Parents and College Admission

Posted on February 3, 2012  

There was a very funny article posted yesterday on “The Huffington Post” by Debra Ollivier entitled, “College Admissions Craze: Are We Making Our Kids Sick?” The article starts off by describing an instance where a father made a phone call about the college admissions process for his child while receiving a colonoscopy. No joke. Seriously. Can you imagine? If you’re a parent currently going through the college admissions process for your child, you probably can. So maybe you didn’t even giggle.

Parents and College Admissions, Admission and Parents, University Admission and Parenting

Are you a parent with your kid's college decal on your car?

It’s not even just the parents on the college tours who ask if donating a library would help their child gain admission. It’s not even just the parents who wear a full sweatsuit of the college to which their child hopes to get into. It’s not just these super obsessed parents who many people might dismiss as crazy. It’s a good portion of parents these days. It’s parents who just want the very best for their children…they just want to see them gain admission to the college or university of their dreams.

And parents are rubbing off on their children. In the article in “The Huffington Post,” Ollivier quotes clinical psychologist and “parenting expert” Wendy Mogel, “College deans have a name for some of the incoming students: ‘teacups’ and ‘crispies.’ Teacups are so fragile that they are easily broken by the knocks of college life. Crispies are so burned out that they are too brittle to enjoy anything. An increasing number are actually returning home after first semester, unable to cope.”

So do you fear your child will be a “teacup” or a “crispie”? Let us know your thoughts on parents and the college admissions process by posting below! And check out this video on Parents and College Admissions.

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US News College Ranking

Posted on February 1, 2012  

There are a number of articles out today about how the US News college ranking should be done away with in light of the major college admissions scandal at Claremont McKenna College. If you haven’t already heard about the scandal at CMC, the former Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid had been gaming the US News college ranking for years by reporting false applicant SAT scores. This former Dean of Admissions, Dick Vos, is no longer employed by Claremont McKenna. But the notion is absurd that college rankings should be eliminated because some people in positions of authority choose to unethically game the system to further their own goals.

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Claremont McKenna gamed the college ranking system for six years by reporting false SAT scores. But Claremont McKenna isn't alone in gaming the system.

Because some people cheat on their taxes, does that mean that taxes should be eliminated in the United States? Because some people zoom through stop signs, does that mean we should get rid of stop signs entirely? Because one college basketball player fixed a game, that means all college basketball games are not pure? That’s ridiculous. And so is recommending the elimination of college rankings because one (or a few) people cheat the system to their own end.

The fact of the matter is that college rankings matter to students, parents, guidance counselors, and future employers. It’s a means of comparison. Is it flawed? Yes. Can the algorithm be improved by which “US News & World Report” ranks colleges? Absolutely. But everyone shouldn’t be a winner! Everyone shouldn’t get a ribbon simply for finishing a race. Maybe that’s the new age way of child-rearing but, sorry Middlebury students, the vast majority of you would not be able to gain admission to Harvard. And Middlebury’s a very good school! So what’s wrong with a simple system that puts Harvard on a list higher than Middlebury? It’s essentially just stating the obvious.

Quit complaining about college rankings and how they’re hurting our children, new age folks. Go to yoga class and earn a ribbon. Oy vey.

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Claremont McKenna Admissions

Posted on January 31, 2012  

Claremont McKenna Admissions is under fire from the press and academia. In 2007, the MIT Dean of Admission resigned for lying on her resume. Specifically, the dean misrepresented her degrees which was rather ironic because she previously spoke out nationally about how, for instance, high school students shouldn’t overstate their roles in high school activities. Prior to the scandal, we very much supported the longtime MIT Dean of Admission for speaking out against the status quo in college admissions. The MIT Admissions Office now has some company on Page 6. But that was then. Now it’s time for Claremont McKenna to dominate Page 6 with a college admissions scandal of their own. If you haven’t already heard, the Claremont McKenna Office of Admission is in quite a bit of hot water!

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Dick Vos, the former Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Claremont McKenna has resigned. There is a college admissions scandal brewing at the university.

According to “The LA Times,” Claremont McKenna’s Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid has resigned when news came out that the school had inflated the SAT scores of applicants in the hope of rising in the annual “US News & World Report” college rankings. Even bigger…they’ve been doing this since 2005 — specifically, 10 to 20 points each year! Oy vey! If you didn’t suspect the “US News & World Report” college rankings were important before, hopefully you do now that you can see what Deans of Admission will do to push their school ahead of the competition.

While Claremont McKenna has not announced this formally, Richard “Dick” Vos, the former Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid is no longer listed on the website of the Claremont McKenna admissions office (the school has done a fairly good job of deleting him from every CMC search engine result possible!). He is also no longer employed by the college. It doesn’t take rocket science to conclude that Dick Vos is thus the person responsible for inflating SAT test results of applicants in the hope of boosting Claremont McKenna’s “US News & World Report” rankings.

This college admissions scandal, which was prominently featured last night on “The New York Times” website, is still developing. Check back to our blog for updates.

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Gap Years and College Admissions

Posted on January 30, 2012  

College Admissions Gap Years, Gap Years, College Gap Years, University Gap Years

If you're taking a gap year before college, don't hang out at the beach. Work. Learn. Pursue your passions. As long as that passion doesn't involve sunbathing!

