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Vol. 22 No. 9
May 2008
Admissions Watch
"Admissions Dance Gets Longer"
THIS IS HOW COLLEGE
officials and high school counselors were describing the admissions
season this year as they predicted that the results for many
colleges and students won't be determined until well into the
summer.
As The Christian Science Monitor put it April 23, "The
uncertainty, both for students and schools, is on the rise as
each group turns to complicated selection strategies that make
the SAT look like a walk in the park. So it could be a long wait-well
into the summer for some-before it's clear where the largest
graduating high school class in three decades will be studying
in the fall."
Meanwhile, here are snapshots this spring from the educational
landscape nationwide.
Record Low Acceptances in the Ivy League. According
to numerous reports, many of the Ivy League universities admitted
record low numbers of students this year. Harvard C. accepted
only 7.1 percent of applicants for the class of 2012, Yale U.
8.3 percent, Columbia U. 8.7 percent and Brown U. just 13 percent.
Meanwhile, highly selective institutions have put record numbers
of students on wait lists. As Bloomberg.com reported April 16,
Yale, Princeton, MIT, Amherst C. "are among top-ranked U.S.
schools that increased, by as much as 50 to 90 percent, the number
of students told this month they may be accepted only if those
already admitted decline to attend."
Barnard C. Accepts 28 Percent of Applicants. Barnard
C. accepted 1,207 young women from its applicant pool of 4,273,
maintaining its 28 percent acceptance rate. Barnard expects its
class of 2012 to be about 560 students. Jennifer Fondiller, dean
of admissions, said, "Once again, we were hugely impressed
and excited with the quality of our applicants." About 88
percent of admitted students ranked in the top 10 percent of
their high school classes, while 37 percent are students of color.
Boston U. Breaks Records. A whopping number of students-38,000-applied
for the Boston U. class of 2012, more than last year. The class
size is targeted at 4,200. Last year's acceptance rate was 59
percent, and its yield of students actually enrolling was 20
percent.
At Duke, Legacy Does Matter. Last month, CB reported
on the record-low acceptance rate of Duke U.'s early decision
applicants. Now Duke has offered admission to 1,657 students
from it pool of 20,337 applicants, the largest in school history.
According to dean of undergraduate admissions, Christoph Guttentag,
almost one in six applicants with class rank was ranked first
in his or her class, while 585 were valedictorians and 1,570
had SAT scores of 1500 or higher. Guttentag said Duke's new financial
aid incentives and the new DukeEngage program, which provides
aid and faculty support to students who want to apply classroom
learning to addressing social issues, likely led to more applicants.
Also, a record number of children and stepchildren of alumni-300-were
admitted to the Class of 2012, according to The Chronicle,
Duke's school newspaper, which cited the Alumni Association
web site that states children and grandchildren of alumni are
given a "third read" or one extra, "to make sure
nothing important was missed."
Harvard Halts Transfers. Harvard U., which had already
accepted 1,982 students from a record-high pool of 27,462 applicants,
has announced that it will not accept any more transfer applications
for the next two years. Last year, Harvard admitted 40 transfers.
The decision was prompted by a housing shortage on campus. Transfer
students are not allowed to live off campus, because the Harvard
experience "is residential in character."
NYU Wait Lists Students. New York U. admitted 8,909
new students to the class of 2012, or 24 percent of its 37,000
applicants. Another 1,867 students were placed on the wait list.
Some 996 students accepted early decision offers. The class of
2012 is expected to number about 4,400 students.
Princeton Not Hurt by Dropped ED. Princeton U. offered
admission to 1,976 of its record high 21,369 applicants, or about
9.25 percent, a record low. This year, Princeton ended its early
decision program, but it was not hurt in the end as it received
12.8 percent more applications this year than last. This is the
fourth year in a row that the university received a record number
of applications. Princeton also wait listed 1,526 students. It
expects 1,240 students to enroll in fall.
More than 7,000 applicants had a 4.0 grade-point average.
Some 11,000 had a combined score of 2100 or higher on the three
sections of the SAT. "We were not able to include many students
with superb credentials," said dean of admission Janet Lavin
Rapelye.
Stanford Competition "Unprecedented." Stanford
U. accepted 2,400 from roughly 25,500 applications for the class
of 2012, for an admission rate of 9.5 percent, the lowest in
the schools 117-year history. "The competition for admission
to Stanford this year was unprecedented," said Richard Shaw,
dean of admission and financial aid.
