College Admissions Counseling Blog

Tom Bottorf, of GetCollegeFunding, makes a simple but important point in a recent article on college funding. Most high school counselors do not understand the basics of college financial aid and as a result get students and parents involved in the search for the right college too late in the process. Finding the right college means the best college for a particular student's needs that does not cost more than is necessary. Unfortunately, as I have pointed out in the past, this failure to understand basic college financial aid works to the disadvantage of the student and their family in the form of paying too much for a college.

Most good private college consultants have a good working knowledge of not only how college financial aid works but also how to utilize this knowledge to help a family find a college that does not cost more for that family than necessary. This often means that a family that hires a private college consultant pays less for college in the long run than a family without such help.

The Wall Street Journal is out with some numbers for some selective early action colleges and as expected the numbers of applicants is up. This was expected after Princeton and Harvard eliminated their early application programs earlier this year. However, the amount of increase is somewhat surprising. Yale's applications for early action are up 36%, University of Chicago early applications are up 42% and Georgetown's early applications are up 30%.

Of course the reason for the increase in early applications also includes more students applying in general and a push among many educators who urge students to apply early action since the decisions are not binding. The problem with this significant increase in applications for early action admissions is that it makes if more difficult for the colleges to determine how many students might accept the colleges offers of admissions. With increased uncertainty the colleges will most likely increase the number of students put on a wait list to try to give themselves some lee way in meeting their goals for class size.

Going "green" and an increased emphasis on sustainability have become major issues in society in general but on college campuses in particular. When I discuss with students what they are looking for in a college, this issue of sustainability has started being mentioned. For students interested in this issue there is an article at Inside Higher Ed talking about what some colleges are doing in the realm of buying food locally.

Each student is different in their wants and needs for the right college. Whether the sustainability issue is important for you or not in choosing a college, it is important for you to determine what your needs are and to find the right college for you. And just for the record, I think more students should be considering how a college addresses sustainability issues in their search for a college.

I just commented on another blog that I contribute to on a recent study regarding the advantage of taking college courses while in high school. For those who are interested go to the College Admission Guide. If you haven't already found that blog there are several people there besides my self also discussing college admissions related issues and I would recommend that you check it out. When trying to find the right college you can always use more information.

The New York Times recently reported on what they think is a new trend in college admissions: the thank you note. Thank you notes after an interview or after meeting with a professor have always been appropriate and continue to be so as common decency. This has not changed in 100 years. What the New York Times was reporting on are those that are written simply for strategic purposes such as those that include items meant to be meaningful such as food or using college stationary to write the thank you notes.

College admissions officers and other receiving such notes appreciate receiving sincere thank you notes but they are not stupid and those notes sent for strategic purposes are seen for exactly what they are; attempts to gain an advantage by those who do not feel that their academic and other credentials are sufficient to gain admission.

Show common decency and write thank you notes where appropriate. But using insincere tricks to try and gain an advantage doesn't work.

The Huffington Post has a recent post regarding the use of class as the new affirmative action. It summarizes some of the recent articles on why class is a better use for affirmative action than race has been. Whether one agrees with the use of race or class for affirmative action in college admissions, the reality is that such issues exist and need to be understood by all persons seeking admission to college in the current environment.

President Bush today signed legislation today that will help low income and middle income students pay for college. The amount available under the Pell grant will increase over the next 5 years from the current $4,310 to $5,400 a year. While it is also helpful to have more money available for the Pell grant which is for the lowest income families, the reality is that the increasing costs of college will more than offset any minor increase in the Pell grant.

The other part of the legislation decreases the interest rate on federally backed student loans from the current 6.8% to 3.4% over the next 4 years. This is a direct benefit to those students who borrow to pay for their college education. While the benefit from this legislation will most likely be touted by both sides as evidence of their commitment to higher education, I would like to see even greater contribution to higher education by the federal government. Higher education is so critical today that it is incumbent on the government to be fully involved in helping students afford this education. Will it potentially increase taxes? Yes, but one of the critical jobs of the government is to help educate its populace. I think this is money well spent.

The project on student debt has released their state by state data regarding the student debt level at colleges around the country. The site lists the average debt of students graduating from college in 2006 for each state in the US. More importantly, you can look at debt information about specific colleges under each state. The information available includes the average debt of graduates from 2006 and 2005, the proportion of students with debt in 2006 and 2005, full time enrollment, the instate tuition costs and the percent of students receiving Pell grants.

To get to the particular college information just click on the state in which the college of interest is located. Knowing the average amount of student debt for each college of interest should be a critical piece of the puzzle in deciding which colleges you wish to apply to and ultimately attend. The information presented also will reinforce what I have often said. The stated cost of a college is not a number that most people should be concerned with. You want to know how much a college is going to cost you. The data available in this website provides some of that information.

