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Vol. 21 No. 7
March 2007
Admissions Watch
"Record-Setting Spikes"
Amherst Announces A Record. Amherst C. announced that
it received a record number 6,662 regular decision applicants
for the class of 2011, up 9 percent over last year. That meant
that members of the admissions committee had to read an average
45 applications a day before the committee began meeting in March,
Tom Parker, dean of admission and financial aid, told The
Amherst Student. The number of African American applications
jumped 24 percent this year and overall applications from students
of color were up 15 percent. The number of international applicants
was up by 11 percent. Decision letters should be mailed around
April 2, with emails going to students outside the U.S.
Bouncing Ball. Applications for 2007 are up 25 percent
over last year at Ball State U. in Indiana. Between 2002 and
2005, BSU freshman classes had declined from 3,751 to 3,347.
But in 2006, freshman enrollment increased to 3,629. Ball State
is hoping for an even larger class this year. The school wants
to grow, "but that doesn't mean we want to grow significantly,"
said Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing and
communications. Over the past decade, the graduation rate at
Ball State also rose 10 percent. In 2002, 30 percent of the class
graduated in four years, 53 percent finished in five years. New
distance learning programs are helping to boost the number of
students who complete their degrees.
Cornell Climbs. Cornell U. in New York State drew 30,191
applicants for fall 2007, according to the undergraduate admissions
office, an increase of 7.5 percent over last year, and a staggering
45 percent increase since 2004. Some 3,017 of these were Early
Decision applicants, of whom 1,103 or 36.6 percent were admitted.
Duke Dunk. It's another slam-dunk year in Duke U.'s
admissions office, where almost 18,500 applications arrived by
deadline. It was the second-largest applicant pool in the school's
history, behind last year. While applications dipped by 4.6 percent
this year from last, the total is a 10 percent increase over
three years ago.
Duke mailed 70,000 booklets profiling some of Duke's most
accomplished students to prospective students to counter negative
media reports this year surrounding an off-campus athletic scandal.
"They helped people to understand who Duke students really
were, separate from anything that may have been painted in the
media," Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions,
told the Durham News & Observer.
The university is aiming for a fall freshman class of about
1,655. Some 475 students were admitted through the school's Early
Decision process. About 20 percent fewer students applied ED
for this year than for last.
Also, since Duke expanded its financial aid program several
years ago to include international students, it has seen a "steady
increase" in overseas applicants. About 40 percent of Duke
undergrads receive financial assistance, with an average aid
package of $24,000. Tuition, room and board at Duke ran $43,075
in 2006.
Harvey Mudd Includes ACT. In Claremont, California,
Harvey Mudd C. is accepting the ACT test scores starting with
2007-08. Students will still be required to submit test results
for the SAT subject tests, including math level 2 and one additional
subject test of the applicant's choosing. ACT test takers will
need to submit the writing portion of the test as well.
"We felt it was time to expand our reach into areas of
the U.S. where the ACT is the preferred test and where we traditionally
receive fewer applications," said Peter Osgood, interim
vice president for admission and financial aid.
Meanwhile, applications for 2007-08 have increased by 15 percent
to an all-time high of 2,438 applicants for 185 spots.
Ohio On Record Pace. Public universities in Ohio experienced
record numbers of applications for 2007, according to a recent
Cleveland Plain Dealer. Applications were up over 25 percent
at The Ohio State U. With three weeks left before its
deadline, the state's flagship had received 19,317 applications,
up from 15,513 at the same time last year, despite a tightening
of standards. "That's a record-setting spike," Mabel
Freeman, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions,
told The Plain Dealer.
High school counselors around the state received a pre-Christmas
warning that "some very fine students" might not be
admitted this year due to intense competition. The number of
Ohio high school graduates is expected to continue to climb through
2009, before dropping off.
Cleveland State U. applications spiked by an astounding
45 percent. With rolling admissions, the staff was working to
accept qualified students as quickly as possible.
