Save Money on Out of State Tuition
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE)
Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE)—Under this program, students pay 150% of in-state tuition in partnering states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
This will be an increasingly important program as public universities in California shrink and demand grows. Using tuition numbers from US News Ultimate Guide to Colleges 2008, a California resident wishing to attend Washington State would owe $10,299 in out of state tuition. The student from New York attending Washington State would owe $17,180 in out of state tuition! Check it out!
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“Need Sensitive” Admissions
The economy has hit highly respected Beloit University hard. After laying off 30+ employees this small university knew it must cut admissions. And now as applications stream in for the coveted 340 positions in the freshman class administrators report that they will be using a “need-sensitive” admissions system in contrast to neighboring Lawrence University’s “need-blind”. “Need-sensitive” admissions require applications be reviewed not only on ability to succeed academically, but also on ability to pay. In a perfect world I’m sure Beloit would select “need-blind” system–those academically able are accepted regardless of ability to pay.
The debate is whether it is better to admit students, not have adequate support and have them graduate with high debt or in essence force them to make a better economic choice by rejecting them. What do you think?
The lesson is different for different applicants. If you will need financial aid then you must research carefully colleges/universities that have need-blind admissions. If you do not believe you will need financial aid when asked on the application so indicate and make sure you find a few “need-sensitive” schools to apply to. Whether all of this is right or wrong for society as a whole, it is what it is, at least for now.
Financial Aid–Gorilla in the Room When Picking Colleges
As reported in LA Times today the results for UCLA’s 43rd annual “American Freshman” survey are in. Surveyed were 240, 580 freshmen at 340 four-year colleges and universities. 43% of students viewed financial aid as very important or essential to their choice of a college. That figure was up from 39.7% last year and the highest in the 36 years the question has been asked. 8.5% of the students said their ultimate choice of college was strongly affected by not being offered financial aid by their first-choice campus, the highest such response since the question was first asked 24 years ago. (1984). Note the most recent deep recession was on and around 1991…so the current economy appears to be having a greater impact on post-secondary plans.
“The Sky Is Falling”…UC Irvine to accept 10 percent fewer at least.
For those of you who still have the courage to read the papers, college admissions are hurting just as much as your home values. Wednesday the University of California Regents voted to trim freshmen enrollment (those who actually attend) by six (6) percent. Ouchhh! But wait it gets worse for those of you who were hoping to attend UC Irvine or UC San Diego where they will be reducing enrollment by twelve (12) percent because last year they had the misfortune at those two campuses of having more freshman accept their offer of admission than they had budgetted for. Well there’s always UC Riverside one might say…maybe not this year when they cut enrollment by ten (10) percent. Making lemonade out of lemons UC Merced plans to increase enrollment by seventeen (17) percent…always a silver lining.
What does this mean to the individual applicant’s chances of acceptance? Let’s take UC Irvine and work through the numbers. Applications are reported to be up 3% so UC Irvine has 43,712 applications. Given that last year they accepted 48.7% (20,685) and enrolled 23% (4,804),then they must lower to 19,685 those accepted in order to have 3,859 enroll. And it is my guess that the number accepted will be much less that 19,685 for fear the economy and rejections at other UC/Cal States will increase the number of students deciding to enroll at UC Irvine. Big Ouchh!
I hope this example illustrates how a cut in enrollment translates into cuts in acceptances…obviously you say. The problem then is that your son or daughter will have fewer acceptances and fewer choices..these kind of cuts put even more power in the hands of admissions officers who have such limited time to get to know the applicant. Again to save money, the UC’s and Cal States do not require teacher recommendations. The Cal States do not require essays. It’s all numbers.
Advice…diversify…spread the risk! If at all possible apply to private schools outside of California where there is not so much capacity pressure (midwest is looking really good these days) and if that is not possible and you are not happy with the choices you have do careful research into community college choices…but that’s for another blog.
Early Decision Applications Up?
