Vol. 25 No. 9             May 2011

Many students also are still indecisive and have sent in multiple deposits while they weigh their choices before setting their fall plans in stone. Others linger on wait lists, hoping the shake out from multiple applications will favor them in the end. "This is a predictable consequence of application volume," Nassirian told the paper. "Are 20 percent of those applications serious? Thirty percent? No one knows for sure."

Final determination of each college’s yield is still months away. So until then, CB continues to gather information and admissions profiles on how this past admissions season played out at postsecondary institutions across the land. Here is some of what we’ve found this month.

American U. Admit Rate Drops. The number of applications to American U. increased 10 percent this year to 18,735. But only 41 percent were admitted, down from 43 percent last year, according to On Campus news. The scores of admitted students: Average GPA, 3.9, average SAT 1300 and ACT 30. Applications from international students increased 30 percent. Students from China represented the greatest number of international applicants. More admitted students came from California than in the past.

Boston U. Boston U. received 41,734 applications and admitted 19,905 students for a 47.7 percent admit rate, a 10 point drop from last year. Colin Riley, a BU spokesman, told the student paper, the Daily Free Press, that the decrease "reflects the ever-increasing competition for admission to BU."

Brown. Brown U. received 30,948 applications, 3 percent more than last year, and admitted 2,692 students for an 8.7 percent admit rate. Brown has experienced a 50 percent surge in applications over the last three years. International students hail from 79 nations. And 17 percent of the admits are the first in their families to attend college.

"The accomplishments and potential of the nearly 31,000 candidates who sought admission to Brown this year is remarkable," James Miller, dean of admission, told the Brown news department. "Selecting an incoming class from a pool this talented was extremely challenging." The most popular majors are expected to be engineering, biology, international relations and economics. Only 16 percent are expected to pursue a humanities degree.

Claremont McKenna. This admissions season, Claremont McKenna C. received 418 Early Decision applications and accepted 147, for an early admit rate of 35 percent. Then, according to the student newspaper, the Forum, a total of 4,481 students applied under the regular deadline and 619 were admitted for a rate of 13.8 percent, down from 17.2 percent last year. The ratio of admitted men to women is 50 percent. About 14 to 16 percent of the new CMC class is expected to be made up of international students. SAT scores were impressive, with students scoring 710 on critical reading and 720 on math. Adam Miller, associate dean of admissions, told the Forum, "A lot of applicants who may have been admitted in another year, just weren’t this year…The caliber of our students is continuing to get better."

Northwestern U. NU accepted 5,575 students from 30,975 applicants, or about 18 percent. Last year, its acceptance rate was 23 percent. Michael Mills, associate provost, told the Daily Northwestern, "Nobody is happy about rejecting more people. Nobody is jumping up and down. We don’t take that lightly." NU also put another 3,000 applicants on its wait list. Last year, it elevated only 20 from that list. The school is wary of its yield, because last year it rose by 3 percent more than NU expected, leading to a larger class.

Occidental C. With the notion of decreasing class sizes in mind, Occidental C. reduced its acceptance rate for the class of 2015, according to the oxyweekly.com. This year, 38 percent of 6,107 applicants were admitted, a five percent decrease from last year. "We were more selective because we had a slight increase in applications, and our new student enrollment goals are slightly lower then the actual yield in the last two years," said Sally Richmond, director of admissions.

Swarthmore. Swarthmore C. received 6,547 applications, the most in school history, and it admitted 977 students for a 15 percent admit rate, according to The Phoenix. The largest increases came from California, New York and outside the United States. About 950 applicants were put on a wait list. Jim Bock, dean of admission, told the paper, that Swarthmore had "taken as few as zero but as many as 75" from the list in the past.

Tufts. Tufts U. received 17,130 applications, 11 percent more than last year and the largest pool in school history. It admitted 22 percent of the applicants, down from 24.5 percent last year. The School of Engineering admitted 26 percent of applicants, while the School of Arts and Sciences admitted 21 percent. Tufts class of 2015 posted the highest SAT scores in math and writing in school history. According to the Tufts Daily, financial considerations came into play in admissions decisions this year and the school said it does not expect to return to a need-blind admissions policy "for many years." Still, Tufts earmarked $15 million in financial aid, up from $14 million last year. And according to Lee Coffin, dean of undergraduate admissions, this year’s applications were read in a "need-sensitive" manner.

Stanford. Stanford U. received 34,384 applications this year, up from 32,022 last year. It admitted 2,427 students, including 754 Early Action students. Richard Shaw, dean of admissions, said, "In our review, we were humbled by the exceptional accomplishments of those candidates who have been admitted, as well as the competitive strength of all the applicants."

Union C. Union C. in New York attracted 5,064 applications, the most in school history. It expects a first-year class of about 575.

