I donât think the waitlist will be that much different than past years. My only advice is to continue to show interest by emailing your admissions officer, telling you HS counselor. But the waitlist is less about you, and more about the college pluggin holes. So it could be that youâre not what they want.
Great question. My oldest daughter asked the same question this week! I told her they love both, of course, but rigor â more like you took the more challenging course â is weighed more.
@Jeff_Selingo Thank you for guiding us through two admissions cycles. What are your thoughts re: Universities (e.g. Syracuse) that ask an undecided student to apply to a specific college (e.g.college of arts and sciences), but offer little flexibility to change into another college (e.g. Newhouse Communications or Whitman Business) once student has found their interest and major? What is an undecided student to do?
It shows how much more a graduate might make at a college compared to what theyâre âexpectedâ to make based on incoming demographics of students. In some cases, youâll see colleges where your outcome might be $5K more than expected. Already then, prestige paid for itself.
For #3, whatâs the best resource to find the strength/support for a particular academic program at a college/university (esp if it might be a smaller dept such as philosophy or classics)? Is it best to ask each college admissions office individually? I am unsure of whether they would give a transparent answer given the uncertainty with potential funding losses.
@dark_matter, most colleges look at students in context, so I disagree that an applicant with all the right academic metrics but who didnât have access to a lot of extra-curriculars, would be dinged for that.
Also many selective colleges now use a tool from the College Board called Landscape.
It provides key data points about an applicantâs school and neighborhood, including average SAT scores, percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, crime statistics, and median family income, providing more context than the high school profile that counselors send along.
@annaweld, you donât, but one sign you want to look for no matter what the federal funding situation is: how many graduates do they have in that program?
From those annual numbers, you could infer program sizes over four years. Enrolling in a small major can be risky. For starters, small programs might offer required courses infrequently and not necessarily when you want them, so you might not (without waivers) get the classes you need to graduate in four years. Whatâs more, smaller majors are prime candidates for cutting if a school needs to trim expenses.
There are exceptions, of course. If a tiny program has a strong national reputation, itâs much less likely to be eliminated. Some small majors, particularly in the liberal arts, serve dual purposes in that they provide required introductory courses for a collegeâs core curriculum. Unless the core changes, those majors will probably remain.
@sureal23, thatâs because at Syracuse those are among the most popular schools â Newhouse and Business. Theyâre capacity controlled. If youâre truly undecided, but think you might be interested in one of those programs, Iâd either steer away from those colleges or apply to one of those majors you might be interested in.
where can i find a list of which school actually offers more financial aid for financial need students? Is there a site for it? Is it more limited for prestigious schools?
Hi, Jeff. Thanks for sharing your expertise here. I get that one should choose a school that is known for the academic program one wants to pursue. But my senior still doesnât know what she wants to study. She has many interests, and likely needs to take some classes in various departments before deciding. So she applied to a wide variety of schools. Now she needs to choose from among a few small, private universities (LAC and non), a couple of which have offered her large merit scholarships, and some large, out of state, public institutions that are ranked higher than the private schools and are better recognized name-wise. If the college cost does not really matter (though Iâm happy to save on tuition from the merit aid), do you think itâs better to choose a big school that offers more majors (since she doesnât know what she wants to do and the public universities are likely better known anyhow), or a smaller school where she might get more academic support, smaller class sizes and attention from professors as she tries to figure out what she wants to study in college? Also (and not necessarily relatedly), do you generally recommend choosing a school that more prestigious? Thank you!!
@AustenNut, nearly every college outside of the Ivy-plus and a few state flagships really compete in a regional job market. Itâs where most of their grads go because itâs where most of their alumni go. This is behind a paywall and a little dated, but this WSJ piece shows that regionalism is the name of the game: Where Graduates Move After College
If a student is only beginning to get good grades in 2nd semester junior year, is it better to postpone applying to a 4-year and instead do 2 years at a community college first?
@MNxx0034, I think prestige matters less than we think. I break a lot of myths about prestige in my forthcoming book, âDream School,â which you can pre-order now (hint, hint Dream School - Jeff Selingo)
One other questionâmy child is deciding between a few schools that have offered her admission. At one school, she was likely one of the stronger applicants (ie., above 75% percentile for scores and GPA) and received a generous scholarship. Another school she is thinking about is definitely ranked higher and more selective.
While this is likely something you discuss in the new book, do you have a sense from the research you did about being a âsmall fish in a big pondâ vs â a big fish in a small pondâ in terms of general satisfaction and job/grad school outcomes?
@Renee1505, this is similar to another question I just answered: yes, outside of the Ivy-plus and a few big flagships, hiring from colleges is mostly regional. So if you want to work in California, go to school in California. There are plenty of exceptions, of course, but generally hiring is a regional game I learned from interviewing a lot of employers for my new book.
@Tkosheleva, large or small doesnât matter. What matters is their retention and graduation rate. Ask them for those numbers. What % of freshmen return for their sophomore year? What % graduate in 4 years? 6 years? Also, ask what those rates are for students like you because they differ by income, major, gender, etc.
Thank you @Jeff_Selingo
Looking at the stats from this year, it looks like colleges are accepting majority of the incoming class via EA/ED (80% at UVA, 75% at Davidson). Itâs been a blood bath for Reg Dec students, sadly. Given the predicted âpopulation cliffâ next year, do you anticipate a higher rate of acceptance for transfer students next year?
@Student0172, if you want CS and want to start first semester, youâll be better offer at a university that has CS major where you can jump into that immediately. Few LACs have a CS major and you might not get the in-depth you want there.
Dream School - Jeff Selingo