Below is an article from Inside Higher Education discussing first data available on this year’s applications. It had been predicted that with the weak economy that the number of Early Decision applications (student must go there if accepted) would drop because in part student is locked in to that school’s price and/or student promises to go before financial aid package is offered. Surprisingly many schools are reporting an increase in early decision applications. As article indicates it is unclear what this means for early action and regular decision…we’ll have to wait and see. Certainty in uncertain times?
“The Bubble That Didn’t Burst”
Jess H. Lord, dean of admissions and financial aid at Haverford College, says that “up until Friday I’ve been telling anyone who would listen to me to get ready because I assumed ED numbers would drop.†He said it was “absolutely my assumption that ED would be hit hard by the economy — that applying ED would be seen as a luxury and folks would hold off.†“ED†is admissions lingo for early decision, in which applicants apply early and pledge, if admitted, to enroll.
When his staff finished counting Monday morning, after the early deadline passed, Haverford’s early applications were up 13 percent.
Nanci Tessier, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Richmond, was more optimistic. She figured that the economic woes would translate into a flat year for early decision. The university’s numbers are up 14 percent.
Lord and Tessier were not alone in expecting declining interest in early decision, which for a decade now has been growing rapidly in popularity. Admissions experts predicted that the binding nature of early decision would discourage students and families in a year when many are uncertain about their personal finances and would want to consider public college alternatives or to weigh aid offers from a range of colleges before committing.
With numerous reports of public colleges experiencing surges in applications, some have gone so far as to predict, as Forbes put it recently in an article called “The Coming College Bubble?†that private colleges may be “the next industry to pop.†After all, critics of private higher education have said, parents are outraged by high tuition rates, so this is the year they will stay away from colleges (excluding Harvard and a few others perhaps) that cost a lot and expect applicants to pledge to enroll before even receiving a financial aid package.
But what’s happening this fall — even as applications do flood public institutions — is that many private institutions are reporting significant increases in those very ED applications that were expected to decrease. While application deadlines vary, many colleges use either November 1 or 15. So these ED deadlines are the first instances of students making potentially binding decisions after the stock market collapse — and early applications are up at numerous private colleges.
Union College in New York is up 8 percent. George Washington University is up 30 percent — although because last year the university numbers were off, the figure is up a more modest 10 percent over recent years. But officials saw so much interest they just extended the early deadline by two weeks. Nebraska Wesleyan is still counting, but is up. Roanoke College’s early decision applicants have more than doubled.
St. Olaf College — which moved its deadline for ED from the 1st to the 15th in the hope of keeping its applications level — is up more than 50 percent. Smith College is still counting but expects a modest increase. Dartmouth College is up 10 percent. Northwestern University is up 15 percent. New York University is up 1 percent. Hamilton College is up 8 percent. Dickinson College is level. Warren Wilson College is up 30 percent. The numbers vary, but the declines didn’t happen.
Views about why this is the case vary — and many admissions officials at these and other institutions are so surprised that they haven’t had time to theorize. But many are saying that the idea that private colleges with high sticker prices were going to be uncompetitive this year has just not proven to be the case. And in an economic environment where the loss of a few dozen students can upend a college’s plans, emerging from this juncture in the admissions process in good shape is huge news for many of these institutions.
It’s important to know that this is likely to be an unusual year in admissions, with plenty of twists — and with any story on admissions trends, the colleges having miserable years tend not to rush to return a reporter’s calls. And the early decision market place is just a part of higher education. To have a viable early decision program, you need competitive admissions, and many of the private colleges struggling the most financially don’t. But admissions officials at these colleges and those still counting say that they consider it a sign of strength for their sector that institutions have held their own, let alone shown growth in early decision applications — especially since these applications have gone up so much in recent years, making the base higher than it once was.
All of this begs the question: Why?
One possibility is that colleges are focusing more on the applicants most likely to enroll — as opposed to everyone. This may be especially necessary in the Northeast, which isn’t favored by population trends — and may explain why some of the colleges experiencing early decision increases may not see increases in their total applications for the year. “We’ve been preparing for a smaller top of the funnel for a couple of years,†said Monica Inzer, dean of admissions and financial aid at Hamilton, which saw an increase in early applications but is slightly behind last year’s total for regular applications received to date.
