In case the college application process wasn’t stressful enough, colleges are becoming more competitive and are cutting down on acceptances.

According to the New York Times, an audit released March 2016 confirmed that the University of California system is giving favorable admissions treatment to out-of-state and foreign students because they’ll have to pay more.

UC President Janet Napolitano wrote that because of budget cuts, nearly every state in the nation had been forced to make a Hobson’s choice — a choice of taking what is available or nothing at all — and “they all have reached the same decision: open doors to out-of-state students to keep the doors open for in-state students.”

English teacher Kathy Schultheis said that Oak Park students are fighting an uphill battle: while Oak Park High School is a wonderful school, it is a public school, which cannot offer things to colleges that private schools can, like exotic elective classes.

“We have amazing students, and I think [Oak Park High School] is amazing, but I think at the end of the day [colleges] privilege the privates over the publics,” Schultheis said.  

Senior Matthew Lee said that college is very hard to get into nowadays.

“If you want to get into your dream school, you definitely have to work extremely hard for four straight years of high school to make that dream come true,” Lee said.

Senior Anika Krishnan said that getting rejected from colleges is a horrible feeling, knowing that she’s put a lot of work into her applications.

“I’ve poured my entire personality into the span of a few test scores, a transcript and a 650-word statement. It may just be a collection of papers, but rejections, in my opinion, almost seem like a college is rejecting me as a person, not just me as a student,” Krishnan said. “That causes a disillusionment that can’t be described in words.”

History teacher Victor Anderson said that he thinks that just because students meet the minimum requirements doesn’t mean they’re the most qualified for the colleges they apply to.

“What’s happening, I feel, is it’s getting more and more competitive and more and more people are applying to schools,” Anderson said. “[Colleges] are taking the cream of the crop.”

According to senior Max Francis, the UCs seem to be rejecting and waitlisting more and more people, including himself.

“My acceptances have been fine so far, but I haven’t gotten into my top ones yet. Still waiting on those waitlists, so I guess there’s a chance, but I’m not getting my hopes up,” Francis said.

In recent years, statistics show how, despite roughly the same amount of students applying, the UCs are accepting fewer California students every year.

In 2016, California residents had a 21.3 percent acceptance rate at University of California at Berkeley, whereas out-of-state applicants had a 24.1 percent acceptance rate. In 2017, California residents had a 19.7 percent acceptance rate, while out-of-state applicants had a 30.9 percent acceptance rate.

New York University’s acceptance rate has decreased 9 percent, from 28 percent in 2017 to 19 percent in 2018. NYU has accepted 15,722 students out of over 75,000 applicants in 2018, while in 2017 18,520 out of over 67,000 were accepted.

Because of the student population and the increasing amount of in-state and out-of-state applicants, the UC system has opened different campuses all over California, the most recent being University of California at Merced, established in 2005 as the tenth UC campus.

The last UC campuses to open up before Merced were the University of California, Irvine, and the University of California, Santa Cruz, both in 1965.          

UC Merced is slowly gaining momentum as a prestigious UC and, in 2016, became one of the U.S. News and World Report’s top national universities, and remains one of the cheapest UCs to attend.

While colleges are also favoring out-of-state students, school tuition has also increased.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wrote that since the 2008 recession, states have reduced spending on public higher education by 17 percent, while tuition has risen by 33 percent.

Because public universities are funded by the state government and state taxes, in-state residents are able to attend at a lower cost.

Private universities rely on tuition, endowments and donations from alumni. Despite the fact that private school tuition is significantly more by roughly $11,000, according to the College Board, these schools usually offer generous amounts of financial aid to undergraduates students who demonstrate financial need.

According to PrepScholar, not all schools can afford to give out what is considered to be “good” financial aid. Private schools tend to give better financial aid due to the strong alumni networks. If a student is not eligible for need-based financial aid, then they can apply for merit-based scholarships.

Principal Kevin Buchanan said that meeting the minimum qualifications isn’t enough to get into selective colleges, and that when he applied to colleges he would look at previous classes’ profiles to see what they did.

“I looked at what was the academic profile of a freshman at UCLA the year before I applied and I tried to beat that,” Buchanan said. “Those qualifications were much higher than the minimum qualifications and we’ve known that and put that out there.”

Anderson said that students nowadays are applying to a lot more schools than students would when he was in high school. According to the Educational Activities Board, students are applying to more colleges as a result of both the ease of the Common Application and the pressure to get into an elite school.

“Back in my day, which was a long time ago, you wouldn’t even apply to a school that you probably didn’t think you could get into,” Anderson said.  

Buchanan said that more high school graduates are eligible to apply to four-year schools across the country, which results in the college application process being more competitive.

“That’s a difficult pill to swallow, saying that our kids are not getting these spots because they’re given to other kids because schools can make more money off these other kids,” Buchanan said.

Krishnan, who will be attending the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, said that despite the increasing competition in college applications and college rejections, she is happy about how things have ended up.

“The greatest advice I can give is the place you think you may go may not be where you’re meant to be. It sounds cliché, but I firmly believe that if you want something badly, you’ll find a way to get it. All you have to do is realize that the path that may be the straightest way is probably not going to be the one you get,” Krishnan said. “However, if anything, the longer, winding path will make you stronger and more resilient. I promise it’s not just a rationalization; it’s the truth. I’ve experienced it firsthand.”