College Admissions

Teaching College Kids To Pilot Their Own Helicopter

2010-10-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

The issue of how deeply involved parents of college students should be in their child’s campus life is a hot topic in higher education these days. As the fall term was beginning, media accounts highlighted efforts at some schools intended to push parents to drop their children off on campus and depart quickly and quietly. Now a recent survey of college admissions officers indicates that so-called helicopter parenting is on the rise.

As a college president and a parent, I find that approach—encouraging parents to do a drive-by, drop-off—an unrealistic approach to coping with moms and dads who seem to hover over their college student.

While too much parental involvement can be a problem, colleges and universities must acknowledge that parents have a crucial role to play in helping their child succeed.

Parents spend years preparing their child for college, and working to find ways to pay for their education. Those are major accomplishments. And taking your son or daughter to college for the first time is often emotionally wrenching. Parents deserve more than cursory thanks and a nod toward the door.

Instead, colleges need to communicate clearly how a healthy relationship between parents, students and the institution should work. We also need to explain that making that relationship work will enhance their child’s chances for success at college and in life.

Balance is the key. Parents should support their child, but not serve as their gofer or administrative assistant. They can do this by urging their son or daughter to learn how to navigate the college bureaucracy and campus life on their own. This is a vital part of the educational process. It includes allowing the student to handle issues relating to classes, housing, dining, roommates, and extracurricular activities such as athletics, clubs, and student organizations.

A good body of research indicates that college students have a better chance of succeeding academically and socially when they themselves discover and initiate contact with the campus offices and departments that offer services and resources for students.

We also know that the problem-solving skills students develop during the formative years at college are an important part of their education. Parents should encourage students to take responsibility for their own financial planning, for managing their time, and for setting limits on their personal behavior.

They can also explain to their child that college is more competitive than high school. Coping with the more intense atmosphere can be a major transition for new students who often have little experience with not getting their way. On campus, the student may encounter setbacks, such as not getting into a course because is it is full or not getting playing time on a sports team.

Learning to deal with this stepped-up level of competition is healthy for students. That may mean making sure to sign up for a class as soon as possible or meeting with the professor to see if an exception can be made. Or it could mean talking to the coach about what needs to be done to earn playing time.

It is essential that parents advise their son or daughter to make use of the student support resources most colleges and universities provide. Most colleges have advisers and administrators dedicated to helping students acclimate to college life and overcome setbacks or obstacles. There are many sources of advice and counsel that parents can suggest their child contact. These include the dean of students, professors, religious leaders, older students, including residence hall staffers, as well as campus offices that provide academic services such as tutoring, coaching on time management and study strategies.

Some students will need more assistance than others. Parents can help provide support for students with special needs by encouraging their son or daughter to go talk to the coordinator of disability services or the staff at the multicultural resource center or counseling service. Helping students learn how to communicate about issues they are facing and how to seek out assistance when necessary is a job that parents, as well as college faculty and staff should share.

Leaving home and starting college has always been an emotional experience for students and their parents. Helicopter parenting may be on the rise, but it is not new.

Through the years, some parents have stuck around campus trying to help their child adjust. But one of the most important things parents can do to help their college student make a successful adjustment is to strike a balance between direct intervention and letting their son or daughter learn to pilot their own helicopter.
By Marvin Krislov, Oberlin College President

10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly

2010-09-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

September 6, 2010

Most academics, including administrators, spend much of our time writing. But we aren't as good at it as we should be. I have never understood why our trade values, but rarely teaches, nonfiction writing.
In my nearly 30 years at universities, I have seen a lot of very talented people fail because they couldn't, or didn't, write. And some much less talented people (I see one in the mirror every morning) have done OK because they learned how to write.
It starts in graduate school. There is a real transformation, approaching an inversion, as people switch from taking courses to writing. Many of the graduate students who were stars in the classroom during the first two years—the people everyone admired and looked up to—suddenly aren't so stellar anymore. And a few of the marginal students—the ones who didn't care that much about pleasing the professors by reading every page of every assignment—are suddenly sending their own papers off to journals, getting published, and transforming themselves into professional scholars.
The difference is not complicated. It's writing.

Rachel Toor and other writers on these pages have talked about how hard it is to write well, and of course that's true. Fortunately, the standards of writing in most disciplines are so low that you don't need to write well. What I have tried to produce below are 10 tips on scholarly nonfiction writing that might help people write less badly.

1. Writing is an exercise. You get better and faster with practice. If you were going to run a marathon a year from now, would you wait for months and then run 26 miles cold? No, you would build up slowly, running most days. You might start on the flats and work up to more demanding and difficult terrain. To become a writer, write. Don't wait for that book manuscript or that monster external-review report to work on your writing.

2. Set goals based on output, not input. "I will work for three hours" is a delusion; "I will type three double-spaced pages" is a goal. After you write three pages, do something else. Prepare for class, teach, go to meetings, whatever. If later in the day you feel like writing some more, great. But if you don't, then at least you wrote something.

3. Find a voice; don't just "get published." James Buchanan won a Nobel in economics in 1986. One of the questions he asks job candidates is: "What are you writing that will be read 10 years from now? What about 100 years from now?" Someone once asked me that question, and it is pretty intimidating. And embarrassing, because most of us don't think that way. We focus on "getting published" as if it had nothing to do with writing about ideas or arguments. Paradoxically, if all you are trying to do is "get published," you may not publish very much. It's easier to write when you're interested in what you're writing about.

4. Give yourself time. Many smart people tell themselves pathetic lies like, "I do my best work at the last minute." Look: It's not true. No one works better under pressure. Sure, you are a smart person. But if you are writing about a profound problem, why would you think that you can make an important contribution off the top of your head in the middle of the night just before the conference?
Writers sit at their desks for hours, wrestling with ideas. They ask questions, talk with other smart people over drinks or dinner, go on long walks. And then write a whole bunch more. Don't worry that what you write is not very good and isn't immediately usable. You get ideas when you write; you don't just write down ideas.
The articles and books that will be read decades from now were written by men and women sitting at a desk and forcing themselves to translate profound ideas into words and then to let those words lead them to even more ideas. Writing can be magic, if you give yourself time, because you can produce in the mind of some other person, distant from you in space or even time, an image of the ideas that exist in only your mind at this one instant.

5. Everyone's unwritten work is brilliant. And the more unwritten it is, the more brilliant it is. We have all met those glib, intimidating graduate students or faculty members. They are at their most dangerous holding a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, in some bar or at an office party. They have all the answers. They can tell you just what they will write about, and how great it will be.
Years pass, and they still have the same pat, 200-word answer to "What are you working on?" It never changes, because they are not actually working on anything, except that one little act.
You, on the other hand, actually are working on something, and it keeps evolving. You don't like the section you just finished, and you are not sure what will happen next. When someone asks, "What are you working on?," you stumble, because it is hard to explain. The smug guy with the beer and the cigarette? He's a poseur and never actually writes anything. So he can practice his pat little answer endlessly, through hundreds of beers and thousands of cigarettes. Don't be fooled: You are the winner here. When you are actually writing, and working as hard as you should be if you want to succeed, you will feel inadequate, stupid, and tired. If you don't feel like that, then you aren't working hard enough.

6. Pick a puzzle. Portray, or even conceive, of your work as an answer to a puzzle. There are many interesting types of puzzles:
"X and Y start with same assumptions but reach opposing conclusions. How?"
"Here are three problems that all seem different. Surprisingly, all are the same problem, in disguise. I'll tell you why."
"Theory predicts [something]. But we observe [something else]. Is the theory wrong, or is there some other factor we have left out?"
Don't stick too closely to those formulas, but they are helpful in presenting your work to an audience, whether that audience is composed of listeners at a lecture or readers of an article.

7. Write, then squeeze the other things in. Put your writing ahead of your other work. I happen to be a "morning person," so I write early in the day. Then I spend the rest of my day teaching, having meetings, or doing paperwork. You may be a "night person" or something in between. Just make sure you get in the habit of reserving your most productive time for writing. Don't do it as an afterthought or tell yourself you will write when you get a big block of time. Squeeze the other things in; the writing comes first.

8. Not all of your thoughts are profound. Many people get frustrated because they can't get an analytical purchase on the big questions that interest them. Then they don't write at all. So start small. The wonderful thing is that you may find that you have traveled quite a long way up a mountain, just by keeping your head down and putting one writing foot ahead of the other for a long time. It is hard to refine your questions, define your terms precisely, or know just how your argument will work until you have actually written it all down.

9. Your most profound thoughts are often wrong. Or, at least, they are not completely correct. Precision in asking your question, or posing your puzzle, will not come easily if the question is hard.
I always laugh to myself when new graduate students think they know what they want to work on and what they will write about for their dissertations. Nearly all of the best scholars are profoundly changed by their experiences in doing research and writing about it. They learn by doing, and sometimes what they learn is that they were wrong.

10. Edit your work, over and over. Have other people look at it. One of the great advantages of academe is that we are mostly all in this together, and we all know the terrors of that blinking cursor on a blank background. Exchange papers with peers or a mentor, and when you are sick of your own writing, reciprocate by reading their work. You need to get over a fear of criticism or rejection. Nobody's first drafts are good. The difference between a successful scholar and a failure need not be better writing. It is often more editing.

If you have trouble writing, then you just haven't written enough. Writing lots of pages has always been pretty easy for me. I could never get a job being only a writer, though, because I still don't write well. But by thinking about these tips, and trying to follow them myself, I have gotten to the point where I can make writing work for me and my career.

By Michael C. Munger, Chairman of Political Science at Duke University
Article from “The Chronicle Of Higher Education”

A Sample Of This Year's Essay Questions & More

2010-07-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

- Could not resist sharing these thought provoking essay prompts just released by the University of Chicago for this season's prospective students - included are also some classic questions from previous years. Actually, it's a read for anyone.

Essay Option 1
Find x.
Inspired by Benjamin Nuzzo, an admitted student from Eton College, UK

Essay Option 2
Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?
Inspired by an alumna of the Class of 2006

Essay Option 3
Salt, governments, beliefs, and celebrity couples are a few examples of things that can be dissolved. You’ve just been granted the power to dissolve anything: physical, metaphorical, abstract, concrete… you name it. What do you dissolve, and what solvent do you use?
Inspired by Greg Gabrellas, A.B. 2009

Essay Option 4
“Honesty is the best policy, but honesty won’t get your friend free birthday cake at the diner.” - Overheard in the city of Chicago.
Does society require constant honesty? Why is it (or why is it not) problematic to shift the truth in one’s favor, even if the lie is seemingly harmless to others? If we can be “conveniently honest,” what other virtues might we take more lightly?
Inspired by Eleanor Easton, a second-year in the College

Essay Option 5
In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk and have fun.

Some Classic Questions From Previous Years

- Chicago author Nelson Algren said, “A writer does well if in his whole life he can tell the story of one street.” Chicagoans, but not just Chicagoans, have always found something instructive, and pleasing, and profound in the stories of their block, of Main Street, of Highway 61, of a farm lane, of the Celestial Highway. Tell us the story of a street, path, road—real or imagined or metaphorical.
(2008–2009)

Chicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell entitled his 2005 book What Do Pictures Want? Describe a picture and explore what it wants.
Proposed by Anna Andel, a graduate of Bard High School Early College, New York, NY (2007–2008).

- In Jorge Luis Borges’s Labyrinths, he writes a parable entitled “Borges y yo,” which translates as “Borges and I.” In it, Borges writes about “the other one,” his counterpart, who shares his preference for “hourglasses, maps, eighteenth century typography, the taste of coffee, and the prose of Stevenson,” but is not the same as he. “The other one” is the famous author; “the other one” is the one “things happen to.” He concludes this parable with the line “I do not know which of us has written this page.” Write a page. Who has written it?
Proposed by Zhuyi Elizabeth Sun, a graduate of Inglemoor High School, Bothell, WA (2007–2008).

- Modern improvisational comedy had its start with The Compass Players, a group of University of Chicago students, who later formed the Second City comedy troupe. Here is a chance to play along. Improvise a story, essay, or script that meets all of the following requirements:
It must include the line “And yes I said yes I will Yes” (Ulysses, by James Joyce).
Its characters may not have superpowers.
Your work has to mention the University of Chicago, but please, no accounts of a high school student applying to the University—this is fiction, not autobiography.
Your work must include at least four of the following elements: a paper airplane, a transformation, a shoe, the invisible hand, two doors, pointillism, a fanciful explanation of the Pythagorean Theorem, a ventriloquist or ventriloquism, the Periodic Table of the Elements, the concept of jeong, number two pencils.
(2007–2008)

- “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.”—Miles Davis (1926–91)
Inspired by Jack Reeves, a graduate of Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, CT (2006-2007)

- The Cartesian coordinate system is a popular method of representing real numbers and is the bane of eighth graders everywhere. Since its introduction by Descartes in 1637, this means of visually characterizing mathematical values has swept the globe, earning a significant role in branches of mathematics such as algebra, geometry, and calculus. Describe yourself as a point or series of points on this axial arrangement. If you are a function, what are you? In which quadrants do you lie? Are x and y enough for you, or do you warrant some love from the z-axis? Be sure to include your domain, range, derivative, and asymptotes, should any apply. Your possibilities are positively and negatively unbounded.
Inspired by Joshua Nalven, a graduate of West Orange High School, West Orange, NJ (2006–2007)

- The instructor said, Go home and write  a page tonight. And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true. —“Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes
Perhaps you recognize this poem. If you do, then your mind has probably moved on to the question the next line poses: “I wonder if it’s that simple?” Saying who we are is never simple (read the entire poem if you need evidence of that). Write a truthful page about yourself for us, an audience you do not know—a very tall order. Hughes begins: “I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem./I went to school there, then Durham, then here/to this college on the hill above Harlem./I am the only colored student in my class.” That is, each of us is of a certain age and of a particular family background. We have lived somewhere and been schooled. We are each what we feel and see and hear. Begin there and see what happens.
(2005-2006)

- University of Chicago alumna and renowned author/critic Susan Sontag said, “The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.” We all have heard serious questions, absurd questions, and seriously absurd questions, some of which cannot be answered without obliterating the very question. Destroy a question with your answer.
Inspired by Aleksandra Ciric, Oyster Bay High School, Oyster Bay, New York (2005-2006)

- Superstring theory has revolutionized speculation about the physical world by suggesting that strings play a pivotal role in the universe. Strings, however, always have explained or enriched our lives, from Theseus’s escape route from the Labyrinth, to kittens playing with balls of yarn, to the single hair that held the sword above Damocles, to the basic awfulness of string cheese, to the Old Norse tradition that one’s life is a thread woven into a tapestry of fate, to the beautiful sounds of the finely tuned string of a violin, to the children’s game of cat’s cradle, to the concept of stringing someone along. Use the power of string to explain the biggest or the smallest phenomenon.
Inspired by Adam Sobolweski, Pittsford Mendon High School, Pittsford, New York (2005–2006)

- Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness…and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard.
Based on a suggestion by Katherine Gold of Cherry Hill High School East, Cherry Hill, NJ (2004–2005)

- People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you’re startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation.
Based on a suggestion by Kimberly Traube of La Jolla Country Day School, La Jolla, CA (2004–2005)

- If you could balance on a tightrope, over what landscape would you walk? (No net.)
Inspired by Emma Ross, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro, NJ (2003–2004)

- Albert Einstein once said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Propose your own original theory to explain one of the 16 mysteries below. Your theory does not need to be testable or even probable; however, it should provide some laws, principles, and/or causes to explain the facts, phenomena, or existence of one of these mysteries. You can make your theory artistic, scientific, conspiracy-driven, quantum, fanciful, or otherwise ingenious—but be sure it is your own and gives us an impression of how you think about the world.
Love, Non-Dairy Creamer, Sleep and Dreams, Gray, Crop Circles, The Platypus, The Beginning of Everything, Art, Time Travel, Language, The End of Everything, The Roanoke Colony, Numbers, Mona Lisa’s Smile, The College Rankings in U.S. News and World Report, Consciousness
Inspired by Akash Goel, a graduate of Saint Bede Academy, Peru, IL (2003–2004)

- How do you feel about Wednesday?
Inspired by Maximilian Pascual Ortega, a graduate of Maine Township High School South, Park Ridge, IL (2002–2003)

How NOT to Write a College Application Essay

2010-07-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

July 1, 2010
Washington Post

I had lunch recently with two rising 12th-graders at the Potomac School in McLean. They are very bright students. They told me they had signed up for a course in column-writing in the fall.
Naturally, I was concerned. There is enough competition for us newspaper columnists already: bloggers, TV commentators, former presidential advisers, college professors. Many of them
write well and make us look unnecessary. The idea that 17-year-olds are getting graduation credit to learn how to do my job fills me with dread.
But I think I know what the Potomac School is up to. They aren't teaching these kids to write columns. Their real purpose is to show students how to write their college application essays.
Think about it: College essays are essentially columns, little bits of persuasive prose designed to be both personal and instructive, without too much wear-and-tear on the reader.
This reminded me, once again, that I have not matured at all, intellectually or emotionally, since I was 17 and a heck of a college essay writer. My favorite part of being the parent of college applicants was the chance to lecture on the principles of college essay-writing to a captive audience. I wrote a book about college admissions in order to inflict my views on a wider audience. If you have read this far, you know I am doing it again.
Let's dispense quickly with the basics of writing a college application essay. The first rule is, do not dwell on your good grades, top scores, club presidencies and other triumphs. The essay is supposed to reveal something the college admissions people have not already learned from the rest of your application. If all you do in your essay is talk about what a star you are, you will be rejected, because no one wants to inflict such a bore on an unsuspecting freshman-year roommate.
Do not be careless with spelling, punctuation and grammar. Don't forget the best writing has short sentences and active verbs. Read "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White before you start typing.
What else should you do? Write about something you care about, some quirk or habit or interest that defines you in ways not obvious from the rest of your application. One of my children wrote about his Little League coaching. One described her talent for identifying a song on the radio from the first few notes. One explained why he loved Howard Stern.

They found ways to use these themes, even the odd ones, to reveal a personal value that was important to them and, hopefully, impressive to admissions officers. I advised them to take one more step, the only original suggestion you will find in this essay. Reveal an endearing flaw, I said, some bit of self-deprecation that will convince the college that you would be a pleasant person to have around.
Is the essay about your love of chess? Describe the day you set your high school team's record for being checkmated. Are you writing about your effort to ride every bike trail in the state? Say how you felt when you got hopelessly lost in the woods and had to be guided to safety by a passing Cub Scout troop.
Let others read your work. Listen to their suggestions, but trust your instincts. Be true to yourself.
I am sending this column to that teacher at Potomac who seems to think he can teach anybody to do what I do. If he gives me a grade, I may tell you what it is, as long as it doesn't rupture my adolescent level of self-esteem.

By Jay Matthews

5 Social Media Tools for College Students

2010-05-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

US NEWS
May 12, 2010

There's more to using social media tools than just quick updates and playful banter among friends. Sure, you can post pictures on Facebook, tell friends what you're doing via Twitter, and upload videos of your roommates doing something crazy to YouTube. But social media can be useful, too. More than 2,000 colleges across the country use Blackboard's online learning system—an online tool that allows professors to post assignments, schedules, questions, and more information while keeping the conversation with students going outside of class. Plus, countless colleges and universities use the usual suspects like Facebook, Second Life, and Twitter to interact with students, and students can use those tools to enhance their online profile for employment purposes. Yet as much as these technological tools have become commonplace on campus, there's still a caveat: The Internet can be misused, and missteps can be costly.

To help identify some do's and don'ts for college students using social media, U.S. News enlisted the expert advice of Patrick Ambron , the chief marketing officer for Brand-Yourself , a personal branding and online profile management startup, and two gurus from Syracuse University 's Career Services office: Director Mike Cahill and Outreach and Marketing Coordinator Dan Klamm. Cahill and Klamm use Brand-Yourself's help for Syracuse students, and the partnership has uncovered some key pointers for using social media.

1. Do create positive content. A big part of what both Brand-Yourself and Syracuse talk about is making a good impression online. That doesn't just mean smiling in your Facebook profile picture; it means showing that you're interested in your prospective field. Post links to interesting stories. Jump into debates and conversations when it's appropriate. Make LinkedIn connections with recruiters and internship coordinators and join alumni networks, too.

For younger students, try to spread an even wider net. If you're a freshman, you probably aren't ready to commit to being a lawyer or marketing rep just yet, but you can use social media to interact with recent college graduates and professionals from multiple fields. On Twitter, follow CEOs of companies that interest you and stay up on the news. As Klamm tells Syracuse underclassmen, it's all about seeing what's out there.

2. Don't post questionable photos of yourself anywhere on the Internet. If you are a college kid who wants a job—whether it's summer work, a part-time job during school, or postgraduate employment—think about the pictures of you that are online. The CareerBuilder.com study found that more than half of respondents cited inappropriate photos or information and 44 percent mentioned the posting of drug- or drinking-related content as reasons for turning down a job applicant. Remember, just because your Facebook profile has privacy settings doesn't mean you're invisible online. Some companies direct their own employees and interns to snoop around and use all kinds of channels to get access to information.

3. Do Google yourself. That's right—search for yourself. You might get made fun of, but knowing what's on the Internet when people look for you is very important. Part of Brand-Yourself's strategy is teaching its clients how to use search-engine optimization to their advantage. In other words, find out what terms and keywords you can use to make positive pieces of content about you show up. If you have a personal website or a blog, give it some bells and whistles and make it easily accessible.

"The fact that [young people] know that employers are looking for you means there's a way to put your best foot forward," says Brand-Yourself's Ambron. "You can showcase all your best work and make sure it's found by the right people. Why not make sure that the people searching your name can find the right stuff?"

4. Don't post negative status updates or tweets. Sometimes, it's hard to be positive. The economy is struggling. School is challenging. And the news hasn't exactly been buzzing with beaming faces and rainbows. But don't let that come out in your status updates. Never rip a classmate, coworker, or person in a leadership role like a professor or boss, and don't openly complain about your job, either. It just doesn't look good.

5. Don't make your online presence all about you. Don't post what you're eating for lunch. Don't put up status updates asking for jobs. You can make your presence known by being interactive. Share relevant articles and videos. Make thoughtful comments when you can. Retweet interesting posts from people you follow.

Cahill fleshed out that point even more. "Don't avoid things on the Internet," he says. "Always think about how you can manage your brand and your image by interacting with other people. Think about how you can use this tool or that tool to present, promote, and position yourself so you can be the most successful moving forward."

By Jeff Greer

Tips For The College Fair

2010-04-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

A few things to remember while you browse the tables at a college fair:

• Plan ahead. Meet with your guidance counselor prior to the college fair season. Often more than 300 colleges attend these fairs. It is helpful to talk with a counselor about your interests and hopes in order to develop an initial list of schools to research. Ask your counselor for a list of the colleges that will be present so that you can create a list of schools about which you want to gather more information.

• No flybys. Take the time to stop and speak with the representative at the table. Do not just grab a view-book or free pencil and run for the door. With the surge in applications that many colleges are now experiencing, more and more institutions are factoring "demonstrated interest" into their admissions decisions. They track contact with the admissions office and often prefer students who have shown interest in the college. By filling out the contact cards at the fair tables, your name will be added to the mailing list and the formal relationship with the college has begun.

• Know who you are talking to. Representatives behind each table vary depending on the institution. Often the individual is the regional dean of admissions who will likely be reading your application in a few months.

. Other times, an alumnus of the college, current student, parent or faculty member will be assisting the admissions office by attending. It is in your interest to understand with whom you are talking and what their relative influence in the process is. Collect business cards so that you can write to the representative and thank him or her for taking the time to speak with you.

• Save time and avoid writer's cramp. Before you attend the fair, print out a sheet or two of self-adhesive labels with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, high school and birth date. These can be applied to the contact cards, ensuring that your information will be legible and saving you from writing the information over and over again.

• Arrive fashionably late. Often the crowds are the thickest at the beginning of the fair, and it is difficult to have a meaningful conversation with the admissions counselors. While you do not want to wait to catch them as they are packing up, you will likely stand out more if you can have an in-depth conversation rather than elbow your way through the crowd.

• Highlight your interests. The flow of information goes both ways at fairs. It is an excellent opportunity for you to gather literature and materials from colleges, but admissions counselors are eager to learn more about you. If you have specific interests in terms of a major, sports team, or other activity, be sure to discuss these with the representative. Chances are, they will make a note on your contact card, and you might be invited to special events on campus or connected with a coach or faculty member.

• Ask thoughtful questions. Questions such as "Do you have a biology major?" or "Where are you located?" can easily be answered by glancing at the view-book. Instead, think of more probing questions such as "What makes your institution different from your peers schools?" or "How accessible are opportunities for research with faculty?" These thoughtful inquiries will distinguish you among the other students wandering through the fair.

Just as April showers bring May flowers, the energy and time invested in researching colleges and establishing relationships on the front end of this process will pay significant dividends down the road.

By: Brennan Barnard

What to Do When Colleges ACCEPT You

2010-03-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

March 29, 2010
By: Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University.

The first week of April is just around the corner. For the past year, you have focused heavily on where to apply to college, and then how to win the hearts of people like me. You've been increasingly anxious about the results as the decision dates loom. Oddly, all this effort may have left you surprisingly unprepared for a task that is just as challenging as making your applications.
Here are a few thoughts based on several years of observing what happens after students get their envelopes, whether thick or thin, and they are suddenly faced with a big decision.

* If you receive some rejections, you will tend to dwell on them. It's only natural -- what we can't have suddenly seems far more valuable or interesting than what we can have. You will be tempted to revisit every step of your high school career and your application process, pondering what you might have done differently. But there is one and only one good answer to any rejection letter you receive, dream school or not: "Your loss, baby." Then move on.

* If you are like most students, the process has now delivered to you a handful of admission tickets to the greatest shows on earth. Every one of your colleges has infinitely more opportunities to offer than you could pursue in a lifetime. At one of these places you are going to take friendship to a new level, go adventuring and exploring, make your own decisions about what to do and how to do it, perhaps develop a permanent intellectual interest or a personal mission. Smell the roses. Put the acceptance letters up on your wall. Recognize how profoundly fortunate you are to live in this country and to be presented with opportunities that most of your peers around the world would give virtually anything to experience.

* Now for something practical. To the extent humanly possible, wipe out every assumption you have made up to this point about these schools. Let there be no reaches, good fits or safeties. Throw away all the ranking lists. Stop obsessing over selectivity or prestige. You now know more -- a lot more -- about colleges than you did when you first started looking. The shoe is on the other foot now -- colleges will be falling all over themselves to win your favor. Treat all of this as a brand new game, and do not be too hasty about putting any school aside. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a student say, "I wish I had looked more closely at the schools that accepted me. I wish I had actually talked to more students who attended those schools and also more students at the school I finally picked. I was blinded by what I thought I knew about my first choice school."

* Most important step: if you possibly can, visit schools that accepted you, even if you have visited them already. Let me repeat this. Go back for another visit to the schools you are seriously considering. When you arrive, act like you are just starting your search. You may be amazed at how some of the schools have changed since you first visited or differ from what you've been reading in the brochures. Why? It's because you have been changing and you are continuing to change now that you face a real decision. When you walk onto campus, try to avoid finding reasons not to like a place -- things that turn you off. Instead, try the much more useful exercise of picturing yourself there as a student, thriving and enjoying both the educational opportunities and the campus scene. This may involve picturing yourself in some new ways as well. This is a good thing.  * Do something that can be very hard: ask your mother, father and/or guardian what they truly think about the schools that have admitted you. Insist that they be specific about their impressions, and weigh what they say in the light of what you know about their good judgment. Why do this? First, they care about you and may know you in ways you don't know yourself. Second, they have often been paying close attention to the differences among colleges. Third, they are probably going to be paying or helping to pay for this. Make it clear that you would like to make up your own mind, that you view certain things differently than they do. But ask them, listen to what they have to say, and weigh it carefully against what you think. By approaching them directly, you will also save everyone the agony of communicating by subtle hints, bizarre facial expressions, comments to relatives, or desperate pleading.

* If you haven't done it already, you also need to talk with your backers about the money. I am always amazed at how many families have somehow gotten to this point without a serious discussion on who's paying for what and how much difference a difference in price is going to make to the final decision.

* If you can follow these steps and hold off the rush to judgment, you may be very surprised to find yourself strongly considering a school you did not originally put at the top of your list. And if instead, you end up confirming your first choice after all, you will do that only after giving it a very sober review in light of the competition and the finances. This is not only healthy, but it is going to make you much more knowledgeable and realistic about what to expect when you arrive on campus.
Remember above all else that no college is going to be paradise, and that all colleges have something truly outstanding to offer you. As much as the deans who admitted you hope to see you on their campuses come September, what we hope even more is that you make a wise, thoughtful and fruitful choice, one of many more to come.

Posted on: huffingtonpost.com

More private colleges and universities cross the $50K mark for 2010-11 tuition and fees

2010-03-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

March 23
College Admissions Examiner

Private colleges and universities are quietly announcing increases in tuition and fees crossing the $50,000 mark for the 2010-2011 academic year. Coupled with promises of increased financial aid, the boost in tuition is needed to cover continuing shortfalls in campus operating budgets.  This week, Harvard University announced that undergraduate tuition and fees for next year will total $50,724, an increase of 3.8 percent. According to a Harvard press release, financial aid for undergraduates will be increased by 9 percent, to a record $158 million for the upcoming academic year. “Harvard remains committed to a fully need-blind admissions policy that will enable us to continue attracting the most talented students, regardless of their economic circumstances,” said Michael D. Smith dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.  Harvard’s tuition increases remain roughly in line with other Ivies, including Yale, which announced tuition and fees totaling $49,800 or an increase of 4.8 percent; Princeton, which went up by 3.3 percent to $48,580; Brown at $51,360 or 4.5 percent over last year; Penn at $51,944—3.9 percent more; Dartmouth to $52,275, up by 4.6 percent; and Cornell, which will increase by 4.4 percent for the university’s endowed colleges to $52,316.  

Other private colleges and universities crossing the $50,000 threshold for the next academic year include Boston University at $51,120 (+3.7%), Carnegie Mellon University at $52,250 (+2.98%), Notre Dame at $50,785 (+3.8%), Washington University in St. Louis (+4.2%), and Stanford University at $50,576 (+3.5%).   Both George Washington University and Georgetown have been over $50,000 for the past two years. This year, Georgetown tuition will go up by 3 percent and room and board will increase 2 percent for a grand total of $52,443. GW will remain true to tuition commitments leveling a 3 percent tuition increase only on incoming students leaving tuition and fees the same for all others.   While tuition increases at private colleges are not good news, they don’t approach the projections for public institutions. Florida college students could face 15 percent tuition increases for several years, and University of Illinois students will pay at least 9 percent more next year. Georgia’s 35 colleges and universities are planning a 35 percent tuition increase on top of a raise in student fees according to the Huffington Post online. The University of Washington will charge 14 percent more at its flagship campus, and in California, tuition increases of over 30 percent have sparked protests.   A four-year freeze on college tuition in Maryland is expected to end this year, but the increase is likely to be only in the range of 3 percent. Virginia schools so far remain mum on the subject, but increases are all but inevitable. 

By Nancy Griesemer

Transitioning Into College Life

2010-03-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

College Survival Tips

•Don't overpack when you go to college and pack for the climate that you are in.

•Remember that ironing can become tiring and is not the most exciting college activity. Dry cleaning bills do add up also. Consider packing clothes that wrinkle less and clothes that don't need dry cleaning.

•Meet as many fellow students as you can during orientation. It's a great time to meet everyone. Sometimes the people you meet during orientation become your best friends.

•Get well acquainted with your campus and explore the campus, the buildings, and its history. Go into buildings that you would otherwise not go into.

•Walk around campus before your classes begin and get familiar with where you are going and what times your classes are.

• Have a schedule that you can handle and vary your courses. Don't enroll in more than three reading intensive courses.

•Find out who the best professors are from your friends and take their classes. The professor can make the course better than the actual subject if they are really good.

•Try to fulfill your core requirements and get them out of the way early on in college.

•Seek advice from older students and of course your advisor. They are experienced with many of the things you will go through and they can help. Don't wait for them to come to you, go to them.

•Don't decide on your major right away. Take some time to think about it and then decide what interests you most. Remember that majors are not geared for careers or entering the "real working world." If majors were geared only to prepare you for a job and career, then many companies wouldn't have training programs.

•Take courses just for fun and ones that you know you will enjoy. By taking these "fun courses" you become well rounded.