Also, Stanford's director of admissions told The Stanford
Daily that the school has no intention of eliminating the
SAT Subject Tests (formerly SAT IIs). "With more than 25,000
applicants, we need to turn to some quantitative measures in
evaluating candidates. The SAT Subject Test scores, as well as
ACT scores, AP scores and IB scores, help us by providing additional
quantitative variables to employ in our evaluations." He
added, "There is no magic formula or percentage allocated
to any particular variable. I'd say they rank pretty high on
what we consider to be important. But the high school record,
GPA, class rank and course rigor will always factor in more heavily
in our evaluation process."
Swarthmore Says Yields "Unpredictable." Swarthmore
C. received 6,118 applications, a 4.4 percent increase for this
year and admitted 929 or only 15 percent. Dean of admissions
and financial aid, Jim Bock, told the student newspaper The
Phoenix Online, that in predicting yield, "All bets
are off." Students are just 17 years old, he noted, and
"so much of what they do is not logical. I remember one
student who said, 'well, I chose an Ivy League university because
I have a better chance of finding a wife there.' How do you predict
that?" To cover such possibilities, Swarthmore placed about
1,000 students on its wait list.
Tufts Tougher This Year. Tufts U. received a record
16,644 applications, a 9 percent increase over last year, and
offered enrollment to 25 percent of them, down from 28 percent
the previous year, according to dean of undergraduate admissions
Lee Coffin.
U. of California System Rising. "Acceptance rates
declined at nearly every campus," according to the Daily
Democrat in Woodland, California. "Just over 22 percent
of applicants were admitted to UC Berkeley and UCLA this year,"
down from 24.7 percent and 23.6 percent respectively.
Yet, 10,000 more Californians were admitted to the nine different
undergraduate campuses over last year, to total 60,000 students.
At UC Davis, the mean grade-point average increased from last
year's 3.89 to 3.94. UC Santa Cruz dropped its acceptance rate
to 74.3 from 82.8 percent, according to The Mercury News,
to keep its enrollment at last year's target. "This is the
most selective our campus has been, Michael McCawley, acting
director of admissions, told the paper. "We denied thousands
of UC-eligible applications."
The Sacramento Bee noted that some students throughout
the system not getting into the campus where they applied are
being offered places at UC Merced or UC Riverside where there
is more space. Some students will be able to transfer to another
campus their junior year.
UW-Green Bay Closes Apps Early. Meanwhile, the U. of
Wisconsin-Green Bay cut off applications on April 15, two weeks
before scheduled. (Cutting off applications early is part of
a trend CB is noticing among some state universities.)
UW-Green Bay's incoming freshman class will be between 1,050
and 1,075, about 7.5 percent more than last year. Why the upswing?
Northwest Wisconsin is in need of degree-holders.
Yale Record Low Acceptance. Yale U. recorded an all-time
low acceptance rate this year of 8.3 percent, admitting 1,892
students out of the 22,813 early and regular applicants, an 18
percent increase, for the class of 2012. An additional 1,052
students were offered a place on the wait list, nearly 23 percent
larger than last year. The school hopes to matriculate a class
of 1,320 students, dean of admissions Jeff Brenzel told The
Yale Daily News.
The "financial aid arms race" among elite institutions
where universities have replaced loans with grants and reduced
contributions from lower and middle-class parents, plus the elimination
of early admissions programs at Harvard and Princeton, have led
to great uncertainty about yields at other colleges, Yale included,
the paper noted. "Our sense is that yield will go down,"
Brenzel said. "But we don't know by how much, and we could
be wrong." Yale's yield and that of other Ivy League schools
could set off a chain reaction among schools elsewhere.
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"No Need to Worry About Loans...Yet"
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH
took the unusual step of focusing on the student loan issue in
his weekly radio address April 26. Shortly thereafter, a reporter
was on the campus of the U. of Miami suggesting to students that
there would be no loans for fall. That wasn't exactly what the
President said, but it illustrates the confusion about what some
call "the student loan crisis."
In fact, as CB went to press this month, the airwaves
and print media were filled with stories about whether or not
students will find loan money for the fall. Sessions at the National
Education Writers Association meeting end of April in Chicago
focused on this topic among others. But as Sandy Baum, economist
at Skidmore College and advisor to the College Board, said at
the EWA meeting, there is no cause for panic.