U.C. Berkeley. This year, 13,670 of the record 52,953 applicants were admitted to the U. of California, Berkeley, or about 21 percent. It announced that among its admits are a national debate champion, Junior Olympians in field hockey, skating and track-and-field and a classical pianist who also is a nationally-ranked skier. About 70 percent of the admitted class includes California students, about 18 percent fewer than in the past two years.

The number of out-of-state and international students (74 nations) has increased in recent years, both as a way to make up funding cuts by the state (they pay about $23,000 more a year than California residents) and broadening the diversity of the student body. About 4,200 of admitted students are expected to enroll fall 2011 with another 950 starting in spring 2012.

U. Chicago. The U. of Chicago received 21,773 applications, twice the volume of a half a decade ago, and then wooed its 3,446 accepted students by sending maroon scarves, the color of the school. By mid-April, more than 1,100 students, in turn, posted photos of themselves wearing the scarves on the UC Class of 2015 Facebook page, where they have begun getting to know one another.

U. of Wisconsin. The U. of Wisconsin at Madison attracted more than 28,000 applications for 2011, 12 percent more than last year, according to The Badger Herald. It offered places in the class of 2015 to 14,404 students. "With students applying to more schools, everyone is working harder," Adele Brumfield told the Chicago Tribune. "It’s more difficult for us to know who is really going to come…. Eventually, though, the models will work themselves out."

"Student of Color, West Coast Applicant Numbers Rise" at Wesleyan. Among the students accepted to Wesleyan U. this spring, 41 percent are U.S. students of color, 25 percent are from the West and 11 percent live outside the U.S., according to the wesleyanargus.com. More than 10,000 students applied for admission. For the class of 2015, median SAT scores were 720 for critical reading, 720 for math and 730 for writing. The ACT median was 32. Also, 84 percent of students had taken calculus, 78 percent had four years of a foreign language and 79 percent took three sciences.

Yale U.’s Wait List. Yale admitted about 2,000 of the nearly 27,300 applicants this year, according to the Associated Press. But almost 1,000 other applicants were offered a place on the wait list. Last year, the school offered spots to 98 of the 932 people on the wait list. Jeffrey Brenzel, Yale’s undergraduate admissions dean, says this year’s applicants were extraordinary and that the selection process was especially challenging.

CB Goes to… EWA
Tackling Tough Issues in Higher Education
WHAT IS THE IMPACT of the budget cuts to higher education? Why are so many college students taking remedial courses? What is the future of online education? These were but a few of the issues tackled last month at the Education Writers Association National Seminar in New Orleans. CB was there and will cover these topics in the coming months.

But one session in particular went to the heart of one of the toughest issues counselors and admissions officers face: How to get under-prepared students through high school and into college. Here’s some promising news.

New Options to Get High School Dropouts Ready for College
What happens to the vulnerable students who have no high school diploma let alone preparation for college? The bad news at EWA’s National Seminar was just how many high school students are not ready for college, let alone completing high school. The encouraging news is that a number of new organizations are meeting with success in catching some of the nearly 50 percent of high school students who are not on the traditional path to college. A number of foundations, including The Kellogg Foundation, the Gates Foundation and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation are funding programs to get disconnected youth connected to learning. Here are a few such programs presented in New Orleans.

GED Gets a Makeover. Nearly 800,000 GED tests are taken each year and, in 2009, more than 470,000 individuals were awarded a high school equivalency credential. But in the past, critics have charged that the test was not tough enough and the measurement of student achievement uneven. But this spring, the American Council on Education announced it is joining forces with the publisher Pearson and the GED Testing Service to develop a new GED Test that will align with state standards. The goal is to assure colleges and employers that students who pass the test are prepared. In addition, a new national test prep program will also be available and a new network will connect test-takers "to career and postsecondary educational opportunities."

According to Pearson, 39 million American adults lack high school credentials. The goal is to catch recent dropouts and provide a second chance to others. According to Nicole Chestang, executive director, GED, the old test will still be available as a new test is developed. For more info see, www.GEDtest.org.

Gateway to College Network. The statistics are indeed shocking: Nationally, 1.3 million students drop out of high school each year. And, according to Laurel Dukehart, president of Gateway to College National Network, only one-third of high school students graduate on time and are ready for postsecondary work, one third may get a diploma but aren’t prepared for academic college-level work and one third don’t graduate at all.

Gateway to College is a rapidly growing program nationwide that targets the middle third of students and those who drop out of high school by enabling them to restart their education. But it literally takes them to a different place. Students attend classes on a community college campus and earn dual credits towards high school and college completion. They are placed into small learning communities and take classes in reading, writing, math and college skills. They also learn time management, study skills and about personal learning styles. Then they make a transition to a campus program. The program began at Portland Community College in Oregon and now links 30 colleges in 16 states and with 100 school districts. See, www.gatewaytocollege.org.

