What, MORE Waiting? Advice for Students in Wait List Hell

No one knows better than a high school senior that college admissions is a Waiting Game. You submit your applications, and you wait. You send your test scores, and you wait. You go on campus visits, and you wait. You muddle through sometimes nerve-wracking interviews...and you wait.

Then, some five to six months after the application hullabaloo is over, your calendar starts to glow with the dates your chosen colleges have promised to deliver admissions decisions. If you're like many nail-biting teens, you sit in front of your computer on those days of reckoning, just waiting (yes, more waiting) for the clock to tick to the exact moment when you can check your application status. Are you accepted? Denied? 

Wait a minute...you're wait-listed?

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Rejected: Making Plan B for Your College Education

Within in the next week or so, all colleges that don't use a rolling admissions process will have notified students of their application status for fall of 2009. For some, this will mean letters of acceptance, overwhelming relief, and giddy joy as they start planning the future at their dream colleges. Others, unfortunately, will receive letters of rejection, which bring with them deep disappointment, tough choices, and even panic.

Rejections hurts. Always. For high school seniors, most of whom have never had their lives and accomplishments subjected to such scrutiny, being turned down by a college (or colleges) can be downright devastating. Why wasn't I good enough? What should I have done differently? Why don't they want me?  

Sadly, these are questions that often can't be answered. And for the student whose college plans have been thrown into chaos and uncertainty by the receipt of a big fat "NO", it's not even worth it to consider the whys. Focus instead of moving forward and making the most of the opportunities you've got.

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Paying for College: FAFSA Fundamentals

You've survived your college applications. You've filled in countless online forms, written and re-written enough essays and supplement essays to satisfy the Reflective Essay Gods for a lifetime, and managed to get your teacher recommendations in on time without being arrested for stalking or harassment. You're done! Now all you need to do is sit back and wait for those acceptance letters. Right?

Wrong! You've set your college dreams in motion, but now you need to figure out how to pay for them once they start to come true. Step 1: The FAFSA.

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More Bad News for CSU Applicants

Every year, students from California and across the U.S. apply to CSU campuses all over the Golden State. But thanks to the ongoing financial crisis, this year's high school seniors may find it tough or even impossible to gain admission to CSU campuses that are outside their local area.  

A message from the Director of Student Outreach and Recruitment Services at CSU Northridge landed in my inbox yesterday, bearing the bad news that Northridge is being forced to revise its admissions criteria and will now give priority admission to "those students who attend high school in a closely-defined geographical area, the local guarantee admission area or Tier I school districts, and meet the CSU eligibility index...Students graduating from a California high school located in an area outside CSUN's local admissions area--Tier II school districts--will be reviewed and rank-ordered using the CSU Eligibility Index which is based upon high school GPA and SAT/ACT scores." Unfortunately, there is a possibility that CSUN may be unable to admit all students from Tier II who are eligible; the university is advising students to consider applying to other CSU campuses. 

This development is just one more example of how the current budget crisis may impact student options for college admissions in the coming years. While the best plan is always to apply broadly to a range of "best fit" schools, students may now have a smaller pool from which to create their lists of "likely", "target", and "reach" colleges and universities. For those who plan to attend a CSU campus, their acceptance letters may end up keeping them much closer to home than they'd planned. 

More information and a list of CSU campuses still accepting applications from freshman can be found at CSU Mentor. 

Is College Worth It?

The move to eliminate vocational education from high school programs and instead make sure all students were 'prepped' for college changed the landscape of American education forever. Twenty years later, some are asking whether this shift did our kids and society a disservice, and ended up pushing many young people who would have been better off in the work force into wasting time (and money) in our nation's colleges. 

A recent article in BusinessWeek chimes in on the debate. 

More insights from the Chronicle of Higher Education: America's Most Over-rated Product: The Bachelor's Degree

Facing College Sticker-Shock

When planning for college, students and parents face two questions that can cause anxiety-attacks: Where will I get in? and How will we pay for it? The cost of higher education remains a key factor for most families in choosing an institution. Increasingly, there are also a greater number of options available to offset what can be a large financial burden.

Check out this current article on Newsweek for insight into how "merit aid" can help bring the cost of college under control.