Some Ohio private colleges also are seeing increases as well.
Applications at Oberlin C. were up by about 2 percent.
John Carroll U. has seen a 14 percent increase in applications,
after a few years of enrollment drops. And the U. of Akron
reported an 11 percent increase in applicants. But that was less
than the 26 percent increase for 2006 that led to a 16 percent
larger first-year class.
Princeton's Last Early Apps Up. Applications rose 8
percent at Princeton U. over last year, to a record 18,891, and
38 percent more than four years ago. Of these, 2,276 were Early
Decision applications, up 2 percent of last year. It accepted
597 of them for what it expects to be 48 percent of the class
of 2011. This is the last year for Princeton's Early Decision
program. "What's remarkable is that 87 percent of the applicants
applied online this year," said Janet Rapelye, dean of admission,
" with the majority of the students using the Common Application
online."
Rutgers Rolls. Among big winners this past college
football season was the previously unheralded Rutgers U., winners
of the Texas Bowl. The Scarlet Knights posted a final ranking
of 12th in the nation. Additionally, Rutgers' philosophy department
was recently ranked second best in the English-speaking world.
As a result of its new visibility, by December 1, total undergraduate
applications to Rutgers rose nearly 6 percent for fall 2007,
according to the Asbury Park Press.
Applications increased nearly 13 percent from students interested
in transferring to Rutgers for the 2007 spring semester. And
visits to the Rutgers undergraduate admissions web site soared
by more than 33 percent between the end of August and the beginning
of November, compared to the same period the previous year. Participation
by prospective students and their families in tours of Rutgers
jumped 21 percent.
South Carolina Surge. Colleges and universities in
South Carolina are ahead of last year's pace in the number of
applications they had received for their 2007 first-year class,
according to The Post and Courier in Charleston. Clemson
U.'s admissions director Robert Barkley told the paper applications
were up 11 percent over last year by mid-January for the school's
projected freshman class of about 2,800 students.
The U. of South Carolina in Columbia was up 10 percent
over last year. USC admissions director Scott Verzyl told the
paper that the school typically enrolls half of its instate admitted
students and a third of its out-of-state admits.
Applications were up slightly at the C. of Charleston
by mid-January. About one-third of those were in-state students.
The college expects a freshman class of about 2,000 students.
Additionally, by mid-January, The Citadel had received
1,562 applications. According to admissions director John Powell,
that was slightly ahead of last year's numbers.
But applications were up 18 percent over last year at South
Carolina State U. It expects to enroll about 1,300 new students
in fall 2007.
Swarthmore Soars. Swarthmore C. received a record 5,186
applicants for the class of 2011, 5 percent more than last year
and 24 percent more than two years ago. Jim Bock, Swarthmore's
dean of admissions, told the student newspaper, The Phoenix,
"We're up in almost every category: international, women,
men, minorities."
Complicating matters though is the fact that Swarthmore plans
to admit fewer students this year "to maintain its small-school
mentality." The school is aiming for a class of 365 first-year
students, plus eight transfer students. Also contributing to
the need for a smaller class is Swarthmore's promise to provide
student housing to all for all four years. "More of the
students we have are choosing to live in the dorms," said
Jim Bock in The Phoenix. Regular admissions students will
be notified by May 1.
U. California Up. Some 35,088 high school seniors have
applied to U.C. Davis for the fall of 2007, up 7.6 percent
over 2006. That's the largest percentage gain among UC undergraduate
campuses. UC Davis hopes to enroll about 4,800 new freshmen directly
from high school and about 1,800 transfer students.
Systemwide, UC applications are up 3.9 percent from 106,784
in 2006 to 110,994 for fall 2007. A total of 87,213 students
applied for freshman slots, a 5.3 percent increase over last
year. Applicants will be notified of their admission status beginning
in mid-March.
U. Richmond's Record. The Richmond Times-Dispatch
in Virginia reported last month that the U. of Richmond received
its highest number of applications ever-6,599, a 22 percent increase
over last year. International applications were up by 39 percent.