What President Bush said was, "A slowdown in the economy
shouldn't mean a downturn in educational opportunities.One way
we're helping is through the Department of Education's 'lender
of last resort' program, which works to provide loans for students
who are unable to secure one from a lender. The Department is
taking steps to ensure that the agencies involved in this program
are ready and able to meet their responsibilities. If necessary,
the government will help fund these loans."
The President and the Department of Ed are taking this step
in response to the fact that about 60 lenders have said they
will stop or restrict private loans to students. Financial aid
experts note this still leaves about 2,000 private lenders nationwide.
At the same time though, Citibank announced at the end of
last month that it was curtailing student loans to two-year colleges.
The mammoth Bank of America has said recently that it would not
offer private student loans for the coming academic year. The
Career Education Corporation, an Illinois-based for-profit chain,
has stopped accepting students at McIntosh C., Lehigh Valley
C. and seven Gibbs Colleges in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New
York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island because Sallie Mae said it
was eliminating a high-risk student loan program that accounted
for four percent of Career Education's revenue.
"By the time you read the 20th one you think 'Oh my God
it's an exodus. It's a real crisis'," Barmak Nasirian, American
Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers,
told Minnesota Public Radio April 17. "It is not, because
there is plenty of money available."
Experts are recommending that students file FAFSA forms as
early in the year as possible and pursue the federal loans as
much as possible. An often overlooked and underutilized source
of loans, according to Baum, is the PLUS Loan which parents can
take out and, unlike private loans, are protected against the
death of a parent or other disasters that may occur in a family.
In addition, U.S. Representative George Miller, D-California,
and 16 Democrats and Republications have introduced legislation
to give parents with delinquent mortgages a grace period so they
too are eligible for the PLUS Loans.
CB will keep you posted.
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THE COUNSELOR'S
CORNER
What's Working, What's
Not?
ATTENDING COLLEGE BELOW
THEIR SKILL LEVEL
Too many students are "selling themselves short"
by attending two-year colleges or vocational schools, says a
new study from the U. of Chicago. "From High School to the
Future: Potholes on the Road to College," released in April,
concluded that many students are too discouraged or intimidated
by the application and financial aid processes to find their
way to four-year colleges and universities for which they are
adequately academically prepared.
The U of C's Consortium on Chicago School Research analyzed
the data of 5,100 Chicago Public Schools graduates in 2005 and
interviewed 105 students during their three-year study. But Melissa
Roderick, the study's lead author, told The Chicago Tribune
that the results could apply to "any school system in the
United States."
Among the study's major conclusions: teachers and school culture
had more influence than parents on whether students attended
a four-year college, most CPS students attend colleges well below
the level for which they are qualified, only 59 percent of students
who wanted to go to four-year colleges applied, and only 41 percent
enrolled. Latino students are the least likely to apply to four-year
institutions. Only 46 percent of CPS Latino students applied
and only 30 percent enrolled in four-year colleges. About 45
percent of CPS African American students went to schools that
matched or exceeded their qualifications; high schools must do
more to help students through the grueling college application
and financial aid process.
Some schools are helping by assigning "coaches"
to help students navigate the application and financial aid systems.
You can download the entire report at http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/potholes.
SO-CALLED PAPERLESS APPLICATIONS
Most students around the country now apply online
to their prospective colleges. For example, more than 99 percent
of applicants to schools in the U. of California System are now
electronic. This year 95,000 students applied online. Students
reported their own grades and test scores. Those reports were
verified only for students who are accepted. The new electronic
processing has drastically reduced paperwork.
But The Chronicle of Higher Education recently
reported that at Stanford U., for example, support material for
its 24,000 applicants last year translated into 250,000 pieces
of mail the admissions office had to open and process. So, until
high schools begin submitting their transcripts and recommendations
electronically, most colleges face a continuing deluge of paper.
ONE QUARTER PROFICIENT
WRITERS
About 25 percent of high school seniors, and one third
of eighth graders, are proficient writers, according to the National
Assessment of Educational Progress report released in April.
That's about the same number as two years ago when the test was
last administered. There is some improvement at the lower end.
