College Rejection Rates High This Year

College rejection letters are going out at unusually high rates this year due to a variety of factors. More students than ever are applying to college, and fear of rejection due to the stiff competition, combined with the ease of filing the Common Application, has also led students to apply to more colleges than ever before.

Several Ivy League schools have set their all-time low admit rates this year.

The news for prospective college students isn't all bad. USA Today reported earlier this week that more colleges are making the SAT and ACT tests optional.

We feel fortunate that our daughter has several good college options. We'll be touring a couple more campuses over the next few days. Once her decision is made, hopefully life -- and blogging -- will settle back into a more "normal" pattern!

Update: Applicants to Columbia University figured out a clever way to learn whether or not they'd been accepted: they contacted FedEx to see if a package was on the way. The university sent acceptances via FedEx but "thin envelopes" by the U.S. Postal Service.