College Admissions Counseling Blog

Another selective college has decided to go test optional in its admissions. Rollins College of Winter Park, Fl, will be test optional for students beginning with the class entering fall 2008. Rollins, with approximately 1,700 students, is a liberal arts college with a very strong business program and some limited graduate programs.

Like a number of other colleges that have gone test optional, Rollins will require those students that are not submitting test scores to submit some other evidence of their abilities. According to their web site the supplemental material would include the following: "a graded paper from a core academic course in the senior year (e.g., essays or research papers, lab reports, or work in mathematics or related fields) and a portfolio reflecting the candidate’s strengths, talents, or interests."

Rollins joins over 735 other colleges that have gone test optional in admissions. Although many of those colleges are non selective, more and more selective colleges have also begun to change their approach to admissions.

Yes we do need women's colleges according to an editorial in the Boston Globe by Joanne Creighton the president of Mount Holyoke College.

You would expect that the president of a women's college would be in support of their continued existence but the arguments in favor of women's colleges is quite strong. As pointed out by President Creighton, the number of successful women that have attended an all women's college is very high. Modern women's colleges are not the finishing schools that many believe them to be. Their placement rate into top graduate programs is very high and their graduates are able to compete in the "real" world just as ably as those women who attended coed colleges.

Several of the all women's colleges are also very strong in educating women who come from a lower economic status. Smith College and Mount Holyoke College have some of the highest percentages of students who qualify for Pell Grants of any four year college in the country. And given the education that the women who attend these colleges receive make that statistic all the more impressive.

If you are a women looking for a very high quality education you might want to consider an all women's college. Admission to even the best of the all women's colleges is relatively easier than comparable coed colleges because they have fewer students that apply. And if you investigate the all women's colleges what you will discovery is that many of them are associated with coed colleges so there will be men on campus and in the classroom. For the right women, these colleges represent an excellent educational opportunity.

This is the name of an article published by Carolyn Lawrence on her blog Admissionsadvice. I think this is wonderful advice for all parents to review as they work with their students who are getting involved in the search for the right college.

“My child doesn’t seem interested in looking at colleges.”

“My child will be devastated if he doesn’t get into his top choice college.”

“My child could never be happy at a college that no one has ever heard of.”

These are just some of the stresses addressed in this article . If these sound like something you would say I strongly recommend reading Carolyn's article to get some perspective on college admissions.

I often hear people say that they want to attend a "top" college. The statement, however, begs the question, "top" at what? The entering students with the highest average test scores, the best football team, the students most involved in creating a better future? A recent New York Times articles discusses the increased competition for the colleges considered almost "top" based largely on the quality of the entering student body.

The article discusses a number of wonderful colleges that in the past were often easier to gain admission to than some of the Ivy League colleges. The article discusses how these "lesser" colleges are now getting more competitive and thus rejecting more of the students who are applying.

I think the thing to take from this article is that there are many excellent colleges in this country and just because you, or your neighbor down the street, hasn't heard of one doesn't mean it might not be a great choice for you. Once again, the major media is feeding into the hysteria of there only being 10 or 15 colleges in the country that are worth while attending and since they are so difficult to get into now, the rest of the students are forced to consider Pomona or Middlebury. I will admit that I am a fan of the liberal arts colleges and think that many of them, including these two schools, provide an education at least as strong as that provided at any of the Ivy League colleges.

But remember that there are approximately 3,500 colleges in this country, not the 10 or even 50 whose names are often mentioned in the national media. Each student should look for the best match for their particular needs, and the sole criteria for whether a college is good or not should not be the number of students they reject each year.

I often talk about the need to find the right college and part of that search is looking at the "feel" of a college. That can sometimes be difficult to define but a recent article in Inside Higher Ed illustrates one of the issues to consider.

The administration of St. Louis University, a Catholic university, is changing the charter for the student run newspaper because of stated concerns for the accuracy of the paper as well as financial concerns. The change will give the administration more power in approving articles written for the newspaper. Not surprisingly, the student editors of the paper as well as their faculty advisor, claim that the changes are being made because of criticisms that the newspaper have made regarding actions of the university and its administration.

I don't personally know the facts of this dispute and they don't really matter for our purposes. The question is whether a student looking to apply to St. Louis University would be comfortable with the issues surrounding the student newspaper. If you believe that the administration of the university is being heavy handed in their control of the student newspaper, you might want to consider in what other ways the school may infringe on fundamental rights. On the other hand, if you review the student paper and observe the frequent misspellings and the inaccurate information reported you may very well feel that the administration needed to step in to preserve the dignity of the college.

There is no right or wrong answer to how an individual student views a controversy like this. Each student must decide whether freedom of the press outweighs sloppy journalism. But it is issues like this that form the fabric of individual colleges. How each college handles the issue is the issue for the prospective student to examine to see if they would be comfortable in that type of culture.

There was another recent story about a home schooled student being admitted to a selective college. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported that one of the state's National Merit Scholarship winners was a home schooled student heading to Northwestern University. In the past it was unusual for a home schooled student to attend a highly selective college in part because the colleges didn't know what to do with a student with no grades other than those give by one of their parents.

While some colleges still are weary about home school students, the number of colleges welcoming these students is increasing every year. What the colleges have finally figured out is that strong, talented students come from a variety of backgrounds including some who are home schooled. It is true that these students need to show some basis for their academic strength outside of their grades. But keep in mind that while grades are the most important factor for most colleges in admitting a student, it is not the only factor. Test scores, essays, and recommendations are also important and even more so for students without traditional grades.