With demographics shifting, she said it may be more important for colleges to focus on students with the right fit, and that means valuing different measures. For instance, Inzer said the college has had fewer inquiries about applications, but more visits from potential applicants and their families. Because of high “conversion†for those who visit, and enhanced financial aid efforts, Inzer said she was confident of attracting a great class. And for now, she said her admissions colleagues can relish their ED success, since she “never would have predicted†an increase this year.
Tessier said that the University of Richmond may have had success in a bad economic year by having a policy — and promoting it to families — of not treating financial aid applications from early decision applicants any less generously than those who apply without the pledge to enroll. Some colleges have been known to be less generous to students who pledge to enroll, saving aid dollars for those who will have other offers to consider. While there is some debate among admissions officials about how widespread (or reasonable) such policies are, families have heard that message.
“We’ve stressed to students that if they are worried that they may be disadvantaged in aid [by applying early], they won’t be. We’ll meet full need, if you apply early or regular,†she said. While that’s not a new policy, it has received more emphasis, she said.
The aid issues matter in part because of concern that early decision tends to favor families — generally white and wealthier — who are more familiar with the college application process. Notably, both Dartmouth and Northwestern said that they saw significant gains this year in their minority early applicant pools. They, along with other colleges reporting ED increases — Haverford and Union, for example — also made improvements to aid policies in the last year.
While conventional wisdom has held that parents would be scared off by price this year (even at colleges that have generous aid packages), some say that families are reacting to the recession in ways that extend beyond sticker price.
Robert J. Massa, vice president for enrollment and college relations at Dickinson College, said he is just back from a program on New York’s Long Island for prospective students and families. When he brought up the economic mess, Massa said that the questions were “not what I thought†they would be. “They were mainly concerned that colleges would cut back significantly in program support in the next several years, so that the college that their child agreed to attend could be significantly altered during their student’s enrollment time.†Massa said he is able to answer such questions with confidence that Dickinson wouldn’t make such cuts.
Another admissions official, who asked not to be quoted by name as he didn’t want to offend his state university, offered a possible explanation for Massa’s experience. Public university leaders in this state are telling anyone who will listen — repeatedly, and backed up by student and faculty groups — how budget cuts anticipated for this year and next will lead to the state’s colleges having larger class sizes, fewer sections, overcrowded dormitories, more buildings in disrepair, and so forth. The barrage of such statements, intended to preserve a quality public system, may be having the unintended consequence of raising questions about the system’s quality in the next few years.
Many others said that they were stunned by the increases, happy and still uncertain about why they took place. Derek Gueldenzoph dean of admissions at St. Olaf, said, “We braced for very different scenarios†and now that the numbers are in, “whatever the reason was for the increase, I’d love to bottle it.â€
Early decision is, of course, only part of the equation and many private colleges operate without it. Many of those institutions also are reporting healthy admissions increases — although some see the possibility that fewer of these students will eventually enroll.
Westminster College, in Utah, is up 38 percent in applications over this point last year. Wartburg College, in Iowa, is up 4.5 percent. Some colleges have early action programs — similar to early decision in that students apply early and find out if they are admitted, but different in that they make no pledge to enroll if accepted. Several report significant increases in these programs’ popularity, likely related to the economic uncertainty.
Mary Grondahl is vice president for enrollment management at the College of Saint Rose, in New York, which has a December 1 deadline for early action. To date, the college has received 1,560 early action applications, up from 1,395 at this point last year. By the end of the year, these students will not only know if they have been admitted, but how much aid the college will offer. Students are “very eager†to get the scholarship information, Grondahl said, and that is encouraging early applications. “It could not be more clear this year that students and their parents are extremely concerned about the bottom line and how that equates to overall value,†she said.
At Goucher College, early action is also up. Last year, 66 percent of all applications in at this time were early action. This year, the total is 77 percent. And applicants are focused early in the process — visits to the campus are up 10 percent from last year.
