As colleges across the country prepare to admit the class of 2015, schools are reporting record numbers of applications. The University of California, Los Angeles, for example, received 57,670 applications from hopeful students, an applicant pool that has broken records for the school and has led UCLA to call itself "the most popular campus in the nation."
Although the University has not yet totaled this year's number of applications, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Greg Roberts said the University has seen an increasing trend in the number of applications it receives.
The University's class of 2014 was selected out of 22,396 applications, which was 3 percent higher than the 21,000-plus applications received for the class of 2013. Similarly, from the class of 2013 to the class of 2012, the University reported a 16-percent increase from the number of applications the University received for the current third-year class.
Roberts attributed this increase in applications to a number of reasons, namely the University's decision to use the Common Application in 2008 - the year that the class of 2013 applied - and an ever-rising anxiety among students vying for admission to increasingly selective colleges.
"Students are applying to more schools. Firstly, with the introduction of the Common Application, it has become easier to apply than it has been in the past," he said. "There is also a feeling of uncertainty about the likelihood of admission. Students have a more difficult time determining which schools are safeties or reaches, and therefore they submit more applications, thinking this will increase their odds of acceptance to a top school."
But even as students apply to more schools on their own, Roberts said schools are implementing more creative strategies to attract a greater pool of applicants.
To matriculate the nation's top students, universities will purchase names of students from CollegeBoard based on self-reported GPAs, SAT and PSAT scores with the intent of reaching out to those students and encouraging them to apply, Roberts said. This is generally a common practice, he said, but some schools may purchase a broader range of student scores that would not be typically admitted - thus recruiting students with the purpose of later rejecting them. As a result, the school appears to be more selective statistically.
The CollegeBoard website offers the Enrollment Planning Service, which allows college administrators to search for the institutions that students are sending SAT scores to and where students are from. Another service called the Student Search Service allows schools access to students' mailing and e-mail addresses.
Several University students noted that they were recipients of such marketing techniques when applying to colleges.
"CollegeBoard sent me a lot of e-mails based on the major I had told them I was interested in. I got a lot of e-mails from schools that would send me information about that major, but I started to ignore them," first-year College student Isabella Noyen said.
Fourth-year Engineering student Donna Bryant also said many colleges targeted her based on information that seemed to come from CollegeBoard.
"It seemed like every day that I got something from either CollegeBoard or from a college that had received information from them," she said.
Some schools, Roberts noted, attempt to increase applicant numbers by sending out 'Snap Apps,' or applications that are sent to students with their biographical information already filled out or that come with offers of waived essays or application fees. To finish the application, the student simply sends it back to the school.
Roberts said the University avoids using such methods to attract students.
"Here at U.Va. we do not use these types of practices in admissions," he said. "We don't believe in shortcuts or deception."
The University's deadline for applying to become a member of the class of 2015 is Jan. 1, 2011.
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