Understanding Data in College Guidebooks

When you read college guidebooks or look on web sites of colleges and universities, test score data is given and referred to in the 25th and 75th percentile. How do you know where your test scores fit in? Here's an explanation by Allen Grove, About.com: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theact/a/act-score-explanation.htm

Start Saving for College

Article from the Wall Street Journal on what college will cost in 18 years by Stacey L. Bradford...

If there's one thing parents think they should save for, it's their children's college education. In 18 years, a degree from a public school will cost around $200,000 and a private university will run closer to $400,000, according to the College Board, which administers the SAT standardized college admissions test.......http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124492913145812745.html

Juniors: Start Your College Planning Now

If you have just finished your junior year in high school now is the time to put together a list of colleges and/or universities that you would like to apply to. To find the schools that are the best fit for you ask yourself what your preferences are: do you want a large or small school; a city, suburb or rural location; close to home or far away; any religious preferences; specific academic subjects, etc.
College guidebooks are a good place to start to learn about each school, but then the best thing to do is visit, go on a tour of the campus, so you can see it first-hand.
If you spend the summer planning what schools to apply to, when fall rolls around you'll be all ready to start your applications.
A college adviser can help you narrow down the schools that are the best fit for you: http://acollegeforyou.com/

Stay Home & Get A Job

Some Admissions Officers Encourage More Free Time during the Summer

Written by: Heather Zimar
Published: 07/16/2008

Some admissions officers are encouraging students to take more time for personal growth in the summer, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The growing trend toward pre-college achievement, including college prep camps and enrichment programs, has surged in recent years, leaving college admissions officers and child psychologists to question whether the intensity is good for students, the Inquirer reported. In a recent paper, three Harvard officials are recommending that youth “bring summer back.”

“We have no evidence in Harvard admissions decisions over time that shows a consistent favorable judgment on packaged summer programs,” Marilyn McGrath, Harvard’s director of admissions, told the Inquirer. “You could just be a lifeguard, or spend a whole month reading Dostoyevsky, or visit your grandparents. All of those things are so rich in human terms.”

Eric J. Furda, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, said he encourages “horizon-broadening,” but students also need to learn to relax. “People shouldn’t feel that this is another box they need to check- ‘Summer experience, check, I did that, now how does it look on my application?’” Furda told the Inquirer. He said he looks for motivation, and what a student gets out of a program and how he or she articulates it.

There are many opportunities across the country for summer enrichment programs and college prep camps. Julian Krinsky camps, for example, include internships, a model United Nations program and a pre-college program at Princeton. Entry fees range from $1,000 a week to more than $12,000 for a residential student staying eight weeks, the Inquirer reported.

Eileen Bazelon, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, said students need to balance achievement and time to explore. “Is it just a means to an end as opposed to, God forbid, learning something? It needs to be done in the right context, like taking general college chemistry to see if you’re really interested in science, not just to pad your resume.”

Furda recommends summer enrichment activities such as getting a summer job, making a reading list, checking out local science exhibits, or learning about art.

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Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20080713_Not-fun_in_the_summertime_is_no_hit_with_college_officials.html

Arizona State's Party Ranking Drops

A once-mighty reputation at Arizona State University, one sustained with pride and perseverance by generations of students, has seen its sterling status tarnished. ASU this week was ranked 17th among institutions of higher learning that party hard.

It is a sharp and severe tumble for a college that long has been among the elite. No less a reputable publication than Playboy named ASU the nation's No. 1 party school as recently as 2002, continuing a tradition that began in 1987 with that journal's inaugural ranking.

Complete article at:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/2008/07/31/20080731asuparty0731.html

For college admissions advice go to: http://www.acollegeforyou.com

SAT Scores for Admission to Top Colleges

By Allen Grove, About.com

If you're wondering if you have the SAT scores you'll need to get into an one of the top colleges in the United States, here's a side-by-side comparison of scores for the middle 50% of applicants. If your scores fall within or above these ranges, you're on target for admission to one of these top colleges.

Realize, of course, that SAT scores are just one part of the application. It's possible to have perfect 800s for each SAT subject and still get rejected if other parts of your application are weak. Similarly, some students with scores significantly below the ranges listed here gain admission because they demonstrate other strengths.

To see a full profile of each college, click on the names in the chart below.

2007-08 data from National Center for Educational Statistics

Top College SAT Score Comparison (mid 50%)

	SAT Scores
	Reading		Math		Writing
	25%	75%	25%	75%	25%	75%
Amherst	670	770	660	760	670	760
Carleton	650	750	660	740	650	730
Grinnell	630	740	620	720	-	-
Haverford	650	750	640	740	650	750
Middlebury	630	740	640	740	630	740
Pomona	690	770	690	760	680	750
Reed	680	760	630	710	650	730
Swarthmore	680	780	680	760	680	760
Wellesley	660	750	640	730	660	730
Williams	660	760	660	760	-	-

Tough College Admission Season

As college applications soar, so does the pain of rejection

By Deb Kollars - dkollars@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, April 11, 2008

An unusual season of disappointment, confusion and heartbreak has settled over the nation's college-bound crowd this year.

In a domino process of memorable proportions, a record-breaking crop of high school graduates has led to a record-setting stream of applications to top tier universities. That, in turn, has triggered more students than ever being placed on wait lists or rejected.