Michael J. O’Leary, vice president for enrollment management at Goucher, said that the “jury is still out†on whether the students will apply to more colleges, given that application fees add up. But he said that it’s clear that “families want more information sooner,†and that explains his college’s early action spike. “Come April, families will have had additional time to review offers of admission, offers of financial assistance, [and] their own personal financial situations,†he said.
Augustana College, in Illinois, was prompted by such concerns to announce its tuition rates for next year in October, several months earlier than is the norm for private colleges. The early announcement “has taken one of the unknowns out of our conversations with families,†said W. Kent Barnds, vice president for enrollment and communication. To date, applications are running 30 percent ahead of where they were a year ago.
Several admissions deans said that they expected those considerations to involve more colleges than in the past as students who don’t apply (or gain admission) early seek to have more options. Tessier of Richmond said she would advise students worried about aid to submit more applications than they might have in the past. This will, of course, complicate life for Tessier and her colleagues as “yield†— the percentage of admitted applicants who enroll — may be more difficult to predict.
Barnds said that he expects many students to “be applying all over the place to hedge their bets in this difficult time.†He envisions more students coming up with a “top three list,†rather than a “top choice†as they consider their applications. As a result, an application surge for non-early decision “is unlikely to mean that you are truly more popular,†but rather “probably means you and two or three other college are going to need to compete programmatically and financially more than ever before for the attention of the same student who is more willing to shop around and decide later in the process.â€
Of course, that’s why the healthy early decision numbers are so encouraging to many colleges. The reality, many college officials said, is that this admissions year will be difficult and unpredictable. Massa of Dickinson said that at his college, total applications submitted (regular) are down from the point last year, but total applications started online and not yet completed is up. That means this isn’t time for panic, he said, but for continuing to do what colleges do. “This year — in spite of the volatility in the economy — is more like last year than something completely different,†he said.
Lord of Haverford also said it was important to remember — perhaps especially in a volatile year — that there’s so much that’s not known. Even with the healthy increases, did some students opt not to apply early for economic reasons? With the economy and colleges’ policies changing, he said that admissions officials need to remember both “our ability or lack thereof to predict or control these outcomes.â€
— Scott Jaschik Inside Higher Education November 18, 2008
Private Schools Cost Less? In some cases…
Given our uncertain economic times, it’s more important than ever for students and parents to know precisely what the total cost of their son or daughter’s college education will be.
1. Tuition: University of California around $7,000/ year. Private University closer to $36,000. Big difference ONLY if the student graduates in 4 years. At UCLA 59% graduate in 4 years and not until 6 years do 89% graduate. In contrast, Bucknell University graduates 85% in 4 years. There are two primary reasons students don’t graduate on time–student changes major and/or student can’t get required classes. Make sure you know the graduation rate at each school, and how difficult it is to get required classes because staying another year costs tuition and all other costs as well.
2. Room & Board: UCLA reports $12,420, USC $10,858, and Bucknell $8,052. Location. Location. Location. It’s cheaper to live in rural Pennsylvania than Westwood! More important check availability of on campus housing for the four years and the cost of off campus housing. A two story house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms in Oberlin, Ohio rents for $1,100 per month with utilities included. (Less than $400/month per student)
3. Personal Expenses: This is an area where you will need to set parameters with your son/daughter. Here is where concerts, auto expenses (parking fees) skiing, movies, late night pizza, clothes, travel etc must be calculated. For example, if your son or daughter plans to join a fraternity or sorority there are annual dues. Again, membership fees vary depending on college/university, but some are as high as $1,500 each year. Another unexpected additional cost can be attending a school on quarter system versus semester system. Everytime a student starts a new set of classes they spend on average $500 for books. Students on quarters do that three times, those on semester only twice. Parents of boys need to realize that they eat a lot, despite the limitless dorm food. Parents of girls need to realize that they do not stop shopping when they go to college. They “need” that new pair of jeans for the football game. In my experience, if a student is outside a major metropolitan area they can make it on $350 / month assuming they eat on campus. In cities like Los Angeles, Boston, New York…at least $500 or more per month.
