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I just finished reading this book by Springer, Reider, and Franck. (2nd ed.) I recommend it. It provides many specific details about the process. It discusses how to select colleges in terms of fit and whether one would be a stretch, a good fit, or a safety school. They discuss this process using GPA vs. SAT "scattergrams". It also goes into great detail on the pros and cons of Early Decision, Early Action, or just going with the normal application cycle. It also provides forms you can use to collect information about schools of interest, and it includes full Common App and recommendation forms. Finally, it provides a general four-year timeline of steps one should follow. The book is worthwhile just for describing these details of the process.
From a more philosophical standpoint, the book tries to put the whole process into perspective. However, one of key problems is the higher probability of acceptance with Early Decision. This forces many to pick one school as if it is the perfect school for them. However, the book goes on in length about how acceptance is a crap shoot and how it's not good to get caught up thinking that only one school will fit. You can't have it both ways. Colleges know darn well that the differences between many schools are subtle. They just want to reduce competition. Once they've gotten students to really want one college as if it's the only one, the crap shoot acceptance/rejection letters arrive on Dec. 15. Most kids are devastated just in time for the holidays with no other acceptance letters to balance the rejection. I suppose it wouldn't be good to say that you are only selecting that college because it's a stretch school and you want to increase your probability. Actually, the book includes a "letter" from an admissions officer who talks about how students should look at all schools in terms of probability of fit and acceptance. No one school is best.
It seems to me that the packaging of students is all for the benefit of the college and not the students. It's nice to think that schools wants a balanced or well-rounded community, but I see more of a "Slug Club" process (see Harry Potter, book 6) where schools try to cherry pick winners. Not only do you have to pay huge amounts of money for a college education, but you have to not seem packaged and be truly sincere about why college 'X' is so special. Then, the college will pick students based on what's best for them, not you.
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11 comments:
I appreciate the early round. If nothing else, it functions as a means to allow students to gauge their appeal in the market.
The boarding school application cycle does not include an early round. Applicants can and do limit themselves to a few highly selective schools, then find they have no options.
If you're not accepted by Harvard ED, you have time to regroup. Your list of schools for the regular decision round should include safeties, i.e., it shouldn't be all Ivy, Stanford, MIT.
A relative's son applied to quite a few colleges early--either early action or rolling admissions. It worked out well for him, from a strategic standpoint. He knew he would be happy to attend the rolling admission college which accepted him, but being deferred by the most prestigious schools gave him a reality check.
I appreciate the early round. If nothing else, it functions as a means to allow students to gauge their appeal in the market.
The boarding school application cycle does not include an early round. Applicants can and do limit themselves to a few highly selective schools, then find they have no options.
If you're not accepted by Harvard ED, you have time to regroup. Your list of schools for the regular decision round should include safeties, i.e., it shouldn't be all Ivy, Stanford, MIT.
A relative's son applied to quite a few colleges early--either early action or rolling admissions. It worked out well for him, from a strategic standpoint. He knew he would be happy to attend the rolling admission college which accepted him, but being deferred by the most prestigious schools gave him a reality check.
Although the book talks about Early Decision, Early Action, and Rolling Admissions, I would like to hear about any issues or problems people have had. For example, if you get accepted to an EA college, do they put shorter limits on when you have to accept or reject? You supposedly can compare aid packages, so that implies that they give you the same deadline as regular decision schools.
The book has a table (page 139) that compares ED, EA and Restrictive EA for flexibility and restrictions, but it's not clear how rolling admissions fit in. Their college evaluation form includes a space to explain the college's application options. It sounds like you have to read the fine print.
The book also talks about how some schools have ED I and ED II options. They are trying to catch students who don't get their first round (Dec.15) ED I school. As Cranberry says, I can see a great advantage applying to schools that offer EA and rolling admissions. The time might be short to regroup, but if you prepare ahead of time, then you can launch a series of ED, EA, and rolling admission applications that maximize your chances and/or give you the most flexibility. I think there is a lot of room for strategic planning.
Since early admissions typically have to be in by Nov. 1st or 15th, this tells me that you should have a pretty good idea of where you want to apply before you start your senior year. I think I will try to get my son to write his first essay drafts in the summer and to fill out the Common App as much as possible.
(apologies for yesterday's double post.)
. I think I will try to get my son to write his first essay drafts in the summer and to fill out the Common App as much as possible.
Yes, he should work on the Common App the summer before his senior year.
Once you start visiting colleges, he'll be able to narrow his list. By November of his senior year, he should have colleges he likes.
I just looked at the Georgia Tech website. October 15th (!) is the date for their Early Action. It's also "Final date to be considered for the President's Scholarship Program & Honors Program." So, I think you need to carefully record dates for colleges your son's interested in.
October 15th!!!
It seems like you have to have your list and have visited the colleges by the beginning of your senior year. If you can benefit by EA applications at multiple colleges, then you have to be ready with all of them.
It's bad enough that my son is facing so much in his junior year: PSAT, SAT, 3 SAT II tests, 3 AP tests, along with maintaining a good GPA. He also has to prepare a professional audition CD if he is interested in a music performace degree.
Our experience with rolling admissions is that you do have until the regular acceptance time, even though you can hear so much earlier.
They do sometimes encourage you to register for housing or send in a deposit earlier, but it's not required.
We didn't do any early applications, because there were no "heart's desire" schools in their lists. Having a rolling admissions acceptance in hand early may decrease motivation to apply to a lot of places (especially non common app or places that require lots of additional essays) though!
It's not required, but I've read that the earlier students register, the better their housing chances.
If you can benefit by EA applications at multiple colleges, then you have to be ready with all of them.
October 15th seems very early to me, but I think schools in the south may have earlier summer breaks, and start school earlier in the year. So, October 15th in Georgia is the equivalent of November 15th in Connecticut?
It's bad enough that my son is facing so much in his junior year: PSAT, SAT, 3 SAT II tests, 3 AP tests, along with maintaining a good GPA. He also has to prepare a professional audition CD if he is interested in a music performace degree.
Junior year is a very stressful year. And, it's better to visit college campuses when they're in session. Spring break, junior year, is a good time to visit colleges.
Harvard's regular admit round looks like it will be a 3% acceptance rate, compared to the 18% of early applicants who were accepted.
So the decision would be, for this school or similar, either to only apply to Harvard (restricted early action), or to apply to another school(s) early where your chances are much better. If you lose out at Harvard in the early round, you're stuck with regular decision for all other schools where acceptance rates are always lower.
Of course it's important to note that the difference in early vs. regular odds are not simply due to timing of application. It's argued that the strongest students apply early, plus hooked athletes are typically early admits.
(18% for Harvard's early acceptance rate sounds high, but that's from this article.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/3/27/three-percent-admission-2016/
Overall acceptance rate is reported to be 5.5% for this year.)
The summer before senior year is definitely a good time to get essays and other application details started. The common application goes live on August 1.
"In the college applications process, rolling admissions are a way for a student to have a decision in hand as early as September of his senior year."
‘Gotta love rolling admissions’
Be on the lookout for early scholarship/college application deadlines, typically due before the non-scholarship app deadline date. One that comes to mind is USC, but there are others.
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