In LMSD College Applications, Rams Favor Lions, Aces Aspire to be Panthers

This year's Lower Merion seniors applied to significantly more colleges per student than the class before them, Harriton seniors applied to slightly fewer and both classes sent plenty of applications to Penn State and Pittsburgh, the Interschool Council reported in a newsletter posted on the district's website and emailed this week.

In the newsletter to parents, Mary Broach and Beth Burrell with the ISC's Guidance Committee wrote, "In Lower Merion and elsewhere, the pace of college applications continued unabated this year, as 12th graders reacted to news of lower admission rates by filing more applications to improve their odds. More applications led to admit rates, and so the frenzy continues."

Lower Merion's 370 seniors applied to 2,911 schools (7.9 per student), whereas the 398 members of the class of 2010 sent 2,505 applications (6.3 per student).

At Harriton, more total applications (1,565) went out than last year (1,552), but with a larger class this year (210, up from 201) the ratio is slightly less (7.7, down from 7.5, per student).

Data on district seniors' admissions, rather than applications, are not final, school officials said Wednesday.

Below are the top 10 colleges Harriton and Lower Merion students applied to this year, according to district statistics:

Clarification: A previous version of this article characterized the newsletter as a district report, rather than an ISC report.