Yale Down. The number of applications to Yale U. fell
by 9.7 percent for the class of 2011. Still, the prestigious
Ivy attracted 19,060 for the coming fall, down from 21,101 last
year. Of those, 3,596 were Early Action applications, 709 of
whom were admitted, for an acceptance rate of 19.7 percent.
"Our concern is not about numbers, but about the quality
of the applicants," Jeff Brenzel, dean of admissions, told
the Yale Daily News. "And I believe the talent, variety
and preparation of the students applying from around the world
to Yale is simply unsurpassed."
Brenzel said he expects to admit 1,150 more students in April
through regular admissions. The overall acceptance rate will
probably be about 9.8 percent.
Other Ivys. Other Ivy League schools have also reported
their application numbers. Brown U. attracted more than
19,015, a 3.8 percent increase over last year. Columbia U.
received 21,303, a 7.3 percent increase.
The U. of Pennsylvania recorded a 10 percent increase
over 2006 with 22,500 applicants. Lee Stetson, Penn's dean of
admission, attributed the increase to the first-time use of the
Common Application, as well as a resurgence in Philadelphia's
national image. He also said that international applications
were "way, way" up.
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Early Admissions Programs Still Strong
MANY THOUGHT THAT
when Harvard bailed out of its Early Decision program, it would
set off a landslide of other schools making the same decision.
In Pennsylvania, at least, that hasn't been the case. According
to a recent The Philadelphia Inquirer, the U. of Pennsylvania
and "other Ivy League sisters have refused to budge."
So have other selective private schools such as Swarthmore, Bryn
Mawr and Dickinson C.
Robert J. Massa, vice president of enrollment and college
relations at Dickinson, said, "I don't need to get more
applications so I can turn kids down. I need to get the right
applications from kids who want to be here."
Harvard and Princeton dropped their ED programs because they
felt they put low-income students at a disadvantage. "Less
than 10 percent of the entire pool of students applying for financial
aid were in the Early Decision pool," Janet Lavin Rapelye,
Princeton's dean of admissions, told the Inquirer. "That
was very true of students of color, too. We didn't think it was
fair."
About seven percent of the nation's colleges use ED programs.
But often they are among the most prestigious schools. Students
who apply early are more likely to be admitted. Also, some students
gain a financial aid negotiating position by being admitted to
more than one college.
But inequities are not always apparent. Jennifer Rikard, dean
of admissions and financial aid at Bryn Mawr, told the paper
that, "When we did an analysis of both socioeconomic diversity
and racial and ethnic diversity, we found it to be almost even."
She said Bryn Mawr works hard to cultivate applications from
minority students and low-income families and doesn't plan to
end its ED program.
"We've never been more diverse," added Jim Bock,
dean of admissions and financial aid at Swarthmore C.
Yale Retains Early Admission
Last summer Harvard U. and Princeton U. dropped their early
admissions programs in hopes of trying to attract more low-income
and minority students. Yale U., on the other hand, plans to keep
its admissions process as is. "We don't believe that eliminating
early admissions would change the socioeconomic diversity of
the class," said Richard Levin, president of Yale, in an
interview in the January/February 2007 edition of Yale Alumni
Magazine.
"Instant Admissions"
Meanwhile, Wilkes U. in Pennsylvania is among a growing number
of schools trying to take the anxiety out of admissions waiting
with an Instant Decision program. Interested students who visit
the school can find out that day whether or not they are admitted.
"We've eliminated the stress from college admissions,"
says Michael Frantz, vice president for marketing and enrollment.
For more information, see: www.wilkes.edu.
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Advanced Placement Grows
OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS,
the number of Advanced Placement students achieving a score of
3 or better on an AP Exam grew by 5 percent. A total of 15 percent
of 2006 high school graduates attained that level, according
to a new report from the College Board, which administers the
program.