Let the Rankings Begin!

Look out, U.S. News and World Report: There's a new competitor in the college rankings game. Forbes has joined the (supposed) effort to help students make informed choices about which college to attend with a ranking methodology that focuses on the satisfaction and success of graduates. While definitely throwing new factors for school comparison into the mix, the nagging questions about the purpose and efficacy of college ranking remain: Do rankings really help students make choices about the colleges that best fit their needs and goals? Or do rankings simply create a selection environment where students pick schools based primarily on the prestige they are granted by a subjective methodology?

While many college admissions counselors, educators and organizations like College That Change Lives advocate ignoring the "rankings game" when exploring possible colleges, students, parents and even alumni continue to be lured by the lists. Does more list makers mean more quality information students can use to make the best choices about where to apply? Or is this just another marketing strategy that encourages students to choose a college based not on which is a sound educational fit, but on which the media tells them are the best?

It's a decision students and families have to make for themselves.

The Future of Financial Aid

Most American families ask two questions when anticipating college for their teens: 1) Which is the best school for us?, and 2) How will we pay for it? With the cost of college tuition increasing every year, financial aid is an absolute necessity for the vast majority of students. While scholarships, grants and college savings plans can offset the cost of attendance, student loans are usually needed to cover the bulk of the cost.

The credit crisis that is currently shaking up the housing market is spilling over into the realm of student aid. Some experts see this as a positive development, providing the federal government, lenders and institutions of higher education an opportunity to seriously evaluate and make changes to a system that most acknowledge is broken. But like any systemic shift, any alterations to the current student loan program will be slow in coming. Should the changes begin with the FAFSA system? Lenders? An insistence that colleges begin to look at ways to cap costs? And in the meantime, what impact will this uncertainty have on students preparing for college in the next few years?

Inside Higher Ed offers perspectives on these issues in its article "Rethinking Student Aid--Really?" While there are currently no easy solution for the challenges of the financial aid system, it pays for those heading to college to be well informed and get the best advice possible to make sure that the road through college doesn't lead straight to the poorhouse. Tune in to the Financial Aid Podcast for up-to-date info and advice.

New SAT Score-Reporting Policy: Better or Worse?

Last month, the College Board announced changes to their SAT score-reporting policy, giving students who take the SAT multiple times the flexibility to choose which scores colleges will receive during the admissions process (see the complete announcement below). Current policy allows colleges to see the scores from all SAT attempts a student makes; as of spring 2009 (sorry, rising seniors!), students will be able to sit for the exams as many times as they like and "hide" all but their best scores from admissions officers.

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Jump Start Your College Search This Summer

Whether you're a soon-to-be freshman or a rising senior, make the most of those long summer afternoons by launching your college search. Looking for colleges that meet your needs and goals can be much less stressful when it isn't something you juggle along with homework, extracurriculars and social life during the school year. These tips from Colleges That Change Lives can help you get started:

Start With a Map
Start by making a list of the colleges within four hours of home—the distance most students travel when choosing a college. There are many websites that allow you to search by geography, so pick your state and those nearby and hit "find"! Try the US Dept of Ed College Navigator.

CSI: College Search Investigator
Start asking the people you know and respect if they went to college and where they attended. Ask relatives, friends, teachers, neighbors, church members, co-workers and others in your life. You may be surprised to learn about colleges you have never heard of that will be great for you to investigate. This is also a way to learn more about colleges from an insider's point of view. Just make sure to get more than one opinion before you add or delete any from your list!

Anime To Ultimate Frisbee—Choice By Interest
It is not unreasonable to narrow the field by looking for colleges that have your non-academic interests, whether that is leadership, sports, or hobbies. Use search engines and college websites to investigate whether you can keep doing the activities you enjoy and find others who share your passion. Alternately, some students choose to eliminate colleges with activities they dislike, so searching for colleges without sports, fraternities and sororities, or other specific activities is another way to make your list. College Matchmaker from College Board may help you search this way.

Need professional advice and guidance to find the schools that are best for you? Visit my website to learn more about how I can guide you on your path to the college of your dreams.

To learn more about College That Change Lives and its mission, visit their Website .