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College Reported False SAT Data

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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I don’t know what was more surprising. To read in Inside Higher Ed that a well respected liberal arts college had reported incorrect SAT data to several rankings entities or to read that Claremont McKenna inflated its scores by 10 or 20 points on the Math and Critical Reading sections.  10 Points? Claremont McKenna is part of the five Claremont Colleges; the others are Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Scripps and Pitzer. According to my data source, Claremont McKenna accepted 17% of applications it received in 2010. Apparently, this score exaggeration was going on for the past six years. That an elite college–and if you are only accepting 17% of all applicants you are ‘elite’–would throw away their reputation for a few points is really shocking.

Is Claremont McKenna the only college to do this? No. According to the NY Times, “several colleges in recent years have been caught gaming the system — in particular, the avidly watched U.S. News & World Report rankings — by twisting the meanings of rules, cherry-picking data or just lying.” The Times goes on to say, “In one recent example, Iona College in New Rochelle, north of New York City, acknowledged last fall that its employees had lied for years not only about test scores, but also about graduation rates, freshman retention, student-faculty ratio, acceptance rates and alumni giving.” And this, from a Christian college– “In 2008, Baylor University offered financial rewards to admitted students to retake the SAT in hopes of increasing its average score.”

A few days later, The NY Times had this news: that Kiplinger, the finance magazine removed Claremont McKenna from its rankings.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you know I am not a fan of college rankings.  As I have said many times, check the methodology and see if the criteria they use are the same criteria you would use to rank something. Well, now we should all maybe take the statistics colleges report with a grain of salt.

Growing Number of Application Essays

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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I just read an article titled “College essays are getting ridiculous”.  The author goes on to give two college essay prompts that I instantly recognized, having helped some of my students this year decide how to approach them. She chose one question from the University of Maryland and one from the University of Chicago. Chicago has always been known for their quirky essay topics. Before their recent joining of the Common App, they referred to their application as the “Uncommon Application”. One of the hallmarks of that application was their essay topics. Now these quirky topics have found their way into their supplement to the Common App.

The author goes on to express her surprise at the number of supplemental essays her child had to write when she applied to college this year.  I noticed this several years ago and refer to it as “essay creep”.  The number of colleges that required essays and short answers on their supplements has been creeping upward, creating a lot more work for seniors.

The author of the article reminisces about how much easier it used to be to apply to college, “Once upon a time, the college admissions process involved filling out a form or two, taking a standardized test and sending in a high school transcript.”

No question about that!  People in my generation had the luxury of waiting until senior year to make up our minds and apply to college. I actually do not recall writing an essay, although I know some colleges required them. If I wrote one, it was a non-event. Not today.  With the number of essays and short answers students are expected to write and the proliferation of early programs, students need to hit the ground running come senior year. As you can see from the types of questions colleges ask, the author notes this one “From the University of Richmond, “Tell us about an experience in which you left your comfort zone. How did this experience change you?” these essays and short answers are going to require thoughtful attention and writing and shouldn’t be rushed.

Students who begin senior year with a realistic list of colleges to apply to, can begin the writing process early and give themselves enough time to tackle all of the essays and short answers that will be required of them.

For-Profit Colleges

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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I have recently read two interesting new stories that discuss for-profit colleges.  For-profit colleges, also called proprietary colleges, operate like a business.

The first article took me by surprise because it discusses Mittt Romney’s praise of a for-profit institution, Full Sail, in Florida.  The New York Times article said, “At a town-hall-style meeting in New Hampshire last month, listeners pressed Mitt Romney on the soaring cost of higher education. His solution: students should consider for-profit colleges like the little-known Full Sail University in Florida.” I was surprised at this endorsement and then less so when the article went on to say that the chief executive of Full Sail is a campaign donor.

I am not interested in getting into politics at all, but for-profit colleges are controversial and one reason is their cost and what students receive for that cost.

In this article from Inside Higher Ed, they try and break down and compare the costs at Full Sail and the costs at other colleges, “Only 10 percent of full-time, first-time undergraduates at Full Sail receive any institutional grants or scholarships, and those who do receive $2,620 on average, according to federal data. As a result, students are on the hook for almost all tuition charges, which run as high as $48,300 per year.”
They go on to compare the cost of some of Full Sail’s programs and their job placement with one of that area’s nearby colleges.

