College Planning Blog

The end of April marks the conclusion of a long search and selection journey as most high school seniors find themselves at the doorstep of their new college homes. After years of preparation and months of speculation, admission outcomes are finally known and college destinations have been determined. The enrollment “check is in the mail”—literally. Let the celebration begin!

If you are soon-to-be high school graduate, though, you need to be careful as you celebrate. The following are points to consider as you move through this exciting transition in your life.

1. Stay focused academically. While an overwhelming sense of relief is washing over you—and all you want to do is kick back, relax, and enjoy the moment—don’t lose sight of what got you to this point. A quick re-read of the not-so-fine print on your acceptance letter tells the story. In offering you place in its entering class, the admission committee expects you to complete your senior year at no less than the same level of performance than was evident when it decided to accept you.

Many colleges, particularly those that are highly selective, will monitor your academic performance right up to the end. In order to complete your enrollment, you will need to submit a final transcript confirming your graduation from high school. If your transcript reveals measurable declines in your program or performance, you may suddenly find your enrollment status in jeopardy as colleges are known to revoke their offers—and the actual enrollments—of students whose final transcripts fail to measure up to expectations. When I was Dean of Admission, I found I had to send 6-8 such letters each summer. It was, for obvious reasons, one of the least pleasant things I would have to do as Dean.

So what does this mean for you? It doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the rest of the year. However, you do need to keep going to class! Resist the temptation to drop courses. Take final exams. Think of such actions as “insurance.” Don’t fall prey to the intellectual comas that seem to find students at the end of the senior year. The last thing you want to see is a letter from the Dean of Admission sometime later this summer informing you that you no longer have a place in the entering class at that school.

2. Commit to one college! In the face of multiple options, it may be tempting to submit enrollment deposits to more than one college in order to give yourself more time to make the final choice. Don’t do it! Hard as it might be to make the call by the May 1 Candidates’ Reply date, that’s what you need to do. Just as admission officers review final transcripts, they are also prone to comparing enrollment rosters with colleagues at peer institutions.

If your name appears on the enrollment rosters at more than one school, be prepared for the consequences. It is not uncommon for a dean of admission to arbitrarily withdraw a student’s enrollment at her/his school out of respect for the student’s commitment to another school—not the kind of surprise you want to encounter after you have graduated from high school! Imagine if the Deans at both schools took the same action!
Do the smart and ethical thing. Make one commitment and honor it. The possible exception to this well-documented rule involves the sequence of events following admission from a college’s Wait List. Should you be committed to one college when another offers you a place from its Wait List, you may accept the latter offer. In doing so, however, it is understood that you must forfeit your initial deposit at the first college.

3. Complete the financial aid process. The fact that you have received—and accepted—a need-based financial aid award doesn’t mean the process is over. You have accepted the award on the condition that you and your parents will submit tax returns for 2007 in order to verify the data that was reported on your financial aid applications. In addition, complete the FAFSA application if you haven’t done so already. Even if you are not receiving need-based financial aid, most schools will require you to complete the FAFSA in order to secure un-subsidized student loans and campus work-study opportunities.

Finally, be sure to report any scholarships you receive from community organizations to the college you will attend. These awards will be credited to the cost of attendance.

4. Be safe! Tragically, the best of times can turn quickly into the worst of times for young people as they revel in their achievements. Have a good time but take care of yourself.

The next six weeks are indeed a time for celebrating both happy endings and new beginnings. Having made your college selection, it would seem all that is left before you’re “outta here” is the pomp and circumstance of graduation. As you pause to reflect and enjoy the moment, don’t lose sight of the bigger picture that continues to unfold before you.

Congratulations and best wishes!

For families of students recently admitted to college, the weeks immediately following the arrival of the “thick” envelope are a time to re-focus on the final choice of a college. With a May 1 enrollment deadline looming, important decisions must be made. After months, if not years, of researching options and “shopping” for the best “fit,” it is time to determine which opportunity represents the best investment. It is also a time when the cost of attending comes more sharply into focus. The following, then, are thoughts to ponder as you engage in a cost/benefit analysis of your college options.

The first thing you need to do is revisit your priorities. Why are you going to college? You know it is going to happen–the only question is “Where?” In order to figure that out, you need to make sure you know what you expect to get out of your college experience. Specifically, what are the three things you want to accomplish by the time you graduate from college four years from now? Use these priorities to guide you further in choosing among the colleges that accepted you. Which of them provides the best opportunity to achieve your goals?