At a time when some colleges are cutting back on the number
of AP credits they are willing to accept and high schools are
expanding their participation, the College Board reported on
new research from the U. of Texas showing that "students
who participate in AP have significantly better college grades
and college graduation rates than academically and economically
similar students" who did not participate in the program.
These students also "are better prepared for the rigors
of college, and more likely to obtain a bachelor's degree,"
said College Board president Gaston Caperton.
But there are problems. While the number of Latino students
taking AP courses equally corresponds to their percentage of
all high school students (14), African American and Native American
students are still left behind. About 7 percent of AP test takers
are black, even though they constitute nearly 14 percent of the
general student population. Native Americans make up 1.1 percent
of the student population, but only 0.6 percent of AP test takers,
the College Board reported. Also, in 2006, AP began administering
tests in Chinese and Japanese language and culture.
In what appears to be a backlash, Coe C. announced last month
it would begin capping the number of Advanced Placement credits
students can apply to their graduation beginning this academic
year. "Higher education is about higher education,"
said Evelyn Moore, registrar and a professor of nursing, in the
Des Moines Register February 7. "It's about starting
at a certain level, and you go further and you can learn."
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THE COUNSELOR'S
CORNER
New Resources for Spring
What is the number one book about colleges that parents
look for at city airport bookstores? Recently, a book store manager
told CB that its "test prep books for their children."
Here are a few that recently came across CB's desk.
TEST PREP
Master Math for the SAT, a review of math from
geometry to Algebra II with sample problems, explanations and
practice tests; ISBN-13: 978-0-7689-1717-8; $16.95. And Ultimate
SAT Tool Kit, by Drew Johnson, with practice tests on a CD
that also links to online scoring and tutoring; ISBN 0-7689-1431-0;
$34. Both from Thomson Peterson's.
In-a-Flash Vocabulary for the SAT & ACT, by Joan
Carris, 7th edition; ISBN: 0-7689-2231-3; $9.95; and Panic
Plan for the SAT, also by Carris, with Michael R. Crystal;
ISBN: 0-7689-1534-1; $9.95; both from ARCO.
Mastering the SAT Critical Reading Test, by Thomas
R. Davenport; ISBN: 0-470-04202-x; $14.99; and Mastering the
SAT Writing Test, by Denise Pivarnik-Nova; ISBN: 0-7645-9835-x;
$14.99; both from Wiley.
WHAT ABOUT
NEW COLLEGE GUIDES?
The folks who publish The Kiplinger Letter
have published their sixth straight ranking of the "best
value among public colleges and universities." Top of the
list? The U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the U. of Florida,
C. of William and Mary in Virginia, the U. of Virginia and Binghamton
U. (SUNY). For the full list, www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.
Best Buys in College Education, ninth edition, by Lucia
Solorzano; profiles more than 245 colleges with updated information
on tuition and financial aid; ISBN 0-7641-3369-1; $18.99 and
Profiles of American Colleges, 2007, 27th edition, the
mother-lode of guidebooks that includes a CD-Rom; "profiles
of more than 1,650 schools," an "index of majors"
and a "rating system"; ISBN-10: 0-7641-7903-9; $28.99.
Both books from Barron's.
Peterson's College & University Almanac, 2007,
features "just the facts on more than 2,100 schools,"
and tips for "searching for four-year colleges on-line"
as well as college profiles; ISBN-13: 978-0-7689-2163-2; $15.
And Peterson's 440 Colleges for Top Students with "Specialized
Indexes" on the 25 largest colleges (U. of Minnesota, Twin
Cities Campus) and 25 "Smallest Colleges" (The College
of Saint Thomas More); ISBN-13: 978-0-7689-2151-9; $19. Both
available from Thomson Peterson.
The Best 361 Colleges: The Smart Student's Guide to Colleges,
2007 edition, by Robert Franek, et al, is based on interviews
with 115,000 students and includes lists such as where professors
make "themselves accessible" (such as No. 3 Wabash
C.) or where schools run "like butter" (such as Pomona
C.); available from The Princeton Review/Random House, Inc.;
ISBN 0-375-76558-1; $21.95.
