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  • collegepete 6:08 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2015, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   

    A School For Everyone: The College Tour Recap 

    After a long and very hot week touring Notheast colleges, I am thrilled that this message is coming to you from my cozy, air-conditioned office in Weston.  Jill and I toured 4 colleges in 4 days (Cornell, Ithaca College, Skidmore, and Vassar), and yes, we were pretty tired at the end of it.  But it was worth it.  There is simply no substitute to being there, and after meeting with Admissions and Business officers,  I have a few very important pieces of information to share with you regarding how you should be planning for college.

    • There is a great college for every student, and if you map out your admissions and funding strategy together and before your child begins applying, you will greatly improve the odds that s/he will pick and get accepted to schools that you will be able to afford.  Discounting is not a random exercise and it is no longer an afterthought.   Colleges strategically and intentionally use both need-based Aid and merit-based (or non-need based) aid   — though certainly not in equal measure — to induce students to attend their institution.  Without a doubt, the largest source of free money is in need-based aid (more than $150 billion worth – yes, I said billion).  It is a legitimate source of college funding for forgotten middle class families, and choosing schools that offer substantial need-based grants should be a critical component of your admissions strategy.
    • More so than ever, networking and the ‘Little Things’  can move the needle on admittance and funding offers.  Despite technology (or pehabs because of it), standing out today often requires showing up. Get out there and visit colleges!  Schools want to see you and want to know that you want to go there.  Nothing demonstrates interest like your visit to their campus.
    • Students with specialized interests such as Art or Drama should consider liberal arts schools that offer majors or minors in the specialized field.  We saw amazing theater and art programs at places like Skidmore, Ithaca, and Vassar.  At these schools and many like them, you’ll find great students, great professors, small classrooms, and a diverse student body with a wide mix of interests.  Oh, and they are MUCH more generous with financial assistance than any specialty school.
    • Just because a school has a need-aware admissions policy does not mean that it isn’t generous.  A school like Skidmore does not hide the fact that they are need-aware, but if you get admitted then they guarantee they will meet 100% of demonstrated need.  So for the students who do get in, they are awarded handsomely.  Many other schools follow the same principle.
    • And though I hate to admit it, there can be an admissions advantage to applying early decision.  This was confirmed by the officers I met with and by the numbers. However, don’t let your student apply Early Decision unless you are sure you can pay the bill.   If you apply early decision, you are ‘locked in’ and bound to attend that college – you’ll have zero leverage when seeking a tuition discount.  The student, the parents, and the high school guidance counselor must sign a contract and confirm that the Early Decision rules are understood.

    I’ll be elaborating on these and other conclusions, as well as sharing money-saving tips to help families pay the college bill, during my upcoming LIVE webinar on August 9.

    Topics we’ll cover include:

    • Why now EVERYONE, regardless of income, should apply for financial aid without exception
    • Accessing the precious and disappearing grant and scholarship dollars
    • Why it takes students 5+ years, on average, to graduate from college and how you can buck this trend
    • Dollars and Sense – how to successfully overlap your child’s admissions strategy with your ability to pay
    • How some assets can penalize you 5x, whereas other assets don’t count at all
    • How to get admissions officers to fall in love with your student

    If you are the parent of a 10th, 11th, or 12th grader, and you are stressed about the entire college process, from admissions to financing, then you should tune in to this LIVE webinar.  If you are too busy for the webinar, you can catch me in person on August 25 down in Pinecrest.  Click here to register for either event.

    Best,

    Peter

     

  • collegepete 7:04 pm on July 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2015, , , , , , , ,   

    Skidmore College: Location. Location. Location. 

    Check out this short video with a summary of my trip to  Skidmore College.   Skidmore is ’at the center of it all’, one of 16 schools in the region,situated in the foothills of the Adirondacks and on the outskirts of  cute, yet bustling Saratoga Springs, NY - 30 minutes from Albany and Stratton Mountain,  – and just a three-hour drive from three major cities (NY, Boston and Montreal).   It’s easily accessible from South Florida, with nonstop flights from Ft. Lauderdale daily.