Next, you and your parents need to determine what that opportunity is worth. Start by looking at the price tags. What is the comprehensive cost of attendance at each school? This number is important if you expect to be a full-time, residential student as it will include room, board, and related fees–on top of tuition. Many schools will report the cost for each semester. Be sure to calculate the total for the year if that hasn’t already been done for you. Does the value that is attached to achieving your educational goals justify the cost of attending a given institution? In answering the question, be careful not to correlate price with the quality of the opportunity, as in doing so, it is easy to lose sight of your priorities.

If you applied for financial aid, sit down with your parents to compare the various financial aid awards or “packages” you have received. Your first question should be: “What will be my family’s degree of financial exposure at each school?” How much do we need to come up with out of pocket and can we manage it? The second question must be considered within the context of each college: “Will my experience as a student and the likely outcomes (earning potential) merit this level of financial exposure?” In other words, what is the value proposition for you in attending that school?

If you are fortunate to have received scholarships or financial aid from any of these schools, subtract the amounts of the gift aid (you don?t need to work for it or repay it) from the cost of attendance for each school. The remaining balance is your expected family contribution (EFC). The award letter may even include references to possible sources of these funds (cash from earnings and savings, educational loans, campus work study jobs, etc.).

You need to be discriminating in your evaluation of the award letters. Some may present seemingly generous packages that are much less robust when you subtract the amount of self-help (loans or work study) you will need to assume. It is important that you compare the actual EFC for each institution. Resist the temptation to compare financial aid awards or the amounts of scholarships received. Taken out of context–without regard to comprehensive fees–a relatively large scholarship at one school may still leave a greater EFC than is the case with a smaller scholarship at a school with a lower price tag.

Ideally, each college would respond to you with the same financial aid. That is not likely to be the case, though, because schools work with different pricing scenarios. For example, you may receive substantial assistance at a high-priced private college but not be eligible for much assistance at a lower priced state-supported university. Or two private institutions that appear similar to you might provide financial aid awards that are very different in terms of the amount your family is expected to contribute as well as the composition (scholarships or loans) of the awards themselves. Remember, each institution will direct its resources toward the students it values most.

That said, if you are confused by your financial aid letter or you see dramatic discrepancies between awards received from different schools, now is the time to seek clarification. While financial aid officers are not inclined to negotiate financial aid awards, they are usually willing to hear appeals based on new information. A few will even offer to match the offer of a competitor. While there are no guarantees associated with the appeal process, you have nothing to lose by asking.

Note to Parents: Most successful appeals are driven by data, not emotions. If you initiate an appeal, remember that you are seeking clarity and fair treatment. You cannot, however, expect or even insist that your student is entitled to anything more or less.

Stick to Your Priorities
In assessing relative value, then, look at each college option within the context of what you are getting in exchange for your investment of time and money. Be careful not to confuse the prestige or ranking of an institution with the strength of the academic opportunity you are seeking. Your success in life beyond college will hinge much more on how you take advantage of your undergraduate experience than on the name of the institution you choose to attend. Again, stick to your priorities. If you have been diligent about searching out learning environments that fit you well–a program that meets your needs, a style of instruction that is consistent with the way you like to learn, and a degree of rigor that is commensurate with your ability and preparation–you will find the best educational investment value for you.

Additional tips for assessing value among your college options:

• If you have been offered a merit scholarship, make sure you are clear about the criteria for renewing it after your first year.
• Find out how each institution will apply the credit associated with any community-based scholarships you might receive to your cost of attendance. Some schools will reduce the amount of scholarship they are offering; others will reduce the amount of self-help (loans or work-study) in your financial aid award.
• Get a review of your potential college credits (AP, IB, courses taken on college campuses) as collectively they have the potential to reduce graduation requirements and, as a result, your out-of-pocket expenses.

“But I don’t want to go there!” Such is the all too frequent response of a despondent high school senior as s/he is reminded of the colleges that have admitted him/her. Despite the best of plans, when outcomes don’t match expectations in the college admission process you may be left feeling like your life has gone into a hopeless tailspin. The reality is that things are rarely as bad as they seem.

In this posting, I will address some of the scenarios you may be encountering now that all of your admission decisions are in hand.

Scenario #1: While you have been admitted to a number of very interesting schools, your absolute first choice college has offered you a place on its Wait List. Now, you find yourself in an awkward position. Do you hold out hope that you will be moved from the Wait List or do you begin to invest emotionally in the options that are real?