•When registering for classes try not to schedule classes that are back to back. If you do, you won't have time to study right before or after class and it also can wear you out.

•Try not to drop classes too early. Go to few of the classes and then decide if you should drop it. --Don't give up on a class if it seems too difficult. You could do well in a difficult class that you find to be challenging with help from a tutor or a peer.

•Don't always believe the professor on the first day of class because they always talk about how much work they will give throughout the semester. Remember the professor has to grade this work too.

•Don't attempt to write down everything that a professor says. This is very hard to do and in turn will make you more bored in the class. If you absolutely have to hear everything, invest in a mini recording device.

•Don't be scared to talk to or ask your professors or teaching assistants questions. Remember they are there to help you. That's why they hold office hours. Go to their office hours regularly or when needed and don't wait till the last minute to ask them questions.

•Remember your professors are human too and make mistakes. It's a good idea to correct them because it may save the whole class from having to do something that they weren't supposed to do.

•Ask questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question. Your question may be one that others may have, but just haven't asked.

•If you can't make it to all the office hours, then go to review sessions before exams. You will see how helpful these may be when you are pressed for time to study a lot.

•When studying, study in groups for review sessions, but it is also important to study alone. You may learn better by studying alone depending on your learning style.

•Use the resources at your school. The library is always a great place to study.

•Attend class. Even if attendance is not taken, attendance keeps you on top of things.

•Keep track of your schedule in a day planner or on a calendar. If you have a personal digital assistant, then that's great too just as long as you are organized.

•Avoid procrastination. Waiting till the last day to work on a paper is not a good idea. Break your work up into chunks. Just think if you started it when it was assigned. You could always have fun and relax after.

By Eric Leebow, Yahbooks Publishing, LLC.

UC Sleuths Seek Proof for Glorious Claims on Admission Applications

2010-02-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Mercury News
January 31,2010

Did you donate the profits from your violin recital to support a homeless shelter? Were you part of a deer rescue squad during a major forest fire? Was that you who donated gallons of blood to the Red Cross?
Well, if you said so on your UC application, you better be ready to prove it.
Like no other higher education system in the nation, the University of California has a quiet team of vigilant auditors that review the accuracy of randomly selected applications — and may yank ones shined up by too much balderdash, big-talk or bull.
"We expect integrity," said Han Mi Yoon-Wu, admissions coordinator for the 10-campus university system. Although falsification is not a major problem, she said, "students need to know that they might be selected, and they should make sure that everything on the application is accurate."
Run out of a modest office park in Concord, the UC investigation team aims to prevent an arms race of fictional accomplishments among those seeking a seat at the most competitive UC campuses, such as Berkeley and Los Angeles. The vast majority of applicants will escape challenge; only 1 percent of its 134,000 applicants are pulled for review. But those who bump up the baloney in claims on their application forms do so at their own peril.
While all American universities seek official verification of grades and test scores, most others rely on the honor system for more personal assertions. "The system in California is quite unique," said David Hawkins of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. "Colleges have always kept an eye out for suspicious-looking essays that might have been plagiarized, but few bother to actually check."

Array of evidence
This month UC sent letters to 1,000 applicants for the 2010 freshman class asking them for evidence to support claims made in their "personal statements" and lists of accomplishments. The application cops do not target suspects; rather they employ a vast, random but high-stakes process designed to keep students honest. Their biggest weapon: the fear factor they may pick yours.
So with a deadline on Monday for students to mail back proof, the office gets daily deliveries of a wide and colorful array of evidence from those who have been challenged. There are photos, certificates and DVDs, theater playbills, pay stubs and newspaper articles.
"One young man sent a wood and brass plaque," proving he did indeed win an athletic award, said sleuth Mary Jacobson, a soft-spoken and meticulous woman who leads the four-member team.
Someone sent in a diploma as proof — written in Chinese. A French translator verified another student's claim that he graduated from a Toulouse-based language immersion school.

Not too personal
The verification program was created in 2003 after UC's shift to a so-called "comprehensive review" of students' applications — in which students are measured not just by academic success but out-of-the-classroom accomplishments.
California's top students offer stunning accomplishments, and the vast majority are honest, said Yoon-Wu. "But there was concern that some kids would start to pad their applications to make themselves look better," she said. "Students feared that there are others not telling the truth."
They look for only provable claims. For instance, they don't question insights or inspirations — but they may ask for evidence of participation in the Rose Bowl Parade.
They don't dig into more private disclosures, such as sexual orientation, abuse, pregnancy or parental divorce.
If "prove-it" requests are returned as undeliverable, the UC team tries to find the students before canceling their chances to attend school.
"One student became homeless after submitting his application," said Jacobson. "We eventually contacted his counselor and made the school his temporary address. He was able to verify his accomplishments."
Students acknowledge that applications are embellished, but many insist that outright falsehoods are rare.
"People rarely outright make things up, but lines are definitely blurred," said Kriti Garg, a junior at Cupertino's Monta Vista High School. For instance, the title of "club president" could mean running a prizing-winning organization or hanging out with a handful of friends, she said. "However, at my school, even though there is a strong competition to get into top-tier universities, people try to stay as technically correct as possible — they don't really want to risk anything."

Few outright fibs
For those who err, there is worry. On the popular College Confidential Web site, one anxious student wrote: "I've made a pretty serious mistake on my app. Instead of 2 hours/week I wrote 12 hours/week. Now UC sent me a letter asking to verify. ... It would really suk if I get my app withdrawn."
The lucky ones are given the benefit of the doubt, often after prolonged negotiations.
"A young woman sent a DVD of 200 dancers on stage, and indicated she was one of them. We believed her," said Jacobson. "Another said she worked for her mother, who had recently died. She asked if we wanted a death certificate. Of course, we said no." UC investigators say they find few instances of outright fibbing. More common are instances of vanished course work — typically, a failed class that was later repeated. Some applicants — about 15 each year — fail to respond to repeated requests for proof. For those who are caught, there's always next year and a possible second chance. But the indiscretion is noted in permanent records, said Yoon-Wu. "We keep a record."

by: Lisa M. Krieger

A Bumper Year for Applications to Top Colleges

2010-02-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer
January 31, 2010

Getting into the University of Pennsylvania and other elite private schools in the area could be harder this fall, with applications coming in at record increases.

Some of the rise is because of eye-popping increases in applications from California, where budget cuts have sent shock waves through the state system.

Also fueling the boom are more aggressive recruiting by colleges in the economic downturn, a jump in applications from minority students, and a boost in the number of students filing more applications to find the best financial-aid offers, officials say.

Penn's applications have risen 17 percent, to 26,800 for 2,400 spots - one of its largest jumps ever after two relatively flat years.

"We're going to be more selective, if not the most selective Penn has ever been," admissions dean Eric Furda said.

Admission to other private schools in the region also will be more competitive. Princeton University reports a 19 percent increase in applications, Drexel University 19 percent, Villanova University 10 percent, and Swarthmore College 8 percent.

While many students need look only across the classroom to see competition for coveted freshman slots, increasingly their rivals are hailing from farther away - the left coast in particular.

Penn got 3,350 applications from California, a 22 percent hike. Swarthmore was up 16 percent, Villanova 34 percent, and the University of Delaware 36 percent.

"An increase like we saw in California doesn't just happen," Furda said. "Families in California must be looking at the strain the state system is under and are starting to take a look at some other options outside the state."

California's well-regarded public system has lowered enrollments as money gets tighter and the number of high school graduates peaks.

Applications to private schools are showing some record increases nationally as well, including an unheard of 42 percent at the University of Chicago, said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers.

"You would have thought that economic conditions in the country would make higher-priced institutions a lot less interesting to families," he said, but "they understand that the recession, no matter how severe it may be, will end fairly soon, whereas the benefits of a college education are spread out over a lifetime."

Princeton plans to increase its financial-aid budget to $113 million next school year, up from $103 million.

"It appears our financial-aid message of affordability is reaching more students than in the past," dean of admissions Janet Rapelye said in a statement.

More applications from minority students also are fueling the spurt in applications locally, college officials said.

The numbers of black and Hispanic applicants to Penn are up 33 percent and 29 percent.

Applications from Asians rose 61 percent at Delaware, along with jumps in black and Hispanic applicants.

Villanova drew 3,200 applications from minority students, its highest total. And Pennsylvania State University had an 8 percent climb.

The increases are coming even as the number of U.S. high school graduates has begun to decline (despite continuing gains in the West and Southwest).

Villanova's applications rose even though its draw from Pennsylvania fell 4 percent.

Several area schools, including Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges, did not respond to requests for application numbers.

Officials also speculated that students were continuing to apply to more schools. In 1990, 9 percent of students applied to seven or more colleges. In 2006, 18 percent did so.

"They perhaps want to be able to have more financial-aid packages to sort through to see where they might be getting the most help," said Claudia Gard, a counselor at Masterman High School, a Philadelphia magnet school.

Masterman counselors recommend that students apply to state schools, if only as a backup to more selective colleges.

Senior Danielle Williams, 18, applied to two Ivies, Penn and Cornell University; two state-related schools, Penn State and Temple University; and East Stroudsburg University, part of the state system.

An honor-roll student with advanced math ability, she recently was named the Philadelphia School District's student of the month. Even so, she knows she faces stiff competition for top schools, and much of her decision will depend on financial aid.

"We kind of go in with the mind-set that we're not going to get in," Williams said of her Ivy applications. "So if we do get in, it's good news. . . . And even if I don't get in, I have really good backups."

Many state and state-related schools also saw application increases.

Rutgers University, New Jersey's flagship, is tracking 5 percent higher, which it attributed in part to the opening of its new visitors center.

Penn State was up 4 percent as of mid-January.

Delaware is ahead 7 percent, bringing in 25,247 applications. At the same time, it will offer admission to a smaller class.

"It's going to be an especially tough year," admissions director Louis Hirsh said.

But at Temple, applications dropped 11 percent, to 15,673, from a year ago. The school's deadline is March 1.

Applications from out-of-state students, who have to pay higher tuition, account for half the decline, said William Black, senior vice provost for enrollment management.

Also, counselors at feeder high schools in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties told Temple that more students were planning to attend community college their first two years to save money, he said.

Temple figures it still may get applications from students who applied to private schools under early decision and early action and were turned down.

Despite the decline, Black said Temple had a strong candidate pool and expected it would bring in a better class than last year. Four percent more students have submitted deposits, indicating commitment to attend, he added.

"The SAT scores in this year's pool are up significantly - 18 points higher," he said.

At Penn, Furda - like officials at some other schools - also credited more aggressive recruiting. He said Penn's education campaign about its aid must be working, too.

But Furda said the size of the jump in applications surprised him.

"I was thinking a 10 percent increase would have been good," he said.

by: Susan Snyder

What Goes Into A Great College Essay

2009-12-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

SELECTED AS "BEST ANSWER" ON LINKEDIN.COM!

A great college essay, I suspect, is more than a good story.

Which character attributes should shine through?
Ability to work with others? Adaptability? Independence? Maturity?

What topics give the student something good to write about?
Work or volunteer experiences? Academic achievement? Overseas travel? Family life?

What happens to those applicants who don't seem to have the experiences to draw from?

What else should I have included?

This was selected as Best Answer

Jeannie Borin, M.Ed.
President & Founder at College Connections
Best Answers in:
Education and Schools (1)

Which character attributes should shine through?
Ability to work with others? Adaptability? Independence? Maturity? All of these work - it's okay also to be less than perfect as we all are just that

What topics give the student something good to write about?
Work or volunteer experiences? Academic achievement? Overseas travel? Family life? These are good but too general - isolate an event or one experience

What happens to those applicants who don't seem to have the experiences to draw from? writing about small daily occurrences can produce excellent essays

Here are tips for writing an excellent college admissions essay:

1) Make yourself shine within your own story: It’s important that you don’t repeat what has already been stated on your activity resume, but you should highlight your accomplishments in your essay- weave them into your story. Reveal your personality and perhaps your future goals in your writing.

2) Be humble but don’t be modest: Don’t underestimate yourself in any way and be proud and secure in who you are. Sincerely describe your most impressive accomplishments but don’t overdo it.

3) Be confident in your statements: It’s important to write as though you deserve gaining acceptance. Present yourself as unique with specific skills and passion.

4) Use personal stories: You really own your essay in this way and no one else can tell your story; this is what makes you unique.

5) Write descriptively: Engage the reader and be specific about your experience. If writing a memorable story about a ride in the car and what you saw, have that reader sitting there with you. A good story is priceless and you will catch attention in this way. Use powerful imagery and personal anecdotes whenever you can. Leave readers with a lasting impression and it will serve you well come decision time!

DOS & DON’TS in college essay writing:

DO

Use personal detail: show, don’t tell.
Be concise.
Vary sentence structure and use transitions.
Use active voice verbs.
Answer the question and follow directions.
Seek a few opinions.
Stay focused as you have a limited word count.
Revise, revise, revise and proofread.

DON’T

Write chronologically—it can be boring.
Thesaurus-ize: don’t write what you think admission officers want to hear or use language that is not your own.
State a point of view without backing it up with details and examples.
Repeat what is listed on your activity resume.
Use slang.

Your character is the hardest thing for admission officers to measure. The essay is your chance to reveal who you are- your passions, values, authenticity and sincerity. Be yourself!

Running Tally on Some Colleges’ Early Admission Figures

2009-12-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

December 16, 2009

During the week of Dec. 14, The Choice http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tally/ is keeping a running tally of some colleges’ figures on early applications, and acceptances, under binding early decision programs and non-binding early action. They are updating this list as they receive information on more institutions.

Brown (binding): 2,847 early applications, compared to 2360 last year, +487; 567 acceptances, compared to 570 last year, -3; total anticipated class size: about 1,485.

University of Chicago (non-binding): 5,883 early applications, compared to 3,774 last year, +2,109; 1,676 acceptances, compared to 1,128, +548; total anticipated class size: about 1,350.

Johns Hopkins (binding): 1,155 applicants, compared to 1,049 last year, +106; 493 acceptances, compared to 504 last year, -11; total anticipated class size: about 1,235

Yale (non-binding): 5,262 applications, compared to 5,556 last year, -294; 730 offers of admission, compared to 742, -12; total anticipated class size: about 1,310

Stanford (non-binding): 5,556 applications, compared to 5,363 last year, +183; 753 accepted, compared to 689 last year, +64; total anticipated class size: about 1675
Update | December 15, 2009, 7:56 p.m.

Pomona (binding; results that follow reflect only the first of two rounds): 516 applications, compared to 513 last year, +3; 98 acceptances (including from the Posse and QuestBridge Match programs), compared to 95 last year, +3; total anticipated class size: about 385.

Occidental (binding): 157 applications, compared to 113 a year earlier, +44; 60 acceptances, compared to 51, +9; total anticipated class size: 500

The College of Saint Rose (non-binding): 3,117 applications, compared to 2,409 last year, +608; 1,182 offers of admission, compared to 1,127, +55; total anticipated class size: about 600

Mount St. Mary’s University, Maryland (non-binding): 3,218 applications, compared to 2,784 last year, +514; 1,620 offers of admission, compared to 1,062, +558; total anticipated class size: about 440.

Swarthmore (binding, first of two rounds): 292 applications, compared to 302 last year, -10; 129 acceptances, compared to 126, +3; total anticipated class size: about 385

Hamilton (binding, first of two rounds): 356 applications to date (including some for round 2), compared to 377 on this date last year, -21; 150 acceptances (round 1), compared to 167 last year, -17; total anticipated class size: about 480

Emory (binding, first of two rounds): 709 applications, roughly same as last year; 350 early acceptances (including from the QuestBridge Match program), compared to 331 last year, +19; total anticipated class size: to be determined, but last year’s class was about 1,285

Cornell (binding): 3,579 early applications, compared to 3,443 last year, +136; 1,167 acceptances, compared to 1,264 last year, -103; total anticipated class size: about 3,150.

Dartmouth (binding): 1,600 early applications, compared to 1,549 last year, +51; 461 acceptances, compared to 401, +60; total anticipated class size: 1,100 to 1,150 (current freshman class is about 1,100, but college is considering increasing next year’s class to 1,150.)

Columbia (binding, figures for Columbia College and School of Engineering): 2,995 early applications, compared to 2,942 last year, +53; 631 acceptances, compared to 639, -8; total anticipated class size not specified.

Grinnell (binding, first of two rounds): 176 early applications, compared to 175 last year, +1; 90 acceptances, compared to 107, -17; total anticipated class size: 390,

Amherst (binding): 438 early applications, compared to 444 last year, -6; 147 acceptances compared to 138, +9; total anticipated class size: about 465

Duke (binding): 2,012 early applications, compared to 1,535 last year, +477; 602 acceptances compared to 583, +19; total anticipated class size: about 1,700.

Middlebury (binding, first of two rounds): 653 early applications, compared to 648 last year, +5; 262 acceptances (including some for fall 2010, and others for winter 2011) , compared to 274 last year, -12. total anticipated class size: about 700, including students matriculating in fall and winter

Northwestern (binding): 1,776 early applications, compared to 1,595 last year, +181; 618 acceptances compared to 590, +28; total anticipated class size: about 2,025

Wesleyan (binding, first of two rounds): about 500 early applications, roughly the same as last year; 237 acceptances, compared to 239 last year, -2; total anticipated class size: about 745.

Williams (binding): 541 early applications, compared to 614 last year, -73; 212 acceptances compared to 232 last year, -20;
Emma J. Fidel contributed reporting.

At Many Colleges, Early Applications Rise

2009-12-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

New York Times
December 16, 2009
This was the year when the frenzy to gain early admission to the nation’s most selective colleges seemed likely to subside, at least in part because a student admitted under a binding early program cannot seek competing financial aid offers as leverage to negotiate a better package.

Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth, among other highly selective colleges, received substantially more applications for their early decision programs this year than they did last.

Other colleges, including Wesleyan, Emory, Pomona and Grinnell, drew about as many early applications this fall as they did last fall, a time when the economic downturn was only just beginning. Each of those programs requires students to withdraw all other applications and attend if admitted.

“The fear of not getting in is a trump card,” said Jon Reider, director of college counseling at San Francisco University High School, a private school, and a former admissions officer at Stanford. “That fear is more powerful than any piece of factual information, such as, ‘Gee, colleges are having a hard time with financial aid, maybe we should cast our net fairly widely and not jump the gun and throw our eggs all in one basket.”’

Not all colleges held their ground, however. Yale and Williams saw a drop in early applications.

For the colleges themselves, which sent notifications to early-admission applicants this week, the calculus appears to have been more complicated. While early decision candidates are some of the savviest, most talented — and, yes, financially flush students — the increase in early decision applications did not necessarily translate into a surge of offers of admission.

Cornell, for example, received an additional 136 applications for its binding early decision program this fall, when compared to last, but accepted 103 fewer students than last year.

While nearly 40 percent of the seats in next year’s freshman class at Cornell are now reserved, the university has still allowed itself much flexibility for the main round of admission, when most students will apply. Moreover, colleges like Cornell are committed to assembling the most diverse classes possible — including racially and socio-economically diverse classes — and many of those who apply early tend to be white and of some means.

Johns Hopkins also received more early applications this fall, but accepted fewer students.

“Colleges are hesitant to go beyond a certain line when it comes to the percentage of the incoming class that they obtain through early decision,” said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. “They’re aware of the research, and the potential inequities they might produce if they cross that line.”

Still, it is difficult to find a clear theme in all the colleges’ application figures for this fall. Williams, which has a binding early admission program, received 73 fewer applications this fall, a drop of 13.9 percent. And Yale — which has a non-binding early program, but which requires that its early applicants apply to no other early programs — received nearly 300 fewer applications, a drop of 5 percent.

And yet, Stanford, which has a program similar to Yale’s, got 183 more applications than last fall, an increase of 4 percent. And early applications to M.I.T., another non-binding program, surged by 13 percent, the university said Wednesday night.

In the case of Stanford and M.I.T., early applicants had little to lose, for they have until May to decide whether they wish to attend, a period in which they can consider other colleges’ offers.

In response to criticisms of early programs in recent years as the province of the elite (and the plugged-in), Harvard and the University of Virginia are among a handful of schools that have discontinued their early programs.

Some college counselors — including Bill McClintick, a counselor at Mercersburg Academy in Maryland, and a former president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling — said some students at his school had specifically bypassed any binding early programs this fall, in favor of non-binding, to preserve their financial options.

Mr. Reider said several of his students had made similar decisions to bypass early decision entirely for the main round.

“I have to write a lot of recommendation letters now,” he said.
By JACQUES STEINBERG

College Application Essays That Will Get You Accepted

2009-11-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

November 23, 2009

Writing college application essays can be intimidating for most aspiring applicants. College admissions can be competitive; it’s essential for students to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Extracurricular activities can be helpful, as can personal letters of reference, but most experts agree that college application essays are the best way for students to express their individuality and attract the attention of admissions officers at the college or university of their choice.

The most important advice for college applicants is to invest time in their college application essays. By devoting a significant amount of time to writing a compelling and personal essay and then editing the result until it is a finely-honed piece of writing, students can make a good first impression. College application essays can say a lot about the applicant; it’s essential that it speaks well for his or her ability to form coherent sentences, use good grammar, and demonstrate proper flow and structure in written discourse.

Keep it personal. A well-written, detailed essay about the price of tea in China may well win awards and praise from teachers and friends, but it reveals precisely nothing about the student in question. Writing from the heart is essential in order to make the best impression. By explaining various choices, discussing a difficult decision, or outlining the challenges faced in various endeavors, students can make a positive impression and allow college admissions officers a real basis on which to base their decisions. For students applying to several different institutions, it’s important to tailor college application essays to the academic strengths of the specific institution in question. While it is possible and even desirable to use elements of one basic essay for all the schools under consideration, this will require certain changes depending on the specific college’s general atmosphere. Some schools pose specific questions for their essay requirement; ensure that each of these questions is adequately answered in the submitted essay. Failure to fulfill the requirements is usually grounds for the essay being discounted in the college admissions process; this can seriously limit the chances of a student being accepted to that school.
Demonstrate analytical skills and logical thinking in the essay. By showing a keen, rational understanding of basic issues, students can produce more clear and coherent results. Especially since college application essays are often the first point of contact between the student and the admissions committee, it’s essential that it unmistakably highlights the academic strengths and character of the student.

Lastly, get as much feedback as possible on the finished essay. Have relatives, friends, college counselors and teachers read and proofread it and give their commentary. While the final decision on incorporating changes must rest with the student, soliciting the input and help of objective readers can help to produce the best essay possible. Additionally, college applicants can get a better sense of the impression that the essay is likely to make on admissions officers by noting the feedback from friends, teachers, and family. Polished, personal college application essays offer a far greater chance for a positive response and for achieving the desired outcome.

By: Elizabeth Kraus

Regents Set to Raise Tuition in California by 32 Percent

2009-11-19T12:08:00.000-08:00

New York Times
November 19, 2009

The University of California Board of Regents was expected to approve a plan on Thursday to raise undergraduate fees — the equivalent of tuition — 32 percent by next fall, to help make up for steep cuts in state funding.

The state allocation for the 10-campus system, one of the leading public university systems in the nation, was cut $813 million, or 20 percent, this year, leading to a hiring freeze, furloughs and layoffs.

The impact on the University of California campuses has been dramatic: faculty hiring is not keeping up with enrollment demand, and many course sections have been eliminated. Across all campuses, instructional budgets are being reduced by $139 million, with 1,900 employees laid off, 3,800 positions eliminated and hiring deferred for nearly 1,600 positions, most of them faculty.

Several campuses are now planning to admit more out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition, to help close the budget gap. And there is a growing worry that senior faculty may begin to defect to other institutions.

Since the school year began, thousands of students have protested both the budget cuts and the proposal for higher fees, which would bring in-state tuition to more than $10,000 a year. On Wednesday 14 protesters, including 12 students, were arrested at U.C.L.A., for disrupting the meeting of the Regents Finance Committee, which was eventually closed to visitors.

There were large protests on the Berkeley campus as well, by union workers, students and faculty.

Mark Yudof, president of the system, said the University of California now received only half as much support from the state, per student, as it did in 1990. Even with the higher student fees, the system needs a $913 million increase in state financing next year to avoid further cuts. If that extra money is not provided, next year’s freshman enrollment will most likely be cut.

"When it comes to the university’s core support, we have only two main sources — taxpayer dollars from the state and student fees,” Mr. Yudof said. “Even with deep administrative cuts, when one goes down, the other almost inevitably must go up."

To help students who cannot afford the increasing fees, the Regents are also expected to approve the expansion of the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, for undergraduates whose family income is below $70,000.

by: Tamar Lewin

State Cuts Give Private Colleges an Edge

2009-11-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times
November 16, 2009

Some campuses are luring students away from UC and Cal State schools with grants and assurances.

Thousands of other students might have jumped at the chance to attend UCLA, but not Michael Rodriguez. He passed up his UC acceptance last year in order to attend California Lutheran University, a less well-known but more intimate private campus in Thousand Oaks.

Rodriguez, who is happy with his choice, said one reason for the decision was a financial aid program Cal Lutheran established specifically to lure students who had been admitted to several top UC campuses. A math and physics major from San Fernando, Rodriguez also said he wanted a more personal setting with small classes and hoped to avoid the overcrowding and other problems state budget cuts are causing at UC schools.

His experience reflects a growing effort by private colleges and universities to turn the budget crisis at California's public campuses to their advantage through savvy marketing and, in some cases, special deals. The private schools are leery of being seen as attacking public higher education, but they also don't want to miss a chance to gain good students while UC and Cal States campuses struggle with reduced enrollment and classes.

"There is a mix of real concern for our friends in the public sector and a recognition that this is a time when we ought to be looking strategically at what we can do," said Jonathan Brown, president of the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

Brown said that for years, many of his 75 member institutions have assured potential students that they would receive personal attention at their campuses and get the courses they need to graduate in the traditional four years.

Now, he said, more private schools are putting out similar messages. Even the association's website proclaims that its member schools have no enrollment cuts, unlike the state's public campuses.

Still, with students facing application deadlines for UC and Cal State campuses at the end of the month and private school deadlines typically a month or so later, the results of the recruiting efforts are not yet known. The big hurdle, of course, is tuition at private colleges, which can run seven times that of Cal State and more than triple that of UC.

Private colleges, which enroll about a fifth of California's undergraduates, say they are boosting the amount they give in financial aid even though the recession has hurt their endowments. They also urge prospective students to consider how much it may cost them -- both in tuition and lost income -- if they cannot graduate on time from a UC or Cal State.

Last year, Cal Lutheran established special scholarships, regardless of family income, for students who were also admitted to UCLA or UC Santa Barbara. The grants make the cost of attending the private school the same as attending UC, including room and board.

Last year 20 students took Cal Lutheran's offer, and this fall 27 did, receiving annual aid worth $17,000 on average, according to Rebecca Keenan, the university's associate director of financial aid and scholarships. And for next fall, the campus plans to expand the scholarship offer to those accepted at UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

Cal Lutheran, which enrolls about 3,700 students, benefits by attracting academically strong students who might have gone elsewhere. "We thought about the fact that, with UC cutting enrollment, options for students were getting to be smaller. This makes us an affordable option for more families," Keenan said.

That worked for sophomore Rodriguez. He was unhappy with what he viewed as the crowded, anonymous style of a UCLA reception for admitted applicants. "It felt like a cattle call," he recalled, adding that it underlined his concerns about the state budget cuts.

So he signed up for Cal Lutheran's new financial aid offer.

His mother, Angel Zobel-Rodriguez, said she urges other families to consider the program. "This is a way that changes the dynamic for people who might not look at private schools," she said. "It doesn't mean they are necessarily going to go there. There will always be some parents who want that brand name of UCLA."

The University of San Francisco is taking a different tack. The private Catholic school recently announced that it will offer half-price tuition on lower-division courses at its satellite campuses in San Ramon, Cupertino, Sacramento and Santa Rosa. Advertisements say the program, starting in January, can help "students trapped by the devastating cuts at California's public universities and give them the classes they need to graduate."

The courses, in such subjects as psychology, statistics, U.S. history and Spanish, will count toward a public campus degree, University of San Francisco officials said. But they said it is too soon to estimate enrollment demand, particularly given that tuition, even reduced by 55%, will be $560 a credit, compared to $26 a unit at community colleges.

University of San Francisco officials said they hope it will induce more community college students to transfer to its main campus. "Frankly, it will benefit us in the long run. It will enhance our pipeline for the transfer population," said Elizabeth Johnson, vice provost for academic and enrollment services.

Because they are heavily dependent on tuition, private colleges often are more consumer-savvy than public schools, according to William G. Tierney, director of USC's Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis. So highlighting public college woes makes "good sense" and will improve the privates' chances of luring more applicants, he said.

At recruiting fairs around the state, private institutions stress that many will accept transfer students in the spring, which most Cal State campuses no longer do.

At a recent fair at Long Beach City College, more private colleges than usual set up booths and more students visited them, according to Ruben Page, a counselor who helps students transfer. "I feel more of a full-court press from the privates and the selling of their universities is getting easier because of the problems at UC and Cal State," Page said.

But he said his students, many from low-income families, are not flooding private institutions, because even with the prospect of financial aid, "the price tag is a stigma."

Cindy Munoz, a Long Beach City College student who has finished her associate's degree, said she wants to transfer to Loyola Marymount University or Mount St. Mary's College. Yet the communications major from Long Beach said she also plans to apply to public campuses and will compare financial aid. "The money might be an issue," she said.

Some more nationally oriented private campuses in California, including USC and Occidental College, say they discuss only their own schools' strengths in recruiting and not their rivals' difficulties.

Richard Vos, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Claremont McKenna College, said he has noticed parents asking more questions about whether students typically graduate in four years.

His office details its success on that score without comparisons to other schools.

"We are not trying to capitalize on the unfortunate budget woes of the state of California," Vos said. Besides, he added, he wouldn't want "to hit a man when he's down."
By Larry Gordon

Study Finds Growing Work for School Counselors

2009-10-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

New York Times
October 20, 2009

The struggling economy has taken a toll on those directly responsible for advising students about the college admission process.

Nearly half of public schools have raised the caseloads of high school counselors this year, compared with last year, with the average increase exceeding 53 students, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

At the same time, the report said, the pressures on applicants (and, by extension, their counselors) are growing, as the number of applications to four-year colleges continued to rise, along with the number of students applying to colleges under early-decision programs.

In many respects, the report, “2009 State of College Admission,” seeks to quantify the extent of the frenzy engulfing many of today’s college applicants.

For example, about 22 percent of students who enrolled in college in the fall of 2008 applied to at least seven colleges, up from about 19 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the average acceptance rate at four-year colleges declined slightly, to 66.8 percent in 2007, the last year for which the report provided full data in that category, from 71.3 percent in 2001.

Those applicants who find themselves on a waiting list face tough odds of being accepted. Fewer than one in three on such lists in 2008 were ultimately accepted, according to the report, about the same as a year earlier.

And yet the report included some indications that the pressures on applicants could soon ease. The number of students graduating from high school annually is believed to have peaked this spring, at 3.33 million, according to the report, so competition for places in colleges should diminish over the next few years.

But families of children in elementary school take note: the nation’s collective high school graduating class “is projected to rebound to 3.31 million by 2017-18,” the report said.

Many applicants rely on their school counselors for advice on college admissions, and the report described the rising workloads of those counselors, particularly at public high schools. (While private school counselors are also working harder, in many instances, fewer than 20 percent reported that their caseloads had increased since the last school year, compared with 45 percent of their public school counterparts.)

Among the states with the highest student-to-counselor ratios are California (986 students for each counselor), Minnesota (799) and Utah (720), according to the report, which cited government data for the 2006-7 school year. While Illinois was listed as having the highest ratio (1,172), the report suggested that the figure was probably “the result of a reporting error,” and was most likely closer to about 700.

Sandie Gilbert, a counselor at Highland Park High School in Illinois said in an interview that she had a caseload of about 280 students this year — an increase of about 45, or 20 percent, since she first began working at the school 15 years ago.

“It’s been inching up every year,” Ms. Gilbert said.

About a quarter of her students are freshmen, who have been streaming into her office since school began in late August with any number of “acclimation” issues, she said. Another quarter are seniors, whom Ms. Gilbert must serve not only in one-on-one guidance sessions but by writing college recommendations for each.

“I wrote 43 recommendations before Oct. 15, and that’s at home, at night,” she said, citing the November deadlines for early-decision applications.

“I was really busy every single period, for the first six weeks of school,” she added. “I’m just now eating lunch. It’s been sitting there on my desk. It’s 2:30.”

