Business Ideas

By JENNIFER LEVITZ, MELISSA KORN and SCOTT THURM

Laura Marino, a senior at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., was spooked last year when a recent graduate there was accepted to only a couple of colleges, despite having top grades and strong test scores.

So Ms. Marino spread applications far and wide, adopting an increasingly common strategy among prospective college students, many of whom have learned the fate of their applications in recent weeks. She applied to 14 colleges, including 1,177-student Haverford College in Haverford, Pa.; University of Michigan, with more than 27,000 undergraduates; and six of the eight Ivy League schools.

“I wanted to have a backup,” said Ms. Marino, 17 years old, who learned in recent weeks that she had been accepted to six schools. She hasn’t decided which to attend. By submitting so many applications, she and others in the same boat are seeking an edge in the often bewildering college-application process. The surge in applications—also driven by changes that make applying easier, more outreach by colleges themselves, and the search for the best financial-aid package—is helping to drive down acceptance rates at many colleges.

Students “worry more than they used to, so they are looking for more security,” said Lisa Sohmer, director of college counseling at Garden School in Queens, N.Y. “But I don’t think they realize that that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because the acceptance rates go down to a large degree because the applicant pool goes up.”

In 2011, nearly 29% of college applicants applied to seven or more schools, up from 10.8% in 1997, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at University of California, Los Angeles. Nearly 5% of last year’s college freshmen applied to 12 or more colleges, up from 1% in 1997. The statistics are based on the institute’s annual survey of roughly 200,000 incoming freshmen at more than 200 colleges and universities. Data for the current year aren’t available.

More than one of every five undergrads is a business major, but the discipline might not deserve such a large following. Melissa Korn has details on The News Hub.

Applying to so many schools can be a mixed bag for students. The hassle and cost—application fees are often as high as $75—rise. And with so many applications pending, both surprise acceptances and disappointing rejections are more likely.

“It got so crazy at times, I’d forget which schools I’d finished my applications for, and which ones I didn’t,” said Genevieve Carrillo, a 17-year-old senior at Highline High School in Burien, Wash. She applied to 10 schools so she could compare financial-aid packages, and to ensure at least a few acceptances.

For schools, the trend means they can be more selective and can promote low acceptance rates as a sign of desirability.

Many elite schools admitted a record-low percentage of students for the coming fall. Harvard University offered admission to 5.9% of its 34,302 applicants, down from 6.2% last year, while Yale University admitted 6.8% of applicants, down from 7.4% last year. Northwestern University’s undergraduate-admissions rate fell to 15% this year from 27% three years ago.

“It used to be the max would be about five applications. Now, some have 12 or 13, and I have students with 19 or 22,” said Sam Labi, a counselor at Garfield High School in Seattle.

Some parents say they are refusing to participate in the application frenzy. “I sort of put my foot down. I said five to eight [applications],” said Shelly Sundberg, a program manager for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle who is guiding her niece, who lives with her, through her college search.

School counselors, college administrators and students say the growing popularity of the Common Application, a standardized undergraduate application accepted at 456 institutions—up from 227 in the 2001-02 admissions cycle—has made it easier for families to apply to more schools. And with budgets tight after the recession, some families are shopping around for the best financial-aid offers. Still other families have become hypercompetitive and want to better their odds.

“I was just afraid that I wouldn’t be qualified enough for college, that I didn’t do enough, that I didn’t do well enough,” said Ms. Carrillo, the Washington state student who has a grade point average around 3.5, “decent” standardized test scores and leadership positions with several student clubs. She was accepted to seven schools and picked Western Washington University, saying the choice was based “110%” on cost.

Dow Jones Newswires reporter Melissa Korn checks in on Mean Street to highlight the growing number of Chinese students applying for enrollment at U.S. graduate schools.

Applications to the University of Southern California rose 23% this year, to a record 45,917, after the private Los Angeles university adopted the Common Application. USC accepted 8,358 students, or a record-low 18% of applicants, to fill an expected freshman class of 2,650.

The common application boosted USC’s numbers, but the university is also doing more outreach, said Timothy Brunold, dean of admissions. And interest from foreign students is rising.

Many students who applied to multiple colleges are now juggling acceptance letters—leaving colleges to wonder until May 1, when most require a response.

Bowdoin College, a liberal arts school in Brunswick, Maine, admitted 16% of a record 6,716 applicants this year, and is now waiting to see how many accept. “Now the shoe is on the other foot,” said Scott Meiklejohn, dean of admissions. “Now we wait, which is entirely fair.”

Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com, Melissa Korn at melissa.korn@wsj.com and Scott Thurm at scott.thurm@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared April 5, 2012, on page A3 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: College-Bound Cast Wider Net.