First, Congratulations to the Class of 2012!  Our students received a record number of the ‘thick envelopes’ this spring — with acceptances to great schools and scholarship offers in excess of $1.5 million, an average of $30,000 per student – and that’s not counting Bright Futures. When all of the deposits are in (couple of kids still picking between two),  96% of our 12th graders will have been accepted to and received a hefty discount (in most cases) at one of their top choices.  Check below for a list of our Class of 2016 acceptances. You did great, guys – Congratulations!

Now the not so good news.  While these results are typical for our students, they are far from typical for many college applicants.  The fact is more kids (including more full-paying, international students) are applying to more schools.  This means colleges can be pickier than ever and it made 2012 an insanely competitive year both for college admissions and for funding.   We are seeing some of lowest admit rates (# of applicants admitted v. # who applied) ever reported — and this is not just limited to the most selective colleges.  It’s across the board — and it seems to be disproportionately and more negatively impacting girls (not for nothin’ but there are more women on campus than men).  

I’m not sharing this stuff to scare you.  I’m trying to motivate you.  You don’t have to be typical.  With proper and advance planning – the right financial guidance, a sound admissions plan, and the proper academic preparation — you can get a GREAT result.  And this is the lesson from 2012, which is the same lesson from prior years: get an early start, or when your student is in 10th grade or 11th grade.  My best success stories start with families who realize they need to plan early.

In last Saturday’s Miami Herald I discussed some of the steps families should take.  The story,  Battling the High Cost of Higher Ed, discusses college as it is today – not what it once was — and it covers a lot of what you need to know about saving for, getting into and receiving a huge discount for college.  It’s worth a read, but I’ll be providing a whole lot more about what I think might be the most challenging issue of our time at my workshop in Pinecrest next week.  This will be my last class of the school year.

If you have children and you plan to send them to college, I highly recommend you join us.  If you have a 10th or 11th grader and you haven’t been to one of my workshops yet, then what are you waiting for!? Get a jump start before your summer daze sets in.  Nothing will be pitched. Nothing will be sold. This is purely educational.   Click here to see what I’ll be covering, and to register.

I hope to see you there.

Best,
Peter

P.S. Please feel free to forward this story to a friend or neighbor with college-bound teens at home… they’ll thank you for it.

P.P.S. Again, Congratulations everyone on what has turned out to be a record-breaking year!

Acceptance and Award Results for College Pete’s Class of 2016 (ABC order)
Allegheny College
American University
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin
Brandeis
Brown
Cornell
Drexel
Duke
Eckerd
Emory
FGCU
FSU
George Washington
Georgetown University
Georgia Tech
Guilford College
Harvard
Hofstra
Ithaca College
Juniata College
Lehigh University
Marist College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
McDaniel College
Middlebury
New York University
Northwestern University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Rice University
Stanford University
Stetson University
Syracuse
Tulane
UCF
UCLA
UF
University of Maryland
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of PIttsburgh
University of San Diego
University of Southern California
Vanderbilt
Washington University in St. Louis
Widener University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

P.P.P.S. GO HEAT!  (and thanks for reading all the way to the bottom).