As you may have noted in my March 31 posting, “Gaining Admission from the Wait List,” Wait Lists are likely to be active at most institutions. The only question is when and for how many students. The key to getting in rests in the decisiveness of your response. If you want to compete for a place in the class from the Wait List, you must get on the “radar screen” of the admission committee at that school. Let them know you will enroll if accepted. In addition to sending updates of grades and achievements, visit the campus and interview if possible. Make sure the person who recruits in your area knows of your interest and knows how to find you. Wait List calls often come without warning and will leave you with little time to react, so be ready.

The trick in this scenario is to maintain a balanced perspective. While you want to do everything possible to enhance your chances of admission from the Wait List, be careful not to under-value the options you do have in the process. After all, you are holding offers from places that are presumably good “fits” for you. Make sure you invest the requisite time and energy in preparing to choose from among them if the Wait List situation doesn’t pan out.

Scenario #2: You didn’t get into any of your top choice colleges, but you have been admitted at a couple of your “safety” schools. Unfortunately, they don’t hold the same luster that is associated with the places that turned you down. As “back-ups,” they we were fine—perhaps because you didn’t think you would ever really have to consider them. Besides, now that your friends have been admitted to some of the places that turned you down, the schools that are left may not seem nearly so exciting. You feel stuck. If this is the case, what can you do?

If you find yourself in such a situation, re-assess the options you do have. They weren’t so bad when you decided to apply. Rediscover them. Find out why they made it to your list in the first place. They may not carry the same cachet as the places that turned you down, but the academic opportunities they present are probably every bit as good as those you would have found at the other schools.

An alternative is to apply somewhere else as a late applicant. This is easier said than done, though, as most schools are reluctant to entertain late applications from students with whom they have little or no history. Your best chance in this instance is to find a college or university with an active Wait List and hope it will see your credentials as competitive with the students it is considering from its Wait List. This is not likely to be the case, though, at places that are as selective as those that turned you down earlier.

Scenario #3: Finally, you might have received an offer of admission that is contingent upon your participation in a remedial program over the summer. If a college likes what you have to offer (it is excited by the way you answered the “what do we get” question!) but is concerned about the degree to which you are prepared to find success, it might refer you to a series of pre-enrollment courses designed to bolster your academic and study skills. In this scenario, it is clear the college values you and is investing in your success. You need to be realistic, though, in your assessment of the situation and make sure you are prepared to do what is necessary to make good on the opportunity.

A variation on this theme involves offers of January admission. You’re in, but there is a catch. You can’t start the first semester. Such offers typically encourage, if not require, you to pursue other off-campus programming during the first semester as a non-enrolled student. You must understand, though, that you are not being offered admission for the fall semester and, in most cases, will not be given the opportunity to enroll in the fall even if the Wait List becomes active. If you really like the place and such a scenario is agreeable to you, go for it. It may represent your best chance of getting into that college.

Finally, if you are uncomfortable with the range of options that lie before you, consider stepping back from the educational treadmill. Take the year after high school “off.” Don’t go to just any college just to be there. The last thing you want to do is waste your time and your parents’ money on an experience that means little to you.

Instead, get a job. Travel. Get involved in community service. In short, take the opportunity to write a new and different chapter in your life. A “gap year” of this sort can be very healthy and productive to your personal development if you use it well. Besides, you are then afforded the opportunity to reapply a year or so later when you are ready to embrace a new educational opportunity. I have yet to hear of an institution that doesn’t see the investment in a gap year as a positive development.

For a compelling perspective on the subject, I would urge you to read “Don’t Worry About College, A Letter to My Granddaughter” by John Taylor Gatto. The article can be found on page 24 of the March/April issue of Life Learning Magazine: http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/0804/index.html. On the right side of the page, click on “Download a PDF version” for free.

The odds are that among the admission decision letters received by college applicants in the coming days will be a few that bear the curious message, “We are pleased to offer you a place on the Wait List.” If you receive such a message, you might find it puzzling. You can’t find the word “congratulations” anywhere in the letter, yet the school is “pleased to offer you…”—what?

Your instincts say that if you are not “in” you must be “out.” Rejected. At the very least, you might convince yourself that it is just a polite denial letter. Before you draw too many conclusions, read the letter carefully. Your application hasn’t been dismissed. It’s simply been put on hold.

Rather than a polite denial, the Wait List offer is a “definite maybe.” Whether you knew it or not, you were on the competitive “bubble” among the candidates at the college in question. You were certainly qualified—deserving of consideration in a close competition—but you were not a shoo-in. When it came time for the admission committee to make very fine distinctions, it chose others over you. By offering you a place on the Wait List, though, the committee is really saying, “We like you. Since we might not get the number of enrollments we need from the initial round of acceptances, we might be able to admit you later.”