    Skidmore is a small, competitive liberal arts college with an all-undergrad population of about 2,500 students, a 9:1 student-faculty ratio AND a wide variety of pre-professional curricular options, including busines, exercise science and education (among other offerings).   A generous, but need-sensitive school (see video for an explanation), Skidmore should be on the short-list of every aspiring art student, as well as those desiring a small, competitive, liberal arts college.

     

  • collegepete 4:01 pm on July 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2015, , , ,   

    The Quintessential College Town – Stop #1 on College Pete’s College Tour 

    Peter with Lisa Searle, Ithaca College admissions counselor

    Greetings from Ithaca, NY – home to Ithaca College and Cornell University, and the number one rated College Town in America (according to USA Today).  No question there’s a palpable college vibe here.  In fact, I’m writing this from the Ithaca Commons, one of the two pedestrian malls where you’ll find both a great mix of cafes, laundromats, bars and restaurants AND an eclectic mix of  PhD’s, street performers and students mingling about and taking advantage of the free wifi.

    We spent today at Ithaca College (IC) where I was treated to a great tour led by Joe Alfano, Class of 2013 — and then graciously hosted by Rich Wong (Assistant Director, Admissions) and Lisa Searle (Admissions Counselor).

    IC is a relatively small school (6,000 undergrads) with a cosmopolitan feel!  It’s known for its first-rate, personalized academic approach and a practical, experiential learning environment.  The average class size is just 17 students and the student faculty ratio here is 12:1. As you’ll see in Joe’s video, If you blow off a class at IC,  you can expect to be called on it!  IC is unique in that it’s liberal arts at its core, but has highly rated programs in Music (as Mr. Wong said, “… Here’s where you come to see tomorrow’s Broadway stars”) and theater, a school of Health & Human Services and a Business School with a real-time trading room and the highest CPA pass rate in NY State, not to mention it’s world-renown Park Communications School, which includes a Pace-maker awarded (= to Pulitzer prize) student paper, the only local new broadcast and a satellite campus in Burbank.  It boasts many famous alum including Robert Iger, President/CEO of Disney.

    Students at IC can take classes at Cornell (and vice versa) and more than 97% of IC grads are gainfully employed or in grad school within a year of commencement.   It is the only school that I have seen that has made the Career Center a scheduled stop on the tour!   

    Also,

    • 85% of IC students receive some sort of tuition discount.  In fact, IC automatically considers each applicant for one of three merit-based scholarships (President’s, Named and ALANA) — and then offers three additional merit scholarships including the Park Scholar Award that covers the full cost of attendance at the Communications School for all four years!  In all, IC awards more than $150 million in need and non-need based aid every year.

    -IC takes a holistic approach to Admissions.  Counselors are encouraged to spend as much time reading an applicant’s file as necessary (by comparison, some schools limit the amount of time to as little as 7 minutes per applicant).  As Mr. Wong said, “We are looking for reasons to admit, not to deny!”

    -Lisa Searle told us to tell our students to please ‘Be boastful … we want to know what makes you great, or why you stumbled.  If you don’t tell us, we won’t know!”

    • We also learned than only 35% of students come from outside the Northeast  — and that puts our South FL students at a great geographic advantage and that Ithaca welcomes AP credits (3 or better gets credit) and college credits from dual enrollment programs.

    Overall, Ithaca College is an outstanding choice for good students who want a residential, engaged campus life, a hands-on educational experience in an experiential, pre-professional environment with a liberal arts core.

     

  • collegepete 10:16 am on July 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2015, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   

    Stanford’s Top 20 

    Summer is a great time to get working on that college essay.  Students often have more difficulty with the essay than any other part of the college application process, including the SAT.  Sure, most student’s hate taking the SAT almost as much as the rest of America hates the Miami Heat, but after 3 hours and 45 minutes the SAT is over, done with, and probably behind you.  The essay, on the other hand, has no time limit.  It’s never really finished, and even when you think it’s finished, there is always another tweak you can make here or there to marginally improve it.  And while the SAT (or its fraternal twin the ACT) is one of the primary components of a student’s application, it’s the Essay that actually provides the ‘texture’ and context that can sway a borderline candidate from a ‘maybe’ to a ‘yes’!

