“Now a kid who is applying to Harvard, Yale, Princeton is also applying to the Lehighs and Lafayettes,” said Brett Levine, director of guidance at Madison High School in New Jersey. “It’s the same tier, basically.”