Contributed by Douglas Lee, Case Western Reserve (Class of 2016)
College visits are an essential part of the important college decision process. By visiting a college campus for an afternoon, you can attain much more information about that school than by spending endless hours researching it online on sites like College Prowler. You can never fully grasp the unique environment each college provides behind a computer screen! In addition, online student submitted reviews are often biased, unreliable, or outdated. The dynamic of a college campus is constantly changing, and these changes may not be reflected online. Sure, a top ranked school may have all the qualities you are looking for: a strong program in the academic field you are interested in, numerous research opportunities, smart and ambitious students, and even a critically acclaimed dining hall! What’s not to like? However, without visiting this school, you miss out on many facets of student life; the qualities that determine whether or not you will enjoy your next four years at the school. College fit is an underrated aspect of the college decision process. When visiting a college, we recommend that you take a quick drive around the nearby city or town, interact with actual students, talk to faculty, sit in on a class, and tour main buildings such as the dining hall, recreational facilities, and library. Current students, professors, and admissions officers may provide much more valuable and insightful information that you may not be able to find elsewhere. By visiting a college, you may learn to appreciate a school that you had not even considered to be a top choice, or, you may learn that a previous top choice was just not the right fit for you. While sites like College Prowler, Unigo, USNews, and even Reddit may provide plenty of useful information, we only recommend that you use these sights as a starting point, and not the only sources you have to base your college decision on. Additional Tips:
For more college visit consultations, contact Lee Academia.
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What are the English language proficiency requirements to study in the United States?
Being able to communicate in English is a basic requirement for successful study in the United States. If English is not your native language, U.S. colleges and universities will ask you to take an English language proficiency test before admission. Almost all institutions require either the TOEFL or IELTS. Check the websites of the institutions where you plan to apply for detailed information. Lee Academia advisers can help. You may be granted conditional acceptance with the understanding that you will attend English language classes at the institution before beginning your degree program. Check with the institution. So with the May 4th, 2013 Tests coming up, are you ready?
If you haven't registered for your SAT or Subject Tests, you still have 2 more days to register for the June 1st Tests. Get cramming and work with a tutor. Contact Lee Academia if you need some last minute guidance. Good Luck~ Lee Academia is offering discounts and many services for high school students this year. To take part in these promotional offers, go bid and support Stuyvesant High School's Parent Association for their Spring Gala 2013 event!
Some of these special services include: - Writing a College Essay (book + consultation with Stephenie Lee) - College Essay Brainstorming session (1-hour) - College Essay Editing (1-hour + 1-revision) - Study Skills for College Prep (1-hour) : Learn HOW to study and succeed - College Interview Training (1-hour) - 30-minute College Consultation Session BID NOW. Offer ends in 11 days! So go check out these promotions now, before May 10, 2013! This year, the Class of 2017 Stats are:
COLUMBIA Columbia accepted 2,311 from 33,531 applications. The acceptance rate of 6.89 percent was slightly lower than the previous year’s 7.4 percent acceptance rate, when 2,363 students were admitted. In this admissions cycle, Columbia received 3,126 early decision applications and accepted 600 students for an admission rate of 19.19 percent. CORNELL Cornell received an all-time high of 40,006 applications for freshman admission to the Class of 2017, a notable increase from the previous year’s 37,812 applications. The overall admit rate reported by Cornell is 15.15 percent, slightly down from last year’s admit rate of 16.19 percent. Cornell admitted 6,062 applicants, including 4,825 regular decision applicants and 1,237 early decision applicants. Cornell admitted approximately 30 percent of early decision applicants, but only 13 percent of applicants for regular admission. Seniors, Make sure you Negotiate! Students wait anxiously for their college acceptance and financial aid notices. And once those letters are received, they are understandably excited about the prospect of going to school, and that the school wanted THEM. This is often the end of the story, but it shouldn’t be. The schools need to impress YOU as much as you impress them. There are three steps to research, evaluate and negotiate your way to the best college value.
Tips for how to negotiate your financial aid package | Contact Lee Academia to learn how. As most students have heard back from colleges, this is a great time of excitement and anxiety. But it's important to keep three points in mind as you read your decisions.