While such an explanation does not feel very reassuring as you read it for the first time, you may well have options before this whole thing is over. Hang in there. Most of the selective colleges in the country will admit students from the Wait List every year in numbers ranging from half a dozen to well over 100.

Information about Wait List status and movement is closely guarded. Colleges are sensitive to negative inferences that are made about the “need” to go to the Wait List and prefer to be discrete about the extent of their reliance on it for enrollment. Here is what you need to know—and do—in order to give yourself a competitive edge.

1. Wait Lists will be active because colleges are constantly gambling that their yield on initial offers will be better than expected. They are usually wrong.
2. When they go to the Wait List, admission officers have efficiency in mind. They want to fill their empty seats as quickly as possible. Rather than mailing offers of admission to hundreds of students, they will call or email candidates one at a time until they receive the number of commitments they need.
3. Make sure that the school knows it is your first choice. Write a letter confirming your interest. Visit. Send new grades. Provide new insight into your performance as well as evidence of recent accomplishments that might not have appeared on your initial application.
4. Stay on the radar screen of the staff member who recruits in your area. Make sure they know you are available and ready to accept an offer of admission. Continue to show your interest without becoming a pest.
5. Be sure to provide evidence of your potential “hooks.” Colleges re-define their needs as they go to the Wait List. For example, they may have acquired plenty of tuba players, but now have a need for an oboist.
6. Colleges may need students who won’t require financial assistance. If there had ever been a question about your need for financial aid, be clear about what your family can afford. Your need of assistance could well be a determining factor. Movement from Wait Lists prior to May 1 will probably be limited to students who do not need financial aid.
7. Many Wait List offers will come after the May 1 deadline for submitting enrollment deposits. If such a call comes, you need to be prepared to decide quickly (often in 24 hours) whether you want to forfeit an earlier enrollment at another school in order to take advantage of the acceptance from the Wait List.
8. Don’t allow yourself to become so preoccupied with the Wait List situation that you lose track of your more immediate options. If the Wait List offer doesn’t come, you need to be ready to embrace one of your other options.

So, take heart. The enrollment opportunities from the Wait List are very real. In fact, competing for admission from the Wait List is like playing in a contest that has gone into overtime. If you assume the game is lost, you can’t win. Keep “playing,” then—hard and smart—to give yourself a chance for a happy outcome.

Over the next two weeks I will continue to provide guidance for students as they sort through the process of making final college choices. Contents of this posting are excerpted from Winning the College Admission Game: Strategies for Students and Parents.

Within the next ten days, the annual college admission lottery will finally be played out. After months of waiting, most applicants will find out where they have been admitted to college. If past experience is any indicator of the likely outcomes, nearly 85% will report they have gotten into their first choice colleges. And that bodes well for you!

By the time all of the mail is open and the admission decisions are in, you should have options–quality options. There might be two or three–or, if you’re lucky, half a dozen. If that’s the case, congratulations! Your hard work has paid off and you get to make the final choice of a college destination.

Choosing well, however, is critical to the experience you will have once enrolled. Now, more than ever, you need to be attentive to the details. As you enter the final phase of decision-making, start by rechecking your priorities. What was important when you initially constructed your list of colleges? Has anything changed? Why? The answers to these questions will be your compass as you make decisions in the coming weeks.

The elements of a good college fit apply now more than ever. Even the “best” college (by acclaim) won’t help you reach your goals if getting through four years at that school is likely to be a struggle academically. Choose wisely. Stay within your ability to comfortably embrace the academic programs and achieve the educational goals you set for yourself.

Using your priorities as a guide, take another look at the colleges that accepted you. You have until the end of April to choose one of them. Return to their campuses where you can immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, and overall culture of the places. How do they feel to you? In doing so, try to accomplish the following:

• Spend a weeknight in a residence hall, eat at least two meals in the dining facilities and go to two classes in different disciplines including an introductory first-year class.
• Talk with professors from the academic departments that interest you as well as the appropriate pre-professional advisor for those programs. Do you see a home for yourself in those environments?
• If you are a recruited athlete, visit with the coach as well as members of the team. These folks may be your support system for the next four years. Where will you fit best?
• If you have academic support needs, talk with the person on campus who coordinates the Special Needs Support Center or the Writing Center. Look for evidence that you will get the support you require.
• If you have financial concerns, make an appointment with the financial aid office. Take copies of your financial aid application as well as any relevant tax returns for reference. Don’t assume that troubling financial differences will be worked out later.
• Hang out. Watch people. Listen to them talk. Ask them what they think about campus life, politics, sports, religion, or whatever is important to you.
• Inquire about safety information, crime statistics and campus escort programs.
• Use good judgment as you explore the social scene. Know your limits…

In other words, take in as much as possible. It might be tough because you’ll also have to juggle academic and social demands at school. On the other hand, the choice of a college is one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime. In the end, you can only choose one college! Do what you can to make sure you get it right the first time.