Several weeks ago we mentioned that Yale was considering an expansion of its freshman class. Now the president of Stanford has opened the same discussion in the Stanford Alumni magazine. In the article the president of Stanford mentions many of the same arguments for expansion that Yale has raised. The effect of Stanford expanding would be the same as Yale's expansion. More students admitted into these extremely competitive colleges would mean more places available down the academic food chain. And if more students have the opportunity for a great education by going to Stanford, Yale or any of the schools that would lose students to those schools then everyone benefits.

Yale University has announced that it is considering plans to expand future classes by 200 students per year. Expanding the size of each incoming class would make Yale's class sizes closer in size to those at Harvard. While this may be good news for those students considering Yale, there is a believe that it would have some impact on a number of other colleges that are ranked lower than Yale. Enrollment experts expect that if Yale does increase its class size, colleges such as University of Pennsylvania and Columbia would be the colleges most likely to lose those students to Yale. And if those students aren't going to Penn or Columbia, then Penn and Columbia would have more room for other students who might have otherwise gone to .... You get the picture.

So if you have an interest in attending a selective college, this may be good news even if you weren't thinking about Yale as other colleges down the academic food chain might have more room for other students if Yale goes forward with the possible size increase.

There is an article today following up on the New York Times discussion of the potential conflict of interest issues cropping up in the study abroad field. I commented on the Times article when it came out and for those students wanting more information on this topic, the article from Inside Higher Education provides just that.

Students often wonder if they need to participate in a summer program at a college to be competitive for admission at a highly selective colleges. The answer is no you do not need to participate in such a program but for some students it may have some benefit. A recent article in Inside Higher Ed discusses some of the issues related to the participation in college summer programs.

The bottom line to this discussion is that if you have a particular academic interest that can be enhanced by participation in a college summer program then by all means consider participating in such a program. But simply attending a program at a highly selective college will most likely have no effect on your chances of admission.

Recently there was an article about a college admission consultant that is being sued after charging a client $200,000 and then not providing services. The allegations are that this consulting firm met with the young man from Kazakhstan who wished to attend an Ivy League college. After having $200,000 wired to an account in Hong Kong the group told the young man that he wasn't Ivy League material and did not provide any more services to him. He eventually was accepted at Columbia University.

As a lawyer I am always cautious about believing everything alleged in a complaint. There is often two sides to the story. The story, however, if true, is more than a little disturbing. Charging someone $200,000 for college admission counseling is offensive if it actually occurred. Even if services were provided there is absolutely no justification for that kind of charge.

I understand that there are consultants that charge large amounts and basically guarantee admission to an Ivy League college. However, since no one is guaranteed admission to any particular college, I find such guarantees less than honest. But if the consulting group in question really did not do anything to justify a fee of $200,000 other than meet with the young man this raises serious ethical questions about the firms actions.

Students and their families who are searching for a college admission consultant should understand that there are many very qualified firms available that can help them with the process of finding the right college. But if the terms sound too good, maybe they need to start asking some questions. Again, no one can guarantee admission to any college. Yes, there are some students that you can definitely say are likely to gain admission particularly those who are development cases where the family may donate millions of dollars to the school. But never, never, pay anyone $200,000 to do college admissions counseling.

I recently published a new article discussing the issues to consider when trying to decide whether to take the SAT or ACT for college admissions purposes. The article has been published at College Basics as well as my own site. One of the first suggestions is to take a practice test of each exam to see on which test you do better. If you find that you don't do as well as you would like on either test then you might want to consider some of the many great colleges that don't require testing at all. If that is the case, head over to FairTest for their list of test optional colleges.

There are a number of other suggestions that all students starting the college search process should review. If you are not looking at a test optional college then the score you get on the SAT or ACT can sometimes make the difference between admission or rejection.

Students often debate the question of whether the prestige of a college makes a difference in getting a job after college. In a new study out by Accountemps only 13 percent of the chief financial officers polled felt that the prestige of the undergraduate was very important. However, another 38% felt that prestige was somewhat important. Basically 1/2 of the people polled felt that there was some importance to the prestige of the college you attended. Obviously that also means that 1/2 of the people polled felt that the prestige of the college was not at all important.

While some people, like some students, feel that prestige is important, I continue to suggest to students that it is much better to have a good fit in the college you attend than to go to a college simply because it is prestigious. If you want to consider the prestige of the college as one of the factors to consider that if fine; just don't make it the only criteria.

A new study out by the University of California suggests that grades are the most important indicator of performance through all four years of college. At the same time SAT scores have very little predictive value for college performance.

An excellent summary of the study was published in Inside Higher Education by reporter Scott Jaschlik. We would encourage anyone interested in the topic of the importance of grades vs. test scores to read this article. While test scores will probably always have some importance, their influence seems to be under almost constant attack the past few years as more and more colleges go test optional and the College Board continues with problems with the SAT.