By JACQUES STEINBERG

Oxford University Interview Questions: The Examples

2009-10-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Times Online
October 8, 2009

Subject: Geography
Interviewer: Lorraine Wild, St Hilda’s College
Q: If I were to visit the area where you live, what would I be interested in?
Lorraine Wild: ‘The question gives candidates an opportunity to apply concepts from their A level geography course to their home area. They might discuss urban planning and regeneration, ethnic segregation and migration, or issues of environmental management. The question probes whether they are able to apply ‘geographical thinking’ to the everyday landscapes around them. It reveals the extent to which they have a curiosity about the world around them. By asking specifically about their home area the question eliminates any advantage gained by those who are more widely travelled and have more experience of a variety of geographical contexts.’’

Subject: Modern Languages
Interviewer: Helen Swift, St Hilda’s College
Q: What is language?
Helen Swift: ‘Although I would never launch this question at a candidate on its own, it might grow out of a discussion. Students sometimes say they like studying Spanish, for example, because they 'love the language'. In order to get a student thinking critically and analytically, the question would get them to consider what constitutes the language they enjoy – is it defined by particular features or by function (what it does)? How does form relate to meaning? And so on.’

Subject: English
Interviewer: Lucinda Rumsey, Mansfield College
Q: Why might it be useful for an English student to read the Twilight series?
Lucinda Rumsey: ‘There's several reasons I might ask this one. It's useful in an interview to find some texts the candidate has read recently and the Twilight books are easily accessible and popular. Also, candidates tend to concentrate on texts they have been taught in school or college and I want to get them to talk about whatever they have read independently, so I can see how they think rather than what they have been taught. A good English student engages in literary analysis of every book they read. The question has led to some interesting discussions about narrative voice, genre and audience in the past.’

Subject: Medicine
Interviewer: Robert Wilkins, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
Q: Why does your heart rate increase when you exercise?
Robert Wilkins: ‘The simple answer, which all students can provide, is because you need to deliver more oxygen and nutrients to muscles and remove metabolic products. But follow-up questions would probe whether the student appreciates that there must be a way for the body to know it needs to raise the heart rate and possible ways for achieving this. Answers might include sensing lowered oxygen or raised carbon dioxide levels. In fact, gas levels might not change much, so students are further asked to propose other signals and ways in which those possibilities could be tested. This probes selection criteria such as problem-solving and critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm and curiosity, and the ability to listen.’

Subject: Biological Sciences
Interviewer: Martin Speight, Department of Zoology
Q: If you could save either the rainforests or the coral reefs, which would you choose?
Martin Speight: ‘I’d expect students to be able to use their general knowledge plus their common sense to come up with an answer – no detailed knowledge is required. Students might then be asked about the importance of natural features, such as biodiversity and rare species, and human interests, such as the fuel and food, ecotourism and medicines we get from rainforests or reefs. Finally there are impacts to consider from climate change, soil erosion, pollution, logging, biofuel replacement, overfishing, etc. The final answer doesn't matter – both reefs and rainforests must be managed sustainably to balance conservation and human needs.’

Subject: Law
Interviewer: Ben McFarlane, Faculty of Law
Q: What does it mean for someone to ‘take’ another's car?
Ben McFarlane: ‘There is no right answer to this question. For example, can you take a car without driving it, or even without moving it? Our focus is on the candidate’s reasoning – how he or she formulates an initial definition and how he or she then applies and refines that initial definition in response to hypothetical examples provided by the interviewers. One example might be: I am walking along the street when it starts to rain. I open the door of an unlocked car and sit there for 15 minutes until the rain passes. Have I ‘taken’ the car? The aim of the interview is to give the candidate a chance to show his or her application, reasoning ability and communication skills.’

Subject: Engineering
Interviewer: Byron Byrne, Department of Engineering Science
Q: How would you design a gravity dam for holding back water?
Byron Byrne: ‘This is a great question because the candidate first has to determine the forces acting on the dam before considering the stability of the wall under the action of those forces. Candidates will probably recognise that the water could push the dam over. The candidate would then be expected to construct simple mathematical expressions that predict when this would occur. Some may also discuss failure by sliding, issues of structural design, the effects of water seeping under the dam, and so on. The candidate will not have covered all the material at school so guidance is provided to assess how quickly new ideas are absorbed. The question also probes the candidate’s ability to apply physics and maths to new situations and can test interest in and enthusiasm for the engineered world.’

Joanna Sugden

When Less Is More

2009-09-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

Inside Higher Ed
September 23, 2009
For years now, applicants to highly competitive colleges have complained that they feel that they must do more and more to demonstrate why they should be admitted.

This year, following a pattern that had already taken hold among less competitive institutions (for different reasons), some institutions are asking a little less of applicants, at least when it comes to how much they have to write. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is replacing a longer essay (500 words) with several short questions of about 200 words. The University of Pennsylvania has decided to combine two essay questions about the student's fit into the institution into one, saving students maybe 200 words.

For book-writing academics, 200 words here or there may seem irrelevant. But the admissions officers behind the decisions say that they are asking for less out of the view that they may learn more about applicants by not overwhelming them with so many questions. They also said that it may be time for admissions deans to balance more carefully what they would like to know about applicants -- and the demands on applicants' time.

"At one level, within the admissions office, we constantly ask ourselves what information we would like to receive to get to know a student better.... But at another level, we need to try to put ourselves in the student's shoes, and think about how we can get the information in the most efficient manner, about being judicious with the number of questions," said Eric J. Furda, dean of admissions at Penn.

Penn made the changes in its supplement to the Common Application, Furda noted, so applicants have already answered questions there before turning to Penn's university-specific questions. He also noted that Penn has an optional student autobiographical essay, so those who want to say more have the ability to do so. But he said it was important to consider the benefits of asking for less.

For instance, he said that he believes he may learn more about applicants from very short questions than from longer essays, which many admissions officers in recent years have feared are becoming opportunities for coaching if not ghost writing.

Going short with requirements "in some ways makes it less filtered for students," Furda said. "As you are approaching the longer essay, there is this sense of creating the masterpiece, as opposed to 'they are asking me a straightforward question, let me answer it.' "

At MIT, applicants are now given short prompts (such as describing how they have used their creativity) that might have once been the basis for longer essays.

Stu Schmill, dean of admissions at MIT, said that the reason for the switch is that those reviewing applicant files found they were learning more from shorter responses than longer ones. "We have for a long time had two shorter essays on the application, and from those we got very direct, clear answers to our questions," he said.

The MIT application instructions also stress that students should not view the short prompts as setting up writing exams. "Remember that this is not a writing test. These are the places in the application where we look for your voice -- who you are, what drives you, what's important to you, what makes you tick. Be honest, be open, be real -- this is your opportunity to connect with us," it says.

A column in The Tech, MIT's student paper, backed the change, but also noted some reservations. Ethan Solomon writes that he thought the longer essay gave him a chance to truly "tell a story about myself." But he also believes that the shorter questions are less stressful.

He notes the "significantly more relaxed tone of the short essays ('Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.… This isn’t a trick question.'). From an applicant’s perspective, these kinds of questions aren’t as worrisome and probably result in much less polished responses than a long, 'Common Application' style essay. They force the student to respond directly and, at least from my experience, tend to elicit more honesty -- which is great from an admissions perspective."

In fact, the Common Application doesn't push on length. Rob Killion, executive director, said that until three years ago, the essay was described as having a maximum length of 500 words, and that it was then changed to set a minimum of 250 words. "The intent wasn't to get longer essays, but rather to clarify a minimum, and drop a maximum that most kids ignored anyway," he said.

Of the 268 Common Application members that require supplements from applicants, more require short answer questions (152) than full essays (111).

Kevin Crockett, president and CEO of Noel-Levitz, a company that consults with colleges on admissions and enrollment issues, said he's not surprised by Penn's and MIT's changes, given that many colleges that are not competitive in admissions have already cut back or even eliminated essay requirements.

With colleges that admit most students, he said, many admissions offices found that they weren't using the essays at all, or were considering them only for a minority of applicants. These colleges find value, he said, in a streamlined application that doesn't ask for more than the admissions office needs and doesn't add to the burdens of applicants.

"What you don't want to do is put requirements on everybody that you'll use only in a minority of cases," he said. Crockett noted that if colleges cut back on essay length, and then find that they want more writing from a particular applicant, they can always ask.

Despite that trend, plenty of competitive colleges aren't shortening their essay requirements. Pomona College has optional essays that it encourages applicants to consider in its supplement to the Common Application.

Bruce Poch, vice president and dean of admissions at Pomona, said that the writing the college receives from the Common Application is "more polished" than the samples in response to the college's more informal questions, such as "Although it may appear to the contrary, we do know that people have a life beyond what they do to get into college. Tell us about an experience you've had outside of your formal classroom and extracurricular activities that was just plain fun and why."

Poch said that question "has proven to be a great 'reveal' because it clearly was written more informally and likely with some haste nearer the deadlines."

Pomona receives "periodic complaints from counselors that we are asking for too much work and should just stick to the Common App, but I still see the Common App as a common core and that each college may want something more particular to their community or mission," Poch said.

And he said there can be value in asking for more. "I'd personally rather ask for a bit more and get completed applications from those who were serious enough to follow through," he said.

— Scott Jaschik

10 Things College Admissions Tests Don't Do

2009-09-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

Smart Money Magazine
published: September 9, 2009

1. "We don't measure what you think we do."
IN 1926, THE College Board created the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, and standardized college-admissions testing was here to stay. The American College Testing Program followed suit in 1959 with the ACT. Today 89 percent of schools use these two tests in the admissions process, according to a survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

But what do they measure? Both the SAT, which has three sections scored from 200 to 800 each, and the ACT, scored from one to 36, have narrowed their claims. These tests are no longer said to measure intelligence; rather, research indicates they reliably forecast how well students perform in their first year of college. But there are better indicators, says Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard, such as class rank and GPA. So why are these tests popular? Convenience for admissions officers, says Robert Schaeffer, of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, who argues standardized tests get misused. It's less expensive and time consuming but "less fair to students," he says. The College Board says it offers guidelines on appropriate uses of test results but doesn't control their usage.

2. "We score on a curve."
SAT RESULTS USED to mean scores in the traditional 200 to 800 range for each section of the test, a scale that depended in part on the performance of other students. Today's test taker still gets these, but she also receives her "raw scores," which directly reflect the number of questions she got right and wrong.

A big improvement, say many students and their harried parents-until you learn that it's the original 200 to 800 scores that really matter as far as most admissions officers are concerned.

How does scaled scoring work? The College Board says that a missed question typically means a debit of 20 points. But the higher a student's score overall, the more missed questions will weigh, says Leslie Lukin, director of Assessment and Evaluation at Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska. No small thing, given that more than 20 percent of schools impose minimum scores for admission, and studies indicate that even a 10- or 20-point difference can significantly improve one's chances at more than a third of colleges, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Indeed, says Fitzsimmons, these tests can be "a very blunt instrument."

3. "You don't have to be Shakespeare to ace the essay."
IN 2005, THE College Board unveiled an updated SAT, designed to restore the test as a measure of ability in at least one area. The main new feature: a 25-minute essay. But it hasn't exactly impressed some admissions officers. "We don't think it's a measure of anything that's supportive of a student's writing ability," says Ann Bowe McDermott, director of admissions at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.

When the test was released, the College Board said the writing section "sends a loud and clear message that strong writing is essential to success in college and beyond." But critics like Robert Yagelski, associate professor of English education at SUNY Albany, disagree, saying the essay section "misunderstands what makes effective writing." One problem is that scoring focuses on organization and tends to ignore factual errors. "It's taking a step away from how students need to write in college," Yagelski says. A College Board spokesperson says the essay "very effectively measures students' writing skills and, in particular, their ability to write concisely, coherently and quickly."

4. "You can game the system."
THERE HAS ALWAYS been concern about the legitimacy of the SAT and ACT-which is why the College Board and ACT Inc. frequently tweak the tests, then put out new studies reconfirming their validity. One factor experts use to determine whether a standardized test is legitimate is its vulnerability to gaming techniques. "If you can take shortcuts to do better, then it's a bad test design," says Mark Reckase, an education professor at Michigan State University; studying subject matter is the only thing that should help improve a score.

But according to the $2 billion test-prep industry, performance on the SAT and ACT can be improved with tips and tricks. "We don't pretend to teach students a lot academically," says Ed Carroll, an executive director at The Princeton Review. "Taking tests is a skill that can be developed, like playing a guitar or tennis." A study by the NACAC supports his claims; it found this type of test prep could add roughly 30 points to a score, or 5 percent per section. A common suggestion: Skip a question if you're unsure of the answer, since it won't count against you. However, if you can eliminate at least one answer, then the odds of guessing correctly shift in your favor.

5. "The practice test is more stressful than the real one."
BEFORE THE test-prep industry took off, the only real way to prepare for the SAT was to take the Preliminary SAT, or PSAT, which debuted in 1959 to offer students a "low stakes" practice version of the pressure-filled admissions test, says Glenn Milewski, executive director of the PSAT at the College Board.

But in 1971, the stakes suddenly got a lot higher for high school kids taking the PSAT. That's when the College Board teamed up with the National Merit Scholarship Corp., which doles out $36 million in scholarships annually to high school students, and renamed the test the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The crux of the relationship: The College Board allows the NMSC to use the test as a way of narrowing the field of potential scholarship recipients based on score. Before the NMSC will even glance at GPA, class rank or any other measure of a student's merit, it looks at results of the PSAT-which can be taken for the National Merit Scholarship competition only once. "We're not saying we get every great student who's out there," says a spokesperson for the NMSC.

6. "Our side business is selling your data."
AFTER MATEI ALEXIANU took the PSAT in his sophomore year, test scores weren't the only thing that showed up in his mailbox. Soon the 17-year-old high school senior from Spokane, Wash., was getting postcards, letters and brochures from colleges-"a whole bunch of junk," he says. The reason for the blitz? He had opted in for the College Board's Student Search Service, which allows colleges to contact you.

Selling your info is just one added way testing services bring in money, says Harry Henry, vice president of Outsell Inc., an education research company. Schools pay the College Board 32 cents a name and ACT 31 cents for address, gender, date of birth, e-mail and other such data. "They're selling the information you paid to give them," says Schaeffer. A spokesperson for the College Board says students don't pay to participate in this elective, opt-in service. Nonprofit ACT says the program "is used to improve our products and services and keep their cost to students as low as possible." Alexianu says when he retook the PSAT/NMSQT junior year, he chose not to opt in. "I already know the schools I'll be applying to," he says.

7. "There's no point in taking both tests."
WHEN IT CAME TO deciding which test to take for college admissions, the decision used to be easy-it depended on where you lived. The SAT has always been more popular on the East and West Coasts, while the ACT has been the admissions test of choice for the Midwest. But now, with the vast majority of colleges accepting both, students can choose. And since admissions officers generally don't give extra weight to one or the other, there's no good reason to take both, says Molly Baab, director of StudentEdge, an online test-prep service.

So how to decide which one to take? Baab suggests taking both tests at home, using versions found online (for the SAT, free at www.collegeboard.com; for the ACT, free with a $20 annual test-prep program fee at www.actstudent.org), then see how you did on each. Some other factors: For students who get stressed by short, timed intervals, the ACT might be better since it's divided into five sections, half the SAT's 10. The ACT also has a science section-if that isn't your thing, go with the SAT.

8. "We've been known to make mistakes."
THERE IS ENOUGH pressure on high school students who take the SAT without their having to worry that their test isn't being scored properly. But unfortunately, just as students slip up sometimes and fill in the wrong answer, Pearson Education, the third-party company that scores the SAT, can make mistakes too-as more than 4,000 students who took the test in October 2005 can attest.

Heavy rain in transit caused wet answer sheets to expand; as a result, some scores were off by as much as 300 points. Exacerbating the problem, affected students weren't informed of scoring errors until five months later, enough time to derail admissions-which is what some students alleged in a class- action lawsuit filed in federal court in Minnesota in 2006 against Pearson and the College Board. The suit was partially settled out of court; students had the option of receiving $275 in damages or submitting a claim for more money, which some have done, according to Joe Snodgrass, an attorney at Larson King, the firm representing the students.

(A spokesperson says the College Board is taking steps in quality control to ensure it doesn't happen again; Pearson had no comment.)

The College Board offers a $50 Score Verification service for those surprised by their score. The fee covers the cost of regrading by hand, says a College Board spokesperson. But even The College Board is skeptical about the service; the PSAT's Milewski, who hasn't heard of a score being changed through Score Verification, says he wouldn't recommend it. If a scoring error is found, the fee is refunded.

9. "We cost more than you think."
BOTH THE COLLEGE Board and ACT recommend taking their tests twice for optimum results-that's around $90 for two go-arounds, not counting test preparation, which can run anywhere from $100 to over $1,000 for tutoring and other approaches. But for many, these costs get compounded by additional fees.

For example, if you miss one of the seven registration dates for the SAT, it will run you about $20 more to register. If an emergency comes up on test day and you need to reschedule or change the location, that's another $20. Want to apply to more than four colleges? The College Board and ACT both charge about $9 for each additional college a score report is sent to after the fourth one. The one safe haven from all this nickel-and-diming: Checking your scores online is free.

10. "We're becoming obsolete."
THE BIG NEWS for the nearly 3 million high school students who take the SAT and the ACT every year is that these tests may start carrying less weight than they used to. The National Association for College Admission Counseling recently recommended that colleges and universities deemphasize the importance of standardized tests unless there was proof these scores predicted college grades and graduation rates, according to Harvard's Fitzsimmons. So far, there are more than 800 test-optional schools, which don't penalize applicants for not including an SAT or ACT score. Instead, high school GPA, class rank and Advanced Placement courses are given more weight in the admissions process.

Of course, the reasons for going test-optional aren't all altruistic on the part of the schools, says Jack Maguire, chairman of educational consulting company Maguire Associates. Since the test-optional schools are more likely to have students submit scores only if they're high, the optional route can raise a school's average test score, Maguire says, boosting its reputation. Still, going test-optional should lead to a more diverse class population, Maguire says, "one that's more representative of society."

by Jason Kephart

Quintessential Questions: Wake Forest’s Admission Director Gives Insight into the Interview Process

2009-08-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

August 18, 2009

During the winter months in the Admissions Office, Fridays are dedicated to “Committee.” We gather with stacks of applications, discuss them, argue about them, eat lunch over them, plead for them, and then eventually vote as to whether or not they should be offered invitations to join our academic community.

Summer Fridays are different. With the incoming class already set and next year’s applications yet to arrive (except for the most zealous of the early decision) we have time to plan, to look ahead and to discuss the activity which consumes the bulk of our summer days—interviewing. We share insights, interview questions that have proven effective and yes, I admit, stories that are shared with us by interviewees about alien abductions the ability to communicate with animals, or details of the plot of the Transformer movie.

Since the decision to make SAT scores optional at Wake Forest, we have strongly encouraged our applicants to interview with us, either on campus, via webcam through Skype or if all else fails, through an on-line interview format. The interviews have proven invaluable as we evaluate applicants and have sometimes been so revealing that we have questioned how we ever made admissions decisions before the interview!

It’s important to note that the Admissions Officers who conduct interviews are not all the same. Some of us are fresh from the commencement line while others have just sent our own children away to college. We are musicians, historians, science geeks and bibliophiles. Some of us are the first in our families to have graduated from college. Others have descended from generations of academics. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, our faces resemble those of the community around us. It is our happy task to spend thirty minutes with prospective students and in that time to draw from them information to help us decide whether or no they are a “fit” for our institution.

Do we have a common set of questions that can be rehearsed and prepared for? No. Do we often delve into areas of current events, high school classes, reading, or extra-curricular talents? Yes. Are there expected responses that we hope each question will elicit? Absolutely not. We like to be surprised. What we hope for most of all with the interview is insight into who the applicant really is at age 17, what ideas interest her, what experiences have shaped him, what are her hopes for the future and his concerns about the present. How open is her mind, how curious is his spirit? Is there kindness and humanity somewhere in there?

We seek a class of debaters and dancers, African drummers, mathematicians, zoologists and poets. The questions that we ask of our prospective students are thus broad and provocative. “Who are you?” asked with a warm smile is often how I begin my interview. ‘How do you hope your college years will be different from high school?” “What’s the best class you’ve ever taken?” “If you had a ‘do over button’ when would you have used it?”” Do you think your life will be easier than your parents’?” “Tell me about a book that everyone should read.” “If you had a day all to yourself, how would you spend it?” “Where do you get your news and what news has been most concerning to you of late?” Depending on the student the conversation can drift into European politics, techno music, sustainability, or conflicted teenage vampires. I love the drift. Just in case I have missed something critical I always conclude with, “Is there something which you hoped I would ask you that I have not?” Well, yes, there was the alien abduction.

We are admissions officers because we love college , we love college aged people and we love conversation. We don’t expect interviewees to be professional conversationalists, or mini-50 year olds, we want to talk with fresh, edgy, interesting teenagers. Theirs is the energy that makes a college campus a crucible of ideas. Come as you are to the interview and be ready to share. That’s how the match is made.

By Martha Allman

Adding Personality to the College Admissions Mix

2009-08-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2009
For years, colleges have asked applicants for their grade-point averages and standardized test scores.
Now, schools like Boston College, DePaul University and Tufts University also want to measure prospective students' personalities.
Using recently developed evaluation systems, these schools and others are aiming to quantify so-called noncognitive traits such as leadership, resilience and creativity. Colleges say such assessments are boosting the admissions chances for some students who might not have qualified based solely on grades and traditional test scores. The noncognitive assessments also are being used to screen out students believed to be at a higher risk of dropping out, and to identify newly admitted students who might need extra tutoring.
Big nonprofits that administer standardized admissions tests, including the College Board, the Educational Testing Service and ACT Inc., are also getting in on the trend. ETS, for instance, which administers the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, recently unveiled a "personal potential index" designed for schools that want to replace traditional letters of recommendation for prospective grad students with a standardized rating.
"There is quite a bit of demand for these [noncognitive] instruments," says David Hawkins, director of public policy for the National Association of College Admissions Counseling. Educators say the use of such assessments is likely to grow as some schools search for new tools to recruit more minority and low-income students. At the same time, budget pressures are forcing public institutions in states like California and Florida to find new tools for selecting incoming students.
Critics contend that efforts to quantify noncognitive traits are often unreliable. And, they say, as the new systems of evaluation become widespread, prospective students will figure out how to game the answers to their advantage. Some legal advocates also say the assessments could stir affirmative-action controversy if they are used solely to give a boost to minorities' admissions chances.
Many colleges have asked personality-related questions for years as part of the admissions process, but the results were seldom scored in a standardized, numerical way, says William Sedlacek, a retired University of Maryland education professor whose "noncognitive questionnaire" has been used by various colleges and by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to award scholarships. He says such assessments are reliable and that if students and counselors figure out how to manipulate them they will have to be revised. "Right now, these things are useful," Dr. Sedlacek says.
Boston's Torch Scolars
Boston's Northeastern University uses noncognitive assessment for its Torch Scholars Program, which is designed to identify applicants who show leadership potential or have overcome adversity but probably wouldn't qualify for the university based solely on their high-school grades and test scores.
Torch scholars have average SAT scores about 200 points below the typical Northeastern student, says Philomena Mantella, senior vice president of enrollment management. Still, about 90% of them stay on from their freshman to sophomore years, roughly akin to the university-wide average of 92%. Nationwide, the so-called persistence rate for freshman at four-year schools is just under 70%.
Simona Vareikaite, 20, a Northeastern junior majoring in criminal justice, said her high-school grades were good but she didn't do well on the SAT. Although she found her college's personality assessment to be "weird," it gave her a boost in the competition for the Torch scholarship. "The whole process kind of opened a new opportunity for me," says Ms. Vareikaite, who after immigrating from Lithuania started cleaning offices as an 11-year-old to help support her family.
DePaul University, in Chicago, made one noncognitive assessment part of its application process for the first time for this fall's freshman class. Jon Boeckenstedt, associate vice president of enrollment management, says it was mainly used to make decisions about students who were just over or just under DePaul's typical admission requirements.
Of the 8,500 freshman expected this year, he estimates about 150 got in because of how they answered four personality-assessment questions. But "lackadaisical responses" resulted in the rejection of about 50 applicants who were being considered for admission. Among the questions, to be answered in about 100 words each: "Describe a goal you have set for yourself and how you plan to accomplish it. How would you compare your educational interests and goals with other students in your high school?"
At Oregon State University, every would-be undergraduate must now provide 100-word answers to six questions that are part of what the school calls its "Insight Resume." One question, designed to measure applicants' capacity to deal with adversity, asks them to describe the most significant challenge they have faced and the steps they took to address it. Another asks them to describe their experiences facing or witnessing discrimination and how they responded. Every answer is reviewed by two admissions officers and scored on a 1-to-3-point scale.
Michele Sandlin, OSU's admissions director, says the university implemented the assessment in 2004 in part to help it attract and keep minority, low-income and other applicants who don't quite have the grades and test scores OSU generally looks for. Low scores on the Insight Resume aren't used to disqualify students with adequate grades and test scores, she says.
Nonprofits also are developing noncognitive evaluation systems. A "student readiness inventory" created by ACT is being used by Northern Arizona University, Chicago's Wilbur Wright College and more than two dozen other schools to identify admitted students with traits that might make them dropout risks, which could result in their getting extra help. The students are asked to respond to 108 statements and are rated by their level of agreement with items such as "I turn in my assignments on time," and "I'm a patient person."
The "personal potential index" recently unveiled by ETS has been piloted over the past three years in an Arizona State University effort to get more minority students to take the GRE and attend graduate school. Applicants are asked to identify past professors, supervisors and other recommenders. These people are sent a form asking them to rank applicants from "below average" to "truly exceptional" on items such as whether they support the efforts of others or accept feedback without getting defensive.
And the College Board, which administers the SAT, is working with researchers at Michigan State University to develop a questionnaire designed to measure applicants' judgment and behavior by asking them how they would respond to various situations, such as a group research project where one student doesn't contribute. A College Board spokeswoman says the company has not yet decided how the questionnaire would be administered or to whom.
Gaming the System
Not everyone thinks such assessments are a good idea. Relying on applicants' writing about themselves won't always result in reliable information, says Howard Gardner, a Harvard education professor and author who has studied human intelligence. "There is a real danger in [applicants] gaming questions like that," he says.
And legal-advocacy groups that have fought racial preferences in college admissions say the new assessment systems could face court challenges if white and minority students are measured differently. "They can't apply them in a discriminatory fashion or adopt them solely for the purpose of increasing minorities in their classes," says Michael Rosman, general counsel for the Center for Individual Rights. The group represented plaintiffs before the Supreme Court, which in a pair of 2003 decisions upheld the use of minority status to boost the chances of an applicant in college admissions decisions, but ruled against points-based admissions formulas and said applicants should be considered case-by-case.
By ROBERT TOMSHO

Arts Programs in Academia Are Forced to Nip Here, Adjust There

2009-08-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

New York Times
August 9, 2009

If you are looking for a sign of how strapped the University of California, Los Angeles, is for cash, consider that its arts and architecture school may resort to holding a bake sale to raise money. California’s severe financial crisis has left its higher-education system — which serves nearly a fifth of the nation’s college students — in particularly bad straits. But tens of thousands of students at public and private colleges and universities around the country will find arts programs, courses and teachers missing — victims of piercing budget cuts — when they descend on campuses this month and next.

At Washington State University the department of theater arts and dance has been eliminated. At Florida State University the undergraduate program in art education and two graduate theater programs are being phased out. The University of Arizona is cutting three-quarters of its funds, more than $500,000, for visiting classical music, dance and theater performers. Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts, which supports four departments — dance, music, theater and visual arts — is losing 14 percent of its $1.2 million budget over the next two years. The Louisiana State University Museum of Art, one of the largest university-affiliated collections in the South, saw 20 percent of its state financing disappear. Other private and state institutions warn of larger classes, trimmed offerings, higher tuition and fewer services, faculty and visitors.

The arts are of course not the only victims of the recent economic meltdown. Large reductions in budgets have stung pretty much every corner of academia, from philosophy to Chinese, from gymnastics to geology.

The University of California, for example, is raising student fees by 9 percent, reducing freshman enrollment by 6 percent and cutting at least $300 million across its 10 campuses. There are no nationwide statistics to reveal whether one discipline is suffering more cuts than others. But administrators at more than a dozen state and private campuses who were interviewed say that the way that arts programs are structured and operated may amplify the effect of reductions.

Since tenured faculty are generally insulated from layoffs, budget cuts fall on part-time and visiting staff, Christopher Waterman, dean of the School of the Arts and Architecture at U.C.L.A., explained. For teachers, “we want artists who are in the thick of their careers,” he said. The result is that a large proportion of the school’s instructors are not permanent members of the faculty. Every department across the board has been ordered to cut 5 percent — on top of a 10 percent cut last year — but that relatively small reduction could mean the elimination of a third of the art department’s staff, Mr. Waterman said. (Final decisions on specific cuts have not been made.)

Crowded classes may not be as harmful in lecture courses, but in creative and performing studios, increasing class size is not always an option, he added. “You can’t teach painting to 40 students or give that many students voice lessons in opera or jazz.”

Several other college arts administrators around the country also said programs that serve the surrounding community as well as the students — like museums and performing arts centers — are especially vulnerable.

In California figuring out which programs and positions will survive will take a few more weeks. In the meantime the School of the Arts and Architecture, like other sections of U.C.L.A., has been told it should search for more ways to raise money itself. “We’re looking at more summer classes for high school seniors and bake sales,” Mr. Waterman said.

Elsewhere on the campus the Film & Television Archive is paring back its foreign-film program “because we cannot afford shipping any more of those prints from foreign countries,” said Jan-Christopher Horak, the archives director. A smaller staff in the film studies center could translate into less academic research, he added. As public universities watch state legislators slice away their funds, private colleges have seen their endowments shrink. Both are having to rely more on private donations at the same time that the recession has left individual contributors less able to give.

Figuring out what or who faces the budgetary guillotine has been a harrowing process no matter how it was done. Few go quietly.

Officials at Washington State University held a dozen public forums, testified before state lawmakers, appeared before the student council, the Faculty Senate and the Board of Regents; they responded to thousands of electronic messages and spoke with every single student, legislator, faculty and staff member, alumnus and community member who requested a meeting before deciding where $54 million and 360 jobs over the next two years would come from. One result: Sports management got a reprieve; that program and major will continue, while theater arts and dance will be phased out.

Arizona State University’s four campuses lost 500 jobs, closed 48 programs and imposed 10-to-15-day furloughs this spring. The schools of music, theater, film and design were all incorporated into the existing art and architecture center. Virgil Renzulli, the university’s media spokesman, said that officials focused on slashing administrative costs to maintain the same number of courses and tenured faculty.
In Flagstaff, Northern Arizona University spread the $21.3 million in cuts across departments. “The only program that we eliminated was a B.A. in theater education,” said Tom Bauer, assistant director of public affairs. “It only had 15 students, and they will be allowed to finish.” He added that the university is still waiting to hear from the governor’s office how much federal stimulus money might be directed its way.

Like California, Louisiana has had a tough year, although the doomsday cuts that some administrators were forecasting have not come to pass. Laurence Kaptain, dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts at Louisiana State University, said, “We tried to save people and cut things in our operations.” The college, which took a 3 percent cut this year on top of a 10 percent reduction last year, is holding back on upgrading computers and production technology, spending less on costumes, scenery and special effects as well as travel and conferences. “It’s making us more dependent on private funds,” he said.

Over at Louisiana State’s College of Art & Design the dean, David Cronrath, said a 4 percent cut ate up the positions of three full-time tenure-track faculty members, eight adjunct faculty and two staff members. He hopes to offer the same number of courses by increasing the faculty members’ loads and by relying more on graduate-student teaching assistants and part-time faculty, he said. But he, like others around the country, expects more cuts despite federal stimulus money.

For some institutions many tough decisions are yet to come. Cornell University, for example, recently approved long-term capital projects, including a $20 million extension to its art museum and a $55 million building for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, said Simeon Moss, a university spokesman. But the university is also undertaking a top-to-bottom evaluation in the face of a projected operating deficit of approximately $150 million within five years.

Although some arts advocates, faculty and students have complained that their subjects are saddled with a disproportionate share of the cuts, Sally E. McRorie, the dean of visual arts, theater and dance at Florida State University, said that did not happen in her case.