Most students who emerge from this process acknowledge that much of the decision-making comes down to a gut feeling. Let your gut go to work for you. Make sure the college you choose fits comfortably and feels good before you commit yourself.

Finally, a word of caution. As the good news begins to arrive, your life will change instantaneously as colleges roll out the “red carpet.” You’ll be invited to parties and open houses in your honor. Prominent alumni will call to wish you well. Some schools may even offer to fly you to their campuses for the weekend. In the midst of all the ego food being tossed your way, however, you need to stay focused. Do your own detective work and remain true to your priorities. Much of the stuff that goes on over the six weeks prior to your enrollment decision is staged by colleges for your benefit. And that’s fine. Just make sure you sort through the excitement to find evidence that the school in question truly values you for what you do well.

Over the next two weeks I will provide guidance for students whose situations might be complicated by Wait List options, financial aid comparisons, or even the need to find new college options. Contents of this posting are excerpted from Winning the College Admission Game: Strategies for Students and Parents.

Recent news reports about Ivy League colleges offering “free education” to students from middle-class families paint a highly unrealistic picture of the challenges facing the majority of college-bound students.

With college costs weighing heavily on many Americans, it must have seemed heartening when NBC news anchor Brian Williams introduced a segment on the March 7 NBC Nightly News by saying: “Finally for American middle class families there is long overdue help on the way…”

The segment reported by Rehema Ellis profiled a high achieving young woman from a hardworking, middle-income family who is waiting to hear back from several Ivy League institutions to which she has applied. While the admission outcomes are still unknown, the young woman is clearly relieved by news that these schools have declared that middle income students can attend tuition-free. “Knowing that the tuition will be free just takes a huge load off,” she says.

Ellis tells viewers that many of the nation’s wealthiest institutions have reached out to middle income families by redefining “middle income” and converting need-based loans to scholarships for these students.

Unfortunately, this report perpetuates the great myth about higher education–the notion that academic quality exists only at the wealthiest and most elite colleges. Most cruelly, however, it offers false encouragement to many families of college-bound students. While Ellis is careful to point out that opportunity is out there for young people who “make the grade,” it’s not clear to whom she is referring.

The straight “A” record shown in the on-screen graphic could belong to any of the approximately 50,000 soon-to-be high school graduates who rank first or second in their respective classes. And that number doesn’t include other highly-ranked students at extemely competitive high schools around the country. You don’t need to be a math major to see there are more straight-A students than available slots at elite colleges.

So, who is really being served by this media coverage? Not the average consumer. By rough count, less than one-half of one percent of young people entering college next fall will actually benefit. The relative handful of students who will be affected by the largesse of the wealthy elite institutions are only those fortunate enough to have been invited to “join” in the first place!

For the rest of us, these news stories represent little more than sheer fantasy.

It is disingenuous to suggest that de facto merit scholarships at these institutions create more access and opportunity. The elite colleges are merely doing what’s necessary to shore up their own enrollments. Don’t think for a minute that they are expanding their enrollments to include larger numbers of middle-income students. It simply isn’t going to happen.

Middle-income students do have affordable, quality options at hundreds of colleges across the country. Finding them requires a student-centered approach to college planning. Assuming the best measure of a good and fulfilling college education is the experience a student can take from it, students need to be coached to look past the obvious cachet of an institution for evidence that it is a good “fit” for them. Here’s why.

The likelihood of receiving scholarship assistance at any college goes up in direct proportion to the student’s desirability at that college. As a result, the formula for affording college expenses is fairly simple: find institutions that value the student for what s/he does well. Colleges that are good “fits” will invest in the student’s success.

Does that mean that loans will convert to scholarships for every student? It’s highly doubtful. But college can be more affordable to every student if the selection process is approached prudently. By putting themselves into competition at places that value them for what they do well, students give themselves better chances of receiving the funding support they need while benefiting from productive and fulfilling educational experiences.

