<p>This takes you to the first page of a Phila Inquirer Article regarding the difficulty seniors applying for college this year. If link does not work, go to philly.com</p>
<p>Did not like the way the article was written. But now I guess I know the answer to a question I asked earlier; whether this year is going to be more difficult than last year which was a tough year for candidates.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the financial markets and the availability of loans is going to be an issue too so that those schools without merit aid and are up there in costs without being the very top schools may have some trouble with applicants that can pay.</p>
<p>Interesting article. But, it seems to miss profiles of the “regular” kid. It seemed to focus on the low-income orphan (God bless him, hope he finds a good match), and the superstars at the ranked high schools.</p>
<p>Actually, people should check out the rest of the stuff in the side bar in the Token Adult link. There are other parts of the story. I still can’t find the graphics they had, in particular the chart of what is important to colleges by %.</p>
<p>Here is the data from chart reproduced from the newspaper.</p>
<p>What’s Important To Colleges (represents percent of colleges responding with “considerable importance”:</p>
<p>grades in college prep 76%
strength of curriculum 62%
test scores (act sat) 60%
grades in all courses 51%
Essay or writing sample 28%
class rank 23%
counselor reco 21%
student demonstrate int 21%
teacher reco 20%
interview 10%
EC’s 8%
subject tests (ap, Ib) 8%
state grad exam 6%
sat II 5%
work 3%</p>
<p>Of course, the problem is different schools weight these differently and they account for a greater part of the decision. Note a missing item above is athletics, which we know matters at many schools.</p>
<p>They actually looked at several kids from different areas and profiled them. I think one of the side bar choices gives gets you to that.</p>
<p>Wow, APs are more important than SAT IIs? I have always heard otherwise.</p>
<p>Interesting article but I don’t think there was much that most kids our age don’t already know–09 is going to have a tough time and colleges are wooing high schoolers by the bulk. It is interesting how the College Board gives out the names though–I had no idea they had a “buying” system like that that. Hmm.</p>
<p>esgee, keep in mind that the importance really depends on the school. These are the totals of the responses (don’t know the sample size). For example HYP etc. may have voted that SAT II’s are more important than AP’s, we would not know it from this set of numbers, and it might be swamped by all the other schools replying. From my D I know, for example,P wanted 3 SAT II’s and the AP’s did not seem to matter. The bottom line is what cc’ers know and that is grades matter most in good courses.</p>
<p>I really thought this was a interesting article but I think out of touch. Since the author did most of his research before the Wall St meltdown he didn’t really address the sad fiscal reality many are expereincing. I am a bit of a Debbie Downer regarding tuition rates and especially with the last few years of 8% increases in tuition. That’s alot of money! </p>
<p>I think this year’s application #s are going to be very different and far fewer than last year’s. How many people can afford $200,000 undergraduate educations? As the saying goes “the bloom is off the rose”… Over the past 10 years our culture has gone crazy over name brand, luxury everything, including colleges. Maybe lean times will make it more chic, in vogue, savy, clever, etc. to go State University or Community Colleges. Especially since you know grad school is de rigeur. What will the private small colleges do?</p>
<p>I was surprised that Harvard sends out 70,000 of those letters and I thought we were special!</p>
<p>That harvard article was very interesting. They take this seriously and try to get the best of the best, but leave them free to choose where they want to go.</p>
<p>I don’t think it helps anyone to read this doom an gloom type of material. Sure, everyone will have their top choices, reaches, and safety schools but it’s about finding the one that’s right for you. Don’t worry about numbers or acceptance rates; all you can do is apply and hope. It could even be a school you’ve never heard of…just do your research and you’ll be ok!!</p>
<p>livesinnewjersey wrote: “What will the private small colleges do?”</p>
<p>Indeed. Or more specifically, what will the private small colleges not ranked in the USNWR top 100 Unis or Top 60 LACs (take a look at Tier 1 LACs ranked 60-100… 75% of cc posters haven’t even heard of 75% of them)? Who will choose to afford $200,000 for a school that people, including future employers, giving you a polite but uneasy blank stare about? Will the smaller privates become only a last resort option for affluent families whose kids did not get into a private that is highly ranked?</p>
<p>If the huge middle class cannot afford small not-religious unranked private U, and said schools do not have the ability to award large merit dollars (enough to equalize the cost with State U), I see hundreds of these small colleges closing or merging.</p>