Seniors applied to colleges early action and decision by Nov. 15 in usual numbers, deans said.

Roughly 95 percent of seniors applied early to at least one college, including early action schools, Upper School Dean Sharon Cuseo said.

“I think there was a coalescing around the usual suspects, the same ten or fifteen colleges,” Cuseo said. “Maybe more so than usual. Maybe there was some applying in larger numbers.”

Cuseo said this was likely due to the “every other year” phenomenon.

“We often talk about the ‘every other year phenomenon,’” Cuseo said. “There’ll be a good year and it seems like, ‘Wow. Harvard-Westlake did so well.’ And then people will apply and be optimistic the next year. Just even a few more applications that aren’t as well qualified apply to schools with very small [percentage admission rates], and then, as you might expect, they don’t get in in larger numbers.”

Higher deferral rates make it seem like a bad year, but statistically it is no different from the last, Cuseo said.

“What we want people to know is that even if [the results] are entirely predictable, it might seem bad,” Cuseo said.