It is a mistake to assume that the “gold” standard of educational access and opportunity rests with the wealthy elite. Rather, the efforts to improve access felt by most Americans are being implemented without fanfare on the campuses of hundreds of lesser-known institutions around the country. Perhaps, focusing on “fit” instead of famous names will reveal that the “long overdue help” for middle class families has been within reach all along.

Few will argue with the assessment that the college planning process is much more complex than it was 25 years ago. Among the myriad reasons for this is the obsession with “having the best” that is manifest in the approach of many families to college planning. In fact, many parents are now spending absurd amounts–often the equivalent of one year’s college tuition–in the belief that the investment will get their kids into college.

Chief among these investments is the engagement of independent educational consultants in the college planning process. These are the folks who offer fee-based assistance to families outside of the high school environment. Such assistance can come in the form of private tutoring, test preparation, reflective self-assessment, college list development, essay editing, dedicated “advocacy” in the admission process, and planning support for students with special needs. It’s a long list and there are some incredibly gifted people who provide high-quality services.

While the advantages offered by some independent educational consultants are undeniable, a lot of families invest in private counseling that is already in abundant supply to them at their schools. Why? The only conclusion I can draw is that, quite often, parents let their imaginations run wild in the college planning process. They imagine, for example, that there are only a handful of acceptable destinations for their kids and, given the odds against their kids getting into these schools, they imagine their only chance is to bring in “specialists” who can give them the competitive edge. “Besides,” these parents rationalize, “everyone else in the neighborhood has a private counselor–why not us!”

This was brought home to me in a conversation with a college counselor recently about the growing tendency of families in his school to engage independent educational consultants in their college planning endeavors. While my friend shrugged off this seeming duplication of effort with resignation, I found it astonishing that anyone would see the need to seek help outside of his school. After all, college planning and placement is his job–and he’s very, very good at it! (And so are many of his school-based counterparts!)

However, if you are in an academic environment that does not routinely offer this type of college planning support, then you might consider working with a consultant–but do so for the right reasons. Ask yourself why you want or–more importantly--need the help. Is the college counseling available through your student’s school truly deficient? Does your student have specific needs that need to be addressed? Or do you simply want the peace of mind of having access to an expert who can interpret the process for you as you move forward?

Many consultants are experts about specific areas such as learning differences or family relocations or financial planning. Make sure you know what you need. If you need college planning support, I strongly recommend that the student be regarded as the lead client. To the parents, that means “pay the bill and then stand back.” I see far too many situations in which the parents are engaged with the consultant as though the student isn’t even present!

Get referrals and ask for references. If you are considering a consultant who lives near you, make sure your student meets with that person before “signing on.” Ask to see evidence that s/he is well educated (former admission officer, college advisor, Certified Educational Planner, etc.) about the college admission process and has been actively engaged in professional development activity over the last 2-3 years. Look for honesty, sincerity (don’t buy what you don’t need!), accessibility and compatibility with your student. This exercise won’t work if your student isn’t buying into the concept or the person delivering it. This is even more important if you are contemplating a long distance relationship with a consultant.

Consider cost and the projected time commitment. You shouldn’t have to pay more than 20% of the cost (you can often get what you need for less) of one year at the colleges your student is considering for qualified assistance. And working with a consultant should not detract from your student’s ability to do the things that are important to her/him.

Finally, be wary of individuals who make guarantees. Consultants do not get kids into college! They should not manage the process nor should they write essays or complete applications for them. Students must take ownership of the process and the required tasks.

On the other hand, good consultants can help young people find the most appropriate colleges and they can provide assistance in gaining perspective on how a student might best present him/herself in the admission process. Make sure the consultation is student-centered and you won’t go wrong!

The college admission process can produce some interesting personal dilemmas. One such quandary was brought to my attention in a phone call last week from a young man who was trying to sort out an Early Decision opportunity. A competitive athlete, he had been approached by a recruiting coach from an NCAA Divison III (non-scholarship) school with the suggestion that he convert his application for admission from Regular Decision to Early Decision (ED). Moreover, the coach had assured the young man that if his application for financial aid did not produce the desired assistance from this institution, he would not be held to his commitment to enroll if accepted ED.

The caller was understandably excited and confused by this development. While he liked the school very much, he couldn’t say for sure that it was his first choice. This is largely due to his need for financial aid. In fact, the uncertainty of his financial aid situation had led him to actively consider other schools as well. Moreover, he also understood the underlying premise of the unconditional commitment to enroll if accepted that is assumed of ED candidates. As a result, he was skeptical of the pitch he had been given by this coach.

