Admissions Competition Heats Up, but Does Pressure Help Students?

By Eric Hoover

College applicants face more competition than at any time in recent history, according to a new paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research. But how does that competition affect students?

In the paper, "Playing the Admissions Game: Student Reactions to Increasing College Competition," researchers at Harvard University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor explain how the dynamics of college admissions has changed in recent