-OPINION ARTICLES-
“Paying in Full as the Ticket into Colleges”
By Kate Zernike, March 30, 2009; New York Times
In the bid for a fat envelope this year, it may help, more than usual, to have a fat wallet.
Facing fallen endowments and needier students, many colleges are looking more favorably on wealthier applicants as they make their admissions decisions this year.
Institutions that have pledged to admit students regardless of need are finding ways to increase the number of those who pay the full cost in ways that allow the colleges to maintain the claim of being need-blind — taking more students from the transfer or waiting lists, for instance, or admitting more foreign students who pay full tuition.
Private colleges that acknowledge taking financial status into account say they are even more aware of that factor this year.
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Rebuttal to “Paying in Full as the Ticket Into Colleges” article
By Steve Hamilton, Alumni Council on Admissions, University of Pennsylvania
This article makes some very broad statements, implying that colleges will behave differently in a tough economy. It implies colleges will drop their need-blind admission policies, or that a family who can pay full tuition will be ranked higher on the waitlist, or that a full-pay student will stand a better chance in the admissions process.
Some of the statements I find particularly problematic come out in the opening lines of this article:
“In the bid for a fat envelope this year, it may help, more than usual, to have a fat wallet.
Facing fallen endowments and needier students, many colleges are looking more favorably on wealthier applicants as they make their admissions decisions this year.
Institutions that have pledged to admit students regardless of nee are finding ways to increase the number of those who pay the full cost in ways that allow colleges to maintain the claim of being need-blind – taking more students from the transfer or waiting lists, for instance, or admitting more foreign students who pay full tuition.”
Read complete rebuttal ›
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-Legacy Admissions-
“Looking to the Past to Ban Legacy Admissions”
By Scott Jaschik, November 20, 2008
When critics question legacy admissions — special preferences for the children of alumni — they tend to focus on fairness, not legality. Politicians and others have periodically asked why colleges should give any assistance to those who are more likely to have other advantages anyway, given that their parents were well educated.
But legal challenges have been few. In the 1980s, the U.S. Education Department considered complaints that legacy admissions systems discriminated against Asian American applicants, but ruled that this was not the case because, as more Asian Americans became graduates of elite colleges, their children would benefit much as the children of white alumni have benefited over time.
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“Legacy Admits: More Money, Lower Scores”
By Scott Jaschik, August 4, 2008
Every year or so, someone takes on the idea of legacy admissions preferences — the advantages some colleges give to applicants who are the children of alumni. John Edwards talked about it when he was a senator. The Price of Admission, a scathing book published in 2006, included legacy admissions among a series of practices used at elite colleges to favor the wealthy. When these attacks come, colleges defend legacy admissions in part by arguing that the significantly higher than average admit rates for alumni children don’t suggest unfairness. The argument goes like this: Children of alumni are more likely to have gone to good high schools, to have been encouraged to study hard, and to have been taught at home the value of higher education — so they are likely winning admission largely on their own merits, with maybe just a little tip among relatively equal applicants.
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“Top Colleges Mum on Legacy Admissions”
By Alice Gomstyn, April 11, 2008
Across the country, the nation's top students are feeling a pain that comes in the form of a dreaded thin envelope. The most selective universities in the country this year posted record-low admission rates that dipped into the single digits — a result, many officials say, of sky-high application totals. As colleges such as Harvard and Princeton released their rates, they also touted the diverse backgrounds of successful applicants, who include students of color and international candidates. But there's at least one admissions statistic that many top colleges don't trumpet: the rate of acceptance among legacy students, that is, students who attend the same schools as their parents and, in some cases, grandparents.
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“Admissions Preferences Given to Alumni Children Draws Fire”
By Daniel Golden, January 15, 2003
With two cases challenging affirmative action at the University of Michigan pending before it, the Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of race-based preferences in college admissions. But the cases also may affect the future of a longer-standing kind of preference: the one favoring children of alumni. The legacy preference, as it is known, is nearly as widespread as those based on race and ethnicity. Colleges like it because it keeps alumni happy and more inclined to donate. But overwhelmingly, the legacy preference benefits whites. Now, calls to abandon the legacy preference are on the rise from minority groups and politicians who see it as a perpetuation of class distinction and white advantage.