My advice to the young man was simple: “If you need to make sure you get the best financial aid possible and there is a chance other schools might admit you and give you better offers, then don’t give up your right to see those offers by converting your application to ED at one school. The coach is behaving unethically by making this suggestion. Don’t compound the problem by heading down that road with him.” I’m not sure I told this young man anything he didn’t already suspect to be true, but our chat gave him the confidence to respond to the coach’s overtures.

That said, as a college applicant you need to be especially vigilant about the ethics of the process. The desire to get into favored schools should never put you in a place where you compromise your integrity or the rules governing the process. Unfortunately, the coach in question was crossing the ethical “line” by asking the applicant to consider an Early Decision application when he knew the young man could only do so conditionally due to his financial situation. The good news is the young man had the presence of mind to step back and assess the situation objectively.

Now, in case you’re checking the calendar and wondering how this conversation between the coach and the applicant could be taking place as the “round two” deadlines for ED have passed at most schools, welcome to the world of college admission in 2008! These are the days when selective colleges do what they can to pump up their yields on offers of admission while looking for opportunities to reduce the overall number of students they need to admit and, hence, become more selective. Add to the mix the dynamics of athletic recruitment–even at the NCAA Division III non-scholarship level–and the opportunity for late-season Early Decision conversations emerges.

A few other observations are worth noting here. One, the NCAA forbids Division III athletic recruiters from having any conversation about family finances with the financial aid officers at their respective institutions. In short, an athlete’s potential involvement in an NCAA Division III program may NOT have any bearing on the disposition of his/her financial aid status. Two, each institution employs slightly different criterion in assessing a student’s academic strength within the context of its financial aid program. It is not only possible that a recruit’s financial “need” could be read differently from one school to the next, the strength of his academic credential may also result in differences in the composition of the financial aid awards he receives. Whereas a student athlete may qualify for special consideration academically at one school, at others he may not.

Finally, the late season ED phenomenon is not limited to recruited athletes. Admission officers at many selective schools will keep the application “door” open past formal deadlines as they troll for high-yielding ED conversions well into February of the admission process. Should you be confronted with such an opportunity, just remember-the rules remain the same. If you convert your application to ED, you are making an unconditional commitment to enroll if accepted.

Inside the Numbers
A little background might prove useful in establishing the grounds for the late ED question in the first place, so let’s take a look inside the numbers and think: enrollment management. Colleges that want to improve their yields and become more selective can simply turn to their Early Decision programs for easy solutions. Whereas admission officers at most schools must admit 4-5 Regular Decision applicants in order to enroll one, ED programs allow them the efficiency of “admitting one applicant to get one.” For every additional ED enrollment that can be counted, then, 4-5 fewer students need to be admitted in the Regular Decision process to fill that same place in the class.

Consider the impact of such a strategy on a larger scale. A college or university that can attract 50 more ED enrollments over the previous year reduces by as many as 250 Regular Decision students it would otherwise need to admit to fill those places in the class. As a result, the more ED enrollments a school can stockpile, the more selective it becomes.

College applications require a lot of information that is ultimately useful to admission committees as they determine whom to admit. As a result, applicants routinely–almost mindlessly, complete forms that ask about home, school, family, extracurricular activities and unusual educational experiences. After all, it is usually easy to imagine where each piece of data might be useful to admission officers as they put your candidacy into a broader context.

Occasionally, however, there will be a question that gives the applicant reason to pause–a question that seems to have little bearing at all on the student’s personal qualifications. One such question asks applicants to “List the names of the other colleges to which you have applied.”

It turns out that this request and others like it show up in other places as well (interviews, meetings with alumni, recruiting sessions with athletic coaches, etc.) during the application process. Is seems innocuous enough; however, the savvy applicant is left wondering, “Just how will this information be used? Why do they want it and do I really need to give it to them?”

The answer is quite simple. Admission officers are pretty savvy about collecting information that can be used to predict the likelihood of your enrollment. This is particularly important in institutional environments where improving the yield on offers of admission and becoming more selective are criteria used to measure the success of their admission operations. As a result, admission officers are constantly trying to calibrate the yield on their offers of admission. The more they know about where you are applying (and likely to get in), the easier it is for them to determine the likelihood that you will enroll at their college if admitted. While the information you provide has no bearing whatsoever on the strength of your credentials, it can influence the status of your application if a college suspects that you are likely to pursue other options.

When you think about it, there is really nothing good that can result from providing such information. Therefore, I counsel students to leave the space blank. Unless you want admission officers to know where you are applying, keep that information to yourself. The same is true when the topic comes up conversationally. Give them only what you want them to know about your interests and intentions.

