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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- In Utah, as around the nation, many high school seniors are applying to more colleges than did students a decade ago.
An annual survey of college freshmen showed that 17.4 percent applied to seven or more colleges in 2005, while in 1967 only 1.8 percent had done so. The survey by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA also showed the portion of students applying to 12 or more colleges increased by 50 percent from 2001.
Most students are expecting to hear from out-of-state schools by this weekend, while applications for Utah's state schools are due Saturday.
Connie Jeanne Larsen, a counselor at West High, said growing anxiety about acceptance rates and the ease of online applications caused the surge in applications.
Larsen, who counsels students in the school's competitive International Baccalaureate program, said it is common for students to apply to more than 10 schools. Even students not in the advanced program are now trying to increase their chances of getting into college by casting a wider net, she said.
Registrar Donna West at Murray High said that although one student at her school sent out 30 applications, most students still are applying to between three and five colleges.
Ramira Alamilla, college counselor at private Judge Memorial High School, said many students are following a recommended formula of two "pie in the sky" schools, two medium schools and two safety schools, but others have been swept up in the anxiety of college admissions.
"The ones that are applying to 10-plus schools are a function of all the hype surrounding the college application process. There's a lot more insecurity," she told the Deseret Morning News.
The proliferation of online applications and the common application have resulted in many students being able to send in more applications with minimal extra work, she said.
West High senior Russ Huiskamp applied to 14 out-of-state schools this year, relying on the ease of those online and common applications. The common application is accepted by more than 270 schools, allowing students to cut down on essay time.
Huiskamp spent more than $800 on his college applications and is expecting to hear from most of the schools by the end of this week.
"At the beginning of the senior year, it's expected that you have everything figured out. For a lot of us, it's easier to apply if you think you might like it and then decide more specifically later," he said. "It's really just a way of delaying the decision process for us."
Swati Rao, also of West High, wanted to apply to 22 schools, but cut the list to 11 because of the $40 to $60 application fees. She already has been accepted by three schools and is waiting to hear from the other eight.
"They were all really good schools, and I'm kind of a geek, so I wanted as much opportunity to get into a good school as I could," Rao said. "I increased my chances of getting into a good school by applying to so many."
Rao figures getting multiple acceptances increases her leverage for getting scholarships. Rao said the University of Utah has offered her a scholarship, and she plans to let admissions officers at her other top choices know that she'll need financial incentive from them if they want her.
Alamilla said the surge of applications may backfire as acceptance rates drop at colleges and wait lists grow.
It creates a cycle of lower acceptance rates, increased hysteria and more applications, particularly at private schools and among top-performing high school seniors, she said.
Brigham Young University received 1,000 more applications than last year, forcing the school to deny more students than ever. The school accepted roughly 5,300 freshmen for summer and fall enrollment out of roughly 12,000 applicants this year.
About 31 percent of those admitted this year were from Utah, with the second largest group from California at 12 percent.
At Westminster College, Vice President of Enrollment Joel Bauman saw a 37 percent increase in freshman applications. Westminster admits students on a rolling basis up until May 1. If the slots fill up before then, qualified students go on a wait list.
"It's really important to not feed the hysteria. What happens is that the more they fill up the applicant pool, the more selective schools will get," Bauman said. "Don't put in fake applications just for the sake of it. It's going to start forcing students who want to be there onto a wait list."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
