About Us...

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. —J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

We are a mother and son who have traversed the admissions process….successfully ( in the end). We learned a lot about the admissions process that we think will particularly help middle income and lower income parents navigate the admissions process.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have legacies to elite institutions, aren’t “development” families and cannot afford consultants that charge over $35,000.00 to guarantee our children admission to the school of their dreams. I have learned some parents do not know how to assist their children in the admissions process. My son has learned that a lot of students have no idea the number of options available to them when selecting and applying to colleges and universities. Whether your child aspires to gain admission to one of the eight Ivies, one of the “highly selective” colleges or universities, or any of the other many fine colleges and universities throughout the country, your child needs guidance from you primarily in the area of management of the applications and sometimes in the manner in which the child presents themselves to the admissions committee in their applications. If you are really brave, you can ask your child to let you look over their essays before they send them out with the applications. I would suggest that you ask under the guise of “just checking for spelling errors.”

This Blog might be viewed as a retroactive journal of our journey from application to the day my husband and I dropped our son off at college. Hindsight truly is 20/20. The Blog will contain our views on different aspects of the application process. Sometimes our views about the admissions and application process will be just as different as they were during the time he was applying for college last year. In the application process, he prevailed because it’s his life. However, on the Blog, well… frankly my dear…

Okay, just in case you are dying to know, who we are, here’s the short of it: I am a mother who has been, from time to time, while not on the “Mommy Track” an attorney, a law school and college instructor and an itinerant consultant for various enterprises. I have a hyphenated name which my son recently told me (when I introduced my self to his new roommate) I should stop using because it was so “seventies.”

My son is a freshman at one of the eight Ivies. I will let him decide if he wants to share which one. He earned an International Baccalaureate degree at one of the top public high schools in the country. I will let him decide if he wants to share which one. It should be noted that when he started the college admissions process his sole goal was not to get into an Ivy League school. He considered a number of top state colleges and universities. Being an old soul and not wanting to incur a lot of debt, he was open to whatever turned out to be the best situation for him academically and financially. By the luck of the draw, the” best” situation for him was his “ first choice” Ivy.

Okay, enough about us. I hope you will join us as we explore the wonderful world of college admissions.


Best Regards,

Mother (with hyphenated name) and Son (who doesn’t know as much about the seventies as he thinks)

Three Down…

The University of Virginia Ends Early Decision

On Monday, September 25, 2006, the University of Virginia announced that it will end its binding early decision program beginning with applicants for the entering class of fall 2008 and will change application deadline to January 2.

Narrowing down college choices

College application season is now in full swing. You should be starting applications. But some of you might need help deciding which schools to apply to.

To start with, you should limit yourself to ten schools that you would be happy to attend next year. Answer some basic questions. How big a school do you want? How far away from school do you want to be? Do not let aid be a deterrent. Many schools with hefty price tags also have generous financial aid programs.

You should also make selectivity a factor in your search. Look at your GPA, SAT scores, etc. Then look at the average SATs and average GPA of entering freshmen at the schools you’re considering. This should give you an idea of which schools you have a realistic chance of gaining admission. You should apply to 3 or 4 schools which are realistic possibilities given you’re scores, 3 or 4 schools which will be reaches (schools that will be difficult for you to get into), and a couple of safety schools. You should try and limit yourself to around 10 applications. It's a good idea to buy a college guidebook such as The 361 best colleges by the Princeton Review. This book can give you the information you need about colleges you're looking into such as average SAT scores of entering freshman.

It is also a wise idea to talk to a guidance counselor or teacher you trust. Schedule a time with a guidance counselor and tell him or her what sorts of things you want in a college. The counselor can give you good advice about where to apply and he or she can give you some information about financing the education. At the minimum, you're counselor will at least know you better when he or she has to write your college reccomendation.

So after reading all this, spend some time doing research, and compile your list of schools. Good luck!

College Admissions Process Redux

COLLEGE ADMISSION OPTIONS IN A NUTSHELL

Parents and students should commit this information to memory. The first word in the parent's College Admissions "Mantra" should be DEADLINE.


Early Decision


The student having decided upon their first choice college or university applies as an early decision candidate. The early decision applicant understands that under the early decision process, they are agreeing to attend the school if they are accepted and that the financial aid offered by the college is adequate to meet the needs of the student.

*Students must determine the school’s particular restrictions and follow the restriction without any deviation from the guidelines.

The student’s decision is binding.


Early Action

Students may submit applications early and will receive a decisions from the admissions office before the school's regular response date for regular decision applicants (typically late March or early April).