“Florida State has a long history of dedication and investment in the arts,” she said. “Our cuts have not been greater than anybody else’s.” She said the university made a decision to use federal stimulus money “to keep people employed” but noted that after next year, when “those funds are gone, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to maintain those positions.”

by: Patricia Cohen

Some Undergrads Shave A Year Off College To Save

2009-07-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

While educators debate the wisdom of three-year college degrees, some ambitious students are going ahead and finishing their coursework in three years anyhow as a way to save thousands of dollars in tuition.
It takes discipline, they say, a clear study plan and, often, an armful of advanced placement credits from high school.
"I didn't think it was worth it to pay another $40,000 to play with my friends for another year, cheer for a year, and write a thesis," said Nina Xue, who earned a bachelors degree in history and French in three years this spring at Rice University, where she also found time to be a cheerleader.
Xue says she didn't start college with a three-year plan, but did have a head start with 26 AP credits. She took more than 15 hours of classes during two semesters and studied abroad one summer for credit. At the start of her third year, she realized she had enough credits to graduate at the end of the year.
It was hard leaving friends behind, but "making my parents pay for another year of school would not have been fair," says Xue, who plans to pursue a law degree and work in New York City next year.
Only 4.2 percent of U.S. undergraduates earned bachelor's degrees in three years, according to the most recent statistics from the Education Department. The average student spends six years to get a degree at a public university and 5.3 years at a private institution, according to the College Board.
A handful of colleges have begun offering three-year degree programs, an idea trumpeted by Sen. Lamar Alexander, a former education secretary and college president, at the American Council of Education's annual meeting in February. He called three-year degree programs the higher-education equivalent of a fuel efficient car.
But critics say shaving the fourth year off college could limit a student's social experience and provide a narrower education.
"From a financial standpoint, particularly in these economic times, it's a great deal," said Roxie Catts, an academic adviser at the University of Arizona. But that would mean sacrificing some general education courses, she said — "the things that get you out of your comfort zone and stick with you for life."
Barbara Rupp, admissions director at the University of Missouri, added, "In some disciplines it would not be possible" to finish in three years. "Engineering, for example — it is tough to graduate in four years much less three years."
Another student at a four-year college who figured out how finish in three was Charles Jacobson, 20, who graduated this year in business at Skidmore College. He credits good planning and not AP courses. "Halfway through my freshman year, I had all my courses planned out," Jacobson said.
He was motivated to get a business degree after a summer job with a pet store in high school. He recalls going to the Skidmore registrar's office and posing the idea of a degree in three years.
"The first thing they asked me was, are you sure you want to do that? I said yes, and here is my plan."
Jacobson also found time in college to work as a ski instructor and complete a summer internship with a financial planning firm. He said he needed help from the registrar's office to pull off his plan, but he never had a problem registering for the right classes.
"I did have to take 8 a.m. classes, but that is no big deal," he said.
Raphaelle Peinado of Rye, N.Y., a three-year graduate of McGill, said the tough job market has made her wonder whether she should have hung out in college for another year. "It is pretty daunting for students with a three-year degree to go into a very hostile work environment with little work experience," she said.
On the positive side, she thinks finishing in three years may have helped her get into graduate school; she'll be attending a masters program at the London School of Economics.

By PHIL H. SHOOK (AP)
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.

University of California Makes Cuts After Reduction in State Financing

2009-07-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

New York Times

The University of California will use a combination of furloughs, deferred hiring and cuts in academic programs to make up for an $813 million reduction in state financing, its president, Mark G. Yudof, said Friday.

Mr. Yudof said the actions amounted to a major retrenchment for the university, which has long been regarded as the nation’s leading public university.

“The impact of this cut is devastating,” Mr. Yudof said at a press briefing. “There is no way that we are going to be able to look every student in the eye and say, ‘Tomorrow, the University of California will be just the way it was yesterday.’ ”

Most of the university’s campuses will defer at least half of their planned faculty hirings, Mr. Yudof said, and the Berkeley campus expects to reduce faculty recruitment from the usual 100 positions a year to 10.

Chancellors from the individual campuses will present their cost-cutting plans next week to the state Board of Regents, which must vote on the entire budget.

Many of the planned cuts, and those already put into effect, impinge upon the university’s academic offerings.

The Irvine campus has halted admissions to its education doctorate program for working professionals, and its Latin American studies program is on hiatus. Class size is expected to increase 10 percent to 20 percent next year, while faculty and staff is expected to decline by at least 10 percent over the next five years.

At the Davis campus, the Medical Center has eliminated its liver transplant program, and in the division of humanities, arts and cultural studies, 44 courses and sections are expected to be cut.

The University of California, Los Angeles, will close its Labor Center, and deans and faculty members have been told to reduce courses, majors and faculty size by 10 percent to 20 percent over the next year. The freshman enrollment target on the campus for the 2009 fiscal year may drop by as many as 500 students.

At the Santa Cruz campus, most general-education courses with fewer than 100 students enrolled have been canceled, along with the bachelor of arts degree in earth sciences and the minor in music. Creation of an environmental sciences major has been deferred.

The San Diego campus has eliminated senior seminars, a small-group experience for students, and curtailed freshman seminars.

The University of California has faced financial challenges for years, leading to bigger classes, fewer course offerings and deferred maintenance — and caused some faculty members to defect to competing universities.

Tuition has risen to more than $8,700 for in-state students this fall, more than doubling from the $3,859 nine years ago.

Systemwide, 724 staff members have been laid off, and there may be more, Mr. Yudof said, especially if unionized employees reject the furloughs.

The furloughs, to be implemented Sept. 1, will be systemwide, with some exceptions, including those whose jobs are fully financed by research grants.

“It’s important not to take money from enterprises that are really entrepreneurial,” Mr. Yudof said, “and it wouldn’t help us with our deficit. Maybe this will encourage people to be entrepreneurial and go out and get those grants.”

In response to urging from university employees, the furloughs are structured so that people who earn more take bigger pay cuts. Those earning less than $40,000 will have 11 furlough days, equivalent to a 4 percent pay cut, while those earning more than $240,000 will have 26 furlough days, which is about a 10 percent pay cut. Mr. Yudof said he expected that faculty members would not take furloughs on their teaching days.

The university may also close for some additional days, as other California offices have done.

Over all, Mr. Yudof said, furloughs and pay cuts will offset about a quarter of the $813 million in budget cuts, and previously announced increases in student fees will offset another quarter. About 40 percent will come from cuts decided on by chancellors at the individual campuses, and the remaining 10 percent from systemwide changes, including refinancing of debt, and further cuts in the president’s office, where the budget has already been cut by a third.

The university’s struggle is the latest and starkest example of the statewide effects of legislators’ inability to come to an agreement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over how to deal with a $24 billion budget shortfall. The state’s controller has been forced to send i.o.u.’s to many of the state’s vendors and taxpayers. Most large banks said they would refuse to accept the warrants after Friday, leaving people and businesses to decide whether they will hold onto the warrants until they mature in October or try to find some other method of cashing them.

On Friday, much of state government shut down for the third monthly furlough day ordered by the governor to save money.

Financing for the University of California system rose only 2 percent from 2001 to 2008, a period when enrollment grew 30 percent, and financing for state prisons, K-12 public schools and health and human services each grew by more than 40 percent according to a report from the outgoing chairman of the Board of Regents, Richard C. Blum.

At the briefing, the current chairman, Russell Gould, announced creation of a new University of California Commission on the Future, which he and Mr. Yudof will head. The commission will consider how to maintain access, quality and affordability in a tough economic climate, what delivery models for higher education make the most sense, how big the university should be, and how to maximize traditional and alternative revenue streams.

“We’re going to have to change the way we do business,” Mr. Yudof said.

In an interview after the briefing, he said he would like the new commission to look into the possibility of an online University of California and alternatives to the current system of majors.

by: Tamar Lewin

Private College Tuition Rises at Lowest Rate in 37 Years

2009-06-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

With families facing one of the worst economic crises in the nation's history, private, nonprofit colleges and universities have responded with the smallest average increase in tuition and fees in 37 years, according to the final results of a membership survey conducted by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

The 4.3 percent increase for 2009-10 is the smallest since 1972-73, when average tuition and fees at private institutions rose by the same rate. The increase is slightly higher than the 2008 Consumer Price Index of 3.8 percent. NAICU's figure is based on responses from 350 private, nonprofit colleges and universities.

The average increase in institutional student aid budgets for 2009-10 at these colleges is 9 percent. (This is the first year that NAICU has collected student aid figures from its member institutions as part of the annual tuition survey.)

Over the past 10 years, the average annual increase in tuition and fees at private colleges has been 6 percent. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the increase in institutionally provided student aid at private, nonprofit colleges has more than tripled the increase in list price, 250 percent versus 72 percent, respectively.

In response to the economic downturn, numerous private, nonprofit institutions have announced innovative affordability measures for 2009-10.

These include:

• Accelerated degree programs
• Public university tuition matches
• Job and four-year graduation guarantees
• Programs that replace loans with grants
• And tuition freezes and cuts, among others.

Campus examples are posted on the NAICU(National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities) Web site.
http://www.naicu.edu/special_initiatives/affordability/about/enhancing-affordability#2009-10

"To an unprecedented degree, students and families are concerned about affording the college of their choice," said NAICU President David L. Warren. "Private colleges are committed to maintaining access for students from all backgrounds-especially in tough times.

"Private college and university budgets have been hit by dropping endowments, a reduction in charitable giving, and growing student financial need," Warren said. "Nevertheless, they have made extraordinary efforts to keep students' out-of-pocket costs as low as possible while protecting academic quality.

"Freezes and cuts in other campus budget areas-construction and renovation, salaries and benefits, and travel and other staff expenses, to name a few-have allowed institutions to use those savings to temper tuition increases and keep student aid available," said Warren.

NAICU's annual survey collects percent increases, but not dollar amounts. According to the College Board, the average published tuition and fees at private four-year colleges and universities in 2008-09 were $25,143. The College Board also reports that, on average, full-time students at private institutions received about $10,200 of grants and tax benefits that same year. Because of student aid, nine out of 10 full time, dependent students at four-year private, nonprofit colleges and universities pay less than list price, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.

For Colleges Needing Cash, Summer’s No Longer a Quiet Season

2009-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

New York Times
June 21, 2009

Time was you could hurl a Frisbee clear across a college green in summer and be assured that you would not bop anyone on the head. If not exactly a ghost town, the typical campus was strangely still from June to August, offering administrators an opportunity to regroup and recharge.

But in recent years, empty campuses have been recognized as potential cash cows, and colleges have tried to fill those once-sleepy weeks with enrichment workshops, for-credit courses, day camps, conferences, private parties and film shoots. That is especially true this summer, as financially battered schools seek to wring all the value they can from venerable halls and shiny athletic centers.

At the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona, administrators offered discounts of up to 20 percent on tuition for summer courses, advertising heavily in local media. The college also reeled in two new summer camps, a general-interest day camp and a wrestling camp, that will pay for the privilege of using the facilities.

“The overall landscape now is one in which you’ve got to become leaner and meaner and more competitive, and that means trying to find more sources of revenue,” said Tim Kelly, a college spokesman. “Summer is an important piece of the puzzle.”

There is a marketing upside, too, in maintaining a busy campus in summer, administrators say. On campus tours, prospective students and their parents respond better to a vibrant environment. And a high school student who takes, say, a three-week screenwriting workshop might remember that institution when applying to college.

But while colleges may be working harder to derive revenue from campuses this summer, some are running headlong into the weakened economy. For years, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has held or run more than 20 athletic, cultural and academic programs and camps in summer. This year, a half-dozen have folded, citing falling enrollments.

In a usual year, Vassar would reap $400,000 to $500,000 from all the summer activity, but this year the yield will range from $300,000 to $350,000. “That’s a reality we’re all facing,” said Susan DeKrey, a college spokeswoman. “Families and individuals are looking at what they can afford to spend on extra things.”

Some colleges are using the economic downturn as a sort of muse, developing summer workshops geared specifically to downsized workers. Hofstra University on Long Island, for instance, created a class on résumé-writing and interviewing skills.

Hofstra also sought to deflect any economic impact on its sports camps by dispatching coaches, armed with brochures, to high school sporting events. “It was much more intensive this year,” Rich Guardino, vice president for business development at Hofstra, said of the marketing campaign. “We had an early-registration discount and offered some payment plans, which we haven’t done in the past.”

Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., pitched its summer-session graduate courses to those switching fields or bolstering résumés. “We’ve emphasized our summer school a lot more as a way to catch up, get ahead, stay on track,” said Mary Anne Nagy, vice president for student services at Monmouth. “In times of recession, higher education can actually benefit because people are retooling.”

It’s working: enrollment in graduate courses has jumped 20 percent this summer over last. Summer courses are just the tip of the ivory tower at Monmouth, however. This weekend alone, the university leased parts of the campus to a bridal-wear catalog for a photo shoot, a local hospital for an annual carnival and a father-son basketball clinic.

Several outside camps, including one devoted to cheerleading and another to yearbooks, as well as the college’s own sports camps, are returning this summer. Also back is a Police Explorer training program, a boot camp for teenagers, as Ms. Nagy put it. (“The high school students in the police camp also learn that we have a criminal justice program,” she said.)

But the university is most excited about two new revenue sources. An international school nurses conference will bring more than 100 nurses in late July, from as far away as Japan, along with about $30,000 in income. And Fort Monmouth, the nearby Army post, is renting some 30 university-owned apartments for its interns, for an additional $50,000.

All told, the university expects to make $600,000 to $800,000 from outside groups this summer. “If we didn’t have that revenue, then we couldn’t do certain things and we might not be able to keep tuition down,” Ms. Nagy said.

Some colleges have layered on new programs for high school students, tapping into the interest in constructing college résumés. Purchase College in Westchester County already had visual arts and jazz institutes for teenagers, with two- and four-week sessions. It now boasts several more: programs in photography, filmmaking, journalism, theater and Shakespeare.

“Any college worth its salt is constantly looking for new program development,” said Christine L. Persico, dean of the School of Liberal Studies and Continuing Education. “But the need for revenue is greater than ever, so the pressure might be a little bit more.”

Four years ago, Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester received orders from its board of trustees to make more hay of summer. Like Purchase College, it created workshops for high school students. But being residential in nature, the three-week programs have attracted teenagers from around the country for instruction in writing, visual arts and screenwriting.

One, called Summer in the City, involves faculty-led excursions to New York City, with the focus on history one week, scientific research the next and architecture the third. “We’re in the third year of most of them, and from the first year to the second we doubled,” said Micheal W. Rengers, the college’s vice president for operations. “This year we’re holding our own.”

As Sarah Lawrence waits for the economy to rebound, administrators are grateful when something falls from the sky, as happened recently when a new sports camp was looking for a venue. “We’ll make just around $50,000,” Mr. Rengers said of the deal for a six-week session.

The single biggest tenant at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., is a seven-week sports camp that pays more than $300,000. But the other uses — a summer institute for gifted children, an adult theater camp, a music festival and a swim program — add up. It certainly did not hurt that last week HBO shot scenes for a Martin Scorsese series in the college’s signature 1888 building, Reid Castle. (Ka-ching: $25,000.)

“If you add up all our summer programs, it’s probably in the $750,000 range,” said Greg Palmer, the college’s vice president of operations. “It’s not an incredible amount of money, and I’m sure a lot of bigger colleges do a lot more. But our endowment has taken a hit like most schools’, and for us it’s very important.”

By LISA W. FODERARO

For Colleges, Small Cuts Add Up to Big Savings

2009-06-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

June 18
New York Times

College life may look different in the not-so-distant future: Students squinting out dirtier windows, faculty offices with full wastebaskets and no phones, sporting events in which opponents never meet, and paper course catalogs existing only as artifacts of the wasteful old days.

While colleges and universities slashed their spending this year with wrenching layoffs, hiring freezes and halts in construction projects, they whittled away at costs with smaller, quirkier economies, too:

¶At the University of Washington, the communications department faculty did away with their landlines. (“Phones were our biggest line item,” said David Domke, the department chairman. “We’ve still got landlines in common areas and for staff, but we’re saving about $1,100 a month by getting rid of faculty phones.”)

¶At Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., the women’s swim team held a “virtual swim meet” with Bryn Mawr College, in Pennsylvania, about 112 miles away. Each team swam in its home pool, then compared times to determine the winners. (“We probably saved $900 on bus travel,” said William G. Durden, Dickinson’s president.)

¶At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the traditional bus tour of the state for new faculty members was suspended this year. (“In a recession, people don’t want to see 100 faculty members traveling around and staying in hotels,” said Holden Thorp, the chancellor.)

Across the country, colleges have come up with a host of ideas that, taken together, stand as higher education’s household hints for living on a budget.

Campus life is getting a bit dirtier as housekeeping standards are relaxed. Oberlin College in Ohio saved $22,300 by scaling back on window washing, and Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., is power washing its sidewalks and windows once a year instead of twice. Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., is having office trash picked up weekly instead of daily, a change that eliminated three custodian jobs.

And in a move that directly involves academics, Carleton, which recently eased teachers’ course loads to five per teacher from six, now plans to return to six courses to save money.

After years of boom times that led to competition among colleges to provide more luxurious dorm rooms and student centers, some perks of campus life have gone by the wayside. Dickinson, for example, is saving $150,000 by cutting back on free laundry service for students and an additional $75,000 by eliminating free ESPN and HBO in student rooms.

Whittier College in California cut one day of its new-student orientation, saving $50,000. Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., put a cap on students’ free printing in libraries and labs, limiting them to $60 worth of free printing per semester. Next year, students will be limited to $50 per semester.

Most widespread, most proudly announced — and, it seems, most likely to have nicknames — are cost-cutting programs that help sustainability. Hundreds of colleges and universities are turning down their thermostats to save on heating, in programs like “Chill-Out” at Davidson College in North Carolina.

Cafeterias, too, are saving money, cutting food waste and reducing hot-water and detergent costs by eliminating trays. When Whittier began “Trayless Tuesdays” last fall, lunchtime food waste dropped to 4.6 ounces per student from 7.4 ounces — and the college saved almost $30,000 a semester after going fully trayless in the spring.

Many colleges are reducing their use of paper by putting admissions brochures, course catalogs and phone directories online instead of on paper.

Colleges are also installing low-flow shower heads and energy-saving light bulbs and holding contests to see which dorm can most reduce its electricity costs.

At Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., the contest resulted in almost $3,000 saved as students competed in turning off lights and unplugging chargers and printers. Students in participating dorms got 25 percent of the savings, $730, for pizza parties and other programs.

Davidson saved more than $10,000 by switching from bottled water to tap at most college events.

Many colleges are rebuilding computers instead of buying new ones, limiting the purchase and use of campus vehicles and scheduling more videoconferences and less travel.

Room phones and voicemail systems are fading away now that the vast majority of students depend on their cellphones. Cornell College, in Mount Vernon, Iowa, estimates that it saved $40,000 by not replacing old voicemail equipment.

Rhodes College in Memphis economizes — and gives students work experience — by hiring students in 25 professional staff positions, saving $725,000 a year. And the College of Wooster in Ohio is trying to hold on to financially struggling students, and their tuition dollars, by offering minimum-wage summer jobs in its “WooCorps,” which has almost 200 students painting rooms, landscaping and growing vegetables this summer. WooCorps students will get an extra $1,000 in their financial aid packages — and help the college complete more maintenance projects than usual.

Many colleges are cutting food-service options, too. Wooster shuttered one of its two dining halls, and Oberlin reduced the operating hours at its cafe.

Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa., is no longer serving breakfast at trustees’ meetings; instead, it will give trustees passes to the cafeteria. Faculty members there will now have planning sessions over brown-bag lunches instead of dinner at the president’s house.

To some, little cuts are more energizing than irritating.

“We found a way of saving money that doesn’t hurt the student experience, and I think everybody’s happy,” said Mr. Domke of the University of Washington. “With cellphones and e-mail, everyone can get hold of us. People think it’s funny that we’re the communications department and we cut phones. But it’s just a symbol, an old technology.”

He paused before continuing, “I’ve suggested to geography that they may want to get rid of their globes.”

By TAMAR LEWIN

Bryn Mawr Goes "Test Flexible"

2009-06-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2009

Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania has adopted a new standardized testing policy, that will take effect for students applying this fall.

Bryn Mawr's new "test flexible" policy follows similar to standardized test policies recently announced by Hamilton, New York University and Colby College.

Under Bryn Mawr's new "test flexible" policy, students will be able to select the standardized tests they feel best characterizes their academic ability.

The New Testing Policy for 2010

Students wishing to enroll at Bryn Mawr for the fall 2010 semester will now be able to submit results from:

The SAT Reasoning Test and a combination of two different SAT Subject Tests and/or two AP tests or
The ACT or
A combination of three SAT Subject Tests and/or AP tests in the following areas:
English, history or languages and
Math or science and
One subject of the student’s choice but in a subject different from the other two (only one non-English language may be submitted)

From the Bryn Mawr website:http://news.brynmawr.edu/?p=2793

Bryn Mawr College, hard on the heels of an admissions year bringing a record number of applications, has completed a review of what enables success in its highly selective undergraduate college. Finding that subject-oriented tests are often more informative than other standardized tests at Bryn Mawr, it has opened more options for tests submitted with applications.

“Our new ‘test flexible’ policy will allow Bryn Mawr applicants to select the standardized tests that they believe best represent their academic potential,” stated Jenny Rickard, Bryn Mawr dean of admissions and financial aid. “Let me emphasize, these tests are just one of the many factors we look at as part of our holistic evaluation process and that’s not going to change. A student’s course selection and performance in high school will continue to be the most important academic information in an application.”

The policy sets a new precedent for the use of Advanced Placement (AP) tests in the admissions process at Bryn Mawr and allows for an option that focuses exclusively on subject mastery.

Ten Items to Research Before Ever Committing to a College

2009-06-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Times Herald
May 28, 2009

High school juniors will begin to look at colleges soon and some of the key factors that these students will look at in their college search is the looks and size of the campus; the quality of campus life; the honors and study-abroad programs; fraternities and sororities; and the sports programs. However, before the student makes a commitment to any college, here are ten other areas to consider:

1. The number of course requirements

Course requirements vary widely from school to school. You don’t want to find yourself mired in courses that don’t interest you, while you’re unable to take electives in the areas that do interest you.

2. The flexibility of course requirements

Schools that require specific courses can put you in a bind if you’d rather take more advanced courses, or if you need to take more remedial courses, to fulfill that requirement. Be sure to check that the school allows a choice of course levels to satisfy the various requirements. Also, keep in mind that many top professors avoid teaching required courses that route hundreds of students through the course.

3. The availability of your college major

Never assume that your college of choice offers every possible major, especially if you have a very specialized major in mind. It’s critical to check the list of majors at each college. At certain colleges, some majors are not open to all students, especially those majors that require talent or training (music or art), or those majors that are extremely popular (psychology or journalism).

4. Availability of your desired classes

In the past few years; college enrollments have risen, but the faculty size has not grown commensurately. As a result, there may be very long wait lists for some classes and shortages in first-year classes for students who did not register on the first possible date. Be sure to check the availability of your desired courses before sending in your acceptance letter to the college.

5. Availability of professors

At many state universities, a significant number of instructors are graduate students. It’s important to know how much of your instruction, especially in the first years of college, will be designated to graduate student teachers. It’s ok if a regular professor gives the lectures and the grad student leads discussion sections; however, the real issue arises at schools where grad students are allowed to teach entire courses on their own.

6. The student/faculty ratio

If you attend a school with 10 to 20 students per faculty member, you’re likely to get a lot of individual attention from the faculty. Once the number of students per faculty member goes above 20, you may not get much hand-holding from a professor.

7. Graduation percentage rate

A school with a graduation rate over 80 percent is good and a graduation rate of 60 to 80 percent is quite normal; however, a school whose gradation rate is under 60 percent is not good. Also check out the average time a student takes to receive a degree. You may want to avoid schools whose students take an average of six to seven years to graduate.

8. Quality of the career placement

Very few students even think to ask about the career placement department, but this should be a key item on your checklist assuming the student would like to graduate with a job. Students should ask questions such as, what job placement services are provided by the placement office, what percentage of graduates will be employed prior to graduation, and which companies and organizations recruit your graduates?

9. Are computer classes required?

To save money, some colleges use computer programs for course instruction, or have their lectures posted online, rather than use live instructors. It’s the new do-it-yourself method of instruction, which may not be the best learning experience for the student.

10. The total cost of college

If you plan to attend college then you should know up front what the total cost of college will be to get a degree. The student should also research any opportunities to receive financial aid to help offset that total cost. You will need to find the answers to questions such as, how does the college financially reward a good student, what forms are used by the college to determine financial aid eligibility, what non-need or merit grants and scholarships are available from the college, and what is the average debt incurred by each student upon graduation?

How can a student get this much needed information from the various colleges? Check out the college guides and the college web sites themselves. Ask admissions officers, students,~and recent graduates of the schools. Send e-mails to the appropriate college contacts. Regardless of how you get this information, it~is very important in order to make the best possible college choice and get the most out of your college experience.

By GARY AIKEN

Colleges Acknowledge SAT and ACT Score Cut-Offs in Admissions

2009-05-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

New York Times
The Choice
May 20, 2009
A study released this morning seeks to weigh the benefits of SAT test preparation, and concludes that gains from such courses can be small, but that small gains often matter to admissions offices.

But the study, which will hardly be the last word on SAT test-prep, struck me as newsworthy for another reason.

As part of the report, which was commissioned by the National Association of College Admission Counseling, researchers asked nearly 250 colleges whether they used SAT or ACT scores as a cut-off for admission. Of those that accept the SAT, 1 in 5 said they used particular scores on the test as a “threshold” for admission, at least in some cases; among those using the ACT, 1 in 4 described similar cut-offs.

The good news for most applicants, or at least those whose scores are not stellar, is that more than three-quarters of the colleges report using such scores “holistically.” That usually means the tests are mixed into a stew of many factors being evaluated, including the rigor of applicants’ curriculums; their grades; their activities; their teacher recommendations, and their essays. In fact, when asked to rank the criteria for assessing applicants, most colleges said they give more priority to “strength of curriculum” and “grades in college prep courses.”

But what of those schools with cut-offs? The report does not identify them, or the scores they use. But their policies could put them at odds with the association’s “Principles of Good Practice,” to which most highly-selective colleges subscribe. Among the provisions in that document is a pledge by colleges that they “not use minimum test scores as the sole criterion for admission, advising or for the awarding of financial aid.”
By JACQUES STEINBERG

This Year, 'Senioritis' May Have Dire Consequences

2009-05-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

USA TODAY

"Senioritis" — skipping class, missing tests, attending parties instead of athletic practice, and generally slacking off at the end of the last year of high school — is practically a rite of spring. But this year there may be serious consequences — including having college acceptance withdrawn — for those who don't finish with a strong academic record.

In the past, when students received the fat envelope, the suspense of the college application process was largely over. That's not necessarily so this year. Because in the 2009 college admission season — with the largest high school graduating classes in history, record numbers of applications and dwindling economic resources — colleges simply don't know how many students are going to be able to accept their offers.

To cope with that uncertainty, many colleges are admitting more students than in the past. If they find they have over-enrolled their incoming class, they may be more likely to revoke an offer of admission to those who haven't maintained top grades or fallen short in some other way. (Final grades were cited by 69% of colleges that revoked admission offers in 2007; disciplinary problems accounted for 25%, says the National Association for College Admission Counseling.) Other colleges are admitting fewer students and counting on pulling heavily from their wait-list. In deciding who should come off that list, a primary consideration will be a strong senior year. Those who slack off will find themselves last in line.

"The stakes have compounded exponentially this year because of the uncertainty we're facing," says Doug Christiansen, dean of admission at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Though colleges have always reviewed the final academic records of incoming classes, this year they will scrutinize them more thoroughly, officials say. Admission departments will double-check for drops in grades, absenteeism and situations in which, for example, a student's application said he was taking three advanced placement classes, but he later dropped two. They also will watch for red flags that arise from lapses in judgment or integrity, such as cheating, plagiarism, drinking or drug use.

How many students may have admission withdrawn this year? With their predictive models not working in this admission cycle, colleges just don't know yet. The University of California projects that about 50 admission offers may be withdrawn at each of nine campuses, says Sue Wilbur, director of undergraduate admissions. But some campuses could issue more. "All campuses are very carefully managing their numbers to come in on their enrollment targets," she says. When officials say in their admission letter that enrollment is contingent on maintaining senior-year grades, they mean it.

Being proactive can help

When admission is rescinded, the news probably will come at a difficult time. Though students commit to a school on May 1 and release other offers, colleges don't see final transcripts until after graduation and are at the mercy of high schools on when records arrive. Students may learn as late as August they have no place to go in the fall.

But there is something students can do — if they act before the letter revoking admission arrives. If there is a problem, a student should inform the college where he has been accepted or wait-listed. It is incumbent on the student — not the parent — to take the initiative, call the admission department, explain the problem as candidly as possible and describe what is being done to remedy it. A school often will look more kindly on such news when informed well before viewing the final transcript.

"Universities will find out," Christiansen says.

Colleges do consider extenuating circumstances such as family emergencies or illness, and, when appropriate, may suggest summer school or deferring enrollment for a year. "Colleges are in the business of education, not punishment," says Susan Dean, director of college counseling at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, Calif., an elite secondary school for girls. "Anything they can do to assist a student, they are going to try to do."

If a student doesn't self-report and has admission rescinded, there is usually little he can do. Schools are loath to remake such decisions. Almost all schools include language in acceptance letters that makes admission contingent on performance through the end of the senior year.

That conditional language constitutes a fair warning — and officials advise high school seniors to take it seriously, particularly this year.

By Robin Mamlet and Christine VanDeVelde
Robin Mamlet is former Dean of Admissions at Stanford University, Swarthmore College and Sarah Lawrence College. Christine VanDeVelde is a journalist.

Top Colleges See Little Fall in Freshman Commitments

2009-05-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

New York Times
May 10, 2009

In an early indication that the economic downturn may not have disrupted students’ college choices as much as schools had feared, more than a dozen top colleges said last week that accepted applicants had committed themselves to attending next fall at about the same rate as last year.

Among the private colleges reporting little variation in their admissions yields were Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wesleyan, Smith, Kenyon and Whitman. Among public colleges, the Universities of Virginia and Wisconsin reported similar results.

But those yields came at a price: many of the colleges said they had increased their financial aid budgets, often significantly, over last year’s.

The dean of admissions at Pomona College in California, Bruce Poch, said, “For all the Chicken Little and Henny Penny hysteria and dire predictions, it seems to have worked out just fine here.” At Pomona, 384 applicants sent in their deposits, only 6 fewer than the goal the college had set. The class is “essentially full,” Mr. Poch added, though some students on the waiting list might be offered admission.

The dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard, William R. Fitzsimmons, had anticipated a drop in the yield of as much as 5 percentage points because of the poor economy. But about 76 percent of those accepted to Harvard, or nearly 1,560 applicants, have signaled their intention to attend — “right where we were at the end of last year,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said.

As much as 65 percent of the incoming freshman class at Harvard could end up receiving direct, need-based scholarships, compared with 58 percent in the current freshman class, Mr. Fitzsimmons said. In response, Harvard expects to increase its undergraduate financial aid budget by $9 million, or 7 percent.

At Yale, nearly 70 percent of those accepted, or about 1,330 students, have signaled their intention to enroll, a percentage nearly identical to last year’s, said Jeffrey Brenzel, the dean of undergraduate admissions.

“Our yield so far has been significantly stronger than we expected,” Mr. Brenzel wrote in an e-mail message. “Given the economy, we thought that more students not eligible for need-based financial aid from Yale might accept merit scholarships offered by a number of excellent colleges.”

The next freshman class at Yale is oversubscribed by about 17, which does not bode well for the 468 applicants on the waiting list.

Princeton’s yield of 60 percent this year is a percentage point higher than last year’s, which is noteworthy given that the university is trying to increase its freshman class size by about 60, to 1,300.

Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., said it too had received a response from accepted applicants at a rate similar to last year’s — about 35 percent, or 760, said they would attend. The senior associate dean of admissions, Greg Pyke, said he was surprised that the economy had not “really driven the yield down.” He credited Wesleyan’s increasing of its financial aid offers as a factor.

Another situation being closely monitored is whether public universities are being overrun with candidates, as some high school seniors seek a less expensive education than many private colleges offer.

