The Ivy ceiling

In the late eighties, my dad attended high school in Connecticut. From my youth, I remember him telling me stories of his high school experience: adjusting to life in America, making new friends, and studying in the hope of becoming an engineer. In most ways, his experience parallels my own - except for his college application process. 

My dad applied to five schools; I applied to many more. What has changed? And what are the consequences?

The first question has some clear answers. Simply put, more people are applying to college while space in selective colleges has remained relatively flat. The massive endowments of the Ivy League have allowed them to recruit from the best students without looking at financial need. Schools have attempted to actively branch out to minority groups previously underrepresented in higher education. To be clear, I believe this is a good thing. 

At the same time, however, selectivity has risen dramatically. In 1990, Columbia University’s acceptance rate was reported to be 25%. Now, it hovers at around 4%. Furthermore, a low acceptance rate has become associated with prestige and academic excellence—something that just isn’t true. 

Colleges have historically competed with each other, whether for athletic glory, government funding, or just simply for bragging rights. But competition has become even fiercer since the creation of the U.S. News and World Report Rankings. For Harvard University, Princeton University, and Stanford University, the rankings contribute more to ego than to increasing their already selective applicant pools. But for less well-known schools, rankings have become the best way to get the attention of students and their families.

The ranking system has made it easier for students to pick where to apply. Many students understandably want to go to a school with a high ranking, which has meant rising application numbers and sinking acceptance rates. And what do students do when acceptances go down? They apply to more schools. You can get the picture.

As institutions for the public good, universities aren’t doing enough to solve the problem. Schools with large endowments, such as Harvard, have a moral obligation to increase their enrollment and make themselves more accessible. More controversially, I believe that the Ivies and their peers should enforce a cap on how many schools from their group a student can apply to. While this sounds radical, the United Kingdom already does this, with students being able to apply to either Oxford or Cambridge, not both.

Even with these suggestions, the acceptance rates at selective schools will remain low. Not everyone who deserves a spot at an Ivy League school will get one. But even the act of acknowledging this issue and addressing it would help universities not only improve their perception among the wider public but also bolster their research programs and thus strengthen the institutions themselves.

American Universities, a cornerstone of the nation’s success and the gold standard for universities all across the globe, ought to do better.