*Students must determine the school’s particular restrictions and follow the restriction without any deviation from the guidelines.

The student’s decision is non-binding.


Restrictive Early Action

Under this admissions process, the student applies early to a preferred school and receives an early decision. However, depending upon the college or university’s own peculiar policy, the student may be prohibited from applying as an Early Decision, Early Action or Restricted Early Action Candidate to another college. The student may still apply as a regular decision applicant to other schools. A Restricted Early Action Applicant has until May 1 to decide whether or not they want to accept the schools offer of admission.

*Students must determine the school’s particular restrictions and follow the restriction without any deviation from the guidelines.

The student’s decision is non-binding.


Regular Decision

Students are required to submit their application to the college or university by a designated time. They will receive a response from the admissions office within a clearly specified time period.

* Students may apply to other institutions. They have until May 1 (or some later time at some schools) to accept or reject the offer of admissions.

The student’s decision is non-binding.


Rolling Admission

Students may submit applications throughout the schools specified admissions cycle (usually from August to January or some other later date). The admissions committee evaluates applications throughout the admissions cycle.


* Students may apply to other institutions. They have until May 1 (or some later time at some schools) to accept or reject the offer of admissions.

The student’s decision is non-binding.

It’s hard out there for a kid …..applying to college

Helping your Child Decide which Admissions Process is Best for Them

Harvard and Princeton have just dropped their early admissions programs. Wonderful. The other Ivies and “highly selective” schools may follow suit. However, there are approximately 270 other colleges and universities that offer early-decision programs.
Are the other schools likely to follow suit…….The jury is still out.

It should be noted that despite all the fanfare surrounding Harvard and Princeton dropping their early admissions programs, they are not the first major university to drop the early admissions program. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stopped using the early-decision program in 2002 because the program had an adverse impact upon and low-income and minority students. In 2002, Mary Washington College in Virginia ended its early-decision program because of a number of complaints that the early decision program exacerbated the stress in the college application process. ( Va. college to eliminate 'early decision' program. (2002, October 3). The Washington Post, p. A12. )

In November of 2002. Yale and Stanford Universities announced that they were dropping their early-decision programs in 2003 for applicants for the 2004-5 academic year. Both universities adopted a nonbinding early-action program.

Before the 1990’s the college application process for seniors was pretty simple. The senior sent of for information from the colleges and universities in which they had an interest. Usually, after much haranguing and cajoling from parents (who were determined that the kid was going to be out of the house the following September), the student would fill out their applications sometime before the end of December and wait for a thick or thin envelope to arrive in April. Usually, the student did not decide until May where they were going to attend school. Early decision programs significantly shorten this process.

Students who are certain, or at least think they are certain as to their first choice college and utilize the early decision options may submit an early decision applications to one school no later than November 15th or January 15th. Students are usually notified of their acceptance or rejection within a month of submitting the early decision application. Students can apply to other colleges under their regular admission programs .

Students accepted through the early decision process are stuck with their choice. If they receive a Dear Student, We Regret to inform you letter, they have to renew the application process for other schools: complete more applications, writhe other essays ; and, maybe obtain new recommendation letters, etc. At this juncture, you and your child may have figured out that it might be wise to have at least reviewed the admission standards for other colleges; started or made plans to start on applications to other schools so that the applications can be submitted by the December or early January deadlines of most colleges.

As your child begins to review college materials to determine which colleges and universities to submit applications, you and the student should review each college’s early decision/action policy and decide, in light of your own particular circumstances which option is best for your family. The word family is emphasized because dependent upon your financial circumstances and a variety of other factors, a student’s decision to apply early decision may dramatically impact the family.

There are no standard guidelines regarding early action and early decision because each college or university has its own policy. Each institution has its own early decision and early action policies, which only lends to the confusion of students and parents.

Why We’re Here: Mothers View

Long, long ago in a land far away, in another time when I applied for college, my parents called the school they decided I should attend, requested a college catalog and an application. I was given the application and told to complete it. Later I was given the catalog so that I could figure out a major. I had attempted interjecting an opinion or two about where I would like to go and even sent for some catalogues and applications on my own. I would complete "my" applications and take them to my father to sign. He refused to consider the other schools for a variety of reasons: the girls who attended certain colleges were thought to be “fast,” the school was too far away and once he was even honest. One school was totally out of the question because too many of my friends were going to that school. He said it would turn out to be just one big party. That probably would have been true. So, despite my tearful protestations, “we” submitted one application to one school. That was the end of it. One application to one school is rare these days. Some parents I know have gotten by with two or three. However, I have read where some students have submitted between 15 and 35 applications. My son submitted about 20 applications. But, more about that later.