AND SPEAKING
OF PARENTS
Getting In Without Freaking Out, by Arlene
Matthews, which says it is "The Official College Admissions
Guide for Overwhelmed Parents" with "101 Stress-free
Secrets" such as Secret 18 (Some Bloom Later) and Secret
56 (Don't Send Props); available from Three Rivers Press; ISBN
1-4000-9841-6; $13.95.
Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your
Teen Through College Admissions, by Marilee Jones and Kenneth
R. Ginsburg; from the American Academy of Pediatrics that includes
"A Personalized Stress Management Plan;" ISBN: 10:
1-58110-230-5; $14.95.
A helpful new website, www.KnowHow2Go.org,
has been launched by the Lumina Foundation for Education, the
American Council on Education and the Advertising Council to
help low-income, first-generation students in grades 8 through
10 find relevant info on colleges. It shows them how to apply
for financial aid and how to gather support from teachers and
others who can help them succeed in the process. And the U.S.
Department of Education is printing 500,000 copies of a brochure
on college prep tips and establishing a hotline (800-433-3243)
for students and parents with federal student aid questions.
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SCHOLARSHIP SCOOPS
Semper Fi. Hillsdale C. in Michigan has established
a new scholarship specifically for U.S. Marine infantrymen, their
children or grandchildren. Named after World War II veteran Werner
J. Gogel and his wife Margaret, the scholarship will award between
$9,000 and $25,000 per school year to eligible recipients. Hillsdale
refuses to accept any federal financial aid because of the regulations
that are attached. So the scholarship serves the same purpose
as the Montgomery G.I. Bill, according to Hillsdale's director
of admissions Jeff Lantis. To find out more contact him at Jeff.Lantis@Hillsdale.edu
(.)
Life-Transforming.
The prestigious Illinois Institute of Technology is offering
four-year scholarships to all low-income Chicago Public School
graduates who meet the school's rigorous admission standards.
IIT freshmen posted an average 3.88 GPA and 1286 SAT or 28 ACT.
"This will be, literally, a life-transforming opportunity
for our students, 85 percent of whom live below the poverty line,"
said Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.
Indiana
Scholarships. Students of families who buy or own a home
in Hammond, Indiana, now will be eligible for scholarships of
up to $7,500 a year for four years to any private or public college
in Indiana. The amount of the scholarship will increase each
year. The new scholarship program is designed to attract families
to the once mighty steel town located along the shores of Lake
Michigan, southeast of Chicago. The average single family Hammond
home currently costs less than $90,000. Kalamazoo, Michigan,
was the first Midwestern city to start such a program. Based
on the success of that revitalization, Hammond decided to follow
its lead.
U.
of Texas to Aid Low-Income Students. Like some other public
and private institutions, the U. of Texas System recently announced
it will begin a program to guarantee financial aid, covering
tuition and fees, to students whose families make less than $25,000
per year. Most of the programs begin this fall and cover freshmen.
But each campus varies in qualifications for the aid, some require
good grades and a minimum of credit hours. For more information
see "UT System Academic Institutions Announce Guaranteed
Financial Aid for Low-Income Students." http://www.utsystem.edu/news/2007/UTS-FinancialAid01-24-07.htm.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
Physics Thriving. The study of physics is thriving
in the nation's high schools and the number of physics bachelor's
degree recipients has increased by 31 percent since 2000.
Not only that, these degree earners are eight times more likely
to earn a Ph.D. than non-physics bachelor's recipients, according
to a just-released report from the American Institute of Physics.
In 1930, when only 29 percent of 18 year olds graduated from
high school, just 15 percent took physics. In 2005, 25 percent
of high school grads had taken physics.
Also, girls and minority students are taking these science
classes at greater rates. In 1977, 39 percent of physics students
were girls. Now, 47 percent of high school physics students are
girls. The number of black and Latino students studying physics
has doubled in the last decade from 10 percent to nearly 24 percent.
