2010.04.02 20:07:01

Patrick OConnor

College Admission Acceptances-- a Year of Wow!

Students, parents and school counselors are still spinning from a week of college news that surprised even the most cautious college watchers.  Thin envelopes, noisy e-mails, and overworked Web sites have left a cloud of data and decisions that ask two questions—what happened, and what’s next?

First, a look at what happened:

• As expected, all highly selective colleges reported an increase in the number of applications—but the increase was larger than expected. This means more students were applying to college than ever before, AND these students were applying to more colleges than ever before, meaning many selective colleges offered admission to less than 10% of their applicants.
• Why were students applying to more colleges?  First, the economy. High unemployment and the tight housing market are still making parents cautious college consumers.  As a result, students applied to economic safety schools (this is why public colleges saw big application jumps) and to more colleges that were out of reach, hoping to find one that would offer a better financial aid bargain.
• Second, Harvard and Yale.  Word continued to spread about the bargain these schools are for families that make less than $160,000 a year; as a result, more families who thought they couldn’t afford an Ivy are applying to Harvard and Yale.  While this is good for these colleges, it makes admission that much harder, meaning the “traditional” Harvard and Yale families had to apply to more colleges.  This explains part of the reason why colleges as small as Swarthmore saw big application jumps.

What does all of this mean?  Three things:

• More students with more choices.  Students who used to have one or two acceptances from safety schools now have three or four.
• More uncertainty.  These students can still only attend one college, meaning more colleges will get “no thanks” notes from many admitted students.
• Bigger waitlists.  Many colleges expect an increase in the number of admitted students who attend somewhere else, so they’re padding their waitlists, just in case.

If you have many college acceptances, congratulations!  In addition to reviewing the financial aid offers from these colleges, review your notes from when you visited these colleges to help make your decision. 

If possible, visit these campuses a second time between now and May 1.  It’s been at least three months since you applied, and five months or more since you visited.  You may have different interests now than you did last fall, or you may see the college a different way.  There’s a big difference between “I hope I’m admitted here” and “Do I want to go here?”  Make sure you’re answering the right question, now that they’ve said yes.

If you’ve been waitlisted, ask yourself if you’d still want to go to this college if they called today and said “Yo, our bad—you can come.”  If the shine is off this college, take your name off the list and move on. 

If not, send back the postcard with a brief, updated list of all you’ve done since you applied, see if a teacher can write another letter, and be prepared to wait until late June for the college to run through the wait list, knowing financial aid may be limited at that point.  Of course, be sure to deposit at another college by May 1^st, just in case.

In a year of surprises, there are sure to be more to come.  For now, find a quiet place to focus on what matters most to you—the answers on what to do next will fall in place.

college admissions | college applications | college acceptances | waitlists | financial aid