If you are home schooled you can still consider selective colleges. You just need to show why you are a student that will provide something of benefit to the colleges you are looking to attend. Which is exactly the same thing that traditional students need to show.

I know what many of you are thinking; another Harvard bashing article from a student who didn't get in. Actually, the title of this article is a quote from a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers, one of Harvard's two governing boards. This statement was made in a New York Times article entitled "Harvard Task Force Calls for New Focus on Teaching and Not Just Research".

For those of us who are involved in college admissions Harvard's lack of focus on undergraduate education is hardly a surprise. Yes, many undergraduate students get a wonderful education at Harvard. But it is also true that many could have received an even better education at any number of other colleges whose focus is on undergraduate education, i.e. liberal arts colleges.

Harvard belongs to a group known as the COFHE group, a consortium of 31 of the most selective private colleges in the country. The group has several functions but one of them is to evaluate various programs at each of the colleges to compare best practices with each member. Several years ago an internal memorandum was released showing that student satisfaction at Harvard was lower than at almost all of the other COFHE schools. Even the Harvard Crimson has acknowledged this problem.

My point in all of this is not to pick on Harvard. Harvard is a wonderful college for some students. It is not, however, the best choice for many of the students who focus on attending the college. Students should focus on the quality of the education they will receive as well as the various other factors that different people might want to consider in choosing a college. Yes, prestige may be one of the factors a student wants to consider. But if this is one of your criteria, it should be a small one near the end of the list of things you want from a college. Whether a student will succeed in college is often more a function of the student than the college which they attend.

Moreover, by seriously investigating the colleges you might be interesting in attending, you will find out the advantages and disadvantages of each school. With that information, you can make a better and more informed decision on the right college for you.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, WPI, has announced that they are going test optional for students applying for entrance in the fall of 2008. This is significant because WPI is the first selective college with a science and engineering focus to go test optional.

The plan WPI is using is called the Flex path and allows students who don't wish to submit standardized tests the option to provide other examples of their academic abilities including a written description of science projects, research papers, and inventions as some of the examples listed.

WPI joins approximately 735 other colleges around the country that have gone test optional according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing.

There is an excellent article in today's Inside Higher Ed regarding various types of study abroad programs. The author discusses the differences between those programs which send students to another country as basically tourists versus those programs that actually try to give the students some cultural background of the countries being visited.

The safe approach, and one taken by most students, is to go to a European country, stay with the other American's in your group and visit the major tourist attractions. Yes this is travel abroad from which you might gain some insight into other cultures. However, to truly experience another culture the author discusses the "high road" programs which focus more on cultural integration of the students to really understand people different from ourselves.

College is about learning about things but also about ourselves and others. In this global society that we are living in, understanding those with different backgrounds is becoming more important. Hopefully, more students will consider attending "high road" programs.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling released their space availability survey today. This survey lists those colleges that have indicated that they are still accepting applications for first-year and transfer admission for fall 2007. This list of colleges can be searched by state and provides information on whether each college has limited number of spaces available or whether they have significant space available. The list also identifies the availability of financial aid and housing for each of the colleges.

If you are one of those students getting a very late start in the search for the right college, or wasn't accepted at any of the colleges you had applied to, then this list is where you want to start. But just remember, the availability of space will lessen as we move closer to the fall so for the best selection of possible colleges, you should start your investigation of the colleges you are interested in as soon as possible.

How to pay for the high cost of college is an ongoing discussion that most families have. Even those families that can afford to pay the full cost of a private college often want to consider the options. There is another article on this topic in the College Journal. Entitled "How colleges are making tuition more affordable", the article discussions various financial aid approaches that different colleges are trying to help families afford the cost of higher education. The article highlights various options particularly among private colleges. However, like many articles of this sort, it only discusses specific programs at specific colleges. What is lacking is an overall discussion of how financial aid works to better understand not only the programs mentioned but financial aid overall.
I would recommend that anyone interested in the basics of college financial aid look at an article on the Collegebasics website entitled "8 Financial Aid Questions to Ask Before Choosing a College." To be fair I am prejudiced because I am the author of the article. But I believe it is important to have a basic understanding of how financial aid works before you can evaluate individual programs offered by the different colleges.

Financial aid is often an area where the rules are not spelled out or change depending on the particular college involved. Don't put yourself at a disadvantage to begin with by not even understanding the basics. The more you know and understand about financial aid, the greater the likelihood that you can make a more informed decision on the best economic option for you and your family.

There was an interesting article in a recent American Prospect online edition. The author argues that contrary to the popular media, it is not more difficult to get into the top colleges now compared to several years ago. The argument is that the number of applicants to the top colleges is not really increasing, it is the number of applications that is increasing. This is a function of students on average applying to more colleges now than they did a number of years ago. In fact, the author states, the most elite colleges in the nation sent out more acceptance letters in 2006 than they did in 2002.

The reality, however, is that the number of acceptances, is still extremely low considering the number of well qualified students applying to a limited number of colleges. The solution, in part, as we have talked about before, is for students applying to college to learn that there are more than 50 colleges in this country. Although the "name" colleges get most of the publicity, there are many more wonderful choices available for any student.