    The most important part of the essay might just be the opening sentence.  Think about it.  Admissions officers quite literally read thousands of essays, so the opening line had better grab, melt resistance and create enough interest to keep them reading.  That’s a very tall order for one sentence!

    Stanford’s admissions office was recently asked about their favorite opening lines.  Here are my Fave 5 from that list:

    When I was in eighth grade I couldn’t read.

    Cancer tried to defeat me, and it failed.

    I have old hands.

    Some fathers might disapprove of their children handling noxious chemicals in the garage.

    On a hot Hollywood evening, I sat on a bike, sweltering in a winter coat and furry boots.
    These lines get your attention without being ‘gimmicky.’  They keep you interested, and they make you guess and wonder what comes next. By themselves they evoke wonder and passion, surprise and suspense, and we can only assume that they introduce a compelling story. And that’s what makes for an interesting essay – telling a good story.

    There are 17 other openers in the Stanford survey (and tons more from my previous students), all of which I’ll share at my 4th Annual ‘Thick Envelope Magic’ Admissions and Application Boot Camp on July 9.  This day-long event is not just about the opening line of the admissions essay, though an entire class certainly could be.  ‘Thick Envelope’ also covers everything a rising 12th grader needs to know, ask for, do and complete to apply and gain admissions to a great college.  Students who attend will be able to complete (and submit) their college applications before school starts.

    This event is open exclusively to rising 12th graders.  Past attendees gave it rave reviews, and the curriculum has been updated to reflect all of the changes to the process (e.g.,, the essay now has a word limit), and  is even better this year.  If your student is a rising 12th grader and is home for the summer, there is no excuse to miss this event.  You’ll want to register them by clicking here.

    Most college applications can be completed as early as August 1, including the University of Florida.  Give your student a head start and an edge on what can be a stressful application process.  My July event has 14 registered students, so I have room for 6 more.  I look forward to seeing your child there.

     

  • collegepete 4:43 pm on May 2, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2015, , , , , , ,   

    Decision Day! 

    Last Friday was ‘Decision Day’ for our college-bound high school seniors.  It was a stressful week for many, me included, as offers were weighed, appealed and weighed again.  The good news is that when the dust settled at about 5:30 pm on Friday, the vast majority of our students had been accepted to and received considerable inducements to attend one of their top choices.

    The tally:  The overall acceptance rate across the country was 67% according to the NY Times – slightly lower than the 70% I projected, and there was some definite head-scratching, and even outright bizarre turns.  Like students accepted at Brown, but rejected from Vanderbilt; or in at Duke but not Tufts, or in at Indiana but not UCF. 

    Nearly every school saw an uptick in the sheer number of applicants.  And even those that didn’t , with very few exceptions, admitted fewer students as a percentage of applicants than they did last year.  The results shouldn’t surprise – especially as more and more schools have begun accepting the Common Application.  In fact, more than 2 million online applications were filed this year – about 20% more than were filed last year.   Other drivers of ‘application inflation’ and the overall decline in the ‘admit rate’ include supply & demand – the largest number of high school students applying to college ever, vying for the same slots at so-called ‘hot’ schools (thank you US News & World Reports); cold winters that made Southern schools like Vanderbilt more geographically desirable than ever;  fatigue (of the admissions officers reading more applications than ever), and state schools that intentionally accepted more out-of-state students to raise their average net revenue.  There are more reasons, obviously, but I want to spend some time telling you what to do about it.

    Why Less is More!

    More than anything else, what I have seen is, that despite technology or perhaps because of it (see my notes on application inflation above), college admissions — which includes not just who gets in, but what price they’ll pay (list v net) –is a very ‘personal’ process, managed by real people who are moved by emotion and subtleties that are not reflected in scores, GPA or class rank.  What separates two seemingly identical students on paper are intangibles like the student’s demonstrated interest in a school, expressed career aspirations, potential contributions on campus, their ability to move the needle on the school’s competitiveness, etc. 

