This year proved to be one of the toughest in history for students trying to get into the nation's competitive colleges and universities. The underlying reason is simple: there were more high school seniors applying to college than in previous years. Next year is looking to be similarly competitive. In the March, 2008 report "Knocking at the College Door," The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education presented the following projections for high school graduation numbers:

2005-06: 3,189,538 graduates

2006-07: 3,254,432 graduates

2007-08: 3,340,235 graduates

2008-09: 3,320,163 graduates

2009-10: 3,310,631 graduates

2010-11: 3,280,185 graduates

2011-12: 3,225,017 graduates While the numbers do peak with the 2008 graduating class, college applicants can expect lower-than-average acceptance rates for the next few admissions cycles. This means applicants will want to put extra effort into beefing up SAT and ACT scores, and they may need to rethink which schools should be identified as reach, match and safety.