At the University of Virginia, this year’s yield — 49 percent, representing 3,100 deposits — is only 1 percentage point higher than last year’s. The University of Wisconsin said its yield this year — 41 percent, or about 5,550 deposits — was a drop of 2 percentage points from last year’s. But the university said appeals of financial-aid decisions among accepted freshmen had increased 20 percent over last year.

The State University of New York at New Paltz said it had gotten the admissions yield it wanted: about 20 percent, compared with 24 percent last year. But to lower its yield, New Paltz had to close off applications at about 15,250 and offer several hundred fewer acceptances than it did a year earlier.

“The next question is whether the deposits are hard or soft,” said L. David Eaton, the vice president for enrollment. Mr. Eaton said he wondered whether some students had put in a $250 deposit to New Paltz, as well as deposits elsewhere, to hedge their bets.

Georgetown University, Providence College and Hartwick College were among those that said last week that they still had openings in their incoming freshman classes. Officials at the University of California, Los Angeles, said they would not have data before June 1.

All told, the institutions that have reported their yields are a fraction of the nation’s estimated 2,000 four-year colleges, which means it will probably be months before the full picture is known.

By JACQUES STEINBERG
Tamar Lewin, Lisa W. Foderaro and Rebecca R. Ruiz contributed reporting.

529,Other Plans Offer Helping Hand For College Dreams

2009-05-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Augusta Chronicle
April 19, 2009

The economy has declined, but this hasn't changed your child's dream of attending college.
The price tag of a college education continues to grow each year, and families need to plan ahead. Though times are tough, families should continue to save, said Chuck Penuel, the director of the Path2College 529 Plan for Georgia.
If you're already saving, don't change your habits, college savings experts say.
"Obviously, this is something that is kind of unprecedented, so every type of savings has been affected. This market shouldn't cause people to quit saving," Mr. Penuel said.
It's also important to start saving early, said Scott Malyerck, the deputy state treasurer for South Carolina, whose office manages the Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan.
"A lot of people don't think about saving until the child is applying for college. It's kind of late at that point," he said.
EACH STATE HAS A 529 plan, a federal tax code designation that offers tax advantages to encourage families to save for future education expenses, Mr. Penuel said.
"Your taxes are deferred as your account grows. When you withdraw the money for college expenses, those withdrawals are also tax free," he said. "You can use the dollars that you've saved and earned returns on over the years for any qualified college expenses: tuition, room and board, fees, computers."
Participants aren't locked into the account, so if they need to withdraw money for other expenses, they will simply pay taxes on the nonqualified withdrawal.
Anyone can enroll in the plan and select the beneficiary of choice. The funds also can be used for graduate school.
Mr. Malyerck recommends that families visit savingforcollege.com to compare each state's plan.
South Carolina's plan is among the top four in the nation, he said, and it doesn't require participants to be South Carolina residents. The money can be used at any college nationwide. Parents can start an account with as little as $250.
Parents can transfer the funds to another child or an adult who is going back to school. Participants can either have a financial advisor set up their account or they can do it themselves, Mr. Malyerck added.
There are other benefits to such a plan.
"If you're a South Carolina resident, you get a state tax deduction on money you put into the program," Mr. Malyerck said.
Georgia also offers a state income tax deduction up to $2,000 for each beneficiary for whom they have an account. Participants don't have to be Georgia residents, and enrollment in the plan is open all year, Mr. Penuel said.
There are many investment options for 529 plans, such as the age-based option, which manages investments based on the child's age. If the child is young, parents can invest more heavily in stocks, which earn more but are riskier investments.
As the child ages, the money is rolled over to more conservative investments, such as bonds or money market funds.
Other options range from pure stock market investments to guaranteed investments, which guarantee the principal and a minimum rate of interest, Mr. Penuel said.
When comparing the plans for each state, it's important to pay attention to fees, he said. Georgia's plan has low fees, as low as less than half of one percent per year of your account value.
"Some plans are considerably more," Mr. Penuel said.
PREPAID TUITION plans allow parents to purchase tuition at today's prices for later use.
Georgia and South Carolina have chosen to close enrollment for their plans. That's because prepaid plans have become burdens for states because investment earnings are down and college tuition rates keep increasing, Mr. Malyerck said.
"Our program is closed for new people, which many states have done. Some states have just done away with the program," he said.
There are only about 18 prepaid tuition plans nationwide, Mr. Penuel said. The 529 savings plan, however, is more flexible and provides "a wider range of use for your money and lets you control what you spend it on."
FAMILIES HAVE OTHER college savings options, said Richard Borin, a college financial planner with Los Angeles-based College Connections, which counsels students nationwide.
"Retirement accounts are a terrific way to save for college and make your children understand the value of money and work for some money," Mr. Borin said.
When a child turns 10, parents can give them a job around the house and pay them a reasonable amount. They should put the money in a retirement account in the child's name, such as a Roth IRA, which Mr. Borin considers to be the best option.
"A Roth IRA can basically do the same thing as a 529," he said.
They are beneficial because if parents take the money out for educational expenses, they will not be penalized, he said.
"Families that have their own businesses are the ones that can best come up with strategies to reduce the costs of college," he added.
They can have the child work for the business and pay them "what you normally would have received." The child won't have to pay taxes because he or she has a tax credit, he said.
Parents also could open trust accounts through the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, which they can control.
"There are bonds that are meant specifically for education, such as a series EE United States savings bond," Mr. Borin said.
The EE bond guarantees a certain amount over a period of time. There is also a series 1 U.S. Savings Bond, in which the interest rate keeps up with inflation.

By LaTina Emerson

College Admissions' Wrenching Ins And Outs

2009-04-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

For School Officials, Deciding on Students' Dreams is a Difficult, Emotional Task.
Los Angeles Times
April 3, 2009

I've been talking to a lot of angry people this week. They yell; I listen patiently. They cry; I empathize. The pain of not getting into the college of your dreams is unlike any other. Students call here to Pitzer College to find out what they could have done differently. Parents call to ask us to reconsider. It's hard to justify to someone who has just been "denied" the college of their dreams that although they've done everything right, we just did not have enough seats in the class.

What these families don't see is the amount of emotion that admissions officers across the country pour into making these decisions. These students don't know that behind closed doors, we argue about these difficult decisions. Each of us fights for the kids in admissions committee meetings, and we're truly sad when we turn away applicants who we know have worked hard but, because of circumstances beyond our immediate control, we cannot admit.
It's still hard for me to erase the images of the downcast expressions on my staff members' faces when the decisions go against the students they had argued for in committee. Just days ago, we were deliberating between a few candidates for a special scholarship opportunity -- knowing we had room for only one more. You could feel the tension in the room. Every admissions officer wanted his or her kid to get in. When the tough call was made, there was profound sadness. We knew we would positively affect the lives of some students while turning away the majority of those who had applied.

No matter how many years you work in college admissions, it never gets any easier to say no. At my institution, we received 4,079 applications but only have 245 spots in the freshman class. Choosing among a majority of overqualified students is our challenge.

I recall the fate of one young woman whose academic profile was top-notch. She had a 4.0 grade-point average at a competitive high school in Los Angeles, she listed a fair amount of extracurricular activities, and her essays read well. But she was from a town very close by and had never taken the time to visit the college. We offer many opportunities to do so, but she had had no contact with us.
In a year in which predicting how many students will enroll is going to be more difficult than ever, were we going to take a chance on her, that she was serious in wanting to come to Pitzer? With the pressure of having too many applications and not being sure of who really will enroll, we have to find ways to turn down students. In the end, we passed on her.

I also recall the young man from New York City who was academically below our margin. If I had read his application without meeting him, I probably would have denied him admission. But he showed up for my school visit when I was in New York, and had several contacts with me throughout the year. Then I interviewed him, and in my evaluation I wrote, "This kid bleeds Pitzer College." He was concerned about issues of social justice and social responsibility -- two key values that our institution was founded on. Clearly this kid had done his research and was determined to help me realize that he was the right fit.

His application eventually arrived on my desk, and I knew he was not going to be an easy admit. With a GPA below our typical average of 3.9 and no test scores submitted (we are a test-optional institution), the committee was not going to be kind. Therefore, I decided to read parts of his essay out loud to the committee. I needed to make sure they saw him outside the context of his numbers. They laughed out loud in response to this young man's humor, and they could not believe how much time he took to demonstrate to us how right he was for Pitzer.

I followed up the reading by telling them about my impressions from the interview: "He won't graduate at the top of his class, but he is going to be a powerful presence here." One of our staff members, who was clearly impressed, said, "This kid really does want to change the world, doesn't he?"

In the end, personal contact made a difference, and the young man's ability to paint a clear picture as to why he was the perfect match for our institutional culture won us over.

This week, students across the country received admission decision letters from thousands of colleges. They have poured their hearts and souls into their applications. They have worked hard and taken risks to share some of the most intimate details of their lives. They have told us about their goals, aspirations, triumphs, failures and adversities.

As I sat in my apartment, at the local Starbucks, in my office, (admittedly sometimes at the strangest hours of the night), I read their applications. With a constant cup of coffee in hand, I pored over each of their life stories. I laughed, I cried, and sometimes I performed a cheer of triumph (earning me some strange looks at Starbucks).

Regardless of my reaction to individual applications, I am truly inspired by young people today. They are much more motivated and qualified for college than I was when I was applying. Each day, I read stories of young people who are working hard to change the world and create new experiences that require them to take risks, have courage and overcome obstacles. We can't admit all the students we love, and that's because we tend to love many more than there will ever be room for.

To all these students, I say that where you get into college is not a representation of your worth, and please remind your parents that your college acceptance letter is not their final grade on the parental report card of life. If a school did not admit you, it's not a personal rejection.

In fact, most kids we turn away have done absolutely everything right, but given the seats we have available and the conflicting institutional needs that we have to balance, many kids are turned away because of the needs of the college, not because of a lack of achievement on their part.

We want an even representation of women and men, in-state, out-of-state and international students. We try to create a strong balance of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity as well. We need to make sure some kids can staff our athletic teams while others man our orchestras and theater productions. The list of needs is endless and seems to grow longer every year.

So for all of you getting the thick envelopes, the thin envelopes and everything in between this week, thank you for sharing the details of your lives and your aspirations. It's what keeps admissions officers in this business -- knowing that young people are doing amazing things and creating transformative experiences that will affect our world tomorrow.

Regardless of the decision letters you received, you have worked hard and have earned the right to brag about your accomplishments. You are indeed the hope we have been looking for.

By Angel B. Pérez

For Top Colleges, Economy Has Not Reduced Interest (or Made Getting in Easier)

2009-03-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

New York Times
March 30, 2009
The recession appears to have had little impact on the number of applications received by many of the nation’s most competitive colleges, or on an applicant’s overall chances of being admitted to them.
Representatives of Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown, among other highly selective institutions, said in telephone and e-mail exchanges in recent days that applications for the Class of 2013 had jumped sharply when compared to the previous year’s class. As a result, the percentage of applicants who will receive good news from the eight colleges of the Ivy League (and a few other top schools that send out decision letters this week) is expected to hover at – or near – record lows.
Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard since 1986, said that the 29,112 applications Harvard received this year represented an all-time high, and a 6-percentage point increase from last year. He said the percentage of applicants admitted would be 7 percent, down from 8 percent a year ago. Dartmouth said that the 18,130 applications it received was the most in its history, too, and that the 12 percent admitted would be its lowest.
Stanford said that the 30,350 applications it received represented a 20 percent increase, and that while it estimated a 7.5-percent admission rate, which would be its lowest, it declined to specify a final figure until later in the week.
Yale, Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Princeton declined to release their final admission rates in advance of sending out most of their decision letters via e-mail at 5 p.m. eastern time on Tuesday. But Brown said it had received 21 percent more applications, overall, compared to a year ago; Yale was up 14 percent; Columbia was up 13 percent and Cornell was up 3 percent. Princeton said that, as of January, it had tallied a 2 percent increase in applications, but anticipated the pool had gotten even larger since then. At the University of Pennsylvania, the number of applications increased by 4 — to 22,939, from 22,935.
However, applications to highly selective colleges were not up universally. Many of the best-known liberal arts colleges had fewer applications this year.
Williams College in western Massachusetts said that applications were down 20 percent this year, with 6,024 having applied to the Class of 2013, as compared to 7,552 a year ago. Williams’s acceptance rate, in turn, is expected to be about 20 percent, which is higher than in recent years. The reason for the change was not immediately clear, though applicants outside New England who are concerned about their finances would have to take into account that Williams is not close to a major city or airport – and thus could be expensive to get in and out of.
Similarly, Middlebury College in Vermont, which is also relatively remote, had a nearly 12 percent drop in applications. Amherst, another Massachusetts college and Williams rival, said that applications were down about 1 percent - and that its admissions rate would increase slightly, to 16 percent, in part because Amherst is aiming to increase its first-year class by about 25 students. (Wesleyan University in Connecticut, which sometimes competes for students with Amherst and Williams, has drawn substantially more interest this year: its applicant pool was 22 percent larger than last year’s; its admission rate fell to 22 percent, from 27 percent.)
Amherst had a nearly 10-percent increase in early-decision applications. It enrolls about 30 percent of its first-year class through that program, and – like most schools surveyed – it said it had not lost a single one to due any change in family finances since the fall, when such applications are made.
“Given the economy, it’s very surprising to me,’’ said Tom Parker, dean of admission and financial aid, “and when I told the board, they found it hard to believe, too.’’
In a sign of how hard it is to draw broad conclusions about an admissions season that has been set against a stark economic backdrop, just over half of the nearly 350 institutions that accept the Common Application, a shared online admission form, received more applications this year than last; just under half received fewer. Bryn Mawr and Wellesley were among those that were up slightly, while overall applications to Grinnell and Pomona were down (as compared to their early applications, which were up quite a bit.)
Among the best-known public universities, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville all recorded gains in applications – a sign, surely, of some applicants’ desire to stay closer to home, and pay less than they might at an elite private college. Applications to the University of Wisconsin in Madison fell nearly 3 percent.
Of course, applying to college is one thing; being able to afford to go is another.
Harvard, which like many colleges raised its financial aid budget this year, said that between this week and May 1, when applicants’ decisions are due, it was bracing for many to make impassioned appeals of their financial aid offers, whether by phone or e-mail or in person. In response, Mr. Fitzsimmons said that the Harvard financial aid office would be open every day in April, with expanded hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“We’re going to listen,’’ he said. “We don’t have a policy of matching other schools’ awards. But we’re going to listen to what a family thinks its unusual circumstances might be. We learn a lot about our families in April.’’
By:Jacques Steinberg & Tamar Lewin

A New Factor In Making That College: Loving It

2009-03-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Boston Globe
March 15, 2009

Like wary suitors, colleges are searching for signs of commitment from applicants before they extend admissions offers, hoping to find out whether their affection is mutual.
In the increasingly tense courtship of college admissions, more selective schools are smiling upon high school students who show sincere interest in attending, closely tracking such things as whether they visited campus, responded to recruiting messages, or even joined an online chat with an admissions officer.
"You're going to want those students who also want you," said Gil Villanueva, dean of admissions at Brandeis University. "Everything else being equal, between a student you know and a student you don't, you will go with the known commodity."
Villanueva, like many admissions officers, said keen enthusiasm for a school is no guarantee but can sometimes tip the balance in students' favor.
The growing importance of "demonstrated interest" is the product of a number of overlapping factors. High school students are applying to a greater number of colleges to better their odds of acceptance, which has made it harder for colleges to estimate how many actually plan to come. This year, the financial downturn and the credit crunch have further complicated the process, with families expected to base their decisions more on cost.
Amid such unpredictability, students who seem excited at the prospect of arriving on campus in the fall are in high demand, admissions officers say. In an ironic twist, the volatile nature of admissions has given students a measure of control over the process.
In its annual survey of admissions trends, the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that 22 percent of colleges gave interest "considerable importance" in admissions, up from 7 percent in 2003. Another 30 percent of schools rated it as moderately important.
In terms of influence, it outranked such admissions standbys as counselor and teacher recommendations, interviews, and extracurriculars, and was narrowly behind class rank and personal essays.
"We track every single contact we have with students," said Kelly Walter, executive director of the admissions office at Boston University.
Parents and applicants take note: Walter and other college officials said they do not hold it against students who cannot afford to visit campus, particularly in the slumping economy. There are many other ways students can let colleges know they are among their top choices, including attending a college fair or reception in their hometown. Even better, they said, is introducing themselves to an admissions officer and striking up a conversation.
"I remember," Walter said, speaking of such chats.
Admitting more students who truly want to be there, college officials say, creates an energetic and close-knit culture on campus. And by producing loyal alumni with soft spots for their colleges, it also pays long-range dividends in fund-raising.Continued...
Giving preference to students whose interest seems genuine also helps colleges boost their image. By targeting students who are more likely to attend, they can admit a smaller percentage and still fill out their freshman class, making them appear more selective and more desirable.
Families have caught on to the new approach. John Mahoney, director of undergraduate admissions at Boston College, said parents who visit the campus often scan the premises for the sign-up sheet that will let them make their presence known.
"We tell them we're not tracking that," he said. "But they want to make sure they let us know they were there."
Mahoney said BC does not consider student interest and said he suspects some students feign interest to boost their odds.
"Students are being conditioned to express interest, but if they are doing so at 16 Northeastern schools, how good of a barometer is it?"
But some say that students who cultivate relationships with schools - through the delicate art of admissions flirting - gain a much better chance of winning their hearts.
"It's almost like a dating game," said Phil Meisner, founder of CAPS, the College Application Processing Service, in Washington. "No one wants to commit, but everyone's looking for a signal. Why shouldn't students be able to let colleges know they want to go?"
College officials say students rarely go overboard in their self-marketing campaigns, although they fear more will as the practice becomes more prevalent. Others worry that judging students by expressions of interest could unfairly help wealthier students whose parents and counselors know the system's subtleties and how to exploit them.
"We don't want to penalize students who don't know that 14,000 contacts with an admissions officer could tip the balance," said Gail Berson, dean of admission at Wheaton College in Norton.
This spring, a student whom Berson met at a New York City high school has become a "steady pen pal," even sending her copies of his latest short stories. His persistence convinced Berson he would attend, and his writing ability convinced her he should be admitted, despite a so-so academic record.
Alex Michel, a senior from Weston, said she knew that Wheaton was her top choice as soon as she visited the campus, and she immediately made her intentions known. She visited campus several times, including an overnight stay with students, and e-mailed admissions officers with questions. In December, she was accepted, and now she chats on Facebook with her eventual classmates.
"I know colleges are looking for students who are enthusiastic," she said. "When I visited campus, I always made sure the admissions office knew I was there."
By Peter Schworm

Applying to UC? Don’t Fib

2009-02-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times
February 18, 2009

The university uses random checks to make sure that grades, honors and extracurricular activities are properly reported.

The gray-and-green warehouse in suburban Concord seems an unlikely headquarters for a statewide detective operation, and the fact checkers at work there insist they are not mercilessly probing the lives of California’s teenagers.
Still, there is an element of hard-boiled sleuthing in the University of California’s unusual attempt to ensure that its 98,000 freshman applicants tell the truth about themselves and their extracurricular activities. The stakes are high; UC enrollments may be canceled if students are found to be evasive or lying.
Each year, a small number of UC applicants – fewer than 1% – are caught fibbing about such claims as performing a lead role in a school play, volunteering as a tutor for poor children or starring on the soccer field.
But UC officials say there is a broader purpose beyond the relatively few “gotchas”: to scare everyone else straight.
“We take the admissions process very seriously and we want to uphold the integrity of the whole process,” explained Han Mi Yoon-Wu, a coordinator in UC’s central admissions operations.

In an era when tough competition for college entrance may lead some insecure or conniving applicants to hype, or invent, parts of their records, experts say many colleges and universities do some informal checking on students’ extracurricular claims, especially if something seems fishy. But the UC effort appears to be the only formal, systematic program in the nation, they say.
For many years, UC has checked the final high school grade transcript of each admitted student in the summer before enrollment. Failing grades in the last semester of high school can get a student’s admission revoked, as can lies about self-reported grades in previous terms.

Beginning in 2001, however, UC expanded its consideration of applicants’ personal accomplishments, alongside their grades and test scores, and soon stepped further into its truth squad effort. Broadening the area for investigation to students’ extracurricular activities, it commissioned the Educational Testing Service to cull a small but statistically significant random sample of applications each January and February, before entrance decisions are made.

Those selected are asked for proof of just one verifiable contention, chosen on a rotating basis from among eight categories of information on the application. It could be a claim that the student was a football quarterback, worked 15 hours a week at McDonald’s or volunteered often for a food bank.
Clippings from a school newspaper, a copy of a theater program, pay stubs or letters from a coach or counselor quickly resolve nearly all cases. Sometimes, anxious applicants send in performance videos, artwork, poetry or a sports plaque to bolster their cases.

Of the 1,000 or so applicants checked this way annually in recent years, no more than 10 or 15 send in insufficient evidence or, after several volleys of mail, e-mail and phone calls, stop responding or don’t take advantage of the appeals process. And of those, only a couple each year are believed to be telling outright lies, said Mary Jacobson, a program administrator at the testing service’s Concord office.

UC and testing service officials agreed to allow a Times reporter a rare visit to the facility, which is set among strip malls and new housing developments in this East Bay suburb, and to review some cases, with the proviso that applicants’ names and schools not be disclosed. They would not allow photos to be taken. Yet any hope of finding an FBI-like atmosphere was quickly dashed; the office resembled a low-key accounting firm during tax season.

A soft-spoken woman, a mother who remembers what it’s like for a child to apply to college, Jacobson says she and her staff of three verifiers do not consider themselves grand inquisitors. Real detectives “start with the premise that there was a crime,” she said. “Our assumption is that it was the opposite, that [applicants] will be able to verify what we ask them to verify. And our experience is overwhelmingly that they are able to.” She pointed to file boxes containing voluminous correspondence from applicants.

Jacobson said most applicants are truthful but some may exaggerate things because “they’re kids.” She advised students “to be thorough and honest and put your best foot forward.” After all, she said, “it’s just not a happy thing if you have to cancel their university applications.”

For example, a student last year was asked to prove that she was a volunteer coach for a soccer team of younger girls. She responded that she could not find the soccer officials who could confirm the claim. So UC officials wrote again, suggesting that a letter from a team member’s parent would do, as would some printed material from the league. After no further response, the application was canceled and the student was never heard from again.

In another recent case, a student was asked to verify her claim of a lead role in a school play. She wrote back that the drama teacher had retired and wasn’t reachable and that she didn’t have a copy of the playbill. UC gave her a second chance, as its rules allow, asking her to prove another item on her application, this one about volunteer work at an elementary school. What about a letter from a teacher there, the investigator suggested? The young woman did not respond and her application was discarded.

This year, an applicant sent in a video of a dance performance to verify her arts activities, but Educational Testing Service staff could not tell whether she was among the dancers and are awaiting a confirmation letter, preferably on school letterhead.

Other cases had happy endings. A young man verified that he was a cashier on an Army base by sending in a pay stub. Another proved that he took a French immersion class in Toulouse with a letter from an instructor, written in French and translated by a friend of Jacobson. And several UC letters to one student were returned unopened to Concord before a high school counselor told researchers that his family was temporarily homeless and vouched for his accomplishments.
In the program’s first few years, many students ignored the letters, but the response rate has improved, Yoon-Wu said. “At first, students didn’t know they had to take this seriously, but word has gotten out that UC does and you will be canceled if you don’t respond,” she said. She pointed out that the final section of the UC application reminds students that they face such consequences if any information is found “to be incomplete or inaccurate.”

UC’s truth-in-application program and the informal efforts at other schools have been set up in response to concerns that a small share of high school seniors may agonize so much about their chances of getting into college that they do something foolish, said David Hawkins, public policy and research director at the National Assn. for College Admission Counseling in Arlington, Va.

The pressure that students face to show outstanding achievement has “led colleges to recalibrate their radar” looking for fraud, Hawkins said. Some schools also have begun to watch for Internet plagiarism in applicants’ essays, he said.
High school counselors say they urge students to tell the truth for its own sake and because applications and financial aid forms may, in effect, be audited.
Still, they say the popularity of online applications makes it hard for them to catch the few students who fib.
By: Larry Gordon

Revised UC Freshman Admission Policy

2009-02-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

February 5, 2009

Today the University of California Board of Regents approved a change to the University’s admission policy that will affect current high school students graduating in 2012 and beyond.

The new policy requires the same number of “a-g” courses and the same GPA as current policy. The key differences are:
• Two SAT Subject Tests will no longer be required for admission. However, students could still choose to submit their scores for consideration as part of their application, just as they do now with AP scores. The Subject Tests also could be recommended for certain majors.
• All applicants will need to complete 11 of the 15 “a-g” courses by the end of their junior year. Currently, this is required only of students who are designated eligible by ranking in the top 4 percent of their high school class.
• Fundamentally, these changes will not change the way students prepare for the University: students still need to complete the “a-g” requirements, earn the best grades possible, and take the ACT Assessment with Writing or the SAT Reasoning Test. They will also need content knowledge in case they choose to take an SAT Subject Test to demonstrate specific subject-matter proficiency.
• Students who graduate from high school prior to 2012 will be held to existing admissions requirements. Most importantly, this means that these students will be required to submit scores from two SAT Subject Tests in order to be eligible for admission, as is the case now.

SAT Changes Policy, Opening Rift With Colleges

2008-12-31T07:26:00.000-08:00

December 30, 2008

This March, high school juniors taking the SAT will have the option of choosing which scores to send to colleges while hiding those they do not want admissions officials to see.

Students in White Plains take an SAT prep course. A new policy will let students choose which scores to release to colleges.

The new policy is called Score Choice, and the College Board hopes it will reduce student stress around the SAT and college admissions.

But when it comes to college admissions, few things are ever simple. Some highly selective colleges have already said that they will not go along with Score Choice, and the policy is stirring heated debate among high school counselors and college admissions officials.

Some argue that it is really a marketing tool, intended to encourage students to take the test more often. Others say that, contrary to the College Board’s goal, the policy will aggravate the testing frenzy and add yet another layer of stress and complexity to applying to college.

“In practice, it will add more anxiety, more confusion, more testing for those who can afford it and more coaching,” said Brad MacGowan, a college counselor at Newton North High School in suburban Boston and a longtime critic of the College Board and standardized testing.

Many students take the SAT more than once, and the College Board automatically sends colleges the scores of every SAT test a student takes.

Under Score Choice, students can choose their best overall SAT sitting to send to colleges, but they will not be able to mix and match scores from different sittings. (Each sitting includes tests in critical reading, mathematics and writing, with a top score of 800 in each area.)

There is no additional charge if a student selects Score Choice, which also applies to SAT subject tests, formerly called SAT II and given in areas like history, sciences and languages.

Score Choice is not a new concept. From 1993 to 2002, students were allowed to take as many SAT subject tests as they wanted and to report only their best scores to the colleges they applied to.

In ending that policy in 2002, the College Board said that some students who had stored their scores had forgotten to release them and missed admissions deadlines. It also said that ending Score Choice would be fairer to low-income and minority students, who did not have the resources to keep retaking the tests.

Now, the College Board sees things differently.

“It simply allows students to put their best foot forward,” said Laurence Bunin, a senior vice president with the College Board.

With Score Choice, Mr. Bunin said, students can “feel very comfortable going into the test center because, goodness forbid, if for whatever reason they don’t feel comfortable, it won’t be on their permanent record forever.”

William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions at Harvard, shares that view.

“In some respect,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said, “Score Choice will help defuse some of the pressure and give students a sense that not everything is riding on the tests, which really is the case.”

But Jerome A. Lucido, the vice provost for enrollment policy and management at the University of Southern California, said, “Students will like it because they’ll have a sense of control, but my sense is that it’s not worth the trade-off in terms of complexity and more gamesmanship.”

A major concern has to do with how colleges will handle Score Choice.

Admissions officials at some highly selective colleges — the University of Southern California, Stanford, Claremont McKenna and the University of Pennsylvania, among others — have said that, Score Choice or not, they want all the scores — from the SAT and the ACT.

It is in the students’ best interest to send all scores, these officials say, because their practice is to combine the highest subscores from all of the score reports.

“Our plan is to first tell students to relax,” said Bruce Poch, vice president and dean of admissions at Pomona College. “The habit here is like many colleges, which is to see it all, but consider for admission purposes the highest individual score.”

Gary Meunier, a counselor at Weston High School, in Weston, Conn., said one reason he favored Score Choice was that while he believed that most schools did look at the highest subscores, he had also seen schools rule out students with any scores below 500.

“Some kids, their performance in the classroom far exceeds the way they perform on standardized tests,” Mr. Meunier said. With Score Choice, “they get a couple more shots at it,” he said. “For those kids, they take it with a little less anxiety. At one test, if they blow it, no one’s going to see it.”

Some critics of the new policy note that the SAT’s main rival, the ACT, which has been drawing increasing numbers of test takers, has long had a de facto Score Choice policy.

“Was this a student-centered decision?” said Richard H. Shaw, dean of admissions at Stanford, referring to the College Board’s reason for introducing Score Choice. “Or was it business-centered because they’re worried about losing market share?”

Mr. Shaw added that he was equally opposed to the ACT’s de facto Score Choice. “I don’t want to give them any credit whatsoever,” he said. “I think they started this.”

Score Choice was developed in response to student demand, Mr. Bunin said. “The students were clear,” he said. “They thought that having some control over their scores would reduce their stress.”

The College Board surveyed more than 3,000 high school students from a range of income groups and ethnicities, Mr. Bunin said. It also surveyed 700 counselors from a diverse group of high schools across the country, and 70 percent favored Score Choice, he said.

But other counselors, as well as admissions officials, have expressed concern that the policy will give affluent students who can afford to take the SAT many times an even greater advantage.

Among the questions being asked about how Score Choice will work is this one: What if a student opts for Score Choice and tries to apply it to a college that requires all the scores?

Mr. Poch of Pomona said: “My own view is that tests are a transcript. I don’t get to choose which grades appear on a transcript any more than I get to suppress a driving record from an insurance company.”

