A recent study on college admissions may ease the anxieties of high school seniors applying this fall.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling released its 2015 State of College Admission report, and it concludes that most colleges accept a majority of applicants.

The number of college applications for first-time freshmen is up 6 percent since 2014, while applications from transfer and international students have increased by 4 percent and 23 percent, respectively, according to the study.

Melissa Clinedinst, a researcher for the association and author of the recent report, said online applications have “contributed substantially to growth in applications.”

Colleges’ average acceptance rate for first-time freshmen was 65.8 percent in 2014, up from 63.9 percent in 2012, despite the increase in applications, per the study. Conversely, the 2015 acceptance rate for transfer students was 4 percent lower compared to freshman and the 2015 rate for international students came in at only 34 percent, according to the study.

The report found that contextual factors, identified as “race/ethnicity, first-generation status, high school attended, state or country of residence, gender, alumni relations, and ability to pay,” have little influence on admission decisions. However, the ability for international students to pay is increasingly important to colleges.

The factors that colleges consistently ranked as most important in admission decisions — grades in college preparatory classes, overall GPA, strength of curriculum, admission test scores, and writing samples — have remained stable year after year for first year students, according to the study.

There are differences, though, that stand out for transfer and international students.

College performance is the main factor in admission for transfer students. Grades at prior postsecondary institutions are mainly what colleges are looking at, per the study.

For international students, English language proficiency ranks at the top of the factors. In addition, about one-third of respondents reported that the ability of a first time international student to pay had considerable or moderate influence on their admission decision. The proportions for first-time domestic students and transfer students in this category were 14.5 percent and 12 percent, respectively, according to the study.

Clinedinst said she considers this finding unsurprising, considering that the number of traditional high school graduates has been decreasing.

She also cited budgetary concerns as a probable reason to increase the acceptance of high-paying international students.

The study also assessed counselors’ roles at high schools and in the shift to postsecondary education.

Counselors in high schools have been shown to have impactful roles in students’ shift from secondary to postsecondary institutions by providing assistance with the application and admission process, the study found.

The average student-to-counselor ratio in public and private schools combined, including part-time staff, was 285-to-1 in 2014, which is higher than the American School Counselor Association’s recommendation of the 250-to-1 maximum ratio, according to the study.

Sizable differences exist between private and public high schools. Seventy-three percent of private schools reported having a counselor whose sole responsibility was to afford college counseling to students, but only 30 percent of public school students had such a counselor, according to the study.

Regarding the impact of counselors on students, Clinedinst says “the effect is substantial.”  This comes as a disconnect, since most students in greater need of college advising are usually in public high schools, yet they lack the resources needed to effectively move up, she added.

Published on September 20, 2016 at 10:31 pm

Contact Jake: jnelso11@syr.edu