March 28, 2024, marked the long-awaited Ivy Day for this application cycle. Nervous and bursting with anticipation, students all across the world, and at CVHS, open their admissions decision from some of the most prestigious schools in the world, such as Yale University, Princeton University and Harvard University. Several other competitive schools announced their decisions the same day, including NYU (New York University) and Berkeley University. Based on statistics alone, one can be sure that the vast majority of students received disappointments.
College admissions decisions have been on the decline at notable schools. With the cost of tuition skyrocketing, prospective college students are being faced with harsh realities about college in multiple ways. USC’s (University of Southern California) acceptance rate was confirmed to have dropped to 9.2% from last year’s 9.9%. Yale University admitted only 3.7% of applicants, the lowest acceptance rate in the university’s 322-year-old history. Last year, Vanderbilt’s overall acceptance rate was 5.6%, slightly higher than this year’s 5.1%. For universities of a similar standing, the list goes on. Despite challenges with the college admissions process. 94.4% of respondents to a survey of 18 CVHS seniors say they are happy with where they are either intending to matriculate or have committed to attend.
CVHS is ranked #35 in public high schools in the United States. With a high-achieving student body, expectations about college and a sense of validation are prevalent in students’ feelings about where to apply and where they are ultimately attending. When comparing data on the extent a university’s prestige influenced their final college decision versus what schools they applied to, students reported that prestige influenced their decision less than it did when they were first beginning to apply.
“I for sure think it’s an ego thing. It’s kind of being like, ‘Oh, I’ve worked so hard. I’m going to Harvard.’ You feel better. A lot of kids like you think, ‘I’m taking all these APs, and I’m just going to an easy school.’ There’s no gratification to it. I feel like when people get accepted into a good school, they know, ‘Now people around me know that I’m smart,’” Senior My-Tran Vo said.
CVHS students reported that finances played more of a significant role in their college decision, with 61.1% ranking its influence as a 5 and 22.2% placing it as a 3 on a scale of 1-5. Top schools can carry price tags of $95,000. It must be acknowledged that these top schools have large endowments that give them the liberty to provide generous financial aid programs.
For example, Rice University gives aid to students whose families make below $75,000 to pay for both tuition and room and board, also giving students scholarships to pay for tuition if their family’s income falls between $75,000 and $140,000. Such programs may not be as widely available at public universities, and CVHS students still prioritize financial well-being when considering where to pursue higher education.
“I knew from the beginning of college apps that cost was going to be a defining factor in whether I’d be able to attend the colleges I got into. In the end, I chose to attend the university that gave me the most aid, allowing me to pursue my education without going into hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt. It’s truly outrageous what some colleges expect you to pay, and without aid from them, it was virtually impossible for me to make any other choice than one [sic] I did,” wrote a CVHS senior on the anonymous poll.
Some CVHS students are even thinking beyond high school, making plans in the present to best prepare for their plans after they complete their undergraduate studies.
“Choosing between Harvard or WashU on a full ride, and since I’m looking into med school minimizing debt is a huge deal and is why the choice is so complicated — dream school/ prestige or worth the money + prestige in the med field,” another anonymous student said.
While the majority of students say they did not expect to be going where they are most likely to attend, this seems to have no significant effect on their reported happiness. While prestige and costs may feel pressure, whether due to familial, peer, or societal expectations, there are several other important factors to consider that play into a student’s happiness at university.
“You’re going to be the most happy with your school when you get there on the first day of school… Once you’re actually on campus, and once it’s the first day, it’s move-in day. Everyone around you is going to make the same choice that you made. I feel like that’s when I’m going to feel happy about my decision because I’ll kind of be like, ‘Oh, I’m finally here. I really like this,’” Senior Bela Jotwani said.
CVHS seniors hope that these words provide a sense of solace to rising seniors who will be starting the application process as early as this summer. Senior Sophia Singley even created a website gifted to Upstream News, which essentially gives case profiles about current seniors. The website’s contents range from students’ rankings, GPA, SAT or ACT scores, admissions decisions, essay topics, and more. The website also contains an advice section, with many students echoing similar sentiments to each other, showing they are content with the final outcomes. Even those seniors not included on the website echo the same sentiments.
“When I got rejected from the school I applied Early Decision to, I felt like the world was ending, but it kept spinning, I eventually kept moving forward, and now I am going to college at a place that I know will make me really happy. I am at peace with that,” Senior Audrey Piczak said.