4. Financial Aid: As a start research what percentage of Need Based Aid (calculated when FAFSA completed) is met by school. UCLA promises to meet 82%. Private schools with strong endowments (check that out as well) meet 100%–for example, both USC and Bucknell. Another important consideration is what is the average debt of the graduating student. UCLA’s graduate has an average of $18,257 in debt, while USC graduate owes only $15,996. Don’t hesitate to apply for financial aid particularly to private schools. They devote considerable resources (endowments etc) to bringing the “net” cost down as evidenced by USC graduates leaving with less debt than those from UCLA.
At a minimum, I hope this information inspires you to really know each cost item of each college your student is considering…because whatever the cost is now, sadly it will only increase over the four years your student is attending. For all of these reasons, to assume a public university is cheaper than a private is a dangerous oversimplification.
COLLEGE ADMISSION RESOURCES ONLINE: Beware
Online sites relating to the College Search process can be big business– for example, companies wishing to sell their products to parents and high school students. Colleges themselves buy from College Board (SAT site) your student’s personal and academic information (if student checks the box to release).As with all online sites, do some research as to the qualifications of individuals contributing and the reliability of material posted. Just because it says it’s so doesn’t make it so. Below are some sites I have found helpful with my students and families. If you find others contact me at Head Start College and we’ll share your “find”.
Current Trends / Issues in College Admissions, Individual Colleges, College Students:
           Head Start College blog: www.headstartcollege.com/blog
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Objective Data on Individual Colleges/Universities:
           U.S. News & World Report: www.usnews.com
           Peterson’s: www.petersons.com
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Remote College Visits:
           College tours with audio: www.campustours.com
           College tours (more in depth, $15 college) www.Collegiatechoice.com
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College Majors/Careers:
           Career Interests/Values: www.CaliforniaColleges.edu
           Career Development: National Career Development Guidelines www.acrnetwork.org
           Assessing Interests: Self-Directed Search ($9.95) http://www.self-directed-search.com/
           Assessing Career Values: Values Scale ($19.95) http://kuder.com
           Assessing Personality Kiersey Temperament Sorter. http://keirsey.com/
           College Majors. www.mymajor.com
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College Fairs
           National Association of College Admissions Counselors: www.nacacnet.org
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College Applications Online
           University of California: www.universityofcaliforniaadmissions.eduÂ
           California State University: www.csumentor.edu
           Member Private Colleges: www.commonapp.org
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Sports:
           NCAA Guide for College-Bound Student-Athlete: Â
                       www.ncaaclearinghouse.net Â
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SAT / ACT:
           Schools that do NOT require SAT/ACT: www.fairtest.org
           Compass (Private tutorial, custom designed)www.compassprep.com
           Ivy West: (Private tutorial, standard prog.) www.IvyWest.com
           Revolution Prep (Private tutorial / classroom / combo) www.revolutionprep.com
            Princeton Review: (Private tutorial/classroom /online)www.princetonreview.com,
           Elite: (classroom) www.eliteprep.com
           Kaplan (Private tutorial / classroom / online)www.kaptest.com/college
           College Board (Online, check for question of the day)www.collegeboard.com
           No Fee: Number 2 rated highly by Consumer’s Report (9/06) www.Number2.com
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Financial Aid:
           Free Application for Federal Student Aid: www.FAFSA.com    Â
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Summer Enrichment Programs for High School Students:
           Educational/community service trips (free screening): Tips on Trips:                                                         www.tipsontripsandcamps.com
           Academic Programs at Oxford: http://www.oxbridgeprograms.com/
           Idyllwild Arts: www.idyllwildarts.org
           Interlochen Center for the Arts: www.interlochen.org
           Cal State Summer School for Mathematics and Science:
                       www.ucop.edu/cosmos
           Putney Programs of all types: www.goputney.com
           Computer camps: www.computercamps.com
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Personal Statement: Be Personal
Let me introduce myself | ||
