The odds are getting harder.

Bloomberg reports.

Harvard, Stanford Reject 95 Percent of Applicants This Year

Ivy League colleges once again disappointed tens of thousands of teenagers as they accepted a lower percentage than ever — even as they encouraged more to apply.

Harvard University accepted a record-low 5.3 percent of hopefuls after attracting 37,307 applicants as it stepped up recruiting with a social-media campaign. The previous year, the figure was 5.9 percent. The admission rates for the seven other Ivies, which gave students their verdicts Tuesday, ranged from 6.1 percent at Columbia to 14.9 percent at Cornell.

Stanford, on the West coast and far from the eastern Ivies, surpassed them all for a second year. It reported Friday that it had admitted 5 percent.

The competition for top slots shows no sign of abating as students seek prestige as well as financial-aid packages that tend to be more generous at these wealthy schools. High school guidance counselors pointed to the near-absurdity of the low numbers, considering the quality of many applicants.

“At what point do we reach zero?” said Carol Wasden, director of college counseling at the private Hockaday School in Dallas. “It’s difficult for even terrific students. You have to take a ‘no’ with a little bit of a shrug.”