Online identity

Online identity

There are reports that some college admissions departments scrutinize applicants' personalities online, such as Facebook or MySpace profiles, and as a result, they urge students to remove "sarcastic jokes, bad pictures, or political cartoons," and be wary about what their friends post on their pages as well.[42] A concurring report suggested that some offices have people tasked with "checking out applicants' Facebook pages",[10] although there is a contrasting report from one college recruiter who said that their policy is not to examine Facebook profiles and that "Facebook is reserved for students on a recreational basis."[14] The same caution applies to email addresses; one advisor cautions against having jazzed-up email addresses such as "Spicychick@gmail.com", but rather that users should stick with their name, if possible, since it can help colleges find a student's records.[14]

Choosing how to apply[edit]

Acceptances at selective schools:

early vs regular admission (2009)[126]

School Overall Early Regular

Brown 14% 23% 13%

Columbia 11% 24% 9%

Cornell 21% 37% 20%

Dartmouth 15% 21% 6%

Harvard 9% 21% 6%

Pennsylvania 9% 26% 7%

Yale 10% 20% 12%

Stanford 10% 16% 9%

MIT 12% 11% 13%

Total 14% 26% 12%

Applying in the fall[edit]

Many schools have implemented a system through which students can apply at a time other than the most common usual deadline of January first of the senior year, to lighten the load on students and admissions officers. Several reports suggest an increase in early admissions.

Many open slots for students at many private universities begin to fill up early in a student's senior year of high school. One estimate is that a third of slots for next year's freshman class are filled by December, which is an increase from one-fifth ten years ago.[114] Another estimate suggests 45% of positions are taken by December.[127][128] There are reports for specific schools filling up by December 2011 for the 2012-2013 freshman year. For example, American University filled 31% of its class; Columbia 45%, Davidson 40%, Emory 32%, Hamilton 38%, Kenyon 29%, Middlebury 45%, Sarah Lawrence 21%, Smith 20%, and others.[128]

Numerous reports suggest that more students are applying using early decision or early action approaches.[127] Schools such as Duke University, Haverford College, and the University of Chicago reported increases in early applications in 2011.[127] While early applications had been used by many students in elite prep schools and top high schools primarily in the northeastern United States, they are being used by a more diverse group of students including foreigners and minority applicants to apply to more colleges.[127] A downside of applying early is an inability to compare competing aid packages from different schools, but to an extent this can be mitigated if parents and students ask the college for a fairly firm estimate of expected costs before applying by an early method.[67] Several sources suggested that early admissions programs favor students from wealthier families since there was no need to compare financial aid offers.[58][64] Adviser Michele Hernandez suggested that the early decision and early action candidate pools were "much more homogeneous" with most applicants being affluent white students.[129] High-end academic applicants tended to want to have a choice, while minority applicants needed to compare scholarship offers from different colleges; accordingly, these latter two groups tended to avoid early applications.[129] According to Hernandez, Ivy League financial aid packages were similar whether one applied early admission or regular admission, since the Ivies are 100% need blind meaning that they do not take into account an applicant's ability to pay.[130] Early applicants are urged to submit applications in September and October, and not wait until November, in order to give the staff more time to consider the application.[131] There has been controversy surrounding early admissions programs, since there have been reports that most of those accepted in early admissions tended to be white, from good high schools and having upscale family incomes.[132] A report in US News suggested that early admissions approaches were not advised for students who were obviously under or over qualified, dependant on financial aid, undecided, behind in their college search plans, or late bloomers.[133]

Early decision[edit]

Binding commitment. Early decision is technically a legally binding decision, meaning that students must withdraw applications to other schools if accepted. A contrasting view was that it was not strictly "legally binding" in the sense that a student who decided to withdraw after being accepted would not be "dragged in chains to the college, fined by it or the government, or sued for damages and tuition payments."[134] Nevertheless, there is a commitment involved with penalties for withdrawing for spurious reasons and, as a result, advisers suggest that this method is only for students who are absolutely certain about wanting to attend a specific school.[135] If financial aid is a concern or if a family is "shopping for the best deal", then it is usually advised to apply early action or regular decision instead.[135][136] The one stipulated situation under which a student may back out of the agreement is if the financial aid offer is insufficient.[93][134][135][136][137][138] A student who backs out for other reasons may be "blacklisted" by the early decision college, which may contact the student's high school guidance office,[134] and prevent it from sending transcripts to other colleges, and high schools generally comply with such requests.[137] In addition, the jilted college may contact other colleges about the withdrawal, and the other colleges would likely break off their offers of acceptance as well.[134] And by the time that an early decision aid package is offered it may be March or April of senior year, and then if a student backs out at that point for financial reasons, valuable time may be lost.[135]

