4. Past PFE Posts category archive

Lauren Edelson is in the Class of 2010 at Catlin Gabel School in Oregon.In her Op Ed piece for the New York Times she brings welcome insight and awareness into what thoughtful teenagers are looking for in a college.

 I have noticed in the last few years, colleges have gone overboard in attempting to connect to the psyche of today’s teens. It goes beyond the fancy dorms, amenities and student unions. Often in that effort, the prospective student can be turned off and confused by the message.

Miss Edelson is one of them. She recognizes that she is passing through a “growing up†phase, though memorable, is now looking toward the future. It is a future that is filled with new opportunities, challenges and responsibilities.

The problem may be in the training (or lack of) of the undergraduate tour guides. I have been amazed at some of the things said by them to prospective “buyersâ€. Often they are much too casual and ignorant of the colleges own philosophy, academic departments and resources.

I know that there will be many college admissions offices reading Lauren’s piece. If some of it applies to them, I hope they do not take this young woman’s view as one in a million.   

Others, however, could require a cheque or cash https://hayateli.com/how-to-choose-the-best-essay-writing-service/ payment at the time of the sale.

Taking the Magic Out of College

By LAUREN EDELSON

Portland, Ore.

I DRINK in the tour guide’s every word as he shows my group around Middlebury College’s campus. He tells us about the school’s new science building and gives us the scoop on nearby ski mountains. Dreamily, I imagine my future self: a year older, strolling to class past this very same scene. I’m about to ask about science research opportunities when he points to a nearby field and mentions the sport students play there: a flightless version of J. K. Rowling’s Quidditch game — broomsticks and all.

Back when I was a junior, before I’d printed off an application or visited a campus, I had high expectations for the college application process. I’d soak up detailed descriptions of academic opportunity and campus life — and by the end of it, I’d know which college was right for me. Back then, I knew only of these institutions and their intimidating reputations, not what set each one apart from the rest. And I couldn’t wait to find out.

So I was surprised when many top colleges delivered the same pitch. It turns out, they’re all a little bit like Hogwarts — the school for witches and wizards in the “Harry Potter” books and movies. Or at least, that’s what the tour guides kept telling me.

During a Harvard information session, the admissions officer compared the intramural sports competitions there to the Hogwarts House Cup. The tour guide told me that I wouldn’t be able to see the university’s huge freshman dining hall as it was closed for the day, but to just imagine Hogwarts’s Great Hall in its place.

At Dartmouth, a tour guide ushered my group past a large, wood-paneled room filled with comfortable chairs and mentioned the Hogwarts feel it was known for. At another liberal arts college, I heard that students had voted to name four buildings on campus after the four houses in Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Several colleges let it be known that Emma Watson, the actress who plays Hermione Granger in the movies, had looked into them. I read, in Cornell’s fall 2009 quarterly magazine, that a college admissions counseling Web site had counted Cornell among the five American colleges that have the most in common with Hogwarts. Both institutions, you see, are conveniently located outside cities. The article ended: “Bring your wand and broomstick, just in case.”

Read more »

As high school juniors (Class of 2011) approach the end of their first semester of Junior year, parents are becoming more conscious of the all important college planning timeline. Often, to their concern, they are more involved in the process than their future college bound scholar.

Some parents take on more of the responsibility than they should. They are sometimes referred to by admissions representatives as “helicopter parents”. I would not worry too much about it, however, until the spring of the junior year. That is when we strongly encourage the student to take a more active role in the process.  

To lighten up on the pressure, I thought I would share this bit of news with you.  Here is a Mom, who applied for a job at her son’s number one choice college, the University of the Pacific in Northern California.

Some job!  

 

 

Mom’s the President, and I’m Outta Here.

By Emma L. Carew

As Will Jeffery zeroed in on where he would attend college last spring, he concluded that the University of the Pacific was his dream school. That is, until his mother was hired as the president.

“He tried to be happy for me,” says Pamela A. Eibeck. “But I still remember him looking at me and saying, ‘You know, Mom, you ruined it for me.'”