About 90 percent of all students can now demonstrate basic achievement
in writing, defined as partial mastery of the skills needed for
proficiency. Girls are far better writers than boys. The skills
of Hispanic and black students improved slightly more than those
of white students.
Yet, ""American students' writing skills are deteriorating,"
Will Fitzhugh, founder of the Concord Review, a journal
that features history research papers written by high school
students, said to The New York Times.
Roy Romer, chairman of the national assessment board, agrees.
"American's schools are not preparing students to compete
in a global economy," he said.
For the full report see www.nationsreportcard.gov.
MAKING MINORITY STUDENT
SUCCESS A PRIORITY
The Education Sector, an independent think tank based
in Washington, released a "Graduation Rate Watch" in
April, highlighting colleges that were succeeding in getting
low-income, first-generation college students to graduation.
Florida State U. was one college noted, credited with its Center
for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE) program. CARE was
established in 2000 and by 2006 boasted its highest-ever six-year
graduation rate for black students-72 percent, higher than the
rate for white students and for black students at Florida's flagship
university. The program reaches out to students beginning in
sixth grade and provides advice and support through high school
and college.
The report also examines colleges where the graduation rates
are not so promising and Education Sector makes policy recommendations
(change the rankings, return to need-based financial aid, for
example). See www.educationsector.org.
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THE COUNSELOR'S
BOOKSHELF
What You Don't Know Can Keep You Out Of College: A
Top Consultant Explains the 13 Fatal Application Mistakes and
Why Character Is the Key to College Admissions by Don Dunbar
with G.E. Lichtenberg, (Gotham Books); $15; see www.dunbarconsultants.com/.
The Best 100 Values in Public Colleges by Jane Bennett
Clark, from Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.
My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming
a Student by Rebekah Nathan (Cornell U. Press); ISBN 0-8014-4397-0;
$24. An anthropology professor enrolled as a freshman at her
own university to find the answer to things such as "Why
don't students ever do the assigned reading so we can have a
class discussion;" "Why are students today so different
and so hard to teach?" "Are they, in fact, more likely
to cheat, ruder and less motivated?" She discovered being
a student is hard work, but identified major problems.
Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps
by Alan Gelb (Ten Speed Press); ISBN 978-1-58008-910-0; $11.95;
see www.tenspeed.com.
"Cracking College DVD: The 7 Secrets of Savvy Students."
Teaches "vital strategies and techniques to make a smooth
transition from high school to college." One-year license
is $69. See: www.crackingcollege.com.
135 Safest Colleges? The March 2008 issue of Reader's
Digest ranked 135 American colleges for safety preparedness
one year after the Virginia Tech tragedy. See www.RD.com
for the rankings.
New Web Site. Only 20 percent of bachelor's degrees
in engineering go to women, according to a new report by the
National Science Board. So to help attract more women to engineering,
the National Academy of Engineering has launched a new web site,
www.engineeryourlife.org.
Students are presented with profiles of diverse female engineers
and information about what high school courses to take to prepare
for college.
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SCHOLARSHIP SCOOPS
Ron Brown Scholars. Each year, 20 Ron Brown Scholars
are awarded to outstanding young African-American students. Founded
in 1996 and named after the first African American U.S. Secretary
of Commerce, Ron Brown, the award attracted 5,600 applications
this year. The program provides these outstanding students with
the financial resources to attend some of the nation's top colleges.
Applications are available August 1, due Nov. 1. See www.ronbrown.org.
First
Generation Scholarship. Wichita State U. in Kansas will provide
27 new one-year, full-ride scholarships to first-generation students
this fall through the TRIO Scholars Program. The scholars came
from eight Wichita high schools.
Indiana
Scholarships. Indiana U. Purdue U. Indianapolis (IUPUI) has
created a $2.1 million annual initiative of need-based aid. Students
who receive a state 21st Century Scholar award or Pell Grant
will be eligible to receive the $2,500. Students will have to
meet certain academic standards to retain their awards. "IUPUI
needs to increase its efforts so that these students not only
enrollbut succeed and graduate," said the school's chancellor,
Charles R. Bantz. Tuition and fees at IUPUI total about $7,000
a year.
