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April is a new beginning. For seniors it brings
closure to the application year and brings you to the
moment of decision. Now it is time to make a choice:
which college will I attend. Hopefully, the choice is
clear and the match is good. Ideally, the college that
wants you is the college you want. As a counselor, I
celebrate the successes and agonize over the
occasional disappointments of my students. For a
number of years, the competition for the top schools
has escalated. This year sets new records. Setting
new application and admissions records seems to be
an annual event.
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Increasing Selectivity |
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Top colleges received more high-quality applicants
for the same number of spots in the freshman class,
and rejected more of these deserving applicants than
in 2004. Harvard accepted a mere 9.7 percent of its
applicants; Yale, 9.9 percent; Princeton, 10.9
percent; Stanford slightly under 12 percent. Other
highly competitive schools followed suit. Dartmouth
accepted 15 percent; U Penn, 16 percent. Duke had
a record 18,000 applicants for 1660 places in the
freshman class, as did Tufts with 15,525 applications
for 1200. New York University processed slightly
under 34,000 applications for a freshman class of
4000, while Georgetown received 15,200 applications
for 1500 spots and accepted 19 percent. Vanderbilt
accepted 34 percent of its 12,000 applications for a
class of 1500, and University of Southern California
accepted 25 percent of 31,500 for a class of 2700.
Our Florida universities are becoming increasingly
selective with the University of Florida leading the
way. For the class of 2008, the middle 50 percent of
the class had a weighted GPA ranging from 3.8-4.3;
an SAT from 1200-1380; an ACT from 26-30. It can
only be anticipated that those numbers will move up
again for the entering class of 2009.
Statistics are still being compiled and yet to be
published. As more information becomes available,
the stage will be set for the class of 2006 soon to
enter the application year. Certain realities are
obvious.
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Plan Carefully |
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The net must be cast carefully and widely. Each
ensuing year demands more from prospective
students: more advanced courses, more commitment
to service, stronger grades and test scores. It also
demands more research into a broader range of
colleges in order to make a successful match of
student and college. While we see that the bar rises,
and we recognize how difficult it is to access the top
colleges, we also know that there are several
thousand colleges and universities throughout the
United States. Careful planning will lead to a
satisfactory match.
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College Counselors Needed |
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It is unfortunate that in this period of increased
competitiveness there is a decreasing ability of
counselors in our public high schools to devote the
time needed to help students and families through
the college process. According to Frank Sachs,
President of the National Association for College
Admission Counseling (NACAC), reporting in the
recent NACAC bulletin, "nationally the ratio of
students to counselors on the secondary level
currently stands at an average of 500 to 1." He goes
on to point out that in our urban schools the ratio is
more than 1000 to 1. Most of the counselors' time
is "eaten up by administrative duties, such as
scheduling, discipline...bus duty, lunch duty..." Mr.
Sachs says the case for counseling is
clear. "Research demonstrates that the more
students meet with counselors... the greater their
chances of...graduating from a four year college."
Yet, adequate resources are not allocated to guiding
students in their academic choices and the path to
college.
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Paying for College |
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A further escalating reality is the cost of going to
college. While programs such as Florida Pre-Paid and
Florida's Bright Futures have enabled many students
to avail themselves of a college education in Florida,
others who are not eligible for these programs, or
who seek to look beyond Florida, often face daunting
financial challenges.
On the one hand there is some exciting news for
strong students whose family income is $60,000 or
less. Several of the top tier schools have instituted
scholarship programs covering 75 to 100 percent of
tuition costs, following the lead of Harvard
University. Announced in 2004, Harvard has
eliminated the parental contribution to tuition for
families with annual income of less than $40,000.
On the other hand many families will not qualify for
financial assistance according to the federal
guidelines that serve as the basis of need-based aid.
Yet, they cannot afford to pay some or all of the
costs. Here again the match becomes critical. There
are a number of schools that offer merit-based aid,
scholarships that come from meeting a school's
academic standards, scholarships that reward
particular talents or activities. This year I have seen
several students say no thank you to a top choice
school offering no aid in order to accept a merit
scholarship from another school. The decision still
leaves the students with another wonderful
opportunity to accomplish their college education.
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A Note on the New SAT |
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No college newsletter would be complete at this time
without some observations on the March SAT I exam.
Approximately 300,000 students took the new test
consisting of modified verbal and math sections
coupled with a new writing test. Each section has a
possible 800 points. There were 107 who scored a
perfect 2400. Right now there is much confusion
about the test and the results, and it is too soon to
say how colleges will use the exam. It appears that
the score on the verbal and math sections will be
evaluated as before. And it is also likely that the
Writing section will be evaluated as the former SAT II
Writing test was. Students have had varied reactions
to the test, particularly to the writing component
that has 49 multiple choice questions on grammar
and
usage, as well as a hand-written essay which counts
for 25% of the writing test. Those who took the test
frequently commented on the length, on the
challenging grammar questions and the more
advanced Algebra II math. Others found it difficult to
complete the test, especially the essay.
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In Closing |
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In early May, I shall be traveling to Colorado to visit
colleges and to attend the semi-annual conference
of the Independent Educational Consultants
Association (IECA). I am sure one of the hot topics
will be the new SAT I. I will share insights in my
next newsletter, as well as my observations on
colleges visited in Colorado.
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