Ms. Eibeck, 52, learned of the position while looking at Pacific’s Web site with her son. At the time, she was dean of engineering at Texas Tech University.

As Pacific rose to the top of her son’s list of colleges, Ms. Eibeck says, she realized that the reasons she liked the university for her son were the same ones that made it an appealing place to work.

“The way the timing worked out, we both applied for admission to University of the Pacific last spring,” she says. “It was, needless to say, a very unnerving process.”

The university accepted both mother and son, but Mr. Jeffery decided to go with his next choice, Santa Clara University, rather than become Pacific’s “first son.”

While President Eibeck understands Will’s decision, she has wistful moments. “I will admit to dreaming about the ability of our son to come home and do the laundry,” she says. A freshman dorm is across the street from her official residence.

ED note: Guess what? Ms. Eibeck just recently retired last year after 10 years of exemplary leadership of the university. Over the years I have recommended the college because of the focus she placed on preparing students properly for their respective careers while creating a unifying cooperative spirit between academic departments. Something that is often lacking in large universities with ego-driven disparate personalities.

Two-Year Colleges, Swamped, No Longer Welcome All

By LISA W. FODERARO

Sonja Taylor applied to LaGuardia Community College this summer with every expectation of being admitted. She planned to study business, bringing her closer to her dream of owning a restaurant.

But her application arrived in August, after the college had closed the floodgates because of a surge of interest from prospective students. So Ms. Taylor, 20, became one of thousands of students shut out this fall as most of New York City’s community colleges were forced to abandon their all-are-welcome admissions policies for the first time.

“Enrollment has been growing steadily, but this was a tidal wave for us this fall,” said the college’s president, Gail O. Mellow, pointing out that the student body had risen by almost 50 percent in the past decade. “I’ve never seen anything like this. We used to pretty much be an open door.”

Historically, the city’s six community colleges, which are part of the City University of New York, have taken applications until about a week before the start of classes, allowing time for students to apply for financial aid, get immunized and register for classes.

But this year, all but one of them had to close admissions earlier.

LaGuardia stopped accepting applications on July 30. The Borough of Manhattan Community College stopped in late June, while Bronx, Hostos and Queensborough Community Colleges cut off applications in the first half of August. Kingsborough Community College did not change the application period. Read more »

Chronicle of Higher Education Journalist, Eric Hoover, writes about something we have been sharing with our students for several years now.  Mr. Hoover hits on all the important points very well.

Regardless of where your student applies the bottom line cost of college is of great importance, particularly in an uncertain economy. The increased number of applicants to state supported schools make even those “safeties” an uncertain option from an admissions perspective.

But there are still very good private colleges that offer non-need Merit Scholarships that are often not considered by bright, ambitious students. Too often they have constructed their college lists from the top down with “brand-name” colleges.

Though it is true that Harvard and Princeton have extraordinarly generous aid policies, a parent’s AGI needs to be less than $180,000 to qualify for significant need-based grants with one child in college. As we all know, however, the challenge is to be admitted in the first place.

In any case, our money saving Dry Run can give you an early look at the myriad of possibilities still available for both the student and parents.

The State of College Admissions: Full of Uncertainty

By Eric Hoover

As the numbers of college applicants and applications have gone up, many colleges have seen other things go down, including their acceptance rates, their “yield” rates, and their confidence in predicting enrollment outcomes.

A new report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling puts that trend in context. For the fourth straight year, about three-quarters of four-year colleges and universities saw an increase in applications over the previous year, says the report, which examined the admissions cycle for freshmen who enrolled in the fall of 2008. Twenty-two percent of those applicants had submitted seven or more applications, up from 19 percent in 2007. 

 In an analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education, the report’s authors also found that from 2001 to 2007, the average acceptance rate at four-year institutions fell to 66.8 percent, from 71.3 percent. During that time, the average yield rate—the percentage of admitted students who enroll—declined to 45.2 percent, from 49.1 percent. Read more »