The AIP Statistical Research website is at www.aip.org/statistics/.
Electronic Interference.
You knew it already. But another study of how weekday TV and
videogames affect a student's school work concluded there are
problems. Dr. Iman Sharif of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore
in the Bronx, New York, summed up: "In weekdays, the more
they watched, the worse they did." Boys were more affected
than girls. However, weekend TV didn't correlate with good or
bad performance. The study followed the habits of 4,500 New Hampshire
and Vermont middle school students.
E-Textbooks. Students spend
between $800 and $900 a year on their supplies and textbooks,
according to the National Association of College Stores. That's
a lot. So some school officials are suggesting that students
and parents looking for a break should investigate the new phenomena
of e-textbooks, which can save them as much as 50 percent. Though
new, e-textbooks are rapidly proliferating. Currently 1,300 of
the estimated 125,000 textbook titles are available in digital
form. And that is growing each year as publishers in general
are making digital versions of the books they issue available.
Currently, students need to go online to their college bookstores
to order digital books. But publishers are also trying to market
codes at the brick and mortar bookstores that will allow students
to go online and download a digital copy. Publishers are waiting
for professors and students to catch on.
Merit Destinations. Where
did the 2006 Freshman Merit Scholars end up? Here's the top 40
(with some ties). Harvard U., U. Florida, U. Texas at Austin,
Washington U. in St. Louis, U. Southern California, Northwestern
U., U. Chicago, Arizona State U., Yale U., Princeton U., Stanford
U., New York U., U. North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rice U., U.
Oklahoma, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M
U. at College Station, Vanderbilt U. and Duke U.
Also, Ohio State U., Georgia Institute of Technology, U. Pennsylvania,
Carleton C., Brown U., U. Arizona, Brigham Young U., Purdue U.,
Baylor U., U. of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, U. Illinois at Urbana
Champaign, U. Minnesota-Twin Cities, U. California at Berkeley,
Dartmouth C., Cornell U., U. Tulsa, Columbia U., U. Georgia,
U. Michigan at Ann Arbor, Indiana U. at Bloomington and U. Maryland
at College Park.
Comings
and Goings. Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg,
Virginia, will begin admitting men for fall 2008 and on July
1 will be renamed Randolph College. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ave
Maria College will cease to exist at the end of this academic
year. A new Catholic university is being built in Naples, Florida.And
the Apollo Group, owners of the U. of Phoenix, will enter the
secondary education arena with online learning through Insight
Schools, based in Portland, Oregon, where one public online high
school began last September with 600 students.
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COLLEGE BOUND's Publisher/Editor: R. Craig
Sautter, DePaul University; Chief Operating Officer: Sally
Reed; Assistant Editor: Emma Schwartz; Illustration:
Louis Coronel; Board of Advisors: David Breeden,
Edina High School, Minnesota; Claire D. Friedlander, Bedford
(N.Y.) Central School District; Howard Greene and Matthew
Greene, authors, The Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning
Series; Frank C. Leana, Ph.D., educational counselor;
M. Fredric Volkmann, Washington University in St. Louis;
Mary Ann Willis, Bayside Academy (Daphne, Ala.).
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In This Issue
Feature Articles
"Record-Setting Spikes"
Early
Admissions Programs
Still Strong
Advanced
Placement Grows
THE COUNSELOR'S
CORNER
New
Resources for Spring
SCHOLARSHIP SCOOPS
-Semper
Fi
-Life-Transforming
-Indiana
Scholarships
-U. of Texas
to Aid
Low-Income Students
NEWS YOU CAN USE
-Physics
Thriving
-Electronic
Interference
-E-Textbooks
-Merit Destinations
-Comings and Goings
P.S. To renew your subscription go to
Renew
Subscription
or to order Who Got In? 2006 go to
Order Who Got In? 2006
or call 773-262-5810.
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