On May 4, 2010, PBS’ Frontline had a fascinating and sobering look at the for-profit college industry and their practices, “College Inc”. You can use this link to see the program. I watched it when it aired and was struck by a particular part about students who went for a nursing degree. I work with many students who want to study nursing so I was especially interested. “Graduates of another for-profit school — a college nursing program in California — tell FRONTLINE that they received their diplomas without ever setting foot in a hospital.” This made them unemployable and yet they still had to re-pay their student loans for a 12-month program that cost almost $30,000.

For-profit colleges have become big business and the federal government is cracking down on practices that take advantage of students and leave them with mountains of debt and little chance of repaying it. For some individuals, under some circumstances, for-profits might make sense. However, I suggest serious caution. Proceed slowly and do not get pressured to sign up immediately, get all of the facts, know all of the costs up front, check graduation rates and check to see if the programs are accredited.  And then compare everything to your local community college or state university.

Early Decision–No Longer Just For The Elite

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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Early Decision is a system in which high school seniors apply before traditional deadlines, typically in early November, to one and only one college. The answer arrives from the college in mid December.  The decision is binding, and if accepted, the student is required to attend that college and must rescind all applications to other colleges.

According to “The Early Admissions Game” by Christopher Avery, Andrew Fairbanks and Richard Zeckhauser*, in the period after WWII, colleges found themselves in the position of having too many students apply for admission. Some colleges tried various methods of gaining control over the admissions process, such as to “manipulate the timing of the application process to their own advantage”. This and other practices eventually evolved into the binding Early Decision and non-binding Early Action processes we have today.

It has been said that Early Decision was a somewhat unfair practice that advantaged the already advantaged–that it was used by students “in the know”, especially those in elite private schools. According to the New York Times, that may no longer be the case.

On Jan. 13, The NY Times published this article that dispels that notion. They say, “Early admission to top colleges, once the almost exclusive preserve of the East Coast elite, is now being pursued by a much broader and more diverse group of students, including foreigners and minorities. The democratization of the process — and the overall explosion in applicants — made the early-admissions game much tougher this year for the group that has long dominated it: students in prep schools in New York and beyond where the vast majority of seniors apply to their top choices in November in hopes of avoiding the springtime scrum”.

Critics will now have to use other reasons to disparage Early Decision and there are other reasons to find fault with this practice. One is that it puts a lot of pressure on students to choose and apply to only one college very early in senior year. Another reason is that with biding Early Decision students and their parents lose the ability to compare financial aid packages. To be sure, students will be released from their Early Decision agreement if the college does not meet their demonstrated financial need, but that is not the same things as being able to compare offers.

Early programs are gaining in popularity because students feel that they are getting a leg up in the admissions process. And, according to “The Early Admissions Game”, they are. “Our central finding is that it is tremendously valuable to apply early.  In some extreme cases, applying early appears to double or triple the chances of admission.”

I am sure this is not the end of Early Decision and the controversy that surrounds it.

*Christopher Avery; Andrew Fairbanks, Richard Zeckhauser (2004). The Early Admissions Game: Joining the Elite. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01620-3.

Financial Aid- Time to Fill out the Forms

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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As an Independent Educational Consultant, I help students through the maze that college admissions has become. I assist families with pretty much every part of the process with just a few exceptions. One is need-based Financial Aid. I can give families an overview but I am not an expert in this area and therefore do not include this as part of my services. I leave this to the families to do–it is time consuming but not difficult. If you need help, I suggest you ask your financial planner or accountant. I strongly suggest that you do not pay someone to do this for you, especially anyone who claims they can find you aid that could not be found without their help.

To apply for need based financial aid, families begin with the FAFSA–the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The website for this is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.  This is a government site and this is free. I emphasize this point because there are other websites with FAFSA in the name but they are not the correct site and may charge a fee.  Be sure you are on the U.S. government website.

The NY Times’ “The Choice” blog has just run a series about Financial Aid where parents and students have submitted their questions to Mark Kantrowitz, whom they describe as “an expert on paying for college and the founder of FinAid.org,”.  If you are knee deep in financial aid forms right now, this may be of help.

In addition to the FAFSA, many private colleges also require families to fill out the CSS PROFILE and/or their own institutional form. These forms will address income and assets and information not included in FAFSA.

Be sure you know the forms required for each college your student is applying to and their deadlines. If you have special circumstances–such as a recent change in your financial situation– call the colleges directly and speak to their Financial Aid office and see if you can provide them with additional information and possibly documentation.