1. Applications have been at an all-time high at many colleges, so this means that getting admitted to these colleges is more difficult than ever before. With many factors entering into the admissions process, keep in mind that students who apply to these colleges usually qualify for admissions, thus an increase in the number of applications that make admission that much harder. 2. There is a common reason why colleges deny admission to students. The number one reason selective colleges deny admission to students is simple--they run out of room. If they had more dorm rooms, and more professors, and more classrooms, they would love to take more students--but they cannot do justice to the students they do admit by taking too many, since no one gets a quality education that way--and that’s not fair to anyone. 3. With more applications, and limited space, colleges must create a learning community that is exciting, diverse, and rich with opportunities. To do this, colleges that want a combination of art and sciences, a mixture of data (grades and test scores) and insight (from personal statements, letters of recommendations, etc.) in deciding who gets admitted. Also, these selective colleges will tell you that just about everyone who decides to apply to a selective college qualifies for admission--they would be a great student, benefit the college tremendously, and contribute to the college in many ways. Since you applied to a selective college, those compliments would apply to you. College admissions is about many things, but it is never a judgment about you as a person, or about everything you have accomplished. Most colleges go to great pains to point this out when they send their denial letters; believe me when I tell you that they aren’t just being nice, but that they truly respect and honor everything you have done as a student and as a person, and they are grateful you applied to their college. That might not mean much the minute you open the letter, it will over time--whether the college says yes, no, or maybe, your value and worth as a person is cast in stone. Now, About the Decisions When you heard from a college this week, you’ll get one of four kinds of decisions. Each decision has its own possibilities, so let’s go over them: Admission An offer of admission is the news you’ve been hoping for--and more. In addition to congratulating you, the offer of admissions includes information on housing, orientation, and financial aid. Be sure to read all of it; this information will be of great value to you if you need to decide among several offers of admission. Conditional Admission Colleges may offer you a seat in the freshman class with a requirement--that you participate in a tutoring or student support. As is the case with other admission offers, offers of conditional admission may also include information on housing, financial aid, etc. Be sure to read all of this information. In addition, there may be a contract included that you’re required to sign, indicating you agree to adhere to the conditions of admission; suffice it to say, you’ll need to return that signed contract to the college by the indicated deadline. Make sure when you are in a program during your first semester, that your first semester grades are at a certain level, or that you come to campus sometime over the summer to participate in a college readiness program. These offers of admission are becoming more common, and they are not an “either/or” proposition--in other words, if you want to go to that college, you must satisfy the requirements outlined in the offer of admission. Waitlisted A letter indicating you’ve been waitlisted usually comes all by itself. The letter indicates that the college is still considering your application, but must hear from the admitted students first before they may--again, that’s may--offer you admission. Again, while it’s a little early to tell, there is a sense that the number of waitlisted letters is expected to be large this year--and that’s when things get tricky. Contacting the college doesn’t really move you up on the list that much--unless the college makes up its waitlist order only after they’ve heard from everyone, including the students on the waitlist. Given the many different ways colleges approach waiting lists, I would suggest you do the following: * Re-read the letter from the college to see if it gives you any information about the wait-list-- how the order is determined, when it is determined, and what you need to do to stay on it. * If this information isn't in the letter (and often it isn't), call the college and ask them directly-- tell them you've been waitlisted, and ask them how and when the list is put together. They may give you some suggestions on what to do; if they do, write these suggestions down, since they are basically telling you how to improve your chances of moving up on the list. * Next, it's decision time. Given the college options you have, do you still feel it's worth pursuing this college as a possible option-- remember, it may only be a possibility. As you think about this, it's *very* important to ask two questions-- 1. If a slot doesn't open up at this college, what college will I select? 2. If a slot does open up at this college, what college will I select? If the answer to these questions is the same, there's no point in pursuing the waitlist; you can either call the college and ask your name be removed from the waitlist, or you can wait and see what happens after May 1st. * If your decision about which college to attend depends in part on financial aid, remember that the amount of aid available to students who are admitted off of the waitlist is usually limited. It can vary greatly from year to year, and from college to college, that’s another factor to keep in mind. * If you decide you want to pursue a slot at the college that's waitlisted you, this is no time to be shy. Contact the college to let them know your continued interest. "I want you to know I am still very interested in attending College X this fall" sends a clear statement of where you stand and if College X is your first choice, you can say that as well (but remember only one first choice.) Some students will collect progress reports to show how they're doing in their high school classes, and others will send in extra letters of recommendation. All of that may help, but it's not a bad idea to ask first before sending too much material in-- remember, you want to show interest, but you don't want to drive them crazy. The idea here is that you want to show continued interest in the school that is strong, but not too persistent. A couple of contacts between April 1st and May 1st isn't going too far, and one every day really is--so use good judgment. * Finally, keep in mind that most colleges will not review their waitlist until after May 1st, which is the day you are expected to notify one--and only one--college that you’ll be going there in the fall. If April 30 comes around, and you’re still waiting to hear from a waitlisted school, you’ll want to put in the required May 1st deposit and notification at the college you’ll go to if the waitlist doesn’t work out somewhere else. If the college of your dreams pulls you off the waitlist later on, you’ll need to cancel your admission at the other college in writing--and there’s a good chance you won’t get your deposit back. Not Offered Admission News that a college cannot offer you admission also comes in a thin envelope. As I said before, colleges mean it when they say they wish they could offer you admission, and they value your work as a student; it’s just that colleges simply run out of room. Can students appeal? --Read your letter closely. These letters often explain both the procedures you need to follow to file an appeal, and the things