by LARRY GORDON
Given what appears to be a tightly competitive year in college admissions, Katie Frake of Long Beach hedged her bets by applying to 11 schools.
“I figured it would be the safest thing, the best thing. So I applied to a bunch because I wanted to be sure I would get into someplace I like,” said the 17- year-old Wilson High School senior, whose application list includes UCLA, Stanford, Santa Clara University and the University of Chicago.
Frake is far from alone with those concerns as she and other students hover around their mailboxes and computers this month to await admission decisions.
The number of high school seniors in the U.S. was stable or fell in 2010 in many states. But students continued a trend of applying to more schools on average, and many prestigious colleges saw applications rise 7% or more for incoming freshman classes.
The result is somewhat tougher competition and more uncertainty. And it has intensified the national debate about the ethics of colleges recruiting ever more applicants.
Los Angeles Times for more
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