There’s an article out today in “The Daily Pennsylvanian” in which The Ivy Coach founder, Bev Taylor, is quoted that discusses how in light of these tough economic times, some students are choosing to take gap years before enrolling in college. According to University of Pennsylvania Dean of Admissions Eric Furda, whom we recently saluted for his efforts at reaching applicants through non-traditional ways, betwen 50 to 65 students each admissions cycle choose to defer a year. That year is called a “gap year.”

According to the “Daily Pennsylvanian,” “‘It’s a mistaken idea that it’s better to do something strictly academic,’ [Furda] said. “[Work experience] teaches them some humility and some survival skills … that they almost don’t learn anywhere else, certainly not to the same degree.’” As our founder stated in the article, the gap year isn’t a luxury and it shouldn’t be considered as such.

Students taking gap years shouldn’t just hang out on the beach in France. They should work or find a way to pursue their passion. But if that passion is riding waves and soaking in the sun, forget the gap year and go to college! That would be such a waste of a year of your life! If you’re taking the year off, broaden your horizons, learn, and grow! And also know that gap years aren’t for everyone.

Be sure to read more about Gap Years and College Admission and let us know your thoughts on gap years and college admissions by posting below!

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Vassar College Admissions

Posted on January 28, 2012  

Shame on Vassar College Admissions! Yesterday, the Vassar College Admissions Office sent out admissions decisions to Early Decision applicants to the college. Many students around the world jumped for joy as they read their decisions on their ipads, iphones, and laptops. It’s a momentous time and a remarkable achievement for a high school student to cap off years of hard work. It’s the beginning of the next four years. The only thing was…Vassar College got it wrong.

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Vassar College made a big blunder with their admissions decisions this year.

Vassar College in fact sent out offers of acceptance to 122 students but only 46 should have received them. The 76 students who also read letters of acceptance and jumped for joy with their parents, friends, and family, didn’t in fact get in. Their “test letters” were supposed to be meant as placeholder emails (who knows what that really means) but instead they ended up being sent out. And 76 students who thought they got in were informed a few hours later that in fact they were denied admission.

How ridiculous is that? If you think it’s the first time this has happened in college admissions, though, you’d be mistaken. It happens quite a bit, unfortunately. It happened to Cornell University in 2003. UC San Diego in 2009. George Washington University in 2010. University of Delaware, University of North Carolina…the list goes on. It’s time for college admissions offices to stop making these mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of other colleges. Next time, learn from the mistakes of the Vassar College Admissions Office! The college admissions process is stressful enough for students and parents as it is.

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Yale and Rhodes Scholars

Posted on January 27, 2012  

Remember the Yale University quarterback who decided to withdraw from pursuing the Rhodes Scholarship because his interview fell on the same day of “The Game” (the Harvard-Yale football game)? And remember how the Yale University football coach ended up resigning during the media attention that followed Witt’s decision? If you don’t remember, he resigned because it was brought to Yale’s attention that, contrary to the credentials on his bio, he wasn’t in consideration for a Rhodes Scholarship. Well, anyhow, there is more scandal brewing!

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The Yale QB who pulled his name out of contention for the Rhodes Scholarship is at the center of a scandal (photo from "USA Today").

According to “The New York Times,” Patrick Witt did not pull out of contention for the Rhodes Scholarship because of “The Game.” Rather, he pulled out of contention — again, according to “The New York Times” — because the Rhodes Trust was informed by an anonymous source that “a fellow student had accused Witt of sexual assault.” According to “The Times,” “The Rhodes Trust informed Yale and Witt that his candidacy was suspended unless the university decided to re-endorse it. Witt’s accuser has not gone to the police, nor filed what Yale considers a formal complaint. The New York Times has not spoken with her and does not know her name.”

What a turn of events! Just a few months back, we saluted Yale QB Patrick Witt for choosing to honor his commitment to his teammates and his football program over doing an interview for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. We even sharply criticized the Rhodes Committee for removing Witt from contention. After all, Witt seemed like the very kind of honorable student-athlete they should be seeking. But maybe we had it wrong. Maybe the great PR story for Yale about the QB who sacrificed a chance for the Rhodes to honor his commitment to his team was just that…PR.

Patrick Witt and his attorneys have since come out and denied the allegations present in “The New York Times” article. It’s quite possible Patrick Witt never did commit a crime. Just look at the Duke lacrosse players. But there’s certainly more to this story than a QB who just didn’t want to miss a game.

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College Consultants and China

Posted on January 26, 2012  

College Counselors in China, College Consultants and China, China and University Consultants

The vast majority of college consultants in China aren't exactly virtuous. Many indeed act reprehensibly.

College consultants and China. Right now, it’s a bad mix…a system in need of an overhaul. For students using college consultants in China, we’d like to give you a warning. A big warning. The vast majority are highly unethical. We’ve written before about how they often receive kickbacks from universities in the United States should their students enroll there. We’ve written before about how they have students choose college essays from a stack of prewritten and often already used college essays.