Academy for College Excellence. Diego James Navarro is founder and director of a program that first worked with Latino youth at Cabrillo C. in Watsonville, California, and now targets other urban, minority and rural youth for whom "the path to higher education seems impossibly steep." Navarro grew up in a low-income high school in Pomona, California, and went on to earn an MBA at Harvard. He was convinced that community colleges were not able to serve low-income students who were not only academically unprepared for college, but personally unprepared as well. At the same time, he felt the world’s economy was "increasingly driven by digital technologies" and too many students were unprepared for that.

He created what is now called the Academy for College Excellence to equip under-prepared youth with a curriculum that get students ready for college. The premise is that "Students who have survived the harsh realities of life have the built-in capacity to succeed, thrive and persist given the right environment."

So the curriculum focuses on acceleration instead of remediation. Students work first on personal development through a variety of strategies. Students learn what their strengths are and how to communicate with others. Classes concentrate on behavior, self-management and how to improve concentration. Students learn to work in groups. For more info see, www.my-ace.org.

Dell Scholars Program. Students who have a high school GPA of 2.4 are not first in line for scholarships. But Michael and Susan Dell were convinced that some of these students had to "overcome an obstacle" to succeed that far. So they created the Dell Scholars Program, a college readiness program that includes a financial award for college, but also provides mentors, technology and resources to succeed in college. About 300 scholarships of about $20,000 are awarded each year. Applications open each year in November and close January 15. See, http://www.dellscholars.org.

Boosting College Completion for a New Economy. Beyond the issue of getting under-prepared students into college is the challenge of keeping them there. In April, the Education Commission of the States launched a new web site with resources for states on how to improve college completion. Its initiative is called Boosting College Completion for a New Economy. It works with higher education leaders in various states on improving graduation rates. See, www.boostingcollegecompletion.org.

In addition, ECS launched a new national project called "Getting Past Go" so that postsecondary leaders can have a network to share their best practices, and compare policies in different states. See www.GettingPastGo.org.

Other News at EWA
What Are Students Learning in College? The Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash C. wants to know. It is investigating the way the liberal arts in colleges can be strengthened. The Center recently named 30 colleges to participate in the Wabash Study 2010, a three-year study that will examine how schools can improve an area of learning on their campuses. The colleges range from Carleton to Washington and Lee. See, http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu.

Exposé on For-Profits. Bloomberg News won EWA’s Grand Prize for education reporting with its expose on the dark side of for-profit colleges. The report led to Congressional investigations last year.

To read the article, see, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aA2_FlVDs2Sk.

NCAA Results Impact Admissions
Does a school really benefit from making it to the NCAA National Basketball Championship Games?

Butler’s Fame. Butler U. gained further fame this year by making it once again to the NCAA Division I basketball Final Game. (Unfortunately, its fans were disappointed.) But, Butler won in other ways. First, it was named this year’s champion of the "Academic Performance Tournament" by Inside Higher Ed which picked a winner based on how bracketed teams would advance based on each school’s academic performance. Butler also made an impression academically at last year’s NCAA basketball Finals in its hometown of Indianapolis, when all of its basketball stars actually went to class on the very day of the national championship game.

Secondly, last year’s glory translated into this year’s admissions performance. Applications shot up by 41 percent to 9,357. Applications from out-of-state soared by 62 percent. "People knew where Butler was because they saw us in the Final Four," said Tom Weede, vice president for enrollment management. "No one applies to schools they never heard of." Despite all the interest, Butler’s freshman class can only accommodate 960 students or about 10 percent of applicants.

Morehead State’s Bounce. What’s a good run in the NCAA basketball tournament worth? Plenty at Morehead State U. in Kentucky. Hits on the schools website soared to over 200,000 this March when the school’s team was one of the Cinderella’s upsetting better-known opponents. Normally, March web hits average around 70,000, assistant vice president for enrollment services Jeffrey Liles told The Morehead News.

There was a 34 percent increase in the number of students accepted in March 2011 over last year, the month many students start making their final college decisions. Morehouse accepts about 83 percent of applicants. The average freshman ACT score is 21.5.

International Affairs
China Exports Millions of Students. The Chinese Ministry of Education announced that it is leading the world in the number of students it sends abroad to study. In 2010, China sent 1.27 million students to other nations to continue their education. According to China Daily, self-financed students make up the largest proportion of these students. And 90 percent head for 10 destinations: the U.S., Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Canada, Singapore, France, Germany and Russia. "Due to more higher education opportunities available abroad, an increasing number of young Chinese students go overseas to evade the highly competitive national college entrance exam, Li Jing, an application writer who works for an overseas study agency in Beijing, told China Daily. Assessing a candidate’s English is getting harder for U.S. colleges because many people like Li Jing may be writing a student’s U.S. college application.