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-DENNIE'S CORNER-
Dennie Zastrow, C'10, is a work-study student for the Alumni Council on Admissions.
Currently, Dennie is majoring in diplomatic history with a minor in political science. He chairs the Lambda Alliance (the LGBT undergraduate coalition), as well as the QPenn and Tangible Change committees. Like many students unsure about their future, he plans to attend law school post-graduation.
Please also check out his weekly listing of "What's Happening at Penn?" and the ACA Twitter page.
These articles have been chosen by Dennie as pieces of writing about admissions topics that may interest you:
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“The Choice: Demystifying College Admissions and Aid”
By Eric J. Furda, Dean of Admissions, University of Pennsylvania, October 26-30, 2009
This week in the Guidance Office – a forum for readers of The Choice to seek expert advice from admissions officers, guidance counselors, and others in the admissions field – our guest is Eric J. Furda, the dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania since July 1, 2008. Mr. Furda, a graduate of U. Penn, was previously executive director of undergraduate admissions at Cllumbia University.
To pose a question to Mr. Furda, use the comment box on the original post. His answers are scheduled to continue through Friday.
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“M.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree”
By Tamar Lewin, New York Times, October 1, 2009
Dozens of colleges — including Amherst, Bates, Carleton, Colby, Vassar, Wellesley and Yale — are embracing student blogs on their Web sites, seeing them as a powerful marketing tool for high school students, who these days are less interested in official messages and statistics than in first-hand narratives and direct interaction with current students.
“But so far, none of the blogs match the interactivity and creativity of those of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they are posted prominently on the admissions homepage, along with hundreds of responses from prospective applicants — all unedited.
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"In an Uncertain Summer, Colleges Try to Control Enrollment 'Melt "
By Eric Hoover, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 24, 2009
In the summer, what's true of Popsicles is also true of freshman classes: A little melt is fine, but too much can cause a real mess.
Each year, admissions officers know that a small percentage of admitted applicants who sent deposits will not show up. The phenomenon, known as "summer melt," has many causes.
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"Does Being at the Top of the Rankings Help Colleges?"
By Robert Morse, U.S. News & World Report, July 16, 2009
Is there an impact on a college's admissions indicators as a result of its position in the U.S. News America's Best Colleges rankings? Is the influence of the rankings different depending on whether the school is a large research university or a smaller liberal arts college? How big could these effects be, and are they statistically significant?
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"Penn not included in Princeton Review ‘dream schools’"
By Darina Shtrakhman, Daily Pennsylvanian; April 9, 2009
Dean of Admissions Eric Furda conceded that "of course we want to be on this list and lists like these," but noted that ranking is not everything. "Ultimately, a dream school is whatever school suits the student best," he said.
"We want to communicate to the students we've accepted that we're the school for them, and I don't think this list is going to affect their decision."
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"Admit rate rises to 17.1 percent"
By Darina Shtrakhman, Daily Pennsylvanian; March 31, 2009
Penn accepted the nearly 4,000 students out of a pool of 22,939 applicants - an overall admit rate of 17.11 percent for the class of 2013.
This year, 2,411 students were accepted to the College of Arts and Sciences, 837 to the School of Engineering and Applied Science, 544 to Wharton and 134 to the School of Nursing, according to Dean of Admissions Eric Furda.
Although he declined to reveal acceptance rates for the individual schools, Furda explained that the level of competitiveness has been consistent in recent years. "Traditionally, the dual-degree programs have been the most competitive, then Wharton, then the College, then Engineering and then Nursing," he said.
Overall, average SAT scores went up from 2,160 last year to 2,175 this year, revealing what Furda called "a marginal increase in quality" in this year's applicant pool.
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“In Shifting Era of Admissions, Colleges Sweat”
By Kate Zernike, New York Times; March 8, 2009
As colleges weigh this year’s round of applications, high school seniors are not the only anxious ones.
Just as nervously, colleges — facing a financial landscape they have never seen before — are trying to figure out how many students to accept, and how many students will accept them.
