Applying for college admissions has become super easy now, but at the same time, it has also become super competitive as well, thanks to the increasing technological advancement and equally increasing number of college applicants. Years ago, people were quite satisfied with a degree or diploma of any kind that would get them a job. Not so anymore; now parents are striving to enroll their kids into the very best colleges. Parents are now well-informed and want the best for their kids and they don’t want to take a chance by applying to just one college. They have several backup colleges all planned out in case their child does not get admission in the college they want.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic/
freedigitalphotos.net

One application fits all – the Common Application

The introduction of the common application not only made the application process easier on one hand, but it also made the application process a lot more competitive as well. This is because of the two-edged sword nature of this feature. Once you fill in the common application online, the same application can be used by many colleges.
A survey conducted found that almost 500 colleges are now accepting the common application as opposed to a 100 colleges a few years ago. This has opened up the process for more applicants thereby increasing chances for many more to be in the application process.

Heavy advertising by colleges

The advertising gimmicks of some of the colleges are also to blame for the stiff competition. People fall for the colleges who promise the moon which may not be the case most of the time. Remember the old adage ‘All that glitters is not gold’. So doing an extensive and thorough research can prevent you from falling for these advertising gimmicks that some colleges resort to promote their college as the best.

Not enough colleges

Even though many colleges are mushrooming over the country there are not enough colleges of good standing for all the college applicants out there. This results in the heavy competition and waiting lists that are now the norm in the few colleges of good repute.

More high school graduates

Compared to the number of high school graduates from a couple of decades ago, there is now an increase of 20% from 1980 to 2010. This has in turn resulted in many more college applicants than ever before. A survey conducted recently showed that the college applicants have increased from 1.17 million to 1.8 million over a space of a decade.

Too many applicants

With the rise in high school graduates and the older generation going back to school, the number of applicants has increased considerably than before. In the past, the older generation was hesitant to update their skills or acquire new skills. Now with advance in technology and higher standards that are expected at the workplace, the older generation has also returned to college making it a very competitive process for all involved.

Blame it on the economy

With the looming budget cuts and fiscal deficit on the horizon, colleges are skeptical about hiring more staff which means they have to cut down classes and courses. This has a big impact on the applicants for whom an already competitive application process becomes even more difficult.


The lack of funding has resulted in fewer classes offered. In the past, if you wanted to sign up for a biology class, you had the option of enrolling in the night class or morning class and on different days of the week. Now you do not have that many options and you end up being on a big waiting list as well if it is a class that is in demand.


So, the college admission process has become very competitive because of an increase in awareness about the value of education and also because there are not enough good colleges to meet the demands of the growing number of college applicants that are graduating from high school.

Ralph Coleman is well established counselor who provides relevant information to students who are aspiring to pursue career-focused associate degree programs such as nursing, criminal justice, medical assisting, radiologic technology, business administration etc.