But new information circulating in the press suggests many college consultants in China are indeed even faking transcripts, letters of recommendation, and extracurricular activities for students. Oy vey. Have these college consultants in China no moral compasses? It seems not. And students and parents alike should know that what these consultants are doing is not only unethical but it could well ruin lives.

The student with the fake transcript and fake letters of recommendation probably won’t be able to excel at MIT. Maybe he or she will get kicked out for lackluster grades. Maybe the student doesn’t even speak or understand English fluently. Do you know the kind of stress a student would be under if she has to take a high-level economics course but can’t even understand basic English phrases? That’s the kind of binds these unethical college consultants in China are putting these students into. It’s just not right and something has to change.

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Twitter and College Admissions

Posted on January 25, 2012  

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One's Tweets can jeopardize one's college admissions decisions (photo from ESPN).

Twitter and college admissions can be like oil and vinegar. For college applicants, we’d like to stress again if we haven’t nailed it into your heads already that you should be mindful of what you write on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets. Do all college admissions officers check the Facebook pages or Twitter accounts of applicants? Absolutely not. Do some? Absolutely. So what you post can indeed matter. It can even mean the difference between an acceptance and a denial.

In the case of Yuri Wright, a football player out of Don Bosco High School and the 40th-ranked player on the “ESPNU 150,” his Tweets ended up getting him expelled from his high school. And his expulsion is of course jeopardizing his college admissions decisions. The University of Michigan, for instance, was heavily recruiting Wright. Not anymore. According to Wright’s high school football coach as reported by ESPN, “We told them about 10 or 15 times to get off (Twitter) and not to be involved in it, but there is always somebody who thinks he knows better…What he wrote was pretty bad, to be honest with you, I can’t even say what he wrote.”

Take a lesson from Yuri Wright. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want a college admissions officer to read. You have to just assume they’ll be perusing your social media pages. For more information on social media and college admissions, check out this post on Facebook and College Admissions.

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AP Classes and Ivy League Admission

Posted on January 24, 2012  

Jay Matthews of “The Washington Post” wrote an article that appears in today’s “Denver Post” in which he states that taking a ton of AP tests (and doing well on them) offers a student no advantage over an applicant who only takes, say, four AP classes and tests. We beg to differ. While Mr. Matthews writes a great deal on the college admissions process and has published books in the field, on this topic, he is misinformed.

AP Classes and Ivy League, Ivy League and AP Courses, AP Tests and Ivy League

The more AP tests that you take and do well on, the better as you seek to stand out in the Ivy League admissions race.

Highly selective colleges like the universities that comprise the Ivy League seek overachieving students with great intellectual curiosity. They want students for whom learning and intellect come naturally. They’re not after the student who has to work really hard to earn that A. They’re not after the grade grubber. They’re after the student who goes home, reads a book for pleasure, and aces his history exam because he loves history…not because he pulled an all-nighter studying. And this kind of information is often conveyed in the letters of recommendation from teachers.

So you may wonder how Ivy League admissions officers can gauge which students have an easy time of it in school. Beyond the letters of recommendation, Ivy League admissions counselors can look at AP scores. What do they think about the student whose school only offers six AP courses but he chose to take 3 additional AP tests (not courses, just tests)? They think…he’s mighty smart! Just because your school only offers four AP classes does not by any means mean that you don’t have to take any more AP tests to stand out in a competitive field of college applicants.

When you read something like what Jay Matthews wrote (“If you like AP, taking 12 of them won’t hurt you but confers no advantage over a classmate who took just four and did well on the exams.”), read it with a great deal of skepticism! And while you’re here, check out our newsletter on AP courses and Ivy League admission.

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College Application Numbers

Posted on January 23, 2012  

Each year, we seem to read the same old line that goes something like, “Applications have hit an all-time high. This is the most competitive year ever in college admissions.” If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that this is all spin. College admissions wasn’t particularly more competitive in 2011 as compared to 2002. The fact is that colleges are just getting better at encouraging students (even completely unqualified students) to apply to make their admit rate even tougher and their “US News & World Report” ranking even higher.

College App Numbers, University Application Numbers, Applications to College, Apps to Ivy League Colleges

The Ivy Coach salutes MIT Dean of Admission Stuart Schmill for setting a standard in college admissions which all Deans of Admission should follow.

But this year, the usual spin is a little different because college application numbers actually dropped at many highly selective colleges across the nation. As reported by Janet Lorin of “Business Week,” Columbia experienced an 8.9% decrease in applications after having a record high the previous year when the university joined the Common App. Applications to Columbia had in fact jumped by 33% the previous year before falling to 31,818 for the 2011-2012 admissions cycle.

Application numbers at the University of Pennsylvania are down this year as well. MIT, too, but let’s take a time out from reporting these decreases because we want to salute the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill. Why’s that? Because Stuart Schmill isn’t interested in increasing applications for the sake of increasing applications and improving MIT’s “US News & World Report” ranking. In fact, Schmill oversaw a 40% decrease in the university’s direct marketing campaign so that the school would not so heavily recruit applicants who don’t have a shot at getting in.

Go Stuart Schmill! More Deans of Admission need to follow your noble example.

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