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"When the Alma Mater of your Dreams Says No"
By Nora Barry, The Philadelphia Inquirer; February 18, 2009
At this time last year, Lower Merion High School senior Brett Redmond thought he was headed to the school of his dreams – the University of Maryland.
"I lived in Maryland for summers and weekends my whole life," he said. "I was a big sports fan and I watched all their basketball games. I just always wanted to go there." According to his mother, Sue, he’d want to stop and get a Terps hat or shirt every time they went out on their boat in the Chesapeake. "That’s all he wanted."
Penn Alumnus Ken Ginsburg (C’83, GED’83), author of Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and A Parent’s Guide to Building Resilience in Teens, is quoted in this article.
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"Early Decision and the Adolescent Brain"
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed; February 12, 2009
In the debate over early decision admissions programs, much of the focus has been on socioeconomic equity.
Students are more likely to have enough information to apply early, the criticism goes, if they come from families and attend high schools that encourage an early focus on developing a first choice. Indeed many colleges report that their early decision applicants — who must commit to enroll if accepted — are more likely than the applicant pool as a whole to be white and wealthy. So when colleges fill large portions of their classes early, many fear, the disadvantaged lose out.
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"Penn Admissions Office protests Score Choice"
By Darina Shtrakhman, Daily Pennsylvanian; January 27, 2009
Starting in March, taking the SAT will get a little less stressful for many high-school juniors - but not necessarily for those applying to Penn.
However, both admissions officials and college consultants say that Penn's decision not to accept the College Board's Score Choice program will not affect the University's applicant pool.
Through Score Choice, high school students will be able to send colleges just their top scores. The trade-off is that applicants can only send the best scores from one sitting, not a composite of their best section scores.
But Eric Furda, Penn's dean of admissions, says Score Choice won't necessarily make high-school students' lives easier.
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"Early admit rate rises to 32 percent this year"
By Darina Shtrakhman, Daily Pennsylvanian; January 22, 2009
Penn's early decision acceptance rate increased this year to 32 percent, up from last year's all-time low of 28 percent. The higher acceptance rate is a result of the fact that fewer students applied early, Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said. This year, Penn received 3,666 early decision applications, compared to last year's 3,912.
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"The Impact of a Ban on Affirmative Action"
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed; January 14, 2009
“Even with the U.S. Supreme Court having upheld the right of colleges to consider race in admissions decisions, researchers continue to consider what would happen to college demographics if affirmative action vanished.
“A new study says that the results would be dramatic — a 35 percent drop in the enrollment of students from underrepresented minority groups at the most competitive colleges. The study was conducted by business school professors, using economic as much as educational analysis, and suggests that the drop might not have all of the results desired by critics of affirmative action.”
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"De-Hyping College Admissions (or Trying to, Anyway)"
By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed; January 13, 2009
“Lucie Lapovsky is climbing an uphill battle, she realizes: She’s trying to get students and their parents to chill out about college admissions — and she’s doing it with data.
“Lapovsky, former president of Mercy College and now a higher education consultant and researcher, is tired of reading the newspaper headlines about the intensifying competition in college admissions. How students are applying to tons of colleges, getting rejected by most of them, and having to settle for the schools at the bottom of their list. She knows that while that’s true for a narrow slice of American high school students (typically those in a relatively small number of relatively well-to-do suburban areas) and for a narrow band of colleges (the 10 percent or so of colleges that have truly selective admissions processes), that picture is not representative of the experience most students have.”
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"Penn Admissions Office Protests Score Choice"
By Darina Shtrakhman, Daily Pennsylvanian; January 13, 2009
Starting in March, taking the SAT will get a little less stressful for many high-school juniors - but not necessarily for those applying to Penn.
However, both admissions officials and college consultants say that Penn's decision not to accept the College Board's Score Choice program will not affect the University's applicant pool.
Through Score Choice, high school students will be able to send colleges just their top scores. The trade-off is that applicants can only send the best scores from one sitting, not a composite of their best section scores.
But Eric Furda, Penn's dean of admissions, says Score Choice won't necessarily make high-school students' lives easier.
