Colleges Report Increased Applications for 2010

With many college application filing periods now closed, statistics on the numbers of applications received by some of the most popular schools are becoming available...and they show that more kids are applying to more colleges. Here's a sampling of some current figures:

University of California system-wide applications up 6%:http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14191613?nclick_check=1

University of California, Santa Barbara apps up 7.7%:http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2156

University of California, Santa Cruz applications up 5.4%, transfer apps up
24.8%: http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=3480

University of California, Davis applications up 6.5% overall, transfer
applications up 25%http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2010/01/11/daily38.html


University of California, Merced applications up 21%

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/1007817.html

Harvard applications up 5%:http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/01/a-first-for-harvard/

U of Chicago Sees 42% applicant jump:http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-14/chicago-sees-42-applicant-jump-in-competition-with-harvard.html

Dartmouth applications up 4%:http://thedartmouth.com/2010/01/13/news/applications


What does this mean for all those seniors who just finished the frantic, stressful rush to complete college applications? Unfortunately, it's hard to say. With the University of California and California State system in such upheaval of late, many kids who would have applied only to UCs or CSUs just a year ago now see now reason, financial or academic, not to branch out and apply to private and out-of-state public schools, which are suddenly comparative in cost given the rise of tuition fees in California. Whether their decision to put in more private applications will result in fewer spaces in the freshman classes of some colleges remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: It's not getting any easier out there for the college kids of tomorrow.