In recent years, getting accepted to America’s top universities has become increasingly challenging, leading education consultants to describe these elite institutions not just as “reach schools,” but as “super reaches.”
Irena Smith, a former college admissions consultant and author of “The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays,” commented on this trend, saying, “Even the most outstanding students find it harder than ever to gain admission to schools like the University of Michigan, USC, and NYU. As for Stanford, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Chicago, Caltech, and MIT, those schools are essentially ‘super reaches.’”
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, most of these “super reach” universities have acceptance rates in the single digits. For instance, Caltech and Harvard announced astonishingly low acceptance rates of only 3% for the fall 2023 class, while Stanford’s acceptance rate stood at 4%, followed closely by Pomona College at 7%.
Recent data from the University of California system shows that while the average acceptance rate across UC campuses is higher than some of the most competitive institutions in the country, many UC campuses have also found themselves categorized as “reach” schools. Notably, UCLA and UC Berkeley are now considered “super reaches”.
UCLA has long been the most sought-after university in the U.S., with an acceptance rate of just 9%, the lowest among all UC campuses. Records indicate that UCLA’s acceptance rate has been on a downward trajectory for the past 30 years, plummeting from 23% in 2011 to just 10% in 2023, which represents the most significant change among California universities. Meanwhile, UC Berkeley has seen a smaller decline, dropping from 18% to 15%.
Smith acknowledges that aside from UC Riverside and UC Merced, all other UC campuses have now become “reach” schools, particularly for popular majors such as engineering or health-related fields. Additionally, California State University campuses like San Jose State and Long Beach State, which offer competitive programs in business, nursing, and technology, also fall into the “reach” category, with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo being labeled a “super reach.”
The Chronicle also noted that in the coming years, acceptance rates at prestigious universities are expected to continue to drop, driven by a surge in the number of applicants.
