Students Get a Second Chance at “Early Decision”

Many college bound students aim to avoid the stress of waiting all senior year to find out which colleges will accept them.  They apply Early Decision I, meeting a November 1st or November 15th application deadline, and then typically hear back from their college of choice prior to the December holiday break.  If they are accepted, the holidays are a joyful time as they and their families can celebrate that the anxiety-ridden college application process is over.

But, for those students who are turned down by their Early Decision I college, or those who failed to meet the November deadline, all hope is not lost.  Many colleges offer Early Decision II, with a January application deadline and notification in February – close to two months prior to the typical April 1st college response date.

The main advantage of applying early decision, in addition to getting an early response, is that colleges usually accept a much higher percentage of early decision applicants.  Because early decision is binding, colleges know that any students they accept will definitely attend – increasing their “yield” (percentage of accepted students who enroll).

Strategies to Boost Prospect of College Admission

The best way to get “Your Accepted” letters (or emails) is to present yourself as an ideal candidate for each college to which you apply.  If you’re a legacy, let them know.  Many colleges strongly favor applicants whose parents are alumni – especially if they’ve been donating over the years.  If you’re the first in your family to seek a college education, let them know.  Most colleges favor students whose parents are not college educated.  If your family can afford to pay the full sticker price and not seek financial aid, let them know.  Some colleges are “need blind,” and admit students regardless of whether or not they are applying for financial aid.  Other colleges are “need-aware” or “need-sensitive,” and may consider financial need when deciding whether or not to admit an applicant.  

Aside from the factors outside of your control, there are several things you can do in advance to help your applications stand out.  The first is to develop leadership skills, and then emphasize these skills on college applications. Graduates of elite universities often talk about having started a club during their high school years, having initiated a community event, or having launched a non-profit in some area of passion. They believe these leadership experiences helped to secure their acceptances to the nation’s top colleges and universities.

The Impact of “Legacy” on College Acceptance Rate

The recent announcement by Amherst College that it would end “legacy admissions preference” has made this a hot topic.  Legacy admissions is the practice of favoring the children (and often the grandchildren and siblings) of alumni in the college admissions process.  Its use is widespread.  

According to a Wall Street Journal report, as of 2020, more than half of the nation’s top 250 universities reported taking legacy status into consideration during their application review process.  All eight Ivy League institutions were included in this number, as were Georgetown, Duke, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Tufts, and scores of other elite colleges and universities.  

A small number of highly selective schools openly oppose favoring legacy students, including MIT, California Institute of Technology, Cooper Union, Johns Hopkins, Texas A & M, and now Amherst College.

The Valuable Role of a Private College Counselor

High school guidance counselors are the first resource of college bound students who need advice on so many topics: how to prepare for the PSAT and SAT, how to identify best-fit colleges, how to assess the likelihood of being accepted by a particular college, how to write an effective essay, and how to file successful college applications. 

While high school counselors typically address all these issues with college bound students, they are often stretched very thin. The average student-to-counselor ratio in New Jersey is 348 to 1, according to the latest statistics of the American School Counselor Association. To make matters worse, public high school counselors, with a multitude of other responsibilities, reportedly spend only 23% of their time on college admission counseling with the average student receiving 38 minutes of personal college counseling over four years.

Most Popular Undergraduate Degree of America’s Richest Graduates is Business

Collegebound students with a goal of someday finding their name on the Forbes 400 List of the Richest Americans will want to consider the latest statistics. There are twelve schools that collectively claim as alumni more than a quarter of this year’s Forbes 400 Richest Americans.  Harvard tops the list with 15 graduates on the list. (That doesn’t include two of its most famous dropouts: Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.)  The University of Pennsylvania follows closely behind with 14 graduates on the list.  Yale and Stanford tie for third place, each with 12 alumni on the prestigious roster, followed by the University of Southern California (USC), Cornell, Princeton, Columbia and University of Michigan (tied for eighth place), and University of California – Berkeley, Dartmouth and Duke (all tied for tenth place).

Best College Towns Often Provide Lasting Home

Students searching for their ideal college may do well to look even farther on their horizon. Many popular college towns not only provide a great environment for students’ college days, but also offer an ideal location for their post-graduation life.

Research by Point2Homes.com identified the “Top 10 Most Dynamic College Towns” based on four categories: Human Capital, Housing, Economic Activity, and Earning Power & Equity. Once all the data was compiled, the “Top 10 Most Dynamic College Towns” were named with Princeton, NJ making the list in 10th place. Just missing out on the top rankings was Hoboken, NJ, home of Stevens Institute of Technology, which garnered 11th place.

October is an Important Month in College Process

October is crunch time for college-bound students who want to reap the benefits of meeting early application deadlines.

There’s a gamut of popular colleges that offer November 1st as an Early Action deadline. If students submit their applications by this date, colleges will get back to them early – frequently by the winter holidays.  A great way to relieve the stress of the college application process is to get accepted to colleges early and enjoy the rest of senior year, while maintaining grades, of course.

Universities popular with New Jersey students that offer Early Action include Northeastern, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, University of Rhode Island, Fairfield, Fordham, Hofstra, Pace, Penn State (all campuses), Temple, Villanova, Drexel, Ohio State, Case Western, University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Monmouth, Seton Hall, and Rutgers.