November application. It is made early in the academic year, typically the first week in November,[139] although deadlines vary somewhat, so a student who applies for early decision and is accepted, typically by mid-December, must attend that college.[71] One report maintains that some colleges defer decisions on some early applicants until the next year, past their own deadlines for notifying early applicants.[140]

Benefits for universities. Admitting early decision applicants benefits schools because there is an almost certain probability that the admitted applicants will attend and, as a result, colleges can increase their yield by admitting them, and this can help a college improve its ranking.[58] In addition, it helps admissions departments spread the work of sifting through applications throughout more of the school year.[58] Generally counselors suggest this option is only for students who know with certainty that one particular college is their first choice.

Greater chance of acceptance. There is strong consensus that applying early decision brings a greater statistical chance of being accepted,[71][136][141][142][143][144] possibly doubling or tripling the chances of an acceptance letter.[10] In 2009, the average early acceptance rate according to one estimate was 15 percentage points greater than regular decision applicants.[140] There is less agreement, however, whether it will help a borderline student win acceptance to a competitive college. There are numerous reports that early decision candidates tend to have stronger educational credentials than regular decision candidates,[60][144][145] and as a result, these candidates would have been admitted whether they applied by early or regular methods, and therefore the greater statistical likelihood of acceptance may have been explained by membership in the stronger applicant pool.[60] But a more widely held view is that early decision method boosts the chances of a borderline student; as Robert J. Massa of Lafayette College explained, "colleges really want qualified students who want them" and are more likely to offer acceptances to students ready to make a full commitment.[136] There was a report that the "acceptance rate gap" between early and regular decision—currently an average of 57% accepted if applied early decision versus 50% if applied regular decision—has been narrowing in recent years.[4]

Other benefits. Seniors can know sooner where they will attend and can get the hassle and uncertainty of the applications process over sooner. There is less work and expense applying to other colleges.

How early decision affects financial aid. There are conflicting reports about how early decision affects aid offers. The more widely held view is that a student's bargaining position is weaker because the student cannot compare offers from different colleges.[93][133][134][140][146][147] Since the applicant is declaring an intention to attend if accepted, then the school can "pinpoint the smallest amount of financial aid it will take for the student to attend."[137] There have been reports of problems with early Decision aid offers falling below levels that had been expected prior to applying.[132] A report in the Chicago Tribune suggested that applying early decision could cost "thousands more than necessary."[148] A report in US News pointed to a research study concluding that regular decision applicants get more financial aid than early ones.[133] Lynn O'Shaughnessy described early decision as "essentially applying blind" because a student has agreed to attend before seeing the financial aid package; and this practice "favors rich students."[138] A second report confirms that early decision applicants tend to come from wealthier families.[145] However, a contrasting view is that students who apply early have an advantage getting aid because they are applying earlier in the year when that aid is being doled out, and the early decision kids have "first crack at the money,"[136][137][145] particularly at competitive schools without extra-large endowments. Two reports suggested that while a student's bargaining position is somewhat weaker, it is not totally diminished, and that if a college thinks an early decision admittee may withdraw because of financial concerns, the college "may pull out all the stops" to prevent this,[147] and that the possibility of backing out for financial reasons gives an applicant some form of negotiating leverage.[136] Ivy League universities and other universities with large endowments may be somewhat different, in the sense that all aid offers are likely to be based solely on financial need, and that whether an applicant applied by early or regular methods would have no impact on the resulting financial aid package, according to one report.[60]

Early action[edit]

College admissions consultant Michael Szarek advises against applying early decision unless a student is totally certain of the choice and parents have sufficient resources to pay the bill, and he often recommends the non-binding alternative, early action, as an alternative.

