The supply of applicants has grown much faster than the number of top tier college places. Part is due to that the fraction of Americans applying to four year c

The supply of applicants has grown much faster than the number of top tier college places. Part is due to that the fraction of Americans applying to four year colleges has doubled from a quarter to a half in the past 40 years. And the number of international applicants has grown even faster than that. Add to to this the relative ease of applying to multiple colleges by computer in the 21st century. Plus the insecurity and trophy-hunting that makes people apply to 10,20 or more. I was personally lucky to get into my top two choices with Early Decision in December and never applied to a third one.