By SARA RIMER
NY Times

How Not to Get Into College: Submit a Robotic Application

2008-12-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Wall Street Journal
December 23, 2008
Swamped by a rise in early applications from the biggest class of high-school seniors ever, college admissions officials have some advice for the class of 2009: Be yourself.
Although this year's applicant pool is by many measures the most highly qualified yet, admissions deans at a dozen top-tier colleges and universities said in interviews last week that they're also seeing a disappointing trend: Too many students are submitting "professionalized" applications rendered all too slick by misguided attempts at perfection, parental meddling and what one admissions dean describes as the robotlike approach teens are taking in presenting themselves.
Among the symptoms: Too many formulaic, passionless personal essays. Too many voluminous résumés devoid of true commitment. And too many pointless emails and calls from overanxious students and parents -- a trend one dean labels "admissions stalking."
"We keep looking for authenticity and genuineness, for kids who are their true selves," says Jennifer Delahunty, dean of admissions at Ohio's Kenyon College. Instead, anxious students, and the adults who help them overpolish their applications, "leach all the personality out" of them, she says.
One factor, of course, is competition. Officials at more than half the highly competitive schools I contacted report sizable increases in early-decision applicants. In vying for admission to high-status schools, many students are forgetting what should be the main point of the process: finding a good fit.
Also, officials say, a growing emphasis in high school on test scores and grades has made learning seem like a race, and merit like something that can be quantified in data and lists -- thus the multipage résumés some students send to buttress their applications.
Instead, admissions officials offer applicants this advice.
Don't hide behind a polished veneer. Some applications are so "corporatized" by parents and other coaches, says Seth Allen, dean of admission at Iowa's Grinnell College, that the real applicant becomes almost invisible. This is the exact opposite of what most colleges want to see, Mr. Allen says. A telltale sign of parental meddling, says Kenyon's Ms. Delahunty, is the word "heretofore" or too many semicolons in an essay. Then, "you know the lawyer-parent factor may have been at work." Some parents even slip up and sign the applications themselves.
Pick essay topics that inspire you. While as many as one in five applicants this year are describing overseas service trips, which are certainly a worthy pursuit, too many of the resulting essays are merely shallow recitations of facts: "I went here, I did this, I made great friends, it was uncomfortable and oh, wow, I really know how less-fortunate people live now," says Grinnell's Mr. Allen. He wants deeper revelations, he says: "How did this really impact you? Give us insight into what you were feeling."
Kenyon's Ms. Delahunty says she'd rather read an essay about such everyday topics as the challenges of changing a tire in a Minnesota winter, or growing up as the only boy among eight children, if they revealed more about the writers.
Don't stalk the dean. Some applicants barrage admissions offices with numerous recommendation letters or emails with little value other than re-affirming interest. At Barnard College, one applicant sent eight thank-you notes to every person she'd met during a campus visit, from the receptionist on up, a practice Jennifer Fondiller, dean of admissions, calls "overkill." Such efforts have no bearing on applicants' fates.
Don't be afraid to take risks. Amid an overabundance of qualified candidates, colleges want applicants with traits that set them apart and promise to enrich the campus community. In a presentation recently to high-school students, says Jean Jordan, Emory University's dean of admission, this application question came up: "If you were a song, what would you sing?" The students, Ms. Jordan says, seemed baffled; one asked in bewilderment, "What should I sing?"
Ms. Jordan's firm reply: "Whoa. Be yourself."
By SUE SHELLENBARGER

Private Colleges Worry About a Dip in Enrollment

2008-12-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Now comes the bad news: the number of regular applications is way down, about 30 percent fewer than at this time last year.
“To be quite honest, I don’t know how we’ll end up,” said Derek Gueldenzoph, dean of admissions at the college, in Northfield, Minn. “By this time last year, we had three-quarters of all our applications. The deadline’s Jan. 15. If what we’ve got now is three-quarters of what we’re going to get, we’re in big trouble. But if this turns out to be only half, we’ll be fine.”
Not all private colleges are reporting fewer applications this year. Even in the Midwest and Pennsylvania, where most colleges seem to have dwindling numbers, some are getting more applications than ever. Still, in a survey of 371 private institutions released last week by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, two-thirds said they were greatly concerned about preventing a decline in enrollment.
Getting exactly the right enrollment — always a tricky proposition — is especially crucial for small colleges with tuition-driven budgets. One case in point came last month, when Beloit College in Wisconsin announced it would eliminate about 40 positions because 36 fewer students than expected had enrolled. The college has about 1,300 students and gets three-quarters of its $55 million budget from tuition.
Admissions officers nationwide point to several possible reasons for the drop in applications. Some students have pared their college lists this year. Many more are looking at less-expensive state universities. Many institutions accepted more students under binding early-decision programs, and each such acceptance drains off an average of 8 to 10 regular-decision applications. And some experts suspect that students are delaying their college plans.
The deadline at most colleges is still a few weeks off, so a last-minute flood of applications could raise the numbers to last year’s level. But admissions officers say they are not counting on that.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I don’t remember a year when applications started out behind and didn’t end up behind,” said Steve Thomas, director of admissions at Colby College in Waterville, Me., where early-decision applications were higher than usual but regular applications are running about 14 percent behind.
At Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where early-decision applications were up, regular applications are down about 15 percent, said Gail Sweezey, the director of admissions.
“One thing that’s happened this year is that there’s all this talk, and one-sided media stories, about how private colleges are unaffordable,” Ms. Sweezey said. “It’s become almost viral that there’s no loans, that schools are having problems. The truth is that a lot of private colleges have more financial aid available this year, but there’s lots of misinformation out there. And my guidance counselor friends tell me students may be applying to fewer places and turning to their state university, which will be at capacity.”
If some private colleges are grappling with the specter of too few applications, public universities and community colleges are having the opposite problem — more students at a time when their state financing is being slashed.
In California and Florida, some public institutions have been forced to cap enrollment. And even in states like Pennsylvania, where the number of high school graduates is declining, applications to public universities are growing.
“We have 47,971 applications as of now, compared to 45,760 at this time last year,” said Anne Rohrbach, executive director of undergraduate admissions at Pennsylvania State University. “We’ve been making offers since October, and we’ve already had 1,638 students say yes, compared to 1,096 at this time last year.”
Generally, Ivy League universities with generous aid packages to low- and middle-income families have as many applicants as ever — and even more applying for financial aid.
“We had 27,462 applications last year, and we’ve been running almost exactly on last year’s pace,” said William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard College, which has eliminated early decision. “More students are applying for financial aid. It’s a significant increase, four full percentage points ahead of last year.”
Yale received 5,556 applications this year, 14 percent more than last year, for its nonbinding single-choice early action program, said Jeffrey Brenzel, the dean of admissions, who added that regular applications were running higher, too.
Dartmouth has more applications than ever, early and regular, as do Duke University, the University of Denver and the University of Rochester.
Jonathan Burdick, the dean of admissions and financial aid at Rochester, said the school’s reputation for generous merit aid helped draw applicants.
“This is a time when families may be looking at options that are less costly,” Mr. Burdick said. “There are a lot of families who may make $180,000 to $200,000 but can’t afford $50,000 a year and might apply to a Rochester, where merit aid this year can be as much as $14,000.”
Many selective private colleges say fewer applications are no problem.
“We’re down about 16 percent now, and I think we’ll be down 10 to 15 percent at the end, Jan. 1,” said Monica Inzer, the dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. “If our acceptance rate goes up a little, that’s O.K.”
Mark Hatch, vice president for enrollment management at Colorado College, said he expected to have about 5 percent fewer applicants this year and took a similar view.
“We admitted 26 percent last year, and if it’s 31 percent this year, we’ll make more people happy,” Mr. Hatch said. “I think the economic uncertainty has families, even families of means, telling their children to round out their college lists with state universities. This year, families want two safety nets, one for the first hurdle, admission, and one for affordability. Anecdotally, I’ve noticed a lot of parents this year listing their occupation as unemployed.”
At many colleges, financial aid requests are up significantly. At Connecticut College, for example, 42 percent of the accepted early-decision students applied for financial said, compared with 34 percent last year — and 36 percent qualified for aid, compared with 24 percent last year.
This has been a particularly difficult year for small private colleges that accept a majority of their applicants.
Stephen MacDonald, the president of Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa., where applications are down about 15 percent, is taking steps to lure more students, including adding lacrosse for men and women and hiring a prominent coach, which he thinks will attract 20 to 25 students.
“We’ve also increased our scholarship award to children of alums, from $500, which is a nice gesture, to $2,500 a year, which is more than a gesture,” Mr. MacDonald said.
“We could still end up down 3 percent, which could sting,” he said. “This is a time when schools like ours, private liberal arts colleges that don’t have a big name, are in a potentially dangerous realm.”

By TAMAR LEWIN
NY Times
December 21, 2008

Counselors in Demand as College Applications Soar

2008-11-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

October 31,2008
by Rachel Heller

High school seniors don't have it easy during this year's college application season, which is expected to be the most applied-to year on record.

Just ask Jeremy Friedman, who is juggling 12 applications in addition to his class work and a part-time job.

"I didn't think applying would be this stressful and difficult. I didn't realize how many essays I'd have to write, how much organization it takes, how much research there is to do," said Friedman, 18, a Beverly Hills High School student who is applying to Northwestern, Georgetown and University of Pennsylvania, to name a few. "You want to try to get an edge on everyone, because you really never know what the schools are looking for."

To gain that elusive edge, Friedman worked hard for solid grades and strong test scores, and got help forming his college list from his school's guidance department. But that's not all -- he and his family also hired two independent college consultants to make sure nothing was overlooked.

"I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing any schools that would be of interest to me," he said. "I had already done a lot of research, but maybe they had other ideas that I wouldn't have thought of before."

Friedman isn't the only one looking beyond the confines of his school building this fall for extra help getting into the right college. A growing number of families are turning to private consultants to allay the competition that marks modern college admissions, local consultants and school officials say. And in the class of '09 -- which the U.S. Census Bureau predicts will be the largest graduating high school class on record -- some students are looking for all the edge they can get.

"Putting together an application is a very complicated process. We help demystify it," said educational consultant Jeannie Borin, founder and president of the Los Angeles-based consulting firm College Connections. "People use personal trainers to motivate them to stay in shape. Singers might hire a voice coach to reach the high notes. Coaching is common in countless fields. So it's not such a crazy thought -- if you're going to make such a large financial investment as going to college, you want to get it right."

Consultants cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on whom you use, and for what.

According to U.S Census Bureau statistics, college enrollment rose 17 percent from 2000 to 2006. As the applicant pool grows, so do students' fears of being turned away from the school of their choice. This translates to students sending out more applications than ever -- often as many as 12 or 15, Borin said.

"It used to be the case that when someone was qualified to go to a college, they knew they would get in," she said. "Astonishing candidates are now being turned away. It's somewhat of a crapshoot. Students are covering their bases and applying to more schools -- that's one of the factors that's making this more competitive."

Borin, formerly the admissions director at Valley Beth Shalom Day School, helps college hopefuls compile a list of appropriate schools, offers interview tips and aids in the process of honing the all-important -- and much-dreaded -- college essay. Students come to College Connections as early as their freshman or sophomore years to discuss their classes and extracurricular activities, so Borin can begin making recommendations based on their interests.

But do all students need another level of supervision as they select and apply to colleges? Not necessarily, say some high school guidance counselors. It just depends on what each family needs to feel safe.

"We're finding that more and more, even the ninth- and 10th-grade parents are so worried about the college process they see coming a couple of years down the line," said Leanne Domnitz, head guidance counselor at Beverly Hills High School. "We have over 600 seniors going through this process. Some of them are self-contained, they're right on top of it, and they're fine. At the other end of the spectrum are kids who are completely overwhelmed by this process and need their hands held. I understand that for some families, it's just too much."

Guidance counselors handle about 300 students each at Beverly Hills High, Domnitz said, so they don't have hours on end to spend with students who need lots of one-on-one help.

Students, particularly in the public schools, often can't get time from their overburdened high school guidance departments, said Mark Sklarow, executive director of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), based in Fairfax, Va. Rising demand for experts who can devote more time to students has fueled a striking growth spurt in the consulting industry: The number of educational consultants in the United States. has doubled in the last five years, and Sklarow expects it to double again in the next five years.

"In an average public school in America, there are 600 students for every counselor," he said. "It's worse in California than in any other state. Counselors are simply playing triage -- they give a student what they can, but it's often not very much."

That isn't the case at some of Los Angeles' private Jewish schools, according to the guidance departments at Milken Community High School and New Community Jewish High School (NCJHS). At NCJHS, for instance, guidance counselors only handle 50 students each and can give kids more of the in-depth help that some seek, said Celeste Morgan, director of college guidance at the West Hills school.

"We really work with students on brainstorming topics for their essays, helping them edit them and making sure their college lists are balanced so they have as many options as possible in the spring," said Morgan, who previously worked in the admissions office at the University of Pennsylvania and read as many as 23,000 college applications during her time there.

She doesn't believe her students stand to gain anything from a private college consultant that New Jew's guidance department doesn't already offer. "At smaller, independent schools, where they have resources like our department available, that's all they really need," she said.

Joe Blassberg, director of college guidance at Milken, agreed. "The process that we take our students through gives them the tools they need to make the right choices about where they should be applying," he said. "Certainly, if my skill set or experience doesn't match what the student's needs are, then I'd be happy to help that student find additional support services. But I haven't run into that situation yet."

Milken senior Jonathan York, 17, said he's taking full advantage of his guidance counselor's support as he works on his stack of 15 applications. "It's not rare for me to stop into my counselor's office every other day, if only to ask a quick question," the Stanford hopeful said.

With all the aid he's getting from Milken, York hasn't felt the need to seek extra guidance from an independent consultant -- but he admitted that he will be asking family members to read over his essays.

"Every kid doesn't need an educational consultant," said Sklarow, director of the IECA. "The best reason to hire a consultant is to cast a wide net. You're looking not just for a college, but for a place where you're going to grow up over the next four years. An educational consultant will help you make that match more effectively."

IECA members must visit at least 50 campuses a year, so they have a wealth of first-hand knowledge that many high school guidance counselors lack.

This knowledge extends to Jewish life on different campuses, according to Borin of College Connections -- how large the Jewish population is at a given school, whether the students sustain a thriving Hillel and whether it's viable to keep kosher on campus.

Alexandra Dumas Rhodes, founder of Santa Monica-based Rhodes Educational Consulting, also considers it an asset that she can work with clients during the summer before senior year, when many students have limited access to their school's counseling department.

But the cost of hiring a college consultant bars many families from doing so, said Mary Charlton, a guidance counselor at Van Nuys High School.

"If a student needs to be walked through the process, and you can afford to do that, great. But if you're strapped for cash and can get good guidance from your school counselors, it's superfluous," Charlton said.

Ultimately, most agreed, what students need most is a level head and a realistic approach to the application process. If students focused more on themselves and less on the competition, said Morgan of NCJHS, the fall season might lose some of its frenzy.

"They don't need to frame the process as something where it's them against more students than have ever applied before," she said. "What they need to look at is: have I done my best?"

Financial Meltdown Hits Ivory Towers

2008-10-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

By Associated Press
Friday, October 10, 2008

For many colleges, the last 15 years have been a golden age. Philanthropy and Americans’ grudging tolerance for high tuition fueled an unprecedented boom — investments in everything from gyms, dorms and labs to faculty and expanded financial aid. Now, suddenly and like the rest of us, many colleges are faced with toning down their ambitions, at least in the short term.

The financial meltdown is forcing institutions to tear up budget plans and prepare for a simultaneous hit to their three major revenue sources — government funding, donations and tuition. At the same time, they’re having to find more money for one of their major budget items — financial aid — or risk seeing students drop out.

"They’re coming in and saying, ’I need a little more help,’" said Jerry Cebrzynski, financial aid director at Lake Forest College outside Chicago, which cut several class offerings and froze last year’s operating budget in part to make more aid available. "I think we’re seeing just the tip of iceberg." Cebrzynski recently managed to find another $5,000 for one family where the father lost his job and the mother has cancer. "We’ll do what we can with this year’s budget and honestly operate with a deficit, a larger deficit than we thought," he said.

In many ways, colleges have an enviable position. They can afford to invest for the very long term. Many have endowments to cushion the blow of downturns, and demand for higher education holds up or even grows when the economy goes south. That’s why you hardly ever hear of an accredited college going under.

But the financial events of recent weeks have been momentous enough to shake even sturdy ivory towers. Giant Boston University and tiny (but wealthy) Grinnell College in Iowa are among those delaying big projects, while numerous schools will postpone fundraising campaigns.

"I’m not going to press people now for a lot of funding. The time just wouldn’t be right," said John Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, who moved about $1 million from other programs to bolster aid this year. Fry says a fundraising campaign will likely be delayed and scaled back, and it will likely focus more on financial aid.

Generally, Fry says F&M is in good shape, but he’s glad it recently finished several big projects. Now isn’t the time to start one. And asking parents to pay substantially more next year would be "unseemly," he said, echoing the thoughts of several presidents interviewed this week.

The worries for private colleges include falling endowments and cost-conscious students passing them over for cheaper alternatives. For public universities, state funding is almost always cut in a recession.

But for colleges, this isn’t just a predictable replaying of past downturns. In the mild 2001 recession, for instance, colleges weren’t badly hurt because home values held up, notes John Nelson, who follows higher education finances for Moody’s Investors Service. But with home prices plunging, home equity may no longer be a reliable last resort for parents to tap for tuition bills.

A totally unexpected problem this time: interest rates in the variable rate bond market, where colleges borrowed cheaply for years, have jumped from 1 or 2 percent to as high as 10 percent. If credit markets don’t thaw, some colleges could spend millions more than they planned simply servicing their own debt.

Most terrifyingly, earlier this month, about 200 colleges were shocked to find that a liquidity crunch prevented them from retrieving more than 10 percent of the $1 billion they held in a supposedly safe short-term fund offered by investment adviser Commonfund. Now up to 40 percent can’t be retrieved.

In tough times, the colleges with the largest endowments — there were 76 with at least $1 billion last year — tend to fare the best. They can spend money to scoop up talented students and faculty while everyone else buckles down.

And at a time when major gift announcements have virtually halted, it was just another day at the office for Harvard, which this week announced its largest individual gift ever — $125 million.

But other institutions will have to find their own balance between their long-term missions and short-term reality.

"We don’t want to forget our aspirations," said Thomas Ross, president of Davidson College in North Carolina, a relatively well-off liberal arts school. "The minute you stop planning for the future and thinking big and having aspirations, that’s the time when you suffer the most.

"Are we going to have to delay some things? Maybe so," he said. "I don’t know I would call it retrenchment so much as a different pacing of activity."

Still, one of the strengths of American higher education is its variety, and one of the most exciting developments of the last 15 years was the sheer number of the schools of all shapes and sizes that, like Franklin & Marshall, have expanded their ambitions.

Now, like the rest of us, they will have to play it safer, at least for a while.

College Panel Calls for Less Focus on SATs

2008-09-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

NY TIMES

September 22, 2008
By SARA RIMER

A commission convened by some of the country’s most influential college admissions officials is recommending that colleges and universities move away from their reliance on SAT and ACT scores and shift toward admissions exams more closely tied to the high school curriculum and achievement.

The commission’s report, the culmination of a yearlong study led by William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard, comes amid growing concerns that the frenzy over standardized college admissions tests is misshaping secondary education and feeding a billion-dollar test-prep industry that encourages students to try to game the tests.

A growing number of colleges and universities, like Bates College in Maine, Lawrence University in Wisconsin, Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Smith College in Massachusetts, have made the SAT and ACT optional. And the report concludes that more institutions could make admissions decisions without requiring the SAT and ACT.

It encourages institutions to consider dropping admission test requirements unless they can prove that the benefits of such tests outweigh the negatives.

“It would be much better for the country,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said in an interview, “to have students focusing on high school courses that, based on evidence, will prepare them well for college and also prepare them well for the real world beyond college, instead of their spending enormous amounts of time trying to game the SAT.”

Mr. Fitzsimmons’s group, which was convened by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, also expresses concerns “that test scores appear to calcify differences based on class, race/ethnicity and parental educational attainment.” The report calls on admissions officials to be aware of such differences and to ensure that differences not related to a student’s ability to succeed academically be “mitigated in the admission process.”

“Society likes to think that the SAT measures people’s ability or merit,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said. “But no one in college admissions who visits the range of secondary schools we visit, and goes to the communities we visit — where you see the contrast between opportunities and fancy suburbs and some of the high schools that aren’t so fancy — can come away thinking that standardized tests can be a measure of someone’s true worth or ability.”

Mr. Fitzsimmons said that at Harvard high school grades and the College Board’s individual subject tests are considered better predictors of college success than the SAT or ACT, and that the university is studying the use of standardized tests in its admissions. He added that it was possible that the university might eventually make such tests optional.

The admission counseling association gave the report to The New York Times in advance of its official release at its annual meeting in Seattle this week. The report emphasizes academic research that suggests that test preparation and coaching results in an increase of 20 to 30 points on the SAT, which it calls “a modest gain (on the old 1600 scale)” that “is considerably less than the 100 point or more gains that are often accepted as conventional wisdom.”

The report also calls for an end to the practice of using minimum-admissions-test scores to determine students’ eligibility for merit aid. And it specifically urges the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to stop using PSAT scores as the initial screen for eligibility for recognition or scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship competition “contributes to the misperception of test scores as sole measures of ‘merit’ in a pervasive and highly visible manner,” the report says.

More than 280 four-year colleges do not require standardized test scores for admission, according to the study. The report says that the College Board’s Advanced Placement exams and Subject Tests and the International Baccalaureate exams are more closely linked to the high school curriculum than the SAT and ACT, and have little expensive test preparation associated with them.

The report suggests that what is needed is a new achievement test, pitched to a broad group of students, that would predict college grades as well as or better than available tests.

Using such an achievement test in admissions would “encourage high schools to broaden and improve curricula,” according to the report, and would also send a message to students to focus on their high school course material instead of on test preparation courses.

David Hawkins, the director of public policy and research for the association, pulled together the commission’s findings into the report. He said its value was “in the nearly explicit sentiment that the current admission tests are not optimal tools for admission in 2008.”

Robert Schaeffer, public education director for The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a group critical of standardized admissions testing, called the report “a strong condemnation of the overreliance on test scores,” and said he expected it to carry much weight with association members, who include thousands of college admissions officials and high school guidance counselors.

One commission member, Steve Syverson, is vice president for enrollment at Lawrence University, which made the SAT and ACT optional several years ago. Mr. Syverson said he hoped the report would encourage more college admissions officials to question their use of standardized admissions tests.

“We’re all just making assumptions about these tests,” Mr. Syverson said, referring to the SAT and the ACT. “We’ve all grown up with it. It’s embedded in the culture. If you really ask around the country, how many admissions officers can tell you at their institution what the predictive validity of the test is? What does it add to our understanding? What do tests help you predict? You’d find a lot of them equate these tests with intelligence. It’s not an intelligence test.”

Dorm Life Becomes the High Life

2008-07-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

Associated Press

Thurs., July. 17, 2008

NEW YORK - If Chelsea Johnson wanted, she could get an automated wake-up call in the morning, leave her clothes at the concierge desk for dry cleaning, grab some free pretzels and a banana from a snack cart and then unwind in a hot tub with several of her friends.

No Johnson is not living in a high-end condo.

Rather, she is one of the 2,800 undergrad students at High Point University, "where every student gets an extraordinary education in a fun environment with caring people."

At High Point in North Carolina, that means an ice cream truck with free frozen treats, part-time valet parking, live music in the cafeteria, and a birthday card signed by the president with a Starbucks gift card tucked inside on a student's special day. Freshmen don't have to live in dorms with long corridors of bunks beds and communal baths: they live in apartment-like housing.

High Point may be the extreme when it comes to pampering students, but a growing number of schools are offering resort-like amenities: private rooms and private baths with double beds, cleaning service, free laundry, HDTV and 24-hour dining halls with bagels, pizza and fresh fruit, as students and their parents demand more.

With many millenials coming from homes with their own rooms and bathrooms, high-speed Internet, satellite/digital television — and helicopter parents who took care of cooking and cleaning — some colleges are finding spartan dorms just don't cut it.

Parents are also seeking more bang for their buck, as the price of tuition and room and board continues to rise, says Jeannie Borin, founder and president of College Connections.

Colleges are also becoming more competitive with each other, says Dave Van de Walle, president of U Sphere, which works with students to match them to colleges and universities. Some high schoolers apply to 15 schools.

"You don't know what will give you the edge," says Van de Walle. "Harvard or Yale, that's one thing. If you're everyone else, every little edge helps."

At Purdue, there is always a waiting list for single rooms, says Tom Paczolt, general manager of a new private room, private bathroom residence hall under construction, adding that most of the university housing is shared rooms with communal baths.

The school is constructing the 365-bed residence hall for upperclass students. Students want the privacy of their own room with the benefits of campus living — secure environment, meal plans, cleaning services (the bathroom will be cleaned once a week) and social activities, he says.

Echo Montgomery Garrett, an author in Marietta, Ga., says she was blown away by the amenities at the University of Montana, Missoula. Her son is going to be a freshman there. Garrett graduated from Auburn University in 1982.

"I remember subsisting on Tab and grilled cheese sandwiches," she says. "Frankly the food choices were pretty disgusting. You had a lot of mystery meat dishes. Now the salad bar alone at the main cafeteria, goodness gracious, it was long and expansive."

Then there was the gym.

"We had a small weight room, you could go run around the gym at the basketball court when I was at school. They had a full luxury gym, with this incredible climbing wall my son can't wait to take advantage of," she says.

Hiromi Makiuchi, 20, a senior at Soka University of America, says her parents were really impressed with the residence halls. She lives in a single, sharing a bathroom with only one other person.

"There's more privacy but you can still connect with your roommate," she says. "I like that better than sharing a room. I think I need my own space."

But while the high life is nice, experts say there is a down side.

Shared rooms, at least for the first year, are an integral part of campus life, says Susan Elsass, vice pesident of student affairs and dean of students at Daniel Webster College, adding that students in traditional residence halls really get a chance to know each other. The living arrangement also teaches communication and negotiation skills, she says.

Students in single rooms with private baths can become reclusive, spending their spare time talking to high school friends on Facebook, she says. Small colleges also may not be able to afford such nice amenities, she adds.

Marc Scheer, author of "No Sucker Left Behind: Avoiding the Great College Rip-Off," worries that the amenities can increase the price of college. Including room and board for students living on campus, charges for public four-year colleges were $13,589, or 5.9 percent higher in 2007 than the previous year, according to the College Board. At private four-year schools, total charges rose by the same percentage to $32,307.

And students are footing more and more of the bill with private loans from banks and student loan companies.

"Rather than spending lots of money on new amenities, I'd like to see schools lower their costs and debt," says Scheer. "To be fair, some wealthy schools are both adding new amenities and lowering student debt, and that's wonderful. But too many schools are not."

Nido R. Qubein, president of High Point, says the school has invested $250 million, most of it in academics: constructing new academic buildings, renovating classrooms and the library, introducing new majors and fields of study. The University has hired 36 faculty members for the 2008-09 school year.

Johnson, a sophomore, says she's getting more than just creature comforts for her $31,000-a-year bill.

"HPU is no ordinary University by any shot of the imagination and that is why I love it here so much," says Johnson, 19. There are top notch academic programs, a low student teacher ratio (14:1) and lessons in generosity and service, she says.

"Those amenities are the things that grab the attention of visitors to campus," she says. "But when you are here you realize that there is so much more and it makes you go 'wow.'"

That's the point, Qubein says.

"When you provide all these services, they love it," he says. "And when they love it, they reward us in the classroom. My message to our students is very, very balanced. There is time to play. There is a time to study. There is a time to be in the classroom and be attentive."

By MEGAN K. SCOTT

Creation of International 'Bridge Year' Program Endorsed

2008-07-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

News at Princeton

July 15, 2008

Working group recommends launching pilot as early as fall 2009

A working group appointed by Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman has endorsed the creation of an international "bridge year" program for newly admitted undergraduates and has recommended that the University launch a pilot program with 20 students as early as fall 2009.

The program would allow students to pursue a tuition-free, pre-collegiate enrichment year focused on public service outside their home country, with support from the University. The working group, which was appointed in February to assess the feasibility of a bridge year initiative, affirmed the goals of the program and offered recommendations on several key elements, including the establishment of a University office to manage the program's planning and implementation.

In an effort to meet the proposed fall 2009 start date, the University will begin a search for a staff member to lead the office, which will be overseen by Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel. The office will continue the efforts begun by the working group to evaluate program costs and financial aid, selection criteria, organizational partners, student security and other logistical and administrative issues.

"The vision for Princeton's bridge year program is to enable students to gain critical international experiences and perspectives and to bring those insights to campus to share with other students," Tilghman said. "Not only will this program provide students with a transformational personal experience, it will enhance Princeton's deep commitment to the service of all nations and prepare these students to take fuller advantage of their subsequent four years at the University. While much work remains to be done, we are grateful to the members of the working group for their insights and guidance as we move forward with the realization of this vision."

The working group -- appointed by Tilghman, Provost Christopher Eisgruber and Malkiel -- was composed of faculty, students and staff and led by Professor Sandra Bermann, chair of the Department of Comparative Literature. After spending the spring semester investigating what would be needed to realize a successful bridge year initiative, the group endorsed the proposal and provided a sketch of the program's key elements:

• Princeton would launch the program in fall 2009 with a pilot of approximately 20 students, with that number gradually increasing annually, depending upon student interest in the program. Students would apply for the bridge year after being admitted and would begin their work with the program in the fall.

• The University would work with established partner organizations that have proven long-term records of safety and success in running international programs for young people.

• The program would be designed to provide students with a full immersion into their new environment with a strong emphasis on language and cultural training. In the pilot phase of the program, small groups of students would be assigned to a limited number of communities, living with host families.

• Service opportunities would be located by partner organizations, utilizing their connections with local governments and nongovernmental organizations. These opportunities should be age-appropriate and respond to the host community's interests and needs without taking employment from local residents. Examples may include teaching English in a community school, disseminating health education information in a local clinic, creating art with students in an orphanage or working with other types of community service organizations, engineering projects or research and development initiatives.

• The bridge year program would be available to all admitted Princeton students regardless of their financial situations. The University would cover most, if not all, program costs. Relatively minor expenses would be paid for by individual families, but Princeton would cover any costs that families cannot afford.

"Students participating in this bold initiative will live in an unfamiliar cultural context abroad that should challenge assumptions, encourage innovative thinking and foster maturity," Bermann said. "It will provide a time of service, an opportunity for students to think about working with and for others, and a break from the academic pressure that marks today's intensely competitive pre-college experience. The working group was convinced that such an experience will allow students to begin their formal academic training with eyes that see differently, with greater breadth and depth."

The working group was made up of 14 faculty, student and staff members: Bermann; Kofi Agawu, professor of music; Alison Boden, dean of religious life and the chapel; student Karolina Brook of the class of 2010; Diana Davies, associate provost for international initiatives; Dimitri Gondicas, executive director of the Program in Hellenic Studies; Gene Grossman, the Jacob Viner Professor of International Economics and director of the International Economics Section; Laurel Harvey, general manager for safety and administration; student Colton Heward-Mills of the class of 2010; Nancy Kanach, associate dean of the college; Clarence Rowley, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Sankar Suryanarayan, university counsel in the Office of the General Counsel; Anastasia Vrachnos, executive director of Princeton in Asia; and Deborah Yashar, professor of politics and international affairs and former director of the Program in Latin American Studies.

by Eric Quiñones

SAT will let students pick which scores to show colleges

2008-06-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Youths who take the exam multiple times can choose just the best results. Some people see a reduction in stress, but others say the move will mostly help the affluent because of the test's cost.

High school students seeking to put the best shine on their college applications will soon be able to choose which of their SAT scores to share with admissions officers and which to hide, the College Board said Friday.

The new policy, starting with the class of 2010, will allow students to take the widely used college entrance exam multiple times without admissions officers seeing their less-than-stellar efforts. Now, colleges receive scores of all the times a student attempted the dreaded test, whether the results were spectacular, mediocre or worse.

"Students were telling us the ability to have more control over their scores would make the test experience more comfortable and less stressful," said Laurence Bunin, senior vice president of the SAT. ". . . We can do that without in any way diminishing the value and integrity of the SAT."

The College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the test, made the change at a time when some universities are placing less emphasis on standardized testing in choosing prospective freshmen and as the rival ACT exam is gaining popularity. The new SAT scoring option, approved Thursday by the College Board's trustees, mimics the ACT's long-standing policy.

But some high school counselors and college admissions officials voiced concern Friday that the new rules would most help affluent students whose parents can pay for multiple SAT attempts, at $45 a sitting, as well as pricey coaching. Previously, admissions officials would know if a student took the test four, five, even six times and might be suspicious about the role of tutoring in any improved scores.

"In every policy change, there are some winners and losers," said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Assn. of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "This creates a penalty-free way for applicants who can afford the price of the test numerous times to shop for their best scores. For those students for whom cost is not a barrier, this is a tremendously good thing."

Most students take the exam twice, once each in their junior and senior years. The College Board waives the fee for lower-income students to take it twice. Only 15% take the exam three or more times, and research shows that repeated test taking is unlikely to further increase a student's scores, officials said.

The SAT, which takes three hours and 45 minutes to complete, has three sections -- math, critical reasoning and writing -- and a perfect score of 2400 requires earning an 800 on each part. Colleges typically use the test results as a uniform way to compare students who come from schools across the nation with varying grading policies and curricula. Grades, recommendations, extracurricular activities and other factors also figure into the selection process.

Under the new policy, students who take the SAT or the supplemental SAT subject exams multiple times will be able to decide whether to let colleges see one, some or all of their scores. There is no extra charge, and students must opt into the program online or on the telephone; otherwise all scores will be shared.

To ensure fairness and to stop students from "gaming the system," the College Board ruled out allowing students to mix and match their math, reasoning and writing scores from the different times they take the test.

Historically, the New York-based SAT has been popular on the East and West coasts, while the Midwest and the South are the strongholds for the ACT, based in Iowa City, Iowa. For the class of 2007, nearly 1.5 million took the SAT, compared with the ACT's 1.3 million. Some observers say recent gains for the ACT prompted the new SAT policy.

"They need to make changes to keep their product competitive," said Robert Schaeffer, public education director at the Cambridge, Mass.-based FairTest, which is critical of standardized testing. "If the ACT is the Avis of the industry, they've been catching up with Hertz."

Counselors said the new policy will help reduce stress.

"It's going to make students relax about the test a bit," said Stephen Williams, a counselor at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles. "It may give them more confidence to take some risks and try it some more times."

But for fairness, he said, the College Board should extend fee waivers so low-income students can take the test for free three or four times.

Reactions from universities and colleges were mixed. University of California officials said the new policy would have no effect on their nine undergraduate campuses -- they already use only the best score of a single sitting, no matter how many times an applicant tackles the exam.