For many, it hurts.

"I told my mom, no boy can ever break my heart the way the rejection letter did," said Stephanie Yu, a senior at Franklin High School in Elk Grove.

Yu has a 4.2 grade-point average and nine Advanced Placement courses on her résumé, along with a healthy lineup of activities including swimming. She applied to five colleges, four in the University of California system: Berkeley, Los Angeles, Davis and her favorite, San Diego. Her fifth application went to a state college, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Three weeks ago, the rejections started coming. In the end, there were five.

The disappointed teenager is now regrouping. She is writing letters of appeal. She is considering starting at a community college and transferring to the University of California later.

And this weekend, Yu and her parents will visit UC Riverside, which has turned up as a new option because UC guarantees all eligible California graduates a spot somewhere in the system. This week, UC mailed invitations to students such as Yu to attend Riverside or UC Merced, which are less crowded.

Other students have found themselves in an academic limbo this year: They have been accepted by some schools and must send in an acceptance deposit by May 1. But they have been put on wait lists at others and won't know until after May 1 whether they can enroll.

Sofia Cortopassi is a senior at Davis High School navigating these uneasy waters. She has a 4.6 grade-point average, strong test scores and numerous extracurricular activities ranging from opera singing to an internship in the state Legislature.

She applied to 18 colleges with strong music and political science programs. Ten said yes. Four turned her down. And four – including her first choice, Wellesley College in Massachusetts – put her on a wait list.

When the word from Wellesley came, it was such a letdown that Cortopassi waited two days before telling anyone.

She has since chosen a path both practical and philosophical. Next week she will visit two colleges that sent acceptances and that she finds appealing: Wesleyan University in Connecticut and George Washington University in the nation's capital.

"I figure, if they didn't accept me right off the bat, maybe it's not a good fit," she said of Wellesley.

Others at her school have taken things harder.

"At Davis this year, there are a ton of wait lists and a lot of rejections," she said. "Some of my friends had to take time off school just to deal with it."

According to college admissions directors and school counselors, the number of high school graduates has grown steadily as children of the baby boom era reach adulthood. The trend was expected to peak this year or next, but the intensity this winter came as a shock.

"It was the magnitude that surprised us," said Susan Wilbur, UC's director of undergraduate admissions. She said the growing count of graduates has been accompanied by an increase in students meeting UC's tough entrance requirements, creating even more competition.

Overall, freshman applications to UC rose 9.2 percent this year, from 87,213 to 95,201.

The University of California, Davis, which last year admitted nearly 60 percent of freshmen who applied, had the biggest jump – 15.6 percent. UCLA, where fewer than a quarter of applicants were admitted last year, saw freshman applications exceed 55,000.

At elite private schools across the country, the story has been the same.

Last week, Princeton University announced the most selective "admit rate" in the school's history – 9.25 percent. Princeton had a record 21,369 applications for the class of 2012 and offered admission to 1,976 individuals.

Stanford University said 2,400 students were chosen for admission out of 25,298 applicants this year, the largest candidate pool in the school's history.

Mary Hesser, guidance director at Christian Brothers, a private college preparatory school in Oak Park, said it has been a roller coaster year for seniors.

"We got some amazing admits," she said. "UCLA. UC Berkeley. West Point. Stanford. Duke. Georgetown." The big surprise, Hesser said, was how many rejections UC sent.

"There were lots of tears in my office," Hesser said. "It was heartbreaking. These kids are well qualified. I've been writing a lot of letters of appeal."

Besides demographics, applications also have been pushed upward by the ease of applying online and the growing popularity of the "common application," an online system accepted by 300 colleges.

"Kids can apply to 20 schools as easily as 10," said Scott Hamilton, whose Future Stars College Counseling Center helps students through the application process.

Students are aware of the growing competition, so they apply to more places, he said: "Part of the frenzy is feeding itself."

It creates a tricky situation for colleges, Hamilton said. Schools typically send out more letters of admission than available slots, knowing some students will decline. The goal is to match up the number of seats that need to be filled and acceptance deposits from candidates. Admission types call this their "yield."

With so many students applying to numerous schools, predicting an accurate yield gets tougher. As a result, some colleges are expanding their wait lists.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, increased its wait list from 499 students last year to this spring's 739. Freshman applications to MIT were up 8 percent over last year – 13,396 for 1,040 slots, said Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions. He sent 1,554 acceptance letters; if that pool proves too small, he will turn to the wait list.

Walt Wild oversees college and career centers in the Roseville Joint Union High School District. He noted that the admissions crunch is only playing out in a top tier of about 75 schools. Most of the 3,000 colleges in the country have a more balanced entry equation, he said.

"The opportunity for college is definitely there," Wild said. "It's not that kids aren't getting into college. It's just more difficult with the more prestigious schools."

Despite the fierce competition, the past few weeks have brought joy and relief to many high-achieving students.

Vinh Bui, a senior at Franklin High and friend of Stephanie Yu's, was accepted at four top schools, including Stanford, and is on a wait list for Columbia and MIT.

When he learned Stanford said yes, Bui was jubilant: "I jumped around for 10 or 15 minutes."

At school, though, he hesitated to tell his friend because he knew how sad she was.

-From the Sacramento Bee