colleges look for in reviewing an appeal. If your letter gives you no indication, call the office of admission and ask what their appeal policy is--and remember that some colleges will not take appeals except in very rare circumstances. --See if you can find out why you were denied admission in the first place. A conversation with an admissions officer may give the college enough additional information about you to form the basis of an appeal. If the college needs more information, you can ask for specific information on what the college would like to see when you write your appeal--or, in some cases, you can find out if an appeal would not be the best use of your time. --Generally speaking, colleges will look at an appeal closely if you can provide additional information above and beyond what you included in your original application that shows you are a strong and/or unique student. Seventh semester grades, progress reports from your current classes, additional letters of recommendation, a supporting paragraph or two from your counselor--these kinds of things can make a difference. -- Remember that a successful appeal depends on a variety of factors--your strength as a student, your continued interest in the college, the number of spaces the college has available, etc. In some cases, continued interest and strong grades may be enough to get you in on appeal--but in some cases, it won’t. An appeal isn’t a sure thing, and the extra energy it requires to put an appeal together--not just yours, but the energy of your counselor, your teachers, and the college--can be high at this busy time of year. Before you start an appeal, be sure to think about your chances of success, and your real interest in the college, and let your answers guide you accordingly. Lastly, three or four years of living and learning in high school should give you some strong clues about who you are and what you want from a school. Apply those core values –and some common sense-- to the college choice and decision, and you’ll find a perfect match, no matter what the numbers say. Seniors, check out the following comments from colleges in reaction to performance deterioration in senior year. Do NOT let this happen to you! · Stony Brook: Your final high school grades have been received. We note with regret that your performance in some academic subjects has declined from the level that led us to offer you admission. While it is not clear to us what has caused your academic slide, we can say with reasonable certainty that matriculation at Stony Brook will be much more difficult if your senior year level of effort is continued after you enroll. The purpose of this letter is to alert you to our awareness of your final grades and to urge you to reflect upon the attitude and work habits during your final year in high school that produced such disappointing results. Meanwhile, in the time remaining before the first day of classes, we urge you to develop an improved outlook and re-dedicate yourself to achieving a level of performance commensurate with your ability. · An Ivy League School:
I was concerned to learn of the reasons for and details surrounding the significant decline in your senior year grades at XXX High School. Your very disappointing academic performance and your explanation of the factors that contributed to it raise serious questions for me about your ability at this time to be successful in an academic environment. After reviewing all of the information you shared with me, I am faced with a very difficult decision. I underscored my expectations for the successful completion of your academic year in your offer letter of early admission in December. The last sentence of the fifth paragraph of my letter states, “While we have every reason to believe you will complete this school year successfully, please remember that this offer of admission is contingent upon your continued strong academic performance”. Furthermore, as stated in our freshman application materials, “The university reserves the right to withdraw your offer of admission if you show a significant drop in academic performance” prior to matriculation. While I would like to avoid taking this step in your case, I remain concerned about your readiness to face the demands of the freshman academic experience this fall. I am, therefore, writing to inform you that, although I will not be withdrawing your offer of admission altogether, I have decided to defer your offer of admission to ______________________ University for one year. I encourage you to use the coming year to reset your priorities so that you will be ready to immerse yourself in a rigorous academic environment in the fall of 2011. As you map out your plans for the year ahead, please be in touch with the Assistant Director of Admission, ___________________, who oversees our deferral process, to gain approval of your plans. In addition, Mr. __________________ will send you some paperwork to fill out which will assure your place in our class that will enter in the fall of 2011. Mr. _____________________ can be reached at __________________. (Student’s name), this letter is a difficult one to write, and must surely be a difficult one to receive. You are so talented and have so much to offer. I am hopeful that we will be able to welcome you to __________________ University in September of next year with the same confidence and enthusiasm I did in my original offer to you last December. Yours truly, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Follow our very own, Stephenie, on the Homeschool website, as a guest blogger this week at Educational Adventures. In the article blog titled, "Technically Homeschooled," Stephenie shares what it was like growing up in two diverse cultures, and becoming the Educator that she is today; with the drive to keep learning and educating herself. "With my mother’s sacrifices and encouragement in education and learning, I have technically homeschooled myself in many ways."
With school vacations around the corner, families are packing up the car for road trips and campus tours. If you have a sophomore or junior in high school, now is the time to visit! College is the second largest investment you will make in life, next to your home. So, here are some answers you should uncover when you are on campus: What percentage of students graduate in 4 years? And with cutbacks, many students are finding it difficult to secure all the required courses in order to graduate in 4 years. So, ask about graduation rates and access to courses.
What percentage of students return for sophomore year? Junior year? This speaks to how happy students are with the college and also the support that they are given to succeed. If fewer than 80% of students return for sophomore year, it raises a red flag that you should dig deeper to understand why. Campus visits can be overwhelming, but leaving without all the information is a mistake that can cost you dearly. So, take the time to uncover the real story behind the pretty presentation and marketing materials. You will make better decisions academically and financially if you know all the facts. For more questions to ask, contact Lee Academia for a short session or workshop on campus visits. |
Stephenie Lee
Stephenie, having been a tutor/instructor/mentor since 1996, discovered her passion and founded Lee Academia Educational Consulting, LLC. after she left the dental and medical field. She loves teaching/mentoring and counseling her students. Her passion lies in educating others and helping them pursue their educational path. Today, certified in College Counseling and with more than 10 years of experience, Stephenie and her team continues to blog about current updated educational news and events. Archives
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