Anyone got an estimate on how many applicants there were this year in total counting all schools, how many grad student spots were budgeted, and therefore whether it was harder / easier to get in this year compared to previous years?
Obviously the number of applicants and the number of budgeted grad student spots varies from school to school depending on individual dept funds, changes in individual state education funding, and whether the dept admitted too many / too few people last year, but I'm wondering if it's possible to identify a general trend across the country.