No, it has gotten harder to be admitted to a top school than it used to be. It's not just a matter of the same number of qualified applicants chasing the same number of spots but submitting more applications. First, there was an attenuated echo of the baby boom that peaked around 2010-2012 (a statement above that the number of 18-year-olds has been unchanged for some time is incorrect). According to the U.S. Census, there were almost 2 million more Americans between the ages of 15-19 in 2010 than in 2000 (see Table 2 in http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/brief...0br-03.pdf). That's a lot more U.S. applicants applying to college in 2010-2014 than in 2000-2004. Second, the number of international applicants (and acceptances) has been steadily rising, and I believe disproportionately to the top schools. A couple of years ago I saw a video of the Harvard president saying Harvard wants to be a global school and they intend to accept more international applicants in the future. Finally, I believe the numbers of applicants that are in the "top tier" has increased because of the proliferation of AP courses and standardized test prep, as well as greater sophistication of college counseling and prep in terms of extracurricular activities, essays, etc; i.e., students who would have been "second tier" 10-15 years ago look first tier today.
I agree that the universal application is not the primary driver of more applications to top schools. The Stanford application of 2 years ago added 8 unique questions to the common app essay. That application was a be*r to fill out. All the common app does for top schools is save applicants from re-typing a lot of factual information.
I agree that the universal application is not the primary driver of more applications to top schools. The Stanford application of 2 years ago added 8 unique questions to the common app essay. That application was a be*r to fill out. All the common app does for top schools is save applicants from re-typing a lot of factual information.