Top 3 Hurdles of College Application Process

Admissions officers spend about ten minutes per application at large universities, and fifteen to thirty minutes at selective smaller schools, according to industry insiders.  So, students hoping to gain admission to highly competitive schools should emphasize three qualities on their applications.

The first is their numbers.  Every school looks at an applicant’s GPA and SAT or ACT scores, if submitted, with the exception of the very few “test blind” colleges and universities.  High school students should therefore take as competitive a course load as possible since Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors courses can significantly boost their GPA.  Students should also take the SAT (or ACT) several times, as they get unlimited “do overs” and can ultimately submit their highest test scores without colleges knowing how many times they took the test.

More Than 1.7 Million Students Took SAT Exam In 2022

More than 1.7 million students took the SAT exam in 2022 as part of their college application process, according to statistics from BestColleges.com.  Unfortunately, their collective scores were less than impressive with a national average total SAT score of 1050 – the lowest reported scores since 2016. Broken down by section, the average Evidence-based Reading and Writing score was 529 while the average Math score was 521. Back in 2018, the average total SAT score was 1068.

As expected, scores vary greatly by state.  According to BestColleges.com, the average total SAT score in 2022 for New Jersey students was 1079, slightly higher than New York’s average of 1067 and Connecticut’s average of 1025. But New Jersey students, on average, scored substantially lower than did their peers in Tennessee and Missouri (1200), Montana (1206), North Dakota (1212), South Dakota and Kentucky (1219), Nebraska (1222), Minnesota (1225), Mississippi (1226), Utah (1233), Kansas (1238), Wyoming (1244) and Wisconsin (1252).

What’s most significant for individual students is the way their SAT score compares to those of peers at their high school.  Colleges consider students in comparison with their classmates and favor those with the highest SAT scores for admission and scholarship purposes.

The Key Strategies for Identifying Best Fit Colleges

There are more than 3,000 colleges in the United States, often posing a dilemma for students who have no idea how to go about narrowing down their list of potential colleges.  While many colleges resemble resorts, with amenities such as a lazy river, golf course or ski slope, students realize that the main purpose of a college education is to prepare them for a career in their chosen field.   

So, the first step is to identify one’s ideal major. College Board has published the Book of Majors, listing the vast majority of majors offered at colleges throughout the country, and indicating which schools offer a degree in each field. Students can also go to the website of a large university, such as Rutgers, Penn State or Ohio State, view the vast list of majors and research those that are of interest.  

 

For more unusual majors, the list of potential colleges will be greatly streamlined.  According to the Book of Majors, only two universities offer a bachelor’s degree in Animal Genetics, Rutgers – New Brunswick and Clemson in South Carolina, while Animal Nutrition is offered only at Purdue in Indiana. Likewise, only a handful of universities offer a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Psychology, including University of Connecticut, Emory in Georgia, Northwestern in Illinois, Tufts in Massachusetts, and Brown in Rhode Island.

Top Spring Break College Tour Tips

Believe it or not, spring break will soon be here. And it provides a unique opportunity. It’s one of the few times during the school year when college classes are in session while high school classes are not.  Most colleges schedule their spring break for early March while most high schools hold theirs in April.  This provides the ideal opportunity for high school students to visit campuses while college life is in full swing.

 

If parents are available during a student’s spring break, it’s the perfect time for a road trip to visit out-of-state colleges.  The vast majority of students attend college within five hours of home, so the destination need not be a distant locale.  If a student dreams of attending a big city school, then a tour of colleges in the Boston or Washington D.C. areas may prove fruitful.  If a student prefers a suburban or rural environment, then a drive through Pennsylvania offers an option of touring close to 100 different colleges and universities. 

 

Students who are on their own during spring break can still put the week to great use. By visiting two of New Jersey’s highly ranked schools, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and Rutgers University, students can quickly recognize the type of college they prefer.

The Secrets of Getting Accepted to Elite Colleges

The vast majority of colleges accept at least half of their applicants.  Some accept many more.  In fact, U.S. News & World Report lists scores of colleges and universities that, in recent years, have accepted between 95% and 100% of applicants.  
 
The difficulty arises when students seek acceptance to the world-famous institutions that, each year, collectively reject hundreds of thousands of students.  According to U.S. News & World Report, the acceptance rate for the Fall 2022 freshman class was 9% at Cornell University and lower at all the other Ivy League schools with Harvard and Princeton at 4%, Yale at 5%, and Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, at University of Pennsylvania at 6%.  Similar one digit acceptance rates were reported for Stanford, M.I.T., University of Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, California Institute of Technology, Vanderbilt, and Rice.
 
What college bound students need to do, therefore, is be aware of the criteria that college admissions officers are taking under careful consideration. Some of these benchmarks are outside a student’s control.  Many of the top colleges favor “legacy” students – those with an alumni parent.  Many colleges give preference to “first generation” students – those whose parents do not have a college education.  Many colleges value geographical diversity – seeking a freshmen class that represents all 50 states and as many foreign countries as possible.  If students can use any of these criteria to their benefit, they should highlight the information on their applications.

The Ivy League College Degree Advantage

Many students with high academic credentials seek admission to an Ivy League institution, aware of the prestige, job opportunities, and increased earnings that a degree from one of these eight elite institutions is likely to impart. The Ivy League is comprised of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.  

U.S. News & World Report reviewed recent data from PayScale and concluded that Ivy League graduates earn substantially more than do graduates from more than 1,500 other four-year universities. Early career median pay in 2022 was reportedly $86,025 for Ivy League graduates, compared to $58,643 for graduates of other universities. That gap grew wider when considering mid-career median pay, with Ivy League graduates earning $161,888 compared to $101,777 for graduates of other institutions – a difference of more than $50,000 per year.  

 

Not only do Ivy League students have greater potential earnings, but they typically enjoy a lower cost of education.  All the Ivy League schools (with the exception of Columbia which declined to share information) are in the Top 20 on the U.S. News Best Value Schools list.  For the most part, they have a “no loans” policy, which means they meet the full financial need of all students without requiring them to take out loans.

True vs. False Benefits of College Summer Programs

The vast majority of elite colleges and universities “invite” thousands of high school students – and sometimes even middle school students – to spend a portion of their summer living on campus, attending classes, and experiencing the life of an undergraduate.

Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, The University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, UCLA, NYU, Duke, Boston College, and scores of other colleges and universities open their campus each summer to teens who later dream of returning for their college experience.

 

The problem is that the admission process for most summer programs can barely be considered competitive, while the admission process for undergraduate acceptance is truly daunting at many of these same institutions.  Often students, and their parents, are under the false impression that attending a summer program for high school students at an elite school will ultimately help them gain acceptance for college.  A Washington Monthly article, titled “The Pre-College Racket,” reported that, according to professional admissions consultants, attending a pre-college program seldom offers a special benefit or is particularly prestigious on college applications.