First lines from the application essays of Stanford’s newest class. | ||
Illustration by Nick Dewar | ||
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a high school student in possession of a good résumé must still be in want of a personal essay. In the best of times and the worst of times, first impressions matter. Any student who hopes to be the hero of his own life will strive to write a great opening line. Picture the dark and stormy nights and the rosy-fingered dawns during which college applicants for the Class of ’12 took pen in hand. What would work best—a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream? A screaming comes across the sky as lines are written, then abandoned. The rewriting and editing seems to last till the clocks strike thirteen. But at last their personal statements for the Common App are crafted. The undergraduate admissions staff, while evaluating students on their total merit, take notice of the first lines that make essay-reading a particular pleasure. We asked them to share some of their favorite openers from those students who, starting in September, can write, Call me Cardinal. Unlike many mathematicians, I live in an irrational world; I feel that my life is defined by a certain amount of irrationalities that bloom too frequently, such as my brief foray in front of 400 people without my pants. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of a Bhimanagar slum dwelling in Bangalore, I ran my fingers across a fresh cut on my forehead. I almost didn’t live through September 11th, 2001. When I was 8 years old, I shocked my family and a local archaeologist by discovering artifacts dating back almost 3,500 years. When I was in eighth grade I couldn’t read. While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of the universe? The spaghetti burbled and slushed around the pan, and as I stirred it, the noises it gave off began to sound increasingly like bodily functions. I had never seen anyone get so excited about mitochondria. Cancer tried to defeat me, and it failed. I stand on the riverbank surveying this rippled range like some riparian cowboy—instead of chaps, I wear vinyl, thigh-high waders and a lasso of measuring tape and twine is slung over my arm. I have old hands. Flying over enemy territory, I took in Beirut’s beautiful skyline and wondered if under different circumstances I would have hopped on a bus and come here for my vacation. Instead, I saw the city from the window of a helicopter, in military uniform, my face camouflaged, on my way to a special operation deep behind enemy lines. My younger sister, Jessica, arrived home one day reeling about the shirt that her friend had worn to school. It had simply read, “Genocide, Homicide, Suicide, Riverside.†I’ll never forget the day when my childhood nightmares about fighting gigantic trolls in the Lord of the Rings series became a reality. Sword in hand and clad in medieval samurai armor, I dragged myself into the battleground as I faced my opponent, a warmongering giant. Good Grief! You never would have guessed that an unassuming meek lovable loser like Charlie Brown would have an influence on anyone; but indeed he has. Some fathers might disapprove of their children handling noxious chemicals in the garage. I was paralyzed from the waist down. I would try to move my leg or even shift an ankle but I never got a response. This was the first time thoughts of death ever crossed my mind. As an Indian-American, I am forever bound to the hyphen. Journey to Gulu’s outskirts and you will uncover the scene where education was raped 11 years ago; some Ugandan teens also lost their innocence in exchange for their lives. I have been surfing Lake Michigan since I was 3 years old. On a hot Hollywood evening, I sat on a bike, sweltering in a winter coat and furry boots. I change my name each time I place an order at Starbucks. |
Wall Street Journal– College Applicant, Beware:Your Facebook Page is Showing
By JOHN HECHINGER
A new survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social-networking sites to evaluate applicants. Of those colleges making use of the online information, 38% said that what they saw “negatively affected” their views of the applicant. Only a quarter of the schools checking the sites said their views were improved, according to the survey by education company Kaplan, a unit of Washington Post Co.
Some admissions officers said they had rejected students because of material on the sites. Jeff Olson, who heads research for Kaplan’s test-preparation division, says one university did so after the student gushed about the school while visiting the campus, then trashed it online. Kaplan promised anonymity to the colleges, of which 320 responded. The company surveyed schools with the most selective admissions.
The vast majority of the colleges surveyed had no policy about when it was appropriate for school officials to look at prospective students’ social-networking sites. “We’re in the early stage of a new technology,” Mr. Olson says. “It’s the Wild, Wild West. There are no clear boundaries or limits.”