Some admissions officials thought the plan might backfire for some students. Many private colleges consider only the best sub-scores of the three SAT sections from an applicant's various attempts -- for example, possibly a math from May and a writing score from October -- and that can't be done if just one day's test is sent in.

USC, for example, opposes the new option and may still require applicants to submit all of their SAT attempts, said Timothy Brunold, director of undergraduate admission.

"We would prefer to see a student's entire score history, because it gives us the context of how students earned their scores," he said. By submitting the single best total from one day, the applicant "may not get the benefit" of how USC and many other universities count the best section scores, he said.

Bruce Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College, slammed the decision. "It's a mistake. It's going to give kids more room to play games," he said. "It's going to privilege kids who are already in an advantaged position financially."

Pomona in recent years has seen greater numbers of applicants taking both the SAT and the ACT -- evidence of the latter's increase in popularity, which Poch said the College Board appeared to be trying to stall with its decision.

"There's no evidence that it's anything more than a marketing decision because they think they're going to give up a majority of that market to ACT takers," he said.

Students, however, lauded the move. Jaleel Reed, soon to be a senior at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, said he wished his graduating class of '09 could take advantage of the new SAT policy. Younger students will be delighted, he said.

"You want colleges to see your best work. So this only helps your chances," said Reed, who took the SAT this spring and plans to repeat it in the fall. He said he intended to apply to UC campuses and top East Coast universities.

By Seema Mehta and Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 21, 2008

Yale to Expand Undergraduate Enrollment by 15 Percent

2008-06-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

The president of Yale University announced on Saturday that Yale will increase its undergraduate enrollment by 15 percent, to about 6,000, by building two new residential colleges that are expected to open in 2013.

In a letter to alumni, faculty, students and staff, Yale’s president, Richard C. Levin, said that Yale College, the undergraduate program, admits fewer than 10 percent of the more than 20,000 people who apply each year.

“We have a long queue of highly qualified applicants who collectively would allow Yale to make an even greater contribution to society if more could be educated here,” he wrote. “In addition, since the late 1970s, when the undergraduate population ceased to grow, Yale is larger in virtually every dimension: faculty, staff, library and museum resources and physical presence. We are well poised, therefore, to expand.”

The last significant increase in the student body, he said, came with the admission of women in 1969. In recent decades, the undergraduate enrollment has fluctuated between 5,150 and 5,350.

“This plan is about expansion of the student population and integration of the entire campus,” said Janet Emanuel, associate director of public affairs.

Yale students live in 12 residential colleges, each with its own master, dean and fellows. The new colleges will be built in a triangle just north of the Grove Street Cemetery, a plan that Dr. Levin said would help connect the science facilities to the rest of the campus.

“The new colleges have the potential of making the whole campus seem smaller, more effectively linking Science Hill with the historic center,” his letter said.

To support the undergraduate expansion, Yale Corporation has authorized an increase in the goal of the Yale Tomorrow fund-raising campaign to $3.5 billion from $3 billion.

Yale is one of the nation’s richest universities, with a $22.5 billion endowment — nearly $2 million for each of its undergraduate and graduate students — that is second only to Harvard’s $35.6 billion endowment.

The Yale endowment, which has led the academic world in investment performance over the past decade, posted a 28 percent return for the fiscal year that ended in June 2007.

Under pressure from Congress and some donors to use more of its multibillion-dollar investment gains, Yale announced in January that it would spend an additional $307 million next year in income from its endowment.

At the time, Dr. Levin said the money would be used for financial aid, scientific and medical research and a likely expansion of the student body.

Yale is not the only university with a large endowment to be thinking about expansion. Princeton, Stanford and Amherst College have all moved in the same direction.

New York Times

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: June 8, 2008

Top Colleges Dig Deeper in Wait Lists for Students

2008-05-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

New York Times
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: May 9, 2008

In what may be a happy surprise for thousands of high school seniors, Harvard plans to offer admission to 150 to 175 students on its waiting list, and Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania each expect to take 90, creating ripples that will send other highly selective colleges deeper into their waiting lists as well.
“This year has been less predictable than any recent year,” said Eric J. Kaplan, interim dean of admissions at Penn, adding that when one college in the top tier goes deep into its wait list, others are affected. “We all need to fill our classes and replace students who have been taken off wait lists at other institutions. The wait-list activity could extend for a significant time.”
Although colleges turn to wait lists to fill out their classes, it is unusual for the most selective to go so deep, college officials say.
For high-school students graduating in an unusually large class and for colleges trying to shape a freshman class, this has been an unusually challenging year, with the changes in early-admissions programs and the broad expansion of financial aid at many elite universities.
Right up until the May 1 deadline for students to respond to admissions offers, colleges have been unsure what to expect.
“Our class is coming in exactly the way we wanted it to, fitting into the plan we had to get to a class of 1,240,” said Janet Rapelye, dean of admission at Princeton, which, like Harvard and the University of Virginia, eliminated early admissions this year.
Ms. Rapelye said that with such a big change in policy, it was difficult to predict results, so “we deliberately aimed to have a slightly smaller group.”
In an e-mail message sent on Thursday to colleagues at dozens of other institutions and passed on to The New York Times, William Fitzsimmons, the Harvard College dean of admissions, said, “Harvard will admit somewhere in the range of 150 to 175 from the waiting list, possibly more depending on late May 1 returns and other waiting list activity.”
AHarvard spokesman said the college had accepted fewer students this year to avoid overcrowding the freshman class.
The Yale dean of admissions, Jeffrey Brenzel, said there would be about 45 wait-list offers this week and probably another round later this month.
Even colleges that had more than filled their freshman classes were wondering how many students would melt away if admitted off waiting lists elsewhere.
“We’re over target right now, so we’re in good shape,” said Rick Shaw, the Stanford dean of admissions. “But I’m keeping a small group on the wait list, because I think there’ll be some impact of wait-list activity at other schools.”
At Dartmouth, Maria Laskaris, the dean of admissions, said although Dartmouth had more than enough accepted students committing, she was “in a holding pattern, because it depends on what other schools do.”
“If they go deep into their wait lists,” Ms. Laskaris said, “there’s a domino effect that has an impact on all of us.”
Amherst College offered admission to 15 students on the wait list Wednesday and expected to make offers to about 10 more. Swarthmore and Pomona planned to take 15 to 20 students from the wait list, admissions officials said.
At Bowdoin College, William Shain said he was slightly over the 480-student target, “but not so much that going to the waiting list is out of the question, if we lost a lot to other schools.”
Some high school guidance counselors said the wait-list activity this year seemed to have occurred especially quickly.
“In the last few years, more and more kids have been getting put on wait lists,” said Margaret Loonam, assistant principal at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey. “Now we’re seeing more get off the wait lists and earlier. It used to be a formal letter.
“But this year, it’s still early May and we’ve had a kid who got a call at home at night saying, ‘You’re off the wait list, do you want to come?’ We’ve already had kids get off waitlists at N.Y.U., B.U., Fairfield and Quinnipiac.”
At the University of Virginia, which also ended early admissions this year, John Blackburn, the dean of admission, said because he had received 3,200 deposits for a target of 3,170 freshman, he might not go to the wait list, unless an unusual number of students defect to other colleges.
Mr. Blackburn said he considered the move from early admissions a success because it seemed that, as hoped, it had brought in more low-income students.
Harvard, which ended early admissions this year and greatly expanded its financial aid to middle-income families, sent out offers of admissions to 1,948 students March 31, for a freshman class that is to number 1,650. Harvard would not say how many students had accepted the admissions offers.

Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admission

2008-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

April 1, 2008

The already crazed competition for admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges became even more intense this year, with many logging record low acceptance rates.

Harvard College, for example, offered admission to only 7.1 percent of the 27,462 high school seniors who applied — or, put another way, it rejected 93 of every 100 applicants, many with extraordinary achievements, like a perfect score on one of the SAT exams. Yale College accepted 8.3 percent of its 22,813 applicants. Both rates were records.

Columbia College admitted 8.7 percent of its applicants, Brown University and Dartmouth College 13 percent, and Bowdoin College and Georgetown University 18 percent — also records.

“We love the people we admitted, but we also love a very large number of the people who we were not able to admit,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard College.

Some colleges said they placed more students on their waiting lists than in recent years, in part because of uncertainty over how many admitted students would decide to enroll. Harvard and Princeton stopped accepting students through early admission this academic year; that meant that more than 1,500 students who would have been admitted in December were likely to have applied to many elite schools in the regular round.

Many factors contributed to the tightening of the competition at the most selective colleges, admissions deans and high school counselors said, among them demographics. The number of high school graduates in the nation has grown each year over the last decade and a half, though demographers project that the figure will peak this year or next, which might reduce the competition a little.

Other factors were the ease of online applications, expanded financial aid packages, aggressive recruiting of a broader range of young people, and ambitious students’ applying to ever more colleges.

The eight Ivy League colleges mailed acceptance and rejection letters on Monday to tens of thousands of applicants. Students could learn the fate of their applications online beginning at 5 p.m. on Monday, so three of the colleges said they were not ready to make public their admissions data. But the expectation was that they would also turn out to have been more competitive than ever.

“For the schools that are perceived to have the most competitive admissions processes, there has been this persistent rise in applications,” said Jeffrey Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale.

Ten years ago, slightly fewer than 12,000 students applied to Yale, compared with the 22,813 who applied this year, Mr. Brenzel said. Yale’s admittance rate — the proportion of applicants offered admission — was nearly 18 percent in 1998, more than double the rate this year.

“We’re really happy with the class,” Mr. Brenzel said of the students offered admission. “On a day like today it’s also easy to be aware of the incredible number of fantastic students who you have to turn away, because you know they would be successful here.”

At Harvard, as at Yale, the applicant pool included an extraordinary number of academically gifted students. More than 2,500 of Harvard’s 27,462 applicants scored a perfect 800 on the SAT critical reading test, and 3,300 had 800 scores on the SAT math exam. More than 3,300 were ranked first in their high school class.

Admissions deans and high school guidance counselors said they spent hours at this time of year reminding students who had been put on waiting lists or rejected entirely that there were other excellent colleges on their lists — and that rejection was often about the overwhelming numbers, rather than their merits as individuals.

“I know why it matters so much, and I also don’t understand why it matters so much,” said William M. Shain, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin. “Where we went to college does not set us up for success or keep us away from it.”

By ALAN FINDER,
New York Times

Brown Announces New, Expanded Financial Aid Policy

2008-02-24T08:34:00.000-08:00

The Corporation of Brown University has approved a new financial aid policy that eliminates loans for students whose family incomes are less than $100,000, reduces loans for all students who receive financial aid and no longer requires a parental contribution from most families with incomes of up to $60,000.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – At its winter business meeting today (Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008), the Corporation of Brown University approved far-reaching enhancements to the University’s financial aid program for undergraduates. Beginning in the fall of 2008, students from families with incomes of less than $100,000 will no longer have loans as part of their financial aid packages, and most parents who earn less than $60,000 will not be expected to make a financial contribution to fund their child’s Brown education.

The new financial aid also sharply reduces loan expectations for all students who receive financial aid, regardless of family income. The new provisions apply to all current students who receive financial aid, as well as to the Class of 2012, which matriculates next fall.

“Since 2001, Brown has made financial aid for our students one of our highest priorities. Every year, with strong support from the Brown Corporation, we have taken steps to ensure that our financial aid programs are competitive and effective,” Simmons said. “Today, we take another major step forward to ensure that our nation’s best students from lower- and middle-income families can attend Brown and graduate without the enormous burden of college debt,” she said.

Currently, about 40 percent of Brown’s undergraduates receive financial aid from the University at a cost of $57 million. The University’s budget for undergraduate financial aid, consistently the fastest growing element within the budget, will increase by more than 20 percent next year, reaching $68.5 million. The loan elimination and reduction program and the elimination of parent contributions for most families with incomes less than $60,000 alone will add $7.4 million to the financial aid budget for fiscal year 2009.

“We recognize and understand the concerns of America’s families about the rising cost of higher education,” Simmons said. “With our new aid package and a smaller increase in tuition, we hope to address their concerns in a fiscally responsible manner while continuing to attract the best students with diverse backgrounds to Brown.”

UC Applications Top 120,000, an All-Time High

2008-02-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

The University of California has received 121,005 applications for admission to the fall 2008 term, breaking the record for the fourth year in a row. Overall applications increased by 9 percent over fall 2007, with a 9.2 percent increase at the freshman level and an 8.5 percent increase at the transfer level.
The all-time high number of applications included a 7.7 percent increase in California freshman applications. In-state transfer applications rose by 7.1 percent, reversing last year's dip.
"The growing demand for a UC education coupled with the growing increase in the pool of qualified applicants is welcome," said Susan Wilbur, UC director of undergraduate admissions. "Certainly there's been an increased level of student preparation, with more students fulfilling the 'a–g' requirements, for example."
UC has put effort into a variety of strategies to recruit transfer students from the state's community colleges, Wilbur said, and the increase in transfer applications was a sign these efforts are paying off.
Out-of-state freshman applications increased by 14.4 percent, and international freshman applications by 25.2 percent. Out-of-state and international transfer applications went up by 5.1 percent and 24.9 percent, respectively.
Virtually all prospective students—99.5 percent of freshmen and 99 percent of transfers—applied online. Just 721 paper applications were submitted.
Applicants continued to apply to multiple UC campuses, 3.6 on average for freshmen and 2.9 for transfer students.
UC Davis posted the largest gain in freshman applications, 15.6 percent, followed by Santa Barbara (15 percent), Santa Cruz (13.8 percent), Merced (13.2 percent), Berkeley (9.8 percent), Los Angeles (9.2 percent), Riverside (6.5 percent), Irvine (6.2 percent) and San Diego (5.1 percent).
All nine UC undergraduate campuses saw gains in transfer applications, led by Merced's 37.7 percent jump from 2007 (300 applicants). Other top draws were Santa Barbara (a 12.9 percent increase), Los Angeles (12 percent) and Davis (11.9 percent).
Freshman applications showed increases from every racial and ethnic category. Chicano/Latino applications rose the most, a 17.9 percent increase, and there was a 16.1 percent increase in African American applications.
All campuses saw an increase in African American applicants from California. Applications from this group have increased by 26.4 percent since 2006. Freshman applications from Chicano/Latino students who are California residents went up by at least 16.2 percent on all campuses. Since 2006, applications from California's prospective Chicano/Latino freshmen have risen 30.4 percent.
Transfer applications showed one-year increases of 10.8 percent for Asian Americans, 7.1 percent for white/other and 4.6 percent for Chicano/Latino applicants. The number of African American transfer applicants remained flat.
Applications from California public high school students outpaced the state Department of Finance's projected increase of 3.2 percent more graduates in 2008. The University saw an increase of 6.4 percent from this group.
Transfer applicants from California community colleges increased this year by 8.1 percent, or 1,522 students. All campuses experienced a solid increase, including UC Merced, which had a one-year increase of 231 applicants (32.3 percent). Application growth is noted among the following groups: Asian American (12.3 percent), Chicano/Latino (6.3 percent), white/other (5.5 percent) and Filipino American (2.3 percent).
The academic quality of UC applicants remains high. And slightly more applicants this year reported that they are the first in their families to attend college, have a low family income and are among those who are attending California's lowest-performing public high schools as defined by the school's academic performance index (API) score.
These admissions data are from a preliminary Jan. 4 report. Some UC campuses remained open after the Nov. 30 deadline, so final results may differ.

Wealth Gap growing Bigger Among American Colleges

2008-02-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

Stanford University had an exceptional year for fund-raising in 2007, collecting $832 million in private donations. Harvard, too, reaped a bounty, with $614 million in gifts.

Those sums, detailed in a new report by the Council for Aid to Education, show that even as Congress presses wealthy colleges and universities to spend more of their endowments, they continue on a fund-raising streak that will widen the wealth gap in higher education.

In all, colleges and universities raised about $30 billion, 6 percent more than the previous year. But nearly one-third of that increase — $518 million — went to just 20 institutions.

Those 20 campuses raised a total of almost $7.7 billion — or more than a quarter of all giving to colleges and universities, the council said. The top 20 represent fewer than 1 percent of the nation’s institutions of higher education.

Four universities — the University of Southern California, Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Cornell — raised $400 million to $500 million each. Eight others drew $300 million to $400 million, according to the study, which is being released on Wednesday.

The numbers are sure to fuel the unease of those who argue that universities are turning into fund-raising machines, with university presidents spending more and more of their time cultivating donors, aided by development teams, consultants and marketers who scour alumni lists.

“It’s great that people feel connected with the colleges they attended and want be part of their long-term health and success,” said Cary Nelson, an English professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and president of the American Association of University Professors.

“But Harvard could buy and sell a number of countries around the globe,” he said. “It could pay the tuition of all its undergraduates, and its endowment would still grow. It is time for wealthy colleges and universities to begin asking themselves what their broader social responsibilities are.”

John Longbrake, a Harvard spokesman, defended the way the university uses its financial resources. “Harvard and many other universities make enormous contributions to our nation in research, scholarship, medicine and the arts due in large part to the resources we raise and invest,” he said.

At a time when federal grants and state support have not kept pace with enrollments, public universities also are jumping into the race for gifts and seeking to build endowments. One made the top 10: the University of California, Los Angeles, which received $365 million in private gifts.

Seven other public universities ranked among the top 20, including universities in Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia and Indiana, and the University of California, San Francisco. They each raised $252 million to $325 million. Other public universities lag, though they are starting to pick up some of the fund-raising skills of the powerhouses. At the City University of New York, for example, donations reached $279 million last year, a 39 percent increase over the previous year and three and a half times the total in the 2002 fiscal year.

Officials at the wealthiest universities are unapologetic about their success, saying it shows that donors approve of their goals.

“These are large numbers,” said Martin Shell, vice president for development at Stanford, referring to the university’s donations. “But they are made up of almost 56,000 individual gifts, and that includes many people making $100 gifts and $10 gifts.”

Stanford’s $832 million in donations, which followed $911 million the previous year, reflected a $4.3 billion capital campaign announced in October 2006. Such fund-raising drives are typically periods when gifts rise significantly. Stanford also received some sizable bequests in the past two years, Mr. Shell said.

“Our donors hopefully are feeling very good about how we are making the absolute best use of their philanthropic dollars,” he said. “It is something we take very seriously. There are an unlimited number of very worthwhile causes and needs out there. We feel these needs are real.”

In the past year, some Congressional critics have suggested that colleges and universities should use more of their wealth to reduce tuitions. Many colleges say that their aggressive fund-raising and large endowments allow them to provide more financial aid and to substitute grants for student loans.

The donations were made in the 2007 fiscal year, which for many campuses ended in June.

The council said that 1,023 colleges and universities participated in the survey.

New York Times

By KAREN W. ARENSON

Published: February 20, 2008

Applications to Colleges Are Breaking Records

2008-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

By KAREN W. ARENSON
NY Times
Published: January 17, 2008

Applications to selective colleges and universities are reaching new heights this year, promising another season of high rejection rates and dashed hopes for many more students.
Harvard said Wednesday that it had received a record number of applicants — 27,278 — for its next freshman class, a 19 percent increase over last year. Other campuses reporting double-digit increases included the University of Chicago (18 percent), Amherst College (17 percent), Northwestern University (14 percent) and Dartmouth (10 percent).
Officials said the trend was a result of demographics, aggressive recruiting, the ease of online applications and more students applying to ever more colleges as a safety net. The swelling population of 18-year-olds is not supposed to peak until 2009, when the largest group of high school seniors in the nation’s history, 3.2 million, are to graduate. The rise in applications at three universities — Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia — came about as they ended early admissions policies, which had allowed students to receive decisions by mid-December, months ahead of others. The universities said early admissions benefited more affluent and sophisticated students and required students to commit without being able to compare financial aid offerings from various colleges.
The application figures suggested that the end of early admissions did not hurt. Princeton received a record 20,118 applicants, up 6 percent. The University of Virginia received 18,776 applications, a 4 percent increase. Like other campuses, Virginia said its final count was likely to increase slightly, because applications were still trickling in.
Scott White, the director of guidance at Montclair High School in New Jersey, said the school’s college counselors found students tenser than ever.
“There is a pure level of panic and frenzy like they’ve never seen before,” Mr. White said Wednesday. “There are some people who say that with some schools having ended early admissions, the frenzy must be subsiding. I don’t think that’s so.”
Even at colleges, there was surprise over the surges, in part because they followed strong gains in previous years.
“These are amazing numbers,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard, speaking of his university’s flood of applications.
He said Harvard’s announcement in December that it was sharply increasing financial aid even for families earning up to $180,000 probably spurred applications, but, he said, the rise was visible even before that.
He said that the elimination of early admissions encouraged more interest, too, and that joint information sessions by Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia drew “astonishing crowds. ”
The reasons for the swelling numbers — not all colleges have reported yet — go beyond the growth in the college age population and the preoccupation with name-brand schools. Recruiting by elite colleges among low- and middle-income students and in new regions are bringing in more applications.
California, for example, has become a bigger source of applicants for Cornell since the upstate New York university created a West Coast regional office in Los Angeles several years ago.
“Ten years ago, California was not among our top eight feeder states,” said Doris Davis, an associate provost at Cornell. “Now it is among our top five.” Cornell applications rose 8 percent.
At the University of Chicago, international applicants grew 23 percent, to 1,826, and early admissions applicants rose 46 percent, to 4,430, Theodore A. O’Neill, dean of admissions, said.
Janet Rapelye, dean of admission at Princeton, attributed some growth to outreach “to more students from many backgrounds, including lower socioeconomic backgrounds.”
Some of the application increases undoubtedly come, too, from students applying to ever more colleges, in hopes of increasing their chances.
“There was a time when kids applied to three or four schools, then to six or seven schools, and now, 10 or more is not uncommon,” said John Maguire, a higher education consultant.
Mary Beth Fry, director of college counseling at the Savannah Country Day School, a private school in Savannah, Ga., said she had held the average number of college applications at her school to five last year, but expected the number to climb this year because students were so nervous.
Michael E. Mills, associate provost at Northwestern University in Illinois, said the 14 percent growth this year had sent the number of applications to more than 25,000. To help it winnow the field, he said, it hired a new admissions dean, Christopher Watson, from Princeton, who was accustomed to rejecting many good applicants.
“We anticipated having to go down the path of having to make more difficult choices,” Mr. Mills said, adding that Mr. Watson helped with “making very fine distinctions among very similar applicants.”

Weighing Expansion as More Top Students Clamor at Ivy Gates

2007-12-28T22:39:00.000-08:00

By JOSEPH BERGER
New York Times
Published: December 26, 2007

In the mid-1960s, when William R. Fitzsimmons was a student at Harvard, the college took in a freshman class of roughly 1,550, including students at Radcliffe, which it would eventually absorb. In the four decades since, the population of the United States has ballooned by two-thirds, applications to Harvard have tripled and Mr. Fitzsimmons has ascended to the job of dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard, but this year’s freshman class is only about 125 students larger than when he was a student.
That reluctance to grow has been true of many selective colleges that want to sustain their genteel scale. But with ever more students pressing at their gates, admissions officers find themselves having to reject what Anthony W. Marx, Amherst’s president, calls “astonishing applicants.”
The most elite institutions are accepting historic lows of 10 percent of applicants, and next year the sieve should become excruciatingly finer with applications from baby boomers’ offspring expected to crest. At least four of the nation’s most exclusive institutions — Princeton, Yale, Stanford and Amherst — are either modestly expanding enrollments for the first time since the late 1960s (when some began admitting women) or have task forces studying the matter.
For example, Princeton started gradually increasing its freshman classes in 2005, aiming to increase its undergraduate population by 500 students to an enrollment of 5,200 by the fall of 2012. And Stanford, with 6,759 undergraduates, not many more than the 6,571 it had 20 years ago, has appointed a task force to study expansion.
Meanwhile, gauntlets have effectively been thrown down to rival elite colleges by the presidents of Stanford and Yale in recent alumni-magazine articles. Stanford’s John Hennessy lamented that its undergraduate population had remained nearly level for 35 years and endorsed a modest expansion as a “practical and principled response to current realities.”
“I have been president for seven years,” Dr. Hennessy wrote in the September/October issue of Stanford Magazine, “and it is still one of the most difficult parts of the job to explain to parents with gifted children why a son or daughter was denied admission. And at the same time I must come to terms with the fact that we are denying Stanford the benefit of talent that could contribute to the University.”
The caveats in Dr. Hennessy’s thoughtful essay, though, underscored why selective colleges have never linked enrollments to demographic ups and downs. If elite colleges began wholesale expansions, their leaders suggest, the experience of attending them might start to resemble the jostling clamor of some public universities. “If you added 20 students, you probably wouldn’t notice; but if you added 200 students, it has a different feel,” said Jeff Wachtel, senior assistant to Dr. Hennessy.
For selective colleges, expansion is an existential question. Might they lose their sense of genial community and village-green scale? Might they have to replace seminars with more large lecture halls? Would they damage the quality of relationships among students and professors? “It doesn’t serve anybody’s purpose for us to dilute what we’re doing,” said Mr. Marx at Amherst, where the faculty has agreed to tweak the enrollment to 1,700, from 1,600.
The recent soul-searching is not just triggered by remorse. These colleges have been earnestly trying to open themselves to more kinds of students — from low income or black, Hispanic and Native American backgrounds, from foreign countries or remote states — yet have been trying to stay the same congenial size. As with a person who wants to eat rich foods while remaining the same trim weight, the zero-sum game has proved untenable.
Perhaps no motive is more gingerly discussed then the need to preserve so-called legacies.
Claire Van Ummersen, a vice president of the American Council on Education, pointed out that expanding enrollment would allow many colleges to continue to diversify but also let them keep admitting the same numbers of children of alumni, who contribute a large proportion of the colleges’ revenue and believe their families should retain that legacy advantage. Yale’s president, Rick Levin, alluded to some of this calculus in an interview in the March/April issue of Yale Alumni Magazine. “With a larger student body,” he said, “there would be more room to do more in all of these areas, but also to do more justice to the large number of students applying to Yale who are simply brilliant and well rounded.” He also noted that adding students would cultivate future alumni who might one day become generous donors. Expanding enrollments would be a farsighted investment.
At Yale, which has an enrollment of 5,275, two committees are expected to report in February about the impact of adding two residential colleges with a total of 600 students. Yale now has 12 such colleges where students study, eat, sleep and form many of their friendships.
Some universities face particular challenges to expansion. Harvard and Columbia have exhausted campus space, and expanding into surrounding neighborhoods has been a treacherous political odyssey.
Both colleges are planning satellite campuses in Allston and Harlem, respectively, for research and graduate facilities — with Columbia winning approval for its efforts just last week — but not pointedly for undergraduate classrooms.
A Harvard iconoclast might suggest building more capacious dorms to replace some of the 12 often-quaint residential houses among which students are parceled, each with its own library, dining room and tenured housemaster. But Mr. Fitzsimmons calls those houses Harvard’s crown jewels, suggesting they define the Harvard experience.
Enlarging a student body usually means expanding faculty, which means building office and research space. That costs money, and colleges point out that even the breathtaking tuition prices extra students would pay would not foot the bill. But Harvard and Princeton, with baronial endowments, have less to worry on that score.
One could tell families frustrated by being kept out of the top dozen colleges that they should try for colleges a notch down that might welcome them.
One could also tell the colleges that rarefied intimacy and genteel character may be unsustainable luxuries when so many deserving students are clamoring to get in.
Those are the debates the colleges will have for a good long time.

A Shift In Applications As Early Admission Is Cut

2007-11-29T01:19:00.001-08:00

By ALAN FINDER
Published: November 28, 2007

When Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia announced that they would eliminate early admission starting this fall, many educators wondered whether the decision would alter the strategies of thousands of students seeking a spot at the nation’s most selective colleges and universities.
Now that the first round of applications in the revised landscape have been submitted, they are still wondering.
Admissions officials and high school guidance counselors had speculated that high-achieving high school seniors who once would have sought early admission to Harvard and Princeton would instead turn to other prestigious universities — including Yale, Stanford and Georgetown — that offer a nonbinding form of early admission. The reasoning was that these students would try to assure themselves a place early in the admissions cycle, but in the regular round over the winter, would still apply to Harvard and Princeton.
As expected, the number of applicants seeking nonbinding early admission, often called early action, soared at some prestigious universities, including Yale and Georgetown.
“There are only a few top schools that have early action, and we figured we would get a share of that,” said Charles A. Deacon, Georgetown’s dean of admissions. Georgetown, which received 4,562 early applications last year, had 5,980 this fall, a 31 percent increase.
But at other elite universities that offer early action, the number of applications did not increase significantly.
At Stanford, 4,574 early-action applications came in last year by the deadline of Nov. 1 — almost the same number that arrived this year.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” said Richard H. Shaw, dean of admission and financial aid at Stanford, adding, “We’re perfectly happy with the numbers we have.”
There were about 10 percent more early-action applications this year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, compared with the 3,493 last year, said Stuart Schmill, the interim director of admissions, although the final tally has not yet been determined. But Mr. Schmill warned that it was not clear whether the increase this year was attributable to the elimination of early admission at Harvard and Princeton, because in recent years early applications to M.I.T. had been increasing anyway.
Some Ivy League universities that offer binding early admissions, including Dartmouth, Brown and Columbia, also reported modest increases in their applications this fall, though none attributed this to the elimination of early admission at other universities.
Many deans at universities offering early action think fewer students admitted early will end up enrolling. At Georgetown, the yield on early action — the proportion of students accepted who eventually attend — has been about 60 percent, Mr. Deacon said. This year, he said, it could decline to 50 percent.
Yale officials also said it will be harder this year to predict how many applicants offered early admission will choose to be freshmen next fall. “We’re kind of puzzling over that,” said Jeffrey Brenzel, Yale’s dean of admissions.
The entire admissions picture at Yale this year is kind of a puzzle, too. Yale’s early-action applications grew to 4,820 this year, from 3,541 last year, seemingly a 36 percent increase. But early applications to Yale declined significantly last year, compared with the previous year. So the number this year, compared with 2005, when there were 4,084 early applications, is really an 18 percent increase.
Some educators think the decline at Yale a year ago was caused by the news, the previous spring, that the university had become the first Ivy League school to admit fewer than 10 percent of its applicants in its early and regular rounds combined. But Mr. Brenzel does not accept that theory. Nor does he feel ready to explain the increase this year. “I resist the temptation to speculate,” he said, “because we really don’t know.”

College Costs Outpace Inflation Rates

2007-10-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

By JONATHAN D. GLATER
New York Times
Published: October 23, 2007

Tuition and fees at public and private universities have risen this year at more than double the rate of inflation, with prices increasing faster at public institutions, the College Board said in reports released yesterday.
These increases in the cost of higher education continue to drive up the amount that students and families borrow, with the fastest growth in private loans, the reports found.
Tuition and other costs, not including room and board, rose on average to $6,185 at public four-year colleges this year, up 6.6 percent from last year, while tuition at private colleges hit $23,712, an increase of 6.3 percent. At public two-year institutions, average tuition and fees rose 4.2 percent to $2,361.
Last year, tuition and fees at public institutions rose 5.7 percent; at private ones, 6.3 percent and at public two-year institutions, 3.8 percent.
“The average price of college is continuing to rise more rapidly than the consumer price index, more rapidly than prices in the economy,” Sandy Baum, a co-author of the report who is a senior policy analyst for the College Board and a professor at Skidmore College, told reporters at a news conference yesterday.
Ms. Baum added that the prices “are probably higher than most of us want.”
Those price increases reflect increases in the sticker price that colleges advertise, though, Ms. Baum said, the average student does not pay that full amount. At public universities, the average student gets about $3,600 in grants and tax benefits, lowering the actual cost to around $2,600. At private institutions, aid totals about $9,300, bringing the cost to $14,400.
But even the net price, after taking into account grants and other forms of aid, is rising more quickly than prices of other goods and than family incomes. In recent years, consumer prices have risen less than 3 percent a year, while net tuition at public colleges has risen by 8.8 percent and at private ones, 6.7 percent.
The changes in tuition at public institutions closely track changes in financing they receive from state governments and other public sources, the report found. When state and local support for public colleges declined over the last seven years, tuition and fees rose more quickly, and as state support has grown of late, the pace of increases fell, it said.
“We hope that state governments — which really set tuition prices at most public colleges and universities — will do their part to reinvest in higher education,” David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, said in a statement released by the College Board.
Private loans, those not guaranteed by the federal government, continued to be the fastest-growing form of borrowing, totaling more than $17 billion in the 2006-7 academic year. In the same period, students and their families borrowed $59.6 billion in federally guaranteed loans.
The report also included data on loans by full-time students at for-profit institutions, finding that in 2003-4, they took out an average of $6,750 in loans, approaching the $7,320 borrowed by students at private colleges and exceeding the $5,390 borrowed by those at public four-year institutions and $3,180 at public two-year ones.
“College officials tell us not to worry because there’s plenty of financial aid,” said Robert Shireman, executive director of the Project on Student Debt, a nonprofit organization financed largely by the Pew Charitable Trusts. “But that aid is clearly not going where it’s needed, because student debt is up by an even greater margin than tuition — an 8 percent increase from 2005 to 2006, by our accounting.”
The report prompted Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, to pledge to try to “rein in” tuition increases. Mr. Miller added, “Making college more affordable and accessible for all qualified students is a top priority.”
Last year the average Pell grant, the federal government’s grant to the neediest students, declined for the second year in a row, after taking into account the effects of inflation. Ms. Baum, the economist, said she expected that decline to stop because Congress recently enacted increases in the maximum amount of the grant, which held constant at $4,050 for four years but will rise to $5,400 over the next five years.
The College Board’s study drew on responses from 2,976 institutions to questionnaires sent out last October, as well as government agencies and organizations like the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
According to the study, the cost of room and board has also continued to rise and at many public colleges dwarfs actual tuition. At four-year public institutions, tuition, room and board on average now total $13,589; at private colleges, $32,307.
Ms. Baum emphasized that while the College Board reports provided information on the general cost of higher education, costs varied around the country as well as at different kinds of colleges.
“The average numbers don’t tell the story for any individual student,” Ms. Baum said.