Purdue
Scholarship Includes Out-of-Staters. Also in Indiana, a new
Purdue U. scholarship for high-achieving students is worth $5,000
a year for Indiana residents and $7,000 a year for non-Indiana
residents. High school seniors with SAT scores of 1240 to 1330
or ACTs of 27 to 29, and a 3.8 grade-point average or class rank
in the top five percent will be eligible for the Presidential
Scholarship. High school seniors with SAT scores of at least
1340 or ACT of 30 and a 3.8 grade-point average or top five percent
class rank are eligible for the Trustees Scholarship worth $8,000
a year for Indiana residents or $10,000 for out-of-state residents.
The scholarships are renewable for up to eight consecutive semesters
if a student maintains a 3.0 grade-point average. See http://www.purdue.edu/Admissions/Undergad/costs/merit_scholarships.shtml.
Sales
Forceasting Scholarship. Alticor, the parent company of Amway
Corp., has established a new $50,000 Amway Endowed Scholarship
in Sales Forecasting at the U. of Tennessee. The endowment will
fund a $2,500 scholarship beginning this year. For info see http://forums.utk.edu/.
YouTube/Vancouver
Film School. Time is short, but if students have a three-minute
film, animation or creative pitch ready to go, they could win
a full-tuition scholarship to the Vancouver Film School, Canada's
premier postsecondary entertainment arts institution. The deadline
is May 9. See http://www.you
tube.com/user/VancouverFilmSchool.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
Medical School Record. Last fall, the nation's
126 medical schools enrolled their largest classes ever. According
to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 42,300 students
submitted applications, an increase of 8 percent. About 32,000
applied for the first time. A record 17,800 of them enrolled,
a 2 percent increase over 2006. The number of black and Hispanic
male applicants rose by 9 percent.
The number of black students who were admitted was 5 percent
higher than in 2006. That was double the entire black medical
student population. Hispanic numbers remained constant. While
nearly 29 percent of the U.S. population is made up of Hispanics,
African Americans and Native Americans, less than 15 percent
of medical school graduates, and 6 percent of practicing doctors,
are from those groups.
Forest
Management Concentration. Beginning Fall 2008, The U. of
Maine at Fort Kent will offer a Forest Management concentration
within its Business Management baccalaureate degree program.
It will grant students an Associate of Science degree in Forest
Technology.
Environmental
Studies Major Reinforces "Sustainability." Worcester
Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts will offer a new Environmental
Studies degree to provide students with technological and social
policy training, as well as research and travel opportunities.
"The next generation of environmental professionals will
need to understand not only the technical aspects of environmental
decision making, but also the social aspect of those decisions,"
said Robert Krueger, director of environmental studies at WPI.
Dropout
Crisis? Nearly half of high school students from big-city
school systems do not graduate. According to the non-profit Alliance
for School Choice, 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities post
graduation rates of less than 50 percent. New York City and Los
Angeles have graduation rates of 45 percent. Some systems, like
those in Detroit and Indianapolis, graduate only 3 of 10 high
school students. "The challenges we faces are more grave
than many have suspected or that some are still willing to acknowledge,"
the report charged.
Cutting
Out-of-State Tuition. To lure quality students from out of
state, several state universities are giving tuition breaks to
students from neighboring states. According to the New York
Times March 8, California State U., East Bay, is participating
in a regional program resulting in lower tuition for students
from 15 western states, including Washington, Oregon and Montana.
Similarly, the U. of Nebraska discounts tuition to students from
nearby Iowa counties.
And public universities in Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri
are trying to attract out-of-state students who meet minimum
test scores. The U. of South Dakota cut nonresident tuition to
150 percent of in-state rates.
While these exchanges offer advantages to the participating
colleges and students, the Times also reported political
backlash from taxpayers who object to paying for students from
another state.
Florida
Woes. A state budget crisis in Florida has forced drastic
cuts at all 11 of the state's universities. Freshman enrollment
has been capped at last year's levels. Admission standards are
rising. And according to the Miami Herald, students are
being squeezed out of a system they long took for granted. Even
students in the top five percent of their high school classes,
with strong extra curricular records, are being turned aside
by state schools they considered "safe."
Students "are doing everything they're told they need
to do," Cindy Woodring, an advisor at Coral Springs High
School told the Herald. But, "They are either deferred
or denied college acceptance." Students who do get in face
larger classes and overworked advisors. Many are turning to community
colleges. But they, too, are being hit hard by budget cuts. And
some whose classes are already filled are at a "breaking
point."
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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: Lisa Burnham,
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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