When I applied for college, most kids did not visit several schools to get a “feel” for whether or not they liked the school. Most did not lay eyes on their college choice until their parents deposited them on campus the day the dorms opened. I was probably one of a handful of the baby boomers I knew that got to visit several college campuses prior to applying. However, that was only because my father frequently had to attend meetings and seminars in our state and surrounding states. He would take me along and I would get to look around the campus while he was in meetings. As I reflect, the only point of him taking me to visit the different campuses was to reinforce the idea that I WAS GOING TO ATTEND A COLLEGE.

When my son began the application process in the beginning of his senior year, we had already visited the campuses of several schools, taken a number of virtual tours over the internet and received tons of solicited and unsolicited application materials, brochures, etc. Also, during my son’s junior year of high school, we had attended a lot of information sessions held by college admissions counselors from schools across the country where the admissions process, SAT scores, etc. were explained ad nauseam.

I thought I had had a pretty good handle on the situation. I also knew the difference between rolling admissions and regular admissions, and I knew all of the deadlines. We had started his college resume in his sophomore year. He was done with the SAT by the beginning of his senior year. He had taken all the right classes; he had quite a few AP exams under his belt and he had taken or made arrangements to take all the SAT II ( yes, for the unenlightened, there is an animal named the SAT II) subject tests he thought necessary. I thought we were ready for the process. I thought I had it all under control. All my son had to do was fill out the applications, write a few essays and get a couple of recommendation letters. His father and I would write checks for the application fees. We would mail the applications and wait….. How difficult could that be? Boy, was I in for a rude awakening!. It seemed that sometime while I was asleep in the castle, the whole college admissions process had changed and so had the stakes. It was an entirely different ball game. Little did I know that the college admissions process, from the first application submitted, to my son actually deciding where he was going to attend school would consume the next eight months of our lives.

During those eight months, I learned a lot about the sometimes Machiavellian machinations of the college admissions process. I learned to be patient. I came to realize that the college my son ultimately chose to attend was not gong to define his entire life or … mine. I discovered that I really could avoid being a “smother mother.” I began to trust my son’s decisions and his reasoning for choosing to seek admission to certain schools. I came to understand that he had to create his own roadmap and that my role was to be his occasional compass. My faith that God would have a hand in the decision convinced me that my son would end up at the college that was best for him.

As a parent who has gone through the sometimes very arduous college admissions process with my son and preparing to go through it again with my daughter in two years, I hope to offer some insight, encouragement and support to parents facing the now daunting task of assisting their child with the admissions process. Hopefully, through these postings you will not only learn more about the admissions process but how you, as a parent, can best support your child with the application and admissions process without losing your mind.

Early Decision vs. Early Action

Harvard and Princeton have just dropped their early admissions. I'm going to try and explain what early admissions are in this post.

When I was applying to college, I hated the idea of waiting until April to find out where I had been accepted. You don’t have to wait that long if you don’t want to. If you would like to know where you’re going to college in December, you can do so using two options.

The first option is early decision. If you apply early decision, you basically sign a contact which says that if you are accepted to the college, you will go there. It is important to understand that this is a binding commitment. If accepted, you will have to withdraw all other applications to other schools. If you wish to apply early decision, the deadline is usually November 15, and you will have an admission decision by Christmas. Applying early decision usually increases your odds of being accepted. If you need financial aid, you should do a financial aid estimator to see what kind of aid you’ll get if accepted. You should be completely sure the college in question is your first choice.

If you want to hear from your college by December, but don’t want to make a binding commitment, then you can apply early action. With early action, the deadline is usually still November 1, and you will still hear back by Christmas. Early action has the bonus that you do not have to sign a contract agreeing to enroll if you are accepted. However, early action usually does not provide the same boost that applying early decision does. Colleges such as Yale and Stanford which use early action deny that applying early action does not help you get in.

Usually, there are three things that will happen if you apply early decision or early action. You can be accepted. You can be rejected, or you can be deferred for further consideration in the spring. You should have applications ready for other schools that have January (or later) deadlines in case you are not admitted early.

So should you apply early decision or early action? If you need financial aid, and you do not have a clear first choice, then you should definitely not apply early decision. It is okay to apply early action since there is no binding commitment if you would like to hear that you’re admitted somewhere in December. You can still apply to other schools in January. If you really like a particular school, and want to increase your chances, then apply early decision. Good luck!