Generally early action is similar to early decision except the decision is not binding,[139] so a student could apply to multiple colleges.[71] The time frame is similar: apply by early November, get a decision by mid-December,[139] although specific deadlines vary by school. It allows a student to compare competing offers.[145] The exception is that there are four colleges -- Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale—which have a single-choice early action program, meaning that an applicant can only apply early action to one school. Early action can be the best choice for students who know they prefer one particular school and have done everything possible to secure admission since a student will know the result of the application sooner,[71] and to varying extents allows a student to compare aid offers from different schools.[67] One report suggested that non-binding early action programs continued to be highly popular, and noticed that three schools––Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia—which had abandoned early admissions programs in 2006, reestablished them in 2011 after other colleges failed to follow their lead.[132] Generally fewer schools offer the early action program but ones that do include Georgetown University, MIT, and Boston College.[145] One account suggested that early action did not give as much of an "admissions edge" as early decision because it was non-binding.[144]

Regular admission[edit]

Regular admission is a good choice for students who are unsure where they would like to go.[71] One advantage is that it can help students who have improved their grades substantially in the fall of their senior year, since decisions are not made until March of senior year.[71] In addition, it offers students more time to make their decision about a college under somewhat less pressure than an early method. The fairly dominant view is that regular admission is more likely to result in higher offers of financial aid, particularly if students are admitted to several institutions that present different aid offers. Accordingly, one offer can be used as leverage to try to get a better offer at another institution,[133] particularly if there are competing multiple acceptances.[92] Several reports suggested that a "growing number of colleges" including Harvard, Cornell, and Carnegie-Mellon have stated publicly that they will consider matching offers from competing colleges.[92][133] Kim Clark explained:

If you want to go to Cornell ... and you don't think your family can afford the full sticker prices ... you are likely to get bigger scholarships if you also apply—and get in—to wealthy and more competitive schools. ... Cornell will now adopt Harvard's definition of "need," which, in many cases, will mean bigger scholarships.

—report in US News, 2010[92]

However, a dissenting view in the New York Times suggested that only one to two percent of colleges adjust aid packages based on offers from competing colleges, and that most colleges do not get into bidding wars over specific students.[60]

Rolling admissions[edit]

Some colleges offer this type of admission, typically used by schools with large numbers of applicants, which means that colleges are continually receiving applications and making decisions, typically within four to six weeks after application.[71] It allows prospective students to apply at any time between the fall and spring and to receive their result a few weeks later. One benefit is that if a student is accepted early in the school year, there is less anxiety about acceptance for the rest of the year.[71] Rolling admission schools are also beneficial to students who are rejected to all the schools they applied regularly to, yet still wish to enroll without taking a gap year. Guidance counselors suggest that rolling admissions should not be used late in senior year since financial aid money may have already been distributed, and few slots may be left for September.[71] One advisor suggests that if a college offers rolling admissions and is on a student's list, then it should be applied to as soon as rolling admissions becomes available for that year.[71] Another report suggested that rolling admissions was more characteristic of noncompetitive colleges.[132]

Testing options[edit]

Test preparation courses[edit]

There are conflicting reports about the usefulness of test preparation courses. Mamlet and Vandeverde suggest that "most students don't need a coach or a class" and that the single largest factor was "familiarity with the test".[95] Another report agreed that SAT/ACT prep courses were a waste of money and that taking a few practice exams, and understanding how each test works, was all that was needed.[115]

Standardized admissions tests[edit]

A sample so-called "grid-in" question from a standardized test.[149]

Text document written in handwriting not script.

Student essay on the SAT writing test.

In 2003, according to one estimate, 1.4 million students took the SAT and 1.4 million also took the ACT test,[69] paying about $50 per test.[40] Generally counselors suggest that students should plan on taking the SAT or ACT test twice, so that a low score can possibly be improved.[150] One advisor suggested that students with weak SAT or ACT scores could consider applying to colleges where these measures were optional.[75] One suggested retaking the tests if there are "subpar test scores" in September and October (if applying early admission) or November and December (if applying regular admission.)[43] Generally over half of juniors retaking the SAT or ACT tests during the senior year saw improvements in their scores.[40] Colleges vary in terms of how much emphasis they place on these scores.[151]

