Education

For most of us high school students, college is no longer a choice—it’s a necessity if we wish to live a financially secure life. The disheartening notion that without a secondary education, our future is just short of hopeless, places an excruciating amount of pressure on our generation to achieve and gain acceptance from prestigious universities around the world. Currently, countless renowned colleges have announced that the application cycle for the Class of 2015 has been the most competitive in their history—University of Pennsylvania offered admission to a record-low amount of 12 percent of applicants, down two percent from last year’s acceptance rate. Dartmouth announced their admission rate dropped from 11.5 percent to 9.7 percent. The drop in admission rate can be partially attributed to the record-amount of applicants-regardless of qualifications of prospective students, colleges can only admit a certain amount. As the economy struggles to recover from the recent recession, there are limited employment opportunities. This results in competition in the job market. In turn, secondary education has become a major factor in job hiring. In the years ahead, it is expected that many colleges will continue to become increasingly selective in the admission process, which means one thing for future high school graduates around the nation—fierce competition.

By Features Editor Lindsay Croon