The Essay Is Not About Poetry

2007-10-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Jack Scheidell
Wired Counselor
Oct 8, 2007

There are few things more misunderstood in the college process than the essay. The truth is that it matters. A lot. But schools aren't looking for New Yorker-level prose. "It's not a literary exercise," says Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admissions at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. "I've read many lyrical, beautiful essays that don't say anything. I'd rather have a science geek talking about his love of science."
Todd also says admissions officers realize most 17-year-olds don't have dramatic stories to tell, and that's OK. Richard Nesbitt, director of admissions at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., says schools assume most students run their essays past an English teacher or parent for editing help. That's fine as long as they don't remove the student's voice. "Usually the best essays are the ones that are personal," Nesbitt says.
Make a connection
Again, a school wants to see that you have more than a passing interest in attending. Keith Todd, dean of admissions at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., recommends that students visit the campus or at least go to a regional Q&A session with a local alum.
Kelly Tanabe, author of "Get Into Any College," advises students not to miss the brown-bag lunch forums their admissions officers hold at your high school. In fact, make sure you ask questions and even stay afterward to talk about how you see yourself fitting into the school.
Try to get business cards and follow up with a polite e-mail, thanking them for their time. More often than not, it's that very person who will review applications from your school. If he or she remembers you, you're no longer just a piece of paper.
Cancel the trip to Costa Rica
Notes Anna Ivey, a former admissions officer who now coaches students on getting into college through her Cambridge, Mass.-based company, Anna Ivey Consulting: "A lot of parents overestimate how much it will help to send their kids on a fancy trip to build huts in Guatemala. Admissions officers are savvy. They know that these things cost a lot of money and they don't want to appear to be rewarding expensive trips for rich kids."
Same goes for those expensive summer programs on college campuses, adds Chappaqua's Lisa Jacobson, founder of Inspirica, a tutoring and SAT prep program. A better use of a student's summer downtime is to get a job. "Admissions officers like regular jobs," Jacobson says. "Especially for affluent kids."
Recommendations of teaches matter
Anna Ivey of Anna Ivey Consulting, based in Cambridge, Mass., says teacher recommendations are something students should think about when they start high school: Cultivate a relationship with a few teachers over time. Deans of admissions say it is one of the most important things they look at on the application, since it offers insight into how intellectually curious an applicant is. And while we're on the topic, no need asking an alum to write one for you. They bear no weight in the admissions office.
Stay in touch ... to a point
Exactly how much contact should you have with the admissions office? Christof Guttentag, the head of admissions at Duke University in Durham, N.C., says you should not be afraid to call them. "We like hearing from students. We're in admissions because we like students. It's not a bad thing to update us on how things are going." However, with thousands of applications each year, admissions officers are busy. "Staying in touch means our hearing from them a couple of times, not weekly e-mails," he says.

The Truth About College Admissions

2007-10-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Jack Scheidell
Lower Hudson Online
September 29, 2007

Early Decision Does Work
A college wants to see that it's your No. 1 choice, and this is the best way of showing that. But there's an advantage for you, too: Applying early decision (considered binding; early action is considered non-binding) can give you a leg up at your most favored school. How big of an advantage? Consider that at Rye High School last year, 66 percent of the seniors applied early decision or early action, according to Director of Guidance Patricia Taylor. Of those, 74 percent were admitted.
At Duke University in Durham, N.C., one of the most competitive schools in the country, only 18 percent of students who applied regular decision were accepted. However, 40 percent of the early decision applicants got in.
Harvard recently did away with its early decision program altogether, saying it favors wealthier applicants, and Jeremy Hyman, co-author of "The Professor's Guide to Getting Good Grades in College," says more schools may soon follow its lead.

Melissa Dzenis was devastated when she found out she hadn't been accepted early action to Yale, where she applied last year. The Pelham High School honor student cried for two nights straight, says her mother, Estrellita Dzenis. "It was a very stressful time for the whole family."
Granted, Yale has a long history of breaking the hearts of bright Lower Hudson Valley teens, but even by its own standards, Melissa would appear to be a worthy candidate.
There's the five AP courses she took, her stellar test scores (she was a National Merit Honors-commended student), the three sports she played, the hours she spent tutoring her peers after school, the slew of other honors she received and the weekends spent coaching Girls CYO basketball teams ("I didn't sleep very much," she jokes).
There's also the summer job at her grandfather's woodworking factory in Latvia, in Eastern Europe, her Model UN experience, and the fact that she's played the flute and piano since grade school.
Beyond all that, when she speaks, Melissa comes across as intellectually curious and genuinely passionate about learning. And, after all, isn't that what colleges are looking for?
The problem is that there are thousands of Melissa Dzenises and not enough freshman spots at top universities like Yale. In the past few years, seniors from around the region have come face to face with a troubling reality: The college admissions process is stacked against them.
Historic numbers of applicants have flooded the nation's most competitive schools (an elite group of a couple dozen colleges that, rightly or wrongly, has come to dominate the focus of many of our communities' brightest students).
Williams College, in Williamstown, Mass., for example, saw an increase of 1,000 applicants in the last year, while the applicant pool at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill., grew by 19 percent (largely due to its decision to accept the Common Application). Meanwhile, Harvard had 23,000 students vying for 1,662 spots.
Making matters worse, schools that were once considered "safeties" by top students - like Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., - are "basically Ivy League now" in terms of the competition to get in, says Chappaqua's Lisa Jacobson, founder of Inspirica, a tutoring and SAT prep program.
"I went to Yale in the early '80s, but there is no way I would have gotten in if I was applying now," says Bruce Hammond, co-author of "The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College." The reason, he says: supply and demand.
Factors include a larger pool of international students, an easier application process (thanks to the Internet and the one-size-fits-all Common Application, which allows you to fill out one application for multiple schools), more students willing to travel farther, more information about colleges (hundreds of books and Web sites) and simple demographics. The baby boomers are seeing their own offspring - another generational boom - ready to leave the nest, a phenomenon that experts predict will peak sometime in the next two to five years. Until then, what we have is the perfect storm for an admissions logjam.
That means students who choose to pursue admissions at the most elite colleges face a daunting application process. Melissa Dzenis says she began looking at schools during her sophomore year. "It's such a competitive enterprise," she says. "Nowadays, kids are aiming their entire lives to get into these schools. I don't even know how many revisions to the essay I went through. It's a horrible experience. There were so many late nights. You worked hard and [then] to hear someone telling you you're not good enough is hard."
What's in a name?
Many young people face their first taste of rejection when it comes to the college admissions process, a rite of passage current high school seniors are now going through. But especially in this region, where students tend to apply to the same 30 to 40 schools.
"What's happened in our society, especially in these kinds of suburban communities, is that the highly selective schools have become kind of a status symbol for families," says Paul Martin, a former coordinator of counseling at Mamaroneck High School. "You get the feeling there's a competition about which bumper sticker you have on your car."
It may be a moot point for students intent on whichever school has captured their interest, but colleges are businesses. And they rely on building and maintaining their brands. At the moment, the admissions process favors the schools in what may be the most massively unfair supply-and-demand equation on the market today.
"The market is broken," says Hammond. "These colleges are just relying on their brands to charge any price. What other product are people going to fall over themselves to pay $50,000 for? Is that the kind of climate that fosters academic success?"
Hammond says there are certain benefits to going the Ivy route, but not as many as people think. Which is why, he says, when you measure the cost-benefit ratio just based on education, the elite schools are ridiculously overpriced.
And yet, try as they might, many guidance counselors in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam have a hard time convincing their students that this is the case.
"I tell them - I'm not sure they listen, but I honestly believe this - you're going to end up where you're supposed to be," says Dr. Rose Guberman, who recently retired as the director of counseling services at Pelham High School. "And I tell them you're going to come back and tell me you love it. I've been doing this for 31 years."
What do schools want?
As the glut of applications hits admissions offices, the people who do the sorting are more and more in the position of seeking reasons to reject students, rather than accept them.
"When they look at a transcript and see there are four B's, in previous years that might have been OK, but not any longer," says Patricia Taylor, Rye High School's director of guidance. "It's a difficult situation because we encourage students to take the most rigorous courses and to stretch themselves academically. But we also have to tell them now that they should make sure they can perform in these courses."
According to Marlyn McGrath-Lewis, Harvard's dean of admissions, combing through the applicants to her school can be "a daunting task. It's not a science. There is a large committee that listens to every single case," she says. "Most students who apply here are very well-qualified."
In fact, she says, it would almost be possible to dump a stack of applicants onto a table and randomly choose a qualified student body ... which is probably not a comforting thought for potential applicants and their parents.
"It's a humbling experience," says Janine Heitner, a guidance counselor at John Jay High School in Cross River. "Years ago, if you called admissions people about this or that student, they could have given you a reason why they were or weren't accepted. Most of the time now, they really can't tell you."
So what is Harvard looking for? "Students who already have a record of developing whatever talents they have, and students who will do something great with their lives," says McGrath-Lewis.
Find a hook
Assuming your child still wants to enter the elite college sweepstakes what does he or she need to do to stand a better chance of winning acceptance? Steve Roy Goodman, an educational consultant, likens it - only half jokingly - to a first date. You have to make a good impression, you have to make it fast, and you have to make sure you don't have any spinach in your teeth.
"This is big business for universities," Goodman says. "A lot of students apply and they forget the admissions process is designed to benefit the colleges. Their job is to satisfy what the colleges want."
So how do you become a desirable candidate in the eyes of admissions officers? In general, the goal is to stand out from the other applicants and offer something the college may need that other equally talented students can't give, such as playing an obscure instrument for the school's orchestra or being one of the best athletes in a sport.
In a similar vein, schools respond to passion and focus. The notion that a student who joins every extracurricular activity has an advantage is false. Admissions officers say they prefer a student who has devoted considerable time pursuing one or two genuine interests.
Keith Todd, the director of admissions at Northwestern, says he's looking for students who show passion and dedication to certain things, especially things that resonate with that individual. In other words, don't just volunteer because you think it will help you get into college.
"It has greater resonance for us when we can tell it's part of a greater sense of engagement in some arena," says Christof Guttentag, the head of admissions at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "When colleges admit students, it's not that they are also rewarding academic accomplishment, but they are building a community," he says. "We want our graduates to be active participants in the communities they're involved in as alums."
Of course, identifying the achievements someone makes as a 17-year-old as indicators of future greatness is a heady task. But admissions officers consider it their responsibility to find the signs of raw talent. And those signs often go beyond the classroom.
Jacobson, of Inspirica, says, "It's a myth that good grades and good SATs are enough. It gets you into the 'maybe pile.' Once you're there, it's all about who you are and what you bring."
What a student offers is sometimes referred to as a "hook." According to Hammond, there are certain hooks, which - sorry to say - are a dime a dozen: The student with a great GPA and great test scores who edited the yearbook falls into this category. Compare this student to one with more unusual achievements (a national equestrian champion, for example, or someone who began a Big Brothers/Big Sisters chapter or demonstrated entrepreneurial skills), and the former will not leap out at admissions officers. The least-crowded category (and therefore the applicants who tend to go to the front of the line) is the star athlete who also happens to be a superb student.
Still, Hammond cautions, it's not productive to try to sell yourself into a category in which you don't fit. Schools can tell when an applicant isn't being genuine. It's just a reality that when you go the route of applying to the most selective schools in the country, there's only so much you can do.
For example, Goodman says, "Schools are trying to fill their classes with the largest number of students possible that satisfy diversity criteria and max out the number of students who can afford to pay." That's right, according to Goodman, need-blind admissions is a myth. "It's the same as on the first date when you say, 'It doesn't matter what you look like.' A person who's paying full fare at the University of Pennsylvania versus someone who's not means a $400,000 difference. That's a lot of money for a university to ignore."
With all that working against you, perhaps the best advice can be summed up by Inspirica's Jacobson: "Figure out what you love to do. If you like fashion and old movies, pursue those things. It's OK to be the fashion kid who likes old movies."
Senior-year blues
Maybe then the most important lesson about the college admissions process is learning to put rejection behind you. "If you don't get in," Jacobson says, "it has nothing to do with intelligence."
Emily Chen certainly proves that. The Tuckahoe High School grad admits she probably didn't start thinking about college early enough. In her senior year she decided Columbia University in New York City was her first-choice school, but applied regular admissions.
She had plenty going for her. She took five AP courses, was a member of the Science Olympiad team, the National Honor Society, the school's drama club, and the chorus. And in her spare time, she happened to earn high enough grades to be her school's valedictorian.
And yet, last April, when she went online to check whether Columbia had admitted her, she learned she was placed on the wait list. The blow was slightly softened by the fact that her best friend, who also applied to Columbia (and who happened to be the salutatorian), was also waitlisted.
Chen, however, was accepted at the other five schools to which she applied, and this fall she matriculated at New York University, also in New York City, a choice she says she's happy with.
Melissa Dzenis, the Pelham senior deferred from Yale, also got into her second-choice school - Brown University in Providence, R.I. She plans on studying International Relations. "I'm ecstatic," she says. Still, Melissa says, "When you think about all the time and energy you put into looking perfect for someone else, you can't help but think, was it worth it?"

College Seek Authenticity In Hopefuls

2007-08-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

By JUSTIN POPE
AP Education Writer
August 22, 2007

If there's a sign of the times in college admissions, it may be this: Steven Roy Goodman, an independent college counselor, tells clients to make a small mistake somewhere in their application - on purpose.
"Sometimes it's a typo," he says. "I don't want my students to sound like robots. It's pretty easy to fall into that trap of trying to do everything perfectly and there's no spark left."
What Goodman is going for is "authenticity" - an increasingly hot selling point in college admissions as a new year rolls around.
In an age when applicants all seem to have volunteered, played sports and traveled abroad, colleges are wary of slick packaging. They're drawn to high grades and test scores, of course, but also to humility and to students who really got something out of their experiences, not just those trying to impress colleges with their resume.
The trend seemingly should make life easier for students - by reducing the pressure to puff up their credentials. But that's not always the case.
For some students, the challenge of presenting themselves as full, flawed people cuts against everything else they've been told about applying to college - to show off as much as possible.
At the other extreme, when a college signals what it's looking for, students inevitably try to provide it. So you get some students trying to fake authenticity, to package themselves as unpackaged.
"There's a little bit of an arms race going on," says Goodman, who is based in Washington. "If I'm being more authentic than you are, you have to be more authentic next month to keep up with the Joneses."
Colleges say what they want is honest, reflective students. As Jess Lord, dean of admission and financial aid at Haverford College in Pennsylvania puts it, "everybody's imperfect."
"Since that's true for all (students), those that portray that aspect of themselves are that much more authentic."
How do colleges find authenticity? They look for evidence of interests and passions across the application - in essays, interviews, recommendations and extracurricular activities.
"What we see are the connections," said Christopher Gruber, dean of admission and financial aid at Davidson College in North Carolina. If a student claims working in student government has been a meaningful experience, it's a more credible claim if recommenders have picked on that as well.
"That, in my mind, gives authenticity to an application, when you're reading things more than once," Gruber said.
But in the age of the hyper-achieving student, authenticity doesn't always come easy. Some schools, such as MIT, now specifically ask students to write about disappointment or failure. Many can only come up with a predictable and transparent answer: perfectionism.
Will Dix, a counselor at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School, who also spent eight years in the Amherst College admissions office, struggles to persuade students that essays about doubt and uncertainty can be at least as interesting to admissions officers as those with a conclusion that's sweeping but implausibly confident for a 17-year-old.
"No one expects you to solve the mystery of life," Dix says. "I sometimes get in trouble with parents for advising that. They'll say, '(colleges) will think he doesn't know anything.'"
Dix counters by paraphrasing Socrates via Donald Rumsfeld: "The first thing is to know what you don't know."
Susan Weingartner, another former admissions officer and now college counseling director at Chicago's Francis W. Parker School, surveys her juniors about shortcomings and weaknesses. The next year, those now-seniors often are unsure what to write about. She digs up their junior-year responses, where they often find their topic - like one student last year who ultimately wrote a moving essay about his experience being overweight.
Weingartner has noticed more students writing about being gay. Some pull it off, coming across as honest, humble and reflective about the challenges they've faced. But others raise alarm bells by appearing to be traumatized or just looking for sympathy.
The challenge for students is a tough one to get your mind around: If you're authentic, you feel pressure to rise above the fakers. But try too hard to do that, then you just appear to be, well, inauthentic.
Dix summarizes the logical muddle the student is in: "As soon as you ask someone to be authentic it's impossible to be authentic."
Goodman, the independent counselor who advises making a small mistake to look authentic, unapologetically tries to hit the right note of authenticity: be true enough to make the full application consistent and credible, but also give colleges what they want to hear. He compares it to a politician who has learned to give a stump speech that makes every audience feel like it's new.
And he defends the tactic with a point that several admissions deans frankly acknowledge: Colleges are guilty of playing games with authenticity, too.
"They soften their image with pictures of kids under trees, smiling in front of the library, engaging with a professor in a small group discussion," Goodman says. What's the difference between a college trying to look good to students and the reverse?
David Lesesne, dean of admission at Sewanee, a small Tennessee liberal arts college, admits Goodman has a point.
"Students perhaps have become less authentic to themselves, trying to be what colleges want," Lesesne said. But colleges have done the same. Schools "are looking to draw more applicants and students are looking to gain acceptance," he said. "As those numbers grow I think that has caused both sides of the equation to lose a little focus on what should be most important: the match."

College Ratings Race Roars On Despite Concerns

2007-08-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

By ALAN FINDER
New York Times, August 17, 2007

Richard J. Cook, the president of Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, will not say precisely how he used to rate his college’s competitors when the annual U.S. News & World Report peer review questionnaire showed up in his mailbox. What he will say is, “I filled it out more honestly this year than I did in the past.”
“I checked ‘don’t know’ for every college except Allegheny,” Dr. Cook said, adding that he gave his own institution an outstanding rating.
U.S. News & World Report releases its annual rankings of America’s top colleges today, under attack as never before by college officials who accuse it of using dubious statistics to stoke the intense, even crazed, competition among colleges and universities for students and prestige.
Still there is little sign that the rankings race is diminishing. While more than 60 presidents of liberal arts colleges signed a letter over the last few months pledging to stop participating in the most heavily weighted component of the magazine’s rankings — the survey of colleges’ reputations — virtually none of the most select and highly ranked colleges signed on.
Indeed, the rankings are so influential, two decades after they were started, that one clause in the contract of Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State University, promises a $10,000 bonus if he can raise its standing. Frustrated college officials and high school guidance counselors say the magazine is not only reporting on how colleges perform, but is also changing their behavior as they try to devise gambits to scurry into the top ranks.
Take admissions. A college’s acceptance rate, or the proportion of applicants it admits, counts towards its rank, and the more selective the college is, the better.
So some colleges try to increase the number of applicants they receive — and turn down — by waiving fees and dropping requirements. Some send out applications by e-mail, with most of the student’s personal information already filled in. Others send out persistent e-mail appeals to high school sophomores, with breathless subject lines like “Time is running out.”
“It’s pumping up the numbers, it’s making colleges look more selective, and it’s contributing to the frenzy,” said Robert J. Massa, vice president for enrollment at Dickinson College. “What if we become ridiculous and just go out to a shopping mall and hand out applications?”
Then there is that survey that asks college officials to rate other colleges and universities. The survey, which counts for 25 percent of a college’s overall ranking, is the most heavily weighted factor.
That has spurred colleges to send glossy promotional brochures and updates on new programs to high-ranking officials at other colleges around survey time in hopes of impressing them. Despite such efforts, college officials say they suspect that some in their ranks deliberately downgrade their competitors to try to drive down their showing.
“I see where the temptation comes,” Dr. Cook said. “So rather than be tempted to game the system, I think it’s better to drop out.”
The magazine’s editors say that the rankings provide a valuable service and that rather than blame the magazine when colleges manipulate their numbers, people in higher education ought to look in the mirror.
“We get blamed for a lot of things that are demonstrably not our responsibility,” Brian Kelly, the editor of U.S. News, said in a interview. “I find it a little shocking, given the problems in the higher education world these days, that this is the thing, U.S. News, that these presidents choose to focus on.”
Editors at U.S. News acknowledge anecdotal evidence that some colleges try to affect the rankings, but they insist it is not widespread. The editors say they have added myriad safeguards over the years from specific definitions of what counts as an application to adding questions that can sniff out fudging.
Some colleges used to drop athletes’ SAT scores from their computation of incoming students’ scores in order to increase their averages and make their institutions look more selective, Mr. Kelly said.
In response, U.S. News helped to create common definitions with organizations like the College Board so that data reporting would be standardized and harder to fudge.
Still, critics say that the magazine, which does not verify information submitted by the colleges, bears some responsibility for the litany of tactics that colleges employ.
James M. Sumner, dean of admission and financial aid at Grinnell College, said a counterpart from a well-regarded institution told him that when computing average SAT scores he excluded the SAT’s of students accepted as “development cases,” whose grades and test scores are often below average but whose families are likely to make major donations. Mr. Sumner declined to identify the university.
U.S. News reports the proportion of a university’s alumni who contribute money each year, as a way of measuring consumer satisfaction. Michael Beseda, vice president for enrollment at St. Mary’s College of California, said he knew someone whose college sent him a $5 bill, asking him simply to send it back so it would count as a donation. Several colleges have admitted taking a single donation and spreading it over two, three or five years, to raise their annual numbers.
Many of the tactics used by colleges involve admissions because they have more control over it than they do over other factors in the rankings, like endowments or reputation.
One gambit involves the so-called “snap-app” or “fast-app,” an application sent by e-mail to high school seniors in which their personal information is already filled in by the college. The University of Portland in Oregon, Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and the University of Vermont are among those to use this kind of application.
Washington & Jefferson College, a liberal arts college outside Pittsburgh, began five years ago to seek more applicants by dropping fees and some requirements, and searching for high school students relentlessly through an e-mail effort. The college switched to a two-part application; the first part can take as little as five minutes to fill out, and in some cases is counted as a completed application.
About 1,100 students applied in 2002 to Washington & Jefferson. This year, nearly 7,400 did. The acceptance rate plummeted, almost in half.
College officials acknowledge that they wanted to go up in the rankings but also say that increasing the pool of applicants was part of an overall strategy, along with building new dormitories and a fitness center and adding academic programs, to help Washington & Jefferson enroll better and more diverse students and to grow to 1,550 students from 1,100.
“It’s worked,” said Alton E. Newell, the vice president for enrollment. “My institution is a better place, a healthier place, a more vibrant place.”
But to many college and university officials, Washington & Jefferson and other colleges that have engineered huge increases in applicant pools in recent years, are recruiting vast numbers of students primarily to reject them.
The gambits enable an institution to appear more selective, but it is unclear that they can significantly affect a ranking. The U.S. News editors argue that a college’s acceptance rate counts for only 1.5 percent of the overall evaluation. Washington & Jefferson, for instance, has generally stayed in the same ranking range in the 90s and low 100s among liberal arts colleges. Last year it shared 104th place on the list with several other campuses.
Then again, does all this really measure an education? Mr. Beseda of St. Mary’s said, “I think what the rankings do is to poison the sense of what a genuine education is. False gods get worshiped.”

New View of Admissions

2007-07-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

July 11

During the last year, Tufts University started a pilot project that represents one of the most significant shifts in undergraduate admissions policies for a competitive research university. The experiment involves additional essays used to identify applicants who are creative, who possess practical skills, or who have wisdom about how to promote the common good — characteristics Tufts says are consistent with its vision of higher education, but which may not be reflected in SAT scores or high school grade point averages.
The early results are encouraging to Tufts and have at least one other university looking at the experiment for possible adoption or adaptation. About half of all applicants chose to participate by writing voluntary (additional) essays. Evidence suggests that those who were tagged in the process as exhibiting one of the desired qualities were more likely to be admitted.
Tufts saw an increase in admitted students from some key underrepresented groups, especially black applicants and those from the Boston public schools, likely in part because of the new approach. And of potential significance to those who feared the new system might diminish the quality of the incoming class (as defined by traditional measures), that doesn’t seem to be the case. Mean SAT scores are up slightly, to a verbal-math combo of 1440, a new record at Tufts. And the scores of students who benefited from the new system aren’t statistically different from those who didn’t.
“I think we now have a more nuanced understanding of our students,” said Lee Coffin, dean of undergraduate admissions.
The Tufts program is known as Kaleidoscope and it is based on the work of Robert Sternberg, a psychologist who specializes in measuring intelligence and promoting creativity, and who is dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts. Sternberg has worked for years to demonstrate that there are many factors — not just grades or test scores — that can predict the success of students in various academic settings. Many admissions reforms these days are based on the idea of “holistic admissions,” in which committees attempt to take a more in depth, and less numbers-driven look at applicants. But Kaleidoscope responds to the concerns of some that such approaches may be too impressionistic and subjective.
“From an outside perspective, it seems capricious,” Coffin said of admissions to competitive institutions, since students with similar grades and test scores have no way of expecting that they will have the same outcome in the process. While Kaleidoscope makes the process consider more factors, he said, it also makes it less subjective, as admissions committees are relying on something real, not just an impression, when they argue that an applicant has creativity, for example. “What we’ve done has another level of information in the process,” he said.
In an interview Tuesday, Coffin described how the process worked in its first year and some minor adjustments for the coming admissions cycle.
What Kaleidoscope does on the application is give the prospective student the chance to write a short additional essay selected among eight prompts. But the topics are not standard, and are designed to demonstrate the presence (or absence) of certain qualities in an applicant. The topics for next year illustrate the idea of moving beyond the “name a person you admire” or “name a book that influenced you” approach to essays. One prompt is simply “What is more interesting: Gorillas or guerrillas?” Another invites students to do as follows: “Use an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper to create something. You can blueprint your future home, create a new product, design a costume or a theatrical set, compose a score or do something entirely different. Let your imagination wander.” Another says: “Thomas Edison believed invention required ‘a good imagination and a pile of junk.’ What inspires your original thinking? How might you apply your ingenuity to serve the common good and make a difference in society?”
The essay prompts are designed so that students may demonstrate one or more of the qualities being sought.
Tufts starts its admissions process with an academic review based on grades, the high school curriculum, SAT scores, and so forth. A small group are “academic superstars” who are admitted right away, Coffin said. Others might not be able to do the work and are rejected before any review of their Kaleidoscope essays. The essays are having the most impact on the group Coffin called the “upper middle,” about 8,000 of the university’s 15,000 applicants this year — applicants who demonstrated they could succeed academically at Tufts.
About half of those applicants wrote one of the optional essays. On the basis of those essays (or other material in the applications), students were designated when appropriate as having a creative, practical or wisdom rating. Applicants either have or don’t have the rating — there is no scale. When admissions committees met to discuss candidates, these ratings clearly helped a lot.
Among all applicants in the “upper middle” group, the admit rate was 25 percent, but 55 percent of those tagged with a practical rating were admitted, as were 53 percent of those with a creative score and 58 percent of those with a wisdom score. Of the entire incoming freshman class, 19 percent have a practical rating, 15 percent have a creative rating, and 13 percent have a wisdom rating. (Some students had multiple tags.)
Coffin said that one of the main advantages of the new system may have nothing to do with the validity of the approach in predicting success. “What we found in reading the essays is that they were profoundly different” from standard college application essays, he said. “Kids weren’t being coached to the question,” so there was “a freshness of writing” in the pieces.
But Coffin said that the essays also pointed to genuine student attributes. In some past years, similar attributes may have been raised in a student essay or in a teacher’s recommendation. But Coffin said that in many cases, the essay prompt yielded evidence that wasn’t previously available and that helped some applicants win admission in a “tangible” way, not just because of a feeling that someone had a particular set of qualities.
Some academics have feared that adding such factors would take away from academic competitiveness using traditional measures. But the first year at Tufts didn’t find that. Coffin said it was important — based on grades and test scores — for people to see that this new approach is not mutually exclusive with tough academic standards.
Some of the frustration with existing admissions criteria is that they may be less likely to predict the success of black and Latino applicants than of other applicants. On average, Asian and white students outperform other groups on standardized tests, leading to calls for measures that might better predict the success of all groups.
Coffin said that Tufts has not run a complete demographic breakdown on which groups benefited from the new measures. But he said that black applicants and applicants from the Boston public schools appeared to benefit disproportionately from the practical measure, as opposed to the creative and wisdom measures. He said he wasn’t sure why, but that the trend could be important because in deciding whether to admit a student who may not have gone to the best high school or have the best SAT scores, Tufts wants confidence that a student can manage challenges and solve problems. Someone with good practical skills is more likely to be able to seek help and succeed.
“We accepted and enrolled students from schools in Boston [from which we] don’t usually accept and enroll students,” Coffin said. When admissions officers noticed this trend, they also noticed that many of those they were admitting had the practical tag.
In total, the new freshman class at Tufts will be 13.4 percent black or Latino, up from 10.8 percent last year.
Coffin stressed that getting a tag “was not a silver bullet” assuring admission, but that it brought issues to the table as candidates were being discussed. He also emphasized that Tufts will be studying these students for three or four years to assess the success of the program. One change in the coming admissions cycle is that applicants will also be tagged for analytical skill. That was left out this year, based on the assumption that it was covered by traditional application materials, but Coffin said that he saw cases where he would have wanted to credit analytical skill that wasn’t otherwise evident in traditional measures.
Philip Ballinger, director of admissions at the University of Washington, is among those who have been watching the Tufts project closely with an eye to using the approach. Washington currently uses a holistic approach, similar to that adopted by similar universities that have had to eliminate affirmative action in the wake of a state referendum, in which Ballinger said that admissions committees looked at “contextual factors” that may influence a candidate’s academic record or ability to succeed. But he said he has wanted to move beyond that, to get additional factors that have predictive value.
“A holistic process is always going to strike many as subjective and mysterious, and I understand that, but with work like [the Tufts project], if the data supports it, then we have something that is more data founded and more easily communicated,” Ballinger said.
A question mark for Ballinger is scale. The University of Washington is larger than Tufts and receives more than 30,000 applications. “I want to to see if we can find ways of assessing these possible new predictors, and to see if there is some way to assess them that isn’t as labor intensive,” he said. With that caveat, Ballinger said he would like to see his university try the idea, potentially in the next few years.
Lloyd Thacker, founder of the Education Conservancy, said he too was impressed with the Tufts experiment. Thacker has been a prominent critic of the admissions process at competitive institutions, saying that it reflects the wrong values and is too often devoid of educational values.
The kinds of questions Tufts is asking relate in part to the idea that education “has a public purpose, to prepare our citizenry,” Thacker said. He said he’s also happy whenever he sees an admissions change that brings the application process “closer to education.”
“In education, imagination is extremely important and the current process does not encourage creativity, imagination, courage, wondering, or civic-mindedness,” Thacker said. “It encourages gamesmanship, competition, managing your high school career to please a dean.” Tufts, he said, “seems to be sending different messages. I like that.”
— Scott Jaschik