A recent claim to friends, that my 18-year old self wouldn’t stand a chance of getting admitted to my alma mater today, turns out to be utter nonsense.

This according to Stanford University economist, Caroline M. Hoxby. In The Changing Selectivity of American Colleges [pdf], Hoxby reassures applicants that, “Typical college-going students in the U.S. should be unconcerned about rising selectivity. If anything, they should be concerned about falling selectivity, the phenomenon they will actually experience.”

In fact, at least 50 percent of colleges are substantially less selective now than they were in 1962 with only the top 10 percent, such as members of the Ivy League, Stanford, and Duke, demonstrating rising selectivity. So, perhaps that seemingly unattainable college is actually within reach.