Read complete article›
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"Giving Choice and Taking It Away"
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed; January 7, 2009
“It’s all about the students. That’s the message that the College Board has been sending about its controversial Score Choice program since it was announced in June. That’s not quite the message the board has been sending colleges — which are being explicitly offered options by the College Board that would limit student choice over scores or result in admissions offices having score information that students might not want reviewed.
“Score Choice, as announced to the public, allows students who take the SAT multiple times to decide how many and which of their scores will be visible to colleges. In the past, students had to submit all scores, so that it was visible to colleges if a student obtained a high score only after taking the test a number of times and (in many cases) undergoing intensive test tutoring.”
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"Early-Decision Applications Drop 8 Percent"
By Elizabeth Rubin, Daily Pennsylvanian; December 4, 2008
The number of early decision applications decreased for the third year in a row, admissions officials announced yesterday.
This year, 3,610 students applied early to Penn - an almost eight-percent drop from last year's 3,917 early applications.
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"Going Off to College for Less (Passports Required)"
By Tamar Lewin, New York Times; December 1, 2008
Isobel Oliphant felt she was making an offbeat choice when she graduated from Fox Lane High School in Bedford, N.Y., and enrolled at the ancient university in this quiet coastal town of stone ruins and verdant golf courses. "I thought I was being original," said Ms. Oliphant, now in her third year at the University of St. Andrews. "But my high school class president came here, too. And when I got here, it was all ‘Hi, I’m from Massachusetts,’ ‘Hi, I’m from New York.’" St. Andrews has 1,230 Americans among its 7,200 students this year, compared with fewer than 200 a decade ago.
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"Early-Decision Applicants Are Up At Colleges, in Spite of the Economy"
By Tamar Lewin, New York Times; November 21, 2008
Given the current economic downturn, admissions officers at Wesleyan University thought there might be a decline in early-decision applications this year. But when the deadline passed last weekend, they found that the number had risen 40 percent. “I was surprised, and I was pleased, and I don’t have an explanation,” said Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admissions at Wesleyan, in Middletown, Conn. “It’s hard to believe that one group of 17-year-olds has become more decisive than the group you saw the previous year. So maybe it’s that in a time of economic uncertainty, people want something settled.”
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"The Bubble that Didn't Burst""
By Scott Jaschik,November 18, 2008
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.
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"Leaders Call for 'Transformational' Changes in Admissions"
By Eric Hoover, November 6, 2008
A storm is brewing in college admissions: A major demographic shift looms, public financing lags, and the expectations for higher education continue to soar. This poses a major challenge for admissions professionals, who face “new realities” in helping American high-school students reach college, according to a report released on Wednesday by the College Board’s Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century. The report describes admissions as an increasingly complex (and confusing) process, warped by public misperceptions, a dearth of professional development, and unequal access to higher education.
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“Navigators for the College Bound”
By Julie Bick, September 14, 2008
The idea of private organizations taking over where high school guidance counselors fall short is a tricky one. On the one hand, having somebody on hand to help you assess which colleges is a good fit for you is a great idea. Trying to transfer schools is a tricky business, so picking the right one right off the bat is extremely beneficial. On the other hand, having a personal tutor to help you with your college applications is morally murky. These private counselors are essentially providing an advantage to applicants whose parents can afford to doll out the cash for such services. It puts the economically challenged applicants at a distinct disadvantage. And, not to sound harsh, but if you can’t get into a school without paying someone to help you with your application, chances are you shouldn’t be going to that school in the first place. Ultimately, I think that a college application is designed to assess your probability of success at a given institution. There should not be a price tag on this.
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“Is There a Better Half?”
By Sara Mosle, July 27, 2008
This article highlights some of the things wrong with the admissions process. In an effort to increase diversity both ethnically and geographically, many top tier institutions exclude qualified applicants. Being an only child myself, it is interesting to see how having a sibling apply to the same institution can be such a problem. In this age of reaching out to traditionally underrepresented groups, the chances of two students from the same household getting into the same elite university is slim to none. Diversity is important, but at what expense? Also, just as a side note, it is insane that there are triplets who are going to Penn, Harvard, and Yale. That’s a super family if I ever saw one.