Because of the large scope of this study, many colleges will look seriously at the results. Hopefully the result is a moderating of the influence of standardized test scores on the entire college admissions process.

Carleton College's alumni magazine recently featured an article taking an inside look at the admissions office at Carleton. Carleton is a highly selective liberal arts college in Minnesota for those who might not be familiar with it. I also happen to be the father of a rising senior at Carleton.

It is generally helpful to see these articles that talk about the admissions process at different colleges particularly the selective colleges. Back in March I wrote about several other articles looking at selective college admissions offices. I would suggest anyone that is considering a selective college view some of these articles before applying to get a better feel for the type of student these colleges are looking to admit. However, also keep in mind, that there are no guarantees with applying to highly selective colleges and you should always have a safety college that you like in mind.

You may be wondering why you should care if Dartmouth College wants to reconsider the way its trustees are elected. Dartmouth elects its trustees, the governing board of the college, in one of two ways. Members are elected by each other and by elections by alumni. The problem, at least for Dartmouth, is that the recent alumni elected trustees have not been the officially nominated candidates. Rather, they were elected by alumni who are critical of the administration of the college and the way it is being run. In an effort to control such criticism by trustees the administration is seeking a review of the way trustees are elected.

This is yet another example of one of the issues that a student may want to consider in deciding where to apply to college. If the administration of the college is not open to critical comments from its trustees, are they going to be willing to listen to criticism from its students? And remember that the trustees in question are alumni of Dartmouth, not some strangers unfamiliar with the culture of the college.

Issues like the one facing Dartmouth are faced by colleges all the time. You as a prospective student need to be aware of such issues to make an informed decision in the selection of where to apply. Like most other issues, there are no right or wrong answers to the search for the right college. But each student needs to consider issues like the one facing Dartmouth in their search for the right college for that student.

A recent article in the New York Times tells the story of a young man from Pennsylvania who had no help and yet got into George Washington University. The focus of the article is on how wonderful it was that this young man was able to get into a college without help. I will be the first to admit that many students are able to find a good college without using professional help. However, the real question is whether the college is a good college for that student.

In reading through this story several items jump out at me. First is the list of schools to which this young man applied. He applied to Columbia, Delaware, Skidmore, Boston University and George Washington. All fine schools but all very different colleges. We have colleges in the middle of New York City to rural colleges. Large universities and small colleges. Extremely competitive to much less competitive. And the feel of each of these colleges is going to be very different from each other. These are colleges that do not normally compete for students with the other colleges on the list. Maybe there was some factor that made each of these colleges make sense for this young man but it appears to be a random list of colleges whose only similarity is that they are all on the East coast.

The second thing that struck me was the apparent lack of understanding of how financial aid works. The colleges this young man applied to range from one that provides 100% of need to one which only provides 79% of need. And many of these colleges have limited merit awards. With a middle income parent he did not have a financial safety college and may be paying more to attend college than he would otherwise need to if he had investigated the financial aspects of attending college.

Was this a good list of colleges for this young man? Possibly. But I suspect that this is really a story about a typical student who had inadequate guidance and ended up applying to various colleges without investigating who he has and what he wanted from a college. Without doing such self reflection a student ends up at a college that may be adequate for their wants and desires but won't be the best fit.

I don't see this story as a triumph of the little guy against those who had professional help. Rather, I think this story further illustrates the failure of most students to understand what it takes to find an appropriate college for each student. Do all students need professional help? No. But if they don't have such help they must take the time to understand the process of finding the right college and the basics of financial aid. Otherwise, they face the very real possibility of finding the wrong college for their needs and paying too much for college.

Many colleges offer summer programs for high school students. These programs are typically viewed as enrichment programs for the high school students interested in a particular field or topic. A recent article from the Palo Alto High School journalism program points out another advantage to such programs; the ability to get the experience of living on a college campus before actually moving away from home.

There are some wonderful summer programs sponsored by the colleges and if that is an option I often encourage students to consider attending a program that meets their interests. However, attending such a program should only be done if the family can afford the program and if the student really wishes to attend the program. As the article points out, the simple experience of attending such a program does not necessarily mean that your ability to gain acceptance at that particular college will be enhanced. Some student do gain an advantage in the admissions process because by spending several weeks on a campus they begin to have a better feel for what that colleges values are. This may translate into better admission essays and thus enhance your likelihood of admission.

But the reality is that most students attending selective colleges have not had such an experience and yet were able to gain admission. If you are not able to attend such a program at one of the colleges in which you have an interest, you simply need to make sure that you understand that college's culture by other means such as talking to current students or faculty in departments of interest.