An interesting variation on this theme is found on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application–the form you must complete in order to qualify for financial aid administered by the state/federal governments and–in some cases, the colleges themselves. You see, the FAFSA will also ask you to list the colleges to which you have applied in order of preference. This information is required to complete and submit the FAFSA–and the resulting need analysis as well as the reported data will be forwarded to the colleges listed on the form. It is not uncommon for admission officers to cast side-long glances at such lists as they make their final determinations about whom to admit.

When asked for this information on the FAFSA, consider the implications of your response. You can list the schools in order of preference or you can confuse the issue by listing the schools in alphabetical order. While the ordering of schools on the FAFSA will not effect your eligibility for financial aid, just remember that it might have a bearing on how admission officers assess the likelihood of your enrollment.

The thing to remember about this whole discussion is that it is important to get on–and stay on–the “radar screens’ of the colleges that interest you. By making sure the authenticity of your interest in a college is clear and undeniable, you force admission officers to make decisions based on the strength of your academic and personal credentials.

Periodically, a prominent college or university will gain notice by virtue of announcing bold new initiatives that are sure to improve the college-going landscape. In the last year alone, colleges dropped Early Decision programs, eliminated student loan programs in favor of new scholarships, and modified entrance test requirements–all in the interest of improving access while reducing the angst associated with college entrance. The problem with these announcements is that universities are adept at cloaking institution-specific enrollment strategies as social initiatives. Therefore, you must read carefully to appreciate just who is being served.

In doing so, you have probably noticed that “access” is a buzzword commonly associated with emerging initiatives. And why not? Access to post-secondary education is an important element of this nation’s social agenda. Thousands of underserved students who would benefit from a college education come up short when they fail to receive the support needed to complete the application process and/or secure the funds necessary to afford college costs. Presumably, then, initiatives in the name of “access” are targeting these areas of need. As such, they are greeted warmly–especially when they come from this country’s most prominent universities.

It happened again when Harvard University recently announced a plan to overhaul its financial aid program for undergraduates. Citing the need to improve access for students from middle income families–and to get a greater share of these students who are also admitted to public flagship universities–Harvard has determined that, for families whose incomes range up to $180,000, family contributions to student costs will not exceed 10 per cent of family income in a given year. The University will also remove home equity from calculations of family wealth and eliminate all loans from financial aid awards.

On the surface, the Harvard announcement reads well. An institutional leader–one of the most widely known and highly respected places on the face of the earth–steps forward with a bold new financial aid strategy to, you got it, create access. It sounds great. But before you add Harvard to your short list of colleges, read the fine print. “Where” and “how” will improved access be truly realized? Will this move–and the $22 million that it puts into play–make it possible for more kids to go to college? Will it even make a Harvard education more accessible to thousands of qualified students who dare to be encouraged by the promotional rhetoric? More importantly, how might it affect you?

In reality, this plan is not likely to inspire more middle-income students to go to college, so improving access to education isn’t a likely outcome. And, while more deserving middle-income students will probably apply to Harvard because of the financial aid plan, they must first be admitted before they can take advantage of it. As enticing as the new financial aid plan might be, it offers no assurance that qualified middle-income students will actually be among the 10% or so of students who apply and are admitted at Harvard.

So, take this plan–and the rhetoric that surrounds it–for what it is. In this case, all roads lead back to the institution and not the common good. While a relative handful of students and families might benefit, it is really the institution’s best interests that are being served as it seeks to attract and retain more students whose families fit Harvard’s new definition of “middle income.”

As promising as it might sound, this initiative means little to most students who are considering their college options. It is not going to reshape the social fabric of higher education and it certainly isn’t going to create access outside of the ring in which Harvard competes for students. The good news is you can experience quality options at scores of other colleges across the country. The best course of action, then, is to stay student-centered. Sidestep the distracting rhetoric raised by announcements such as this and focus on finding colleges that represent the best fit for you. Find your point of access by putting yourself into competition at places that will value you for what you do well.

During the December 19 (9 PM ET) installment of the Straight Talk About College Admission teleseminar series, I will go “Inside the Financial Aid Application Process” (9PM ET) with guest expert, Carl Buck. A long-time financial aid professional (Rice, UCLA, Rutgers) and author of Best College Deals, Carl is currently a Vice President at CHASE Bank. Join us to learn how you can make the financial aid process work for you. For more information and to register for the seminar, go to: http://www.theadmissiongame.com/teleseminar_registration.php