Colleges
Private versus Public High School
Many parents ask us if for college admissions purposes it’s better to attend a well known private school versus a public school. The key to this question is, “for college admissions purposes.” The truth is, parents should not make ANY decisions based purely on college admissions odds – that’s the wrong way to address a crucial choice that involves far more variables than simply college admissions. One valid reason to send your son or daughter to private school is if you want him or her to have smaller classes, specific classes not offered at your particular public school, a different social environment, athletic opportunities not found at your local school, etc. The worst reason to send a student is in the vain hope of bettering college admissions odds. Most of the Ivies admit roughly 25% of their populations from private schools and roughly 65-70% from public (the rest from parochial or home-schooled), but that merely reflects the fact that more kids from publ ic school apply — again, the acceptance rates are usually about equal.
What To Do If You Were Deferred
Around the first week of March, admissions offices at top colleges sort through all their deferred candidates in order to see how many they will ultimately admit. Much will depend upon the strength of their applicant pool for regular admission — was it higher than usual? Were applications up? Was there a strong geographic spread? In other words, what does the statistical makeup of the class look like, and where might it fall short? For example, if there were a shortage of female apps, the office might accept a higher percentage of females from the deferred pool who showed a strong interest.
Calculate your Academic Index
The Academic Index is a formula the Ivies use predominately for recruited athletes (not to be confused with applicants who happen to have played sports in high school; if you’re being recruited, you know who you are!). It combines SAT scores, SAT Subject Tests and a student’s class rank. Even for non-recruits, it can be a helpful guideline to show students how they stack up among Ivy applicants.
Athletic Recruiting
We’ve had so many questions about college recruiting lately we thought we’d bring you an interview we recently had with John Wolff. John was recruited to play baseball at Harvard and went on to play professional baseball with the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets!
First, I would like to thank Mimi and Michele for asking me to share my thoughts on college athletics and the recruiting game. Having gone through this process myself and knowing what a major influence it had on my life, I certainly wish I had more access to detailed first-hand information when I was still in high school. To that end, I hope the readers of this blog find value in my experiences and learn from my successes and failures.
Happy New Year – Now Think About Summer!
It’s hard to think about summer as you celebrate a bright new year, but we want you to shift your focus as the best summers take planning. But, we want you to shift your focus as the best summers take planning.
As you probably know by now, the Common Application has added a new category called WORK EXPERIENCE with five or so lines of description. Getting a job is as important today to admissions officers as community service was ten years ago. Likewise, many students are more career-oriented than ever before.
Admissions Blogs
Many colleges are beginning to create blogs written by admissions officers. These blogs are helpful resources no matter what grade you are in because often some interesting insight is shared. Take some time to check websites of colleges that interest you and read their admissions blog, if they have one, if not, read the school newspaper online.
Plan Ahead for Summer!
It’s hard to turn our thoughts to summer when winter is just kicking into gear.
But, we encourage students to take some time before the Christmas break to begin researching their summer plans. Many of the top summer programs at colleges and private schools fill up well ahead of the spring deadlines.
Get a job
Many students think that doing hours of community service will get them into top colleges, but that’s no longer the case. The truth is that many high schools REQUIRE community service, so it’s hard to tell who put their heart into it and who did it because it was required. Admissions officers are tired of the long list of community service projects on applications and students who emphasis how many hours they worked.
Stay on Top of Testing!
Did you know that the November 1st Subject Tests are the only time to take language tests with the listening component? It’s not too late to sign up — the late registration deadline is around October 10th. Subject tests are a key part of the selective admissions process and most top colleges require three strong SAT Subject Test scores. You know you are ready for the language listening tests if you’ve had three years of language study, are a native level speaker or have spent time abroad studying the target language.
More Early Decision Details
Most college early deadlines are coming up soon: November 1, although a few are still November 15 — you have to check. Don’t worry though — as long as you POSTMARK your application by November 1, it will not be late. BUT, do check each school as University of Michigan, for instance, changed its policy and requires applications to ARRIVE BY their due date rather than be POSTMARKED. It takes admissions officers a good 1-2 weeks to open and assemble applications. They encourage kids to apply before the deadline so they have some files to start with. If everyone sent everything in November 1, it’s possible they wouldn’t finish reading them. For those schools that offer alumni interviews, it’s actually better to mail in your application by October 15th to maximize your chance of getting an alumni interview on time.
Ivy League Admissions Statistics
Our exclusive data on the Class of 2014 Ivy League Admissions statistics, now updated for Early Action and Early Admissions for the class entering 2010. See exactly how many students applied and how many were accepted to different schools.
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