A consensus view is that most colleges accept either the SAT or ACT, and have formulas for converting scores into admissions criteria, and can convert SAT scores into ACT scores and vice versa relatively easily.[152] The ACT is reportedly more popular in the midwest and south while the SAT is more popular on the east and west coasts.[153] Apparently there have been instances of persons taking admissions tests in place of the real student as paid SAT test-takers, which is illegal, but the existence of such services has been called "an open secret in competitive circles"; for example, in 2011, an Emory University sophomore was arrested for taking the test for another person on a fee basis.[154] One report suggested the College Board was considering requiring test-takers to submit a photograph of themselves on the test day as a precaution against impersonation; the photos would be kept in a password-protected database but which would not be shared with college admissions departments.[155]

Michele Hernandez recommended taking the SAT or ACT test only once or twice otherwise an applicant may appear "score obsessed."[156] One report suggested that a benefit of the ACT test was that it allowed the test-taker to have greater freedom to choose which scores to send to which colleges.[152] Counselors suggest that students practice taking the test under actual testing conditions.[157] Counselors advise students taking tests should become familiar with directions beforehand so there will be more time to focus on problems during the actual test.[158] And the use of tests by colleges has been criticized as being ineffective at predicting ultimate life success; one study suggested that SAT results "don't mean much long term".[159]

ACT test SAT test

Content-based test[153] Tests reasoning ability[153]

Emphasizes higher math[67][153] Emphasizes vocabulary[67][153]

Longer questions[153] Trickier questions[153]

More popular in south & midwest[153] More popular in east & west[153]

Science reasoning section[153] Vocabulary section[153]

No penalty for wrong answers[158] Penalty for guessing[158]

Greater choice in selecting which scores to send to colleges[152] Fewer options

Difficult questions randomly interspersed[153] Difficulty progresses within each section[153]

Regarding whether to choose the SAT or ACT, the consensus view is that both tests are roughly equivalent and tend to bring similar results, and that each test is equally accepted by colleges. Reporter Jacques Steinberg in the New York Times suggested that admissions deans repeatedly inform him that colleges view the ACT and SAT tests equally and do not have a preference.[160] At the same time, there are slight differences between the tests which may translate into a slight benefit for the test-taker. One source noted that there is no penalty for wrong answers on the ACT so advisors suggest that it is okay to guess if time is limited; but on the SAT, incorrect guessing is penalized.[158] One report suggested that the SAT favors "white male students" from upper income backgrounds.[161] Another report suggests that the ACT has more questions geared to higher levels of high school mathematics, suggesting that students who do well in math may perform better, but that the SAT is a better choice for students with an excellent vocabulary.[67][153] According to one view, the SAT is more focused on testing reasoning ability while the ACT is more of a content-based test of achievement.[153] In addition, according to this view, some SAT questions can be trickier and harder to decipher while some ACT questions may be longer;[153] question difficulty progresses within each SAT section while difficult questions are randomly interspersed in the ACT;[153] the SAT has a separate vocabulary section while the ACT has a separate science reasoning section.[153]

SAT subject tests[edit]

Several sources suggested that the SAT subject tests were becoming more important in evaluating applicants. One described them as "true equalizers" in admissions, suggesting how strong a high school is, and elaborated that some admissions officers considered them to be a better indicator of academic ability than high school grades.[162] Another suggested that selective colleges like to get results from SAT subject tests in addition to other ones, while public universities placed less emphasis on them.[163]

Advanced placement tests[edit]

There was a report that scores on Advanced Placement exams could be helpful in the evaluations process.[164] One report suggested there was a limit on the number of AP tests that should be taken, such that taking 12 AP tests was not as helpful as taking five and doing well on those five.[115]

PSAT[edit]

The PSAT helps students qualify for the National Merit Scholarships, and taking it may cause a student to score higher on the actual SAT due to familiarity with the test. [165]

Common vs. college's application[edit]

The Common Application has made it easier to apply to many colleges. Photo: sign in the admissions office of a Pennsylvania college.

The advantage of the Common Application is that it is the same for numerous colleges, and can save time and trouble for a student. It is accepted at 488 colleges out of several thousand, but only a third of the 488 use it exclusively, meaning that two-thirds allow an applicant to submit either the Common Application or the school's specific application form.[166][167] According to Hernandez, many admissions officers complain that the Common Application stifles creativity and encourages "dull responses", and she recommends that students use the college's particular application when there is a choice.