The lack of rules is already provoking debate among admissions officers. Some maintain that applicants’ online data are public information that schools should vet to help protect the integrity of the institutions. Others say they are uncomfortable flipping through teenage Facebook pages.
Colleges’ recent interest in social-networking sites is leading many aspiring students to take a hard look at their online habits and in some cases to remove or change postings. With a high-school graduating class nationwide of 3.3 million students, colleges are expected to be sifting through a record number of applications this year.
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But Kaplan and many high-school guidance counselors say students often don’t restrict public access on social-networking sites and, in any case, damaging information can find a way to leak out. David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a professional organization, says schools don’t have time to scour the Internet systematically to check out thousands of applicants. But he says admissions officers at times receive anonymous tips, which may be from rival applicants, about embarrassing Facebook or MySpace material, such as a picture of a student drunk at an underage party.
WHAT DO I THINK?
Well I was surprised that 10% of highly competitive colleges admitted they took time to look at Facebook. (I guess I wish more used their time offering interviews and rereading essays.) Given that data and the debate concerning privacy, I am guessing that colleges in addition to the honest 10% look but didn’t want to admit it. Particularly, troubling to me was the suggestion in the article that fellow students (or parents) might suggest to an admissions office to check out student X’s Facebook. Hard to believe, but remember cheerleading stories in Texas?
SO WHAT TO DO? Seniors clean up your Facebook pages. Turn them into just another peice of your application…in case we lose touch do the same in college when you apply for internships or jobs…to use a very non-techy phrase. “Better Safe than Sorry”.
DREADED “Personal Essay”: No More Fitting In, Be Unique!
[Annually, Â Â I attend this UC sponsored conference, I gain not only information as to changes in the application process and trends in admission acceptances, but also new perspectives on the UC application and the California higher education system in general. Over the next few days I will be reviewing my notes and sending topical summaries.]
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DREADED “Personal Statement†As Explained by UC Admissions[1]…when our goal was Fitting In…now we need to be Unique!
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            To follow are some insights I gained regarding the DREADED   “Personal Statementâ€.
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Parent:           “What IS the Personal Statement…IS it the college essay?â€
Meredith:       “It’s their (UC) name for college essay.†(before today)
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Today’s speaker finally gave REAL meaning to the term “Personal Statementâ€â€¦it’s called that because it isn’t just a college essay often written in English class for a grade…
But INSTEAD…they want it to be PERSONAL above all else…even more important than perfect spelling and grammar! (but WE will have perfect grammar and spelling)
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High school seniors have spent the past 4-6 years trying to “FIT IN â€. Understandably, they find it very uncomfortable to write an essay that focuses on them as an individual, how they are unique…most have never given that a thought!
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Recognizing the challenge ahead the presenter offered a “metaphor†for approaching the problem. The college essay is a “sales opportunityâ€. Student is the product and the salesman. College/University is the buyer.
 “Why should the college choose you?â€
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 Important in this metaphor:
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1. Knowledge of product/student: (student has spent time collecting and reflecting on their high school years: step one—what he/she did, step two—why and how they did that.)
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2. Knowledge of buyer/ university: (mission/values of college, data on students accepted, AND prompt…that’s what they want answered…answer it)
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Moving to PROCESS I will list helpful suggestions in no particular order:
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1. “Self promotion and Introspectionâ€
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2. “You are the star. Anyone/thing in essay is there to make you look good. If anyone or thing is stealing the show write them out of the script.â€
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3. Personal Statement Writing Step by Step:
           a. Gather Information: activities, hobbies (resume, brag sheet etc)
           b. Critically review and discuss whys and hows of  “aâ€
           c. Develop topic / thesis
           d. Draft / feedback / redraft
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4. Clear and direct prose / not overblown: style more like news article than English essay.
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5. Essay progression: Facts / Interpretation / Meaning & Significance…BINGO!
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6. Don’t be concerned with word limits in the beginning. Write freely and within that work you may find the beginnings of an essay.
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Hope this summary gives you some added insight into the DREADED “Personal Statementâ€. …so let’s go out there and strive to be unique!
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