And since China’s economy is booming, more middle-class families can afford to send their children abroad for education, another expert said. And unlike past years, many return to China because there are plenty of jobs for high-end professionals.

English Students Shut Out. One in three candidates for admittance to a university in England failed to secure a place. According to the Daily Mail, 710,000 students will have applied by the June deadline, but only 487,000 positions are available. State school pupils were expected to take the brunt of the shortage, since they did not perform as well as students from independent schools on the A-level tests. The toughest competition is for study in English and medicine. Most universities will charge 9,000 pounds a year for tuition.

More International Graduate Applications. The Council of Graduate Schools released results from a multi-year study of international graduate applications. From 2003 to 2004, international applications to U.S. graduate institutions fell by 28 percent. They fell another 5 percent from 2004 to 2005. Then they began rising again. From 2005 to 2006, they increased by 12 percent; from 2006 to 2007, they rose by 9 percent; from 2007 to 2008, they increased by 6 percent; 2008 to 2009, they were up by 4 percent; from 2009 to 2010, they jumped by 9 percent; and from 2010 to 2011, they rose by another 9 percent.

NEWS YOU CAN USE
Women Earn More Degrees Than Men. For the first time in human history, women are earning more degrees than men. According to just released census data, women are earning more bachelor’s and advanced degrees. In the early 1980’s, women began to surpass men in college enrollment. Thirty years later, they have surpassed men in graduation rates as well. Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million women have earned a master’s degree or higher, versus 10.5 million men. And about 20.1 million women have earned bachelor’s degrees versus 18.7 million men. Women passed men in bachelor’s degrees in 1996. For more information, see www.census.gov.

Jobless Grads? Finding a job in a college graduate’s field of study can be tough in tough times. In fact, more than 1.94 million college graduates under the age of 30 are "mal-employed," as Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern U., calls those who are working outside their field of expertise. According to Sum, in 2000, about 75 percent of college grads held jobs that required a college degree. That number has slipped to 60 percent in 2011. That’s not good news for the 687,000 students who are about to walk down the aisle with their new bachelor’s degree, because "mal-employed" students make an average of $476 per week, while those working in their field of study pull down an average $761. Those with simply a high school degree earn an average of $433 a week.

On the other hand, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the job outlook for this year’s grads has brightened for the first time since 2007. This spring, employers reported double-digit hiring projections. Employers told NACE they plan to hire nearly 20 percent more graduates this year than last. At last.

Moravian C. Moravian C. in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the nation’s sixth oldest college, has joined 850 other test-optional schools. Applicants to the 2012 freshman class will not be required to submit results from the ACT or SAT. Instead, they will have to submit an essay, either in response to an application question or a graded high school paper. Students who seek a Comenius Scholarship will still need to submit a standardized test score. To view the entire list of test optional colleges, go to http://fairtest.org/university/optional.

P.S. Going Green. To celebrate Earth Day this year, the Princeton Review released a "Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition" which profiles 308 U.S. institutions and three in Canada "for their commitments to sustainability in offerings, infrastructure and activities." Free. See, www.princetonreview.com/green-guide.aspx

FINANCIAL AID MATTERS
Sixty Percent Rely On Loans. A new Associated Press-Viacom poll of college students found that 6 in 10 rely on college loans to go to school and that half of them are uncomfortable with their debt. Two-thirds of students have to work in addition to study. And 84 percent said they are relying on more than one source of money to attend school. Among students who have considered dropping out, money not academics, is the driving force. And only 40 percent expect to graduate in four years. According to the U.S. Dept. of Ed, the average graduate leaves school $23,000 in debt. However, 9 out of 10 students expect to find work in their field of study.

Student Loan Delinquency Grows. One-in-four former college students is having difficulty making monthly payments on student loans, according to a new study by the Institute of Higher Education Policy. Delinquency means a borrower is behind on payments, but has not defaulted. Delinquency can affect a person’s credit rating or the rate that he/she needs to pay on future auto loans or mortgages.

The study said that 26 percent of 1.8 million student borrowers it surveyed had been delinquent. Another 15 percent had actually defaulted. Those who default face stiff consequences. The federal government can seize their tax refunds, garnish their wages, withhold benefits such as Social Security or charge additional collection fees.

In 1993, fewer than half of students graduated with debt. By 2008, two-thirds of students carried debt, now averaging $23,200.

Experts at the Institute of Higher Edu­cation Policy advise those who are having trouble repaying student loans to seek counseling about how to find options such as forbearance or deference. One place to start is the National Student Loan Data System at www.nxld.ed.gov which has information on resolving debt problems.

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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.).

In This Issue

Feature Articles
  - Intense Post-App Season  

  - Tackling Tough Issues in Higher Education

  - NCAA Results Impact Admissions    

International Affairs

Financial Aid Matters

News You Can Use

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