Thursday, September 9, 2010

Taking and Re-Taking the SAT/ACT

Students and parents often wonder if it's worth it to re-take the SAT, or to take both the SAT and the ACT.  Here is one perspective, offered in the blog The Choice at the NY Times: An Argument Against Taking (and Retaking) the SAT and ACT

I think the short answer is, as it is for so many questions in life, "It depends."  If a student scores particularly well on either test and is satisfied with his/her results, then great!  Why go through it all again?  On the other hand, maybe a 100-300 point increase is possible now the student has more math under his/her belt, or an SAT review course, or whatever.  Maybe they had the flu the day they took it the first time, or for some reason simply weren't at their best that morning.  Taking it again makes a lot of sense in that case.

If one test score seems much, much better relative to the other (ACT vs. SAT) then stick with the one that's better!  Not sure if the colleges in question accept the ACT?  Go to their web site and check out their requirements for admission.   (As an aside, some schools are even "test optional" meaning they don't require the SAT or ACT at all.)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

School Highlights

One idea I have had for this blog is to write about colleges and universities that may be unfamiliar to readers (and to me as well!) from time to time.  It's an exercise that occurred to me last spring as something that would be fun for me and educational for all of us.  So keep an eye out for that.  I'd like to have a catchy name for those types of posts, and I would tag or label the posts that way too.  If you have a suggestion I'm all ears!  I imagine at this point I'd be doing well to write about one school every other week.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

One Year Out

This blog post, from The Choice in the NY Times, is for all you parents who are a year out from sending your own children off to college. 
Normally, I’m O.K. about saying goodbye. Just this summer, when the bugle sounded, announcing an end to parent’s visiting day at my son’s sleep-away camp, it was a hug, a kiss and “See you in three weeks. Love you.”

While I didn’t much miss the sound of video games streaming from our basement, the tennis balls pounding against the garage door, and the baseball mitt taking up space on the kitchen counter, I knew — and loved — the fact that those trivial annoyances would be back come mid-August.

But a child’s leaving for college is a goodbye of different proportions. Of course she’ll come home for vacations and maybe summers, too. Of course, her room will remain intact with its photos, yearbooks, etc., so it’ll feel like she still lives there. But does she? I’m not so sure it’ll ever feel quite the same.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Demonstrated Interest

Colleges and universities have what are called yield rates: the percentage of students who accept offers of admission.  Schools would like high yield rates for a variety of reasons (which might be the subject of another blog post!) but suffice to say that schools want to extend offers of admission to those qualified students who are a good fit for the school who are also likely to attend.  One way student can use this in their favor, at least with some schools, is to show the school that if they are accepted, they will (or will very likely) choose that school among all other offers.  This is the idea behind "demonstrated interest."

A March 2009 article in the Boston Globe discussed demonstrated interest. 
In the increasingly tense courtship of college admissions, more selective schools are smiling upon high school students who show sincere interest in attending, closely tracking such things as whether they visited campus, responded to recruiting messages, or even joined an online chat with an admissions officer.
The lesson here is that if you are interested in a more selective school, let them know above and beyond just applying!  If interviews are suggested, schedule one.  If you're able to tour the campus, sign up to do so. 
Parents and applicants take note: Walter and other college officials said they do not hold it against students who cannot afford to visit campus, particularly in the slumping economy. There are many other ways students can let colleges know they are among their top choices, including attending a college fair or reception in their hometown. Even better, they said, is introducing themselves to an admissions officer and striking up a conversation.
 To me the bottom line is that if you really want to attend a school it can only help you to let them know!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

US Lags in Degrees - NY Times

This article came out last month in the New York Time, discussing the number of college degrees held by US residents in the 25-34 year age range.  Where the US was once the leader in this category, it is now 12th out of 36 developed nations.   Canada now leads this pack. 

A great deal of time and money goes into recruiting students for colleges and universities, but what the students actually do once they get there matters too.  Completion rates for 4-year and 2-year schools look something like this:
While almost 70 percent of high school graduates in the United States enroll in college within two years of graduating, only about 57 percent of students who enroll in a bachelor’s degree program graduate within six years, and fewer than 25 percent of students who begin at a community college graduate with an associate’s degree within three years.
And apparently, a Bachelor's degree is still much more likely to belong to a wealthier person:
And students from the highest income families are almost eight times as likely as those from the lowest income families to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24.
 For me, this brings up the issue of how important it is for a student to find the right fit for them when selecting a college or university to attend.  The right fit is going to make it much more likely that they will stay at the school and complete their degree.  If community college is the preferred route, it makes clear that having a plan in place for an Associates degree as well as the ability to matriculate to a 4-year institution is important.  I can also see how important it is for schools to support students all along the way so that attending college isn't something for only the privileged students. 

Monday, August 16, 2010

The Choice - Education blog at NYTimes.com

One blog that I now subscribe to is The Choice, on the New York Times web site.  I enjoy it because it gives me an easy way to see what's happening in the world of college admissions from a newspaper point of view.  Jacques Steinberg is the main author, and he is also the author of the book The Gatekeepers (which I now own thanks to a gift from a former parent who was clearing out books she no longer needed!).   He and several other contributors look at  college admissions from many different angles, and the posts are both educational and entertaining.   Recent topics have included reporting a change in how SAT scores can be reported on the Common App, the current scrutiny of for-profit colleges and a situation where more freshmen have accepted spots than are actually available at the University of Iowa.

Cappex - College Search Site

As a part of my studies I was introduced to a web site called Cappex.  Its tag line is "College search made simple."  There are several aspects to the site for students, as well as a portion geared toward college counselors.

On the student side of things, you can set up a profile that is then used by Cappex to find matches for you.  You receive information about colleges that might be a good fit, and if you see one that looks promising, you can contact the school.  You can also apply for Cappex scholarships once you have your profile established, though I don't know much about that yet.

Under the Tools tab you can find a collection of 16 articles about the college application process.  The articles are filed under the categories of Prepare, Plan, Apply, and Decide.  The Student Chances tab is described as follows:
The Cappex "What Are My Chances?" Calculator is a powerful college search tool designed to help set student expectations. The Calculator instantly tells you a student's chances of being admitted to almost any college in country. This isn't the final word on admissions, but, along with your counseling, it can be a valuable tool.
 As a counselor, I can associate my account with my students' accounts and monitor searches and such via the site.

I played with the Scattergram tool for a little while, investigating UCLA's scattergram.  This is designed to show who is getting into schools (based only on GPAs and ACT/SAT scores).  I chose UCLA as it is my alma mater.  :) 

For a review of Cappex you can check out this post at EDU in review.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog.  I'm creating a place where I can write about current college counseling topics, comment on news items and offer suggestions and tips along the way.   This blog is a final project in one of my college counseling certificate courses that I'm taking via UCLA Extension, and my plan is to incorporate what I've been learning in my courses here as well.  All in all, my aim to make this a useful resource for my students and their families, as well as others with an interest in college counseling!