Good luck!

U Conn ranked #30 in Best Value in Public Colleges

Thursday, January 5, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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I heard on both local television and radio news that Kiplinger has rated the University of Connecticut #30 of their “100 Best Values in Public Colleges 2012” rankings. I searched their site and found this article.

Those of you who have read my past blogs are probably familiar with my views on rankings–I am skeptical, at best, of using a ranking to choose a college. A college should be chosen based on fit–academically, socially and emotionally and, yes, financially, if that is a concern.  And, I have said that before you decide if a rank is valid, check the methodology.  I read the information here and Kiplinger clearly spelled out how they define and quantify ‘value’.

The article says, “For public colleges and universities, the march out of the recession has become a long, slow slog. State appropriations for higher education have been gutted. The federal stimulus money that sustained colleges for several years is just about gone. Enrollment keeps climbing, the demand for financial aid remains high, and the average annual tuition increase is heading toward double digits.”

Indeed, U Conn’s costs are expected to rise 17% over the next three years.  On Dec. 19, WTNH reported this:  “University of Connecticut trustees voted without dissent Monday to approve an increase in tuition and other student costs totaling 17 percent, which will be phased in over four years starting next fall under a plan to hire more faculty.”

Even with these increases, state universities can still be a bargain. Over the past year or so there has been much talk in the media about how states are financially strapped and cutting funding to their colleges and universities. California was the topic of many, many stories like that. Even so, the University of California has six campuses listed in the top 25 of this ranking: Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis and Irvine.

I am proud to say my alma mater, The University of Florida is ranked number two and happy that the University of Connecticut is also rated so well. Go Huskies!!

College Essays

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 by:Janet Rosier
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This headline from The Chicago Tribune, “The New College-Admission Essay, Short as a Tweet” and a discussion of this article in the NY Times “The Choice” blog, “Aiming for Brevity: Quirky Application Prompts” discuss some short answers that a few colleges have asked for.

As I have talked about in a previous blog (Sept. 14), the Common Application isn’t so common these days. Yes, the main body of the application, including an essay, goes to all common app colleges that the student applies to. However, many colleges also ask for additional essays and/or short answers as part of their supplements to the common app.  Some of these match the description in these articles. Some are questions that students need to answer without exceeding a very small character count and some ask students to complete the partial sentence they have provided.

Why are colleges asking these questions? In my opinion, it is to get to know the student.  Although the student has probably already submitted at least one essay before they get to these short answers, I believe that the colleges want candid responses and think this is the way to get them. The application essay is a very important part of the application and as such, many students are so concerned about how it will be interpreted, that the student may be too cautious when writing and not reveal enough about himself. Or, and this is a real concern for the colleges, the essays may have started out in the student’s voice but may have been edited heavily by parents, teachers and other adults and that voice sometimes becomesmore faint with each edit.

When I work with students on the essay process, the hardest thing for many of them to do is to relax and write. Some have asked me, “What does College X look for in the essay?” hoping to write something that admissions office is sure to like. The answer is always the same—they want to hear about you in your own voice. That is much easier when students can relax and be themselves.

With these very short answers and fill in the blank types of questions, there are no right and wrong response and students can relax and answer.

SAT Cheating Scandal

Thursday, December 1, 2011 by:Janet Rosier
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Many of you are probably already aware of the SAT cheating scandal involving students at a high school in Great Neck, NY.

When the story broke (Sept. 27), The NY Times ran this article that described how six students from Great Neck North High School paid a current college student to take the SAT for them.  The college student, Sam Eshagoff, was arrested and charged with several crimes and faces stiff penalties.  The students who paid him from $1500 to $2500 each to take the test for them were arrested on misdemeanor charges. Their test scores were invalidated.

The way the scheme worked was the students registered to take the SAT at a high school they didn’t attend and the college student had fake ID. According to this article in USA Today, he even used fake ID to take the test for a female student.

It seems that school administrators heard rumors of cheating and identified students who took their tests at other schools and whose scores were not in line with their academics.

On Nov. 20, The NY Times reported that the probe into the cheating had widened and that 20 students from Nassau County had now been charged with cheating on the SAT and the ACT.

I don’t think that Nassau County is alone in having students cheat and if this situation is typical, then cheating on standardized tests is very widespread.

I can only hope that this embarrassing scandal prompts both testing companies (SAT and ACT) to come up with better security policies.

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