    In nearly every case that I was involved in, the students who received the best awards were those whose families were able to effectively and sufficiently demonstrate three things: Need, Value AND Desire.  For students who had made a personal connection with the school in some way, I saw money found quite literally in the 11th hour.   

    So, in a crowded field, the importance of niche positioning cannot be underestimated.    What I mean is that instead of defensively submitting more applications to ‘cover your bases’, even if  technology makes it enticing to do so,  it’s far more efficient to build a targeted list of 8-10 schools that you know in advance will consider your demonstrated financial need, find value in your student (be it academically, socially or even geographically), and meet your student’s academic, social and aspirational desires… and then focus your family’s energies on demonstrating those things to those schools. 

    The irony is that while there is now more information available than ever – including various school rankings, net cost calculators, ROI estimates, etc.,  the process is becoming more daunting and confusing than ever.  The best advice I can offer is to go for depth over breadth, look beyond the obvious to identify great schools where you’ll be able to leverage your student’s strengths, and to have an integrated admissions strategy that is driven by both the scholarly and the financial by the time your student is in 11th grade.  (For those of you who have rising seniors, I’ve added a special ‘early bird’ admissions prep program to kick start the application process THIS SUMMER, before your student even steps foot into school for their 12th grade year.  Click here for more info.)

    Last week I promised to issue a ‘disslist’ of schools that ‘market’ themselves as meeting 100% of a family’s demonstrated need.  I’m going to hold off on that until I am certain that all of my families have submitted and/or withdrawn their acceptances.  My goal is to hand out a list of 60 schools that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need at tomorrow night’s workshop and then discuss all the ways some of those schools tried to wiggle their way out of that claim.  I’ll also give a few honorable mentions to school’s whose generosity surpassed my expectations. 

    If you have a child in high school who plans to apply to college in the next few years – or know of someone who does – please consider joining me tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Upper Campus of The Sagemont School in Weston.  This will be the last class I’m teaching in Broward until next Fall.

    Best,
    Peter

    P.S. There is no charge to attend the workshop tomorrow night.  However, if you don’t go, it could cost you and your family thousands in lost financial assistance.  The time to take action is NOW, and not when your child is in 12th grade and it could be too late.

     

  • collegepete 2:29 am on January 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2015, ,   

    SPECIAL REPORT – Admissions 2011 

    Now that the Class of 2015’s college applications are in, it’s time to give you the run-down on what has become a multi-year, highly commoditized and stressful process.  Especially for the parents.    As one Dean of Admissions at a top college told Jill (my office manager and better half) at a dinner the other night, “It’s a perfect storm of hyper-competitiveness” – we’re graduating the largest number of college bound high school seniors ever; Common Applications and technology have facilitated the process to the point that students now routinely apply to 15, even 20 schools with a simple click, and a university’s finances– including  the school’s Moody’s bond rating (I kid you not)– are dependent on, among other selective criteria,  the ratio of  applicants to acceptances (the higher the healthier).  So, not surprisingly, Early Decision applications were up a whopping 30% this year!

    Haven’t seen the overall tally yet, but for perspective, in 1990 one college I’m familiar with received 7,200 applications for 1,700 spots… this year they received 17,000 – but they still only have 1,700 spots!  And this school uses the supplemental application – if they required just the Common App, they would have had 20,000 applicants easy.

    Oh, and of those applicants at this school, 76% meet the minimum academic application requirements – a statistic that is typical across the board.  So, you have to make yourself standout – show texture and uniqueness, beyond name, rank and serial number if you want to ensure admittance.

    Some of this info is readily available; some (like that 76% number) is not.  Much of this information was graciously shared with Jill and me by admissions officers and one Dean of Admissions from a cross-section of colleges and universities around the country.   This is the inside view that is not released, and will not be reported in the NY Times (or anywhere else).