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"Not-fun in the summertime is no hit with college
officials"
By Kristen A. Graham; Inquirer Staff Writer, July 13, 2008
Some would rather see personal growth than prep camps, classes.
Eric J. Furda, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, says summer enrichment need not cost a lot. Here are some of his suggestions for ways students can broaden their horizons:
- Get a summer job. "Showing up at work on time and being accountable is really important," Furda says. "In some ways, it's even harder than what you'll do at school..."
- Make a reading list. Tackle books you have always wanted to read without the pressure of writing papers and worrying about grades.
- Bone up on science. Check out exhibits at the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, or other local spots.
- Learn about art. "You don't have to go to Europe to see masterpieces of Renaissance art. There are plenty at the Philadelphia Museum of Art."
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“Top Colleges Dig Deeper Into Their Waitlists for Students”
By Tamar Lewin, May 9, 2008
I think it’s great that schools are digging deeper into their waitlists. We have such a dynamic pool of applicants that many who deserve to get in don’t. It’s nice to see that many of them who thought there was absolutely no chance of them being taken off the waitlist will now have the opportunity to matriculate. This raises several questions though, the main being “Why are schools digging so deeply into their waitlist?” Perhaps universities should start admitting more students right off the bat. Though I’m sure that statistically this is not feasible, it would help relieve the stress of applicants who made Penn their first choice and are waiting for the email informing them whether or not they will be taken off the waitlist. Maybe some day.
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“Colleges High Cost, Before You Even Apply”
By Tara Parker-Pope, April 29, 2008
In an age where more and more American teens are going through the ritual of applying to college, where you get accepted and where you choose to attend seems to be increasingly important. Your acceptance letters can be seen as a badge of vindication for years of hard work in high school. But what happens when you don’t get into your school of choice? The effects can be disastrous on your mental health, and that is what this New York Times article highlights. Students are becoming increasingly stressed out by the college admissions process. With an increasingly large applicant pool, admissions rates at selective universities are only going down and this is just feeding the problem. Perhaps the worst thing about this is that there really isn’t anything we can do. Top tier institutions are selective for a reason. Not everyone gets in. High school students need to realize that there are benefits and drawbacks to every school – not getting into your “dream school” is not the end of the world. If you didn’t get in, chances are you would not have been successful there anyway. The Ivy League is not the be all, end all. Perhaps when we get this message across to high school students, some of the stress of the competitive application process will disappear.
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“Applications to College Are Breaking Records”
By Karen W. Arenson, January 17, 2008
This article discusses the recent increase in applications at top tier institutions such as Harvard and Princeton. Though some of this can be attributed to recent demographic changes in college applicant pools, a lot of credit should be given to the universities themselves. Both Harvard and Princeton abolished their early action policies for this cycle, making it impossible for students to bind themselves to the schools early on in the application process. Though some schools (Penn in particular) do not believe this is the way to go, it does a lot to level the playing field for applicants from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. The growth of the applicant pool will allow top-tier institutions to increase the diversity of their student bodies, which can only be good. What this data means for Penn remains to be seen.
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"Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation," 2006
William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Harvard College
Marlyn McGrath Lewis, Director of Admissions, Harvard College
Charles Ducey, Adjunct Lecturer in Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education
College admissions officers, especially those who admitted the parents of today's applicants, have an unusual vantage point from which to observe changes from one generation to the next. Many of us are concerned that the pressures on today's students seem far more intense than those placed on previous generations. College admission — the chance to position oneself for "success" through the acquisition of the "right" college degree — looms large for increasing numbers of students. Particularly because selective colleges are perceived to be part of the problem, we want to do everything possible to help the students we enroll make the most of their opportunities, avoiding the much-reported "burnout" phenomenon that can keep them from reaching their full potential.
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-ADDITIONAL WEB READING-
Thinking Ivy?
For your convenience, here are
links to the main websites for all eight Ivy League schools:
- Brown University
- Columbia University
- Cornell University (We stole this idea from them — thanks, Cornell!)
- Dartmouth College
- Harvard University
- Princeton University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Yale University
Brown's website provides additional resources for selective admissions.