    Stuff like this:  The admissions offices know all about every high school, yours included – and what they offer — and how rigorous their academics are, how much they inflate or don’t inflate grades – and THAT is sometimes the first ‘sort’ that they make.   Then grades, then scores.  Then they read the whole application for all who made the sort.  The last thing they look at is alumni interviews, but they do look – and it can sway a borderline candidate, so if they’re offered, do it!

    And this:  the admissions office weights 11th and 12th grade years more than the earlier years – especially for boys, less so for girls.  It might seem unfair, but that’s what I was told.

    And this:  it is easier to get into some ‘programs’ than others like, for example, if you want to go to NYU for engineering and don’t quite have the grades, apply to Brooklyn Polytechnic University (same school, same NYU degree) but a whole lot easier to get into.

    Also, while ‘legacies’ don’t get special treatment, they seem to be accepted at twice the rate of the general applicant pool at some of the smaller, private universities.  hmmm

    Oh, and contrary to popular belief, Early Decision may not really be an advantage (it’s a huge DISadvantage in financial aid).

    Ok, this one can be a little awkward.  It’s a parental warning.  No matter how tempting:  never call, write to or otherwise lobby for your child to any admission’s officer (don’t be the nightmare parent).  On the other hand, it is always appropriate and welcome, in fact, for your child to call, ask questions and initiate a conversation with the admissions office.

    This is as true for parents of 11th graders who are just getting started and for parents of 12th graders who are waiting with bated breath for the ‘thick’ envelopes to arrive.   Admissions officers do not bite and generally are only a few years removed from school themselves, so tell your kids not to be intimidated.  Need proof? Have your son or daughter go to You Tube and search ‘Centre College’.  Last month 8 of their admission’s officers posted a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ (their words) look at the process. (By the way, this is not at all the case with the financial aid office; you (not your children) should be the main contact with these folks, but we’ll save that for another email).

    That said, there are productive ways to enhance your child’s chances of acceptance – even after the applications are in.  In fact, later this month, I’ll be hosting a webinar with a local guru who has been a private Admissions counselor for 30 years, on the Top Five Things You Can Do Now To Improve Your Child’s Chances of Admission! I’ll make the link available on our site CollegePlanningAdvice.com at the end of the month.

    For my 11th grade parents – I hope you realize that NOW is the time to start planning both for admissions and financial aid.   Why?  First, you want to be proactive in researching schools so that you have a list of schools that meet your child’s academic, social and emotional requirements– and your financial needs (you’ll want to consider the VALUE of the school, not the Sticker price).   Your child’s list should be put together by the summer which means they should be taking all their standardized tests and any diagnostic assessments before June.
    Note: If you want to see how Florida’s school’s fared in value, check out Kiplinger’s report on College Value or register for my upcoming college funding classes – hint:  we didn’t do so well.

    Another reason to start now: many of Florida’s universities open their enrollment in August, before school starts.  You can apply to UF on July 1.  And you want to encourage your children to get their applications in early (not Early Decision – , I’ll save that soapbox speech for another email)… when the admissions officers are freshest.   Remember this is competitive, yet the technology seems to foster procrastination.  This December 31st, for example, one very frazzled (and bitter) officer who thought he was almost done, told us that he had received more than 25% of the applications.  Happy ‘bleepin’ New Year.

    What that means is that your children need to meet with the guidance department and/or BRACE advisor now to find out the process for sending transcripts and other forms, and to figure out where to apply.  On December 28th, I had one very nervous student who realized at the last minute that she needed a form signed but the guidance counselor was long gone on vacation. It all worked out this time, but consider this a cautionary tale and an incentive to get your act together early, as in now.

    And on that note, I think I’ll sign off.  I just wanted to make sure that I shared some of these insights while they were fresh.  And before we got into ‘Acceptance’ and ‘Appeal’ season.

    So, have a great weekend.  If you have any questions, please send them to info@CollegePlanningAdvice.com.  Or better still, I’m conducting two workshops later this month.  To learn more or to register, you can visit http://www.EmergencyFinancialAid.com.

    I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you soon.

    Best,
    Peter Ratzan
    College Funding Specialists, Inc.

     

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