Peter Van Buskirk in Print
Print | Radio | Television
The college admission cycle frequently finds reporters on the lookout for fresh and insightful perspectives that provide substantive insight into the college planning process and help shape our understanding of the factors that influence outcomes. As a leading advocate for student-centered solutions for college planning, Peter’s is often a highly regarded voice in the stories they produce.
Admission to top universities becomes harder, counselors say
The Patriot-News
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
By Monica Von Dobeneck
Lebanon County Bureau
Caroline Olt, a Lower Dauphin High School senior, is going to the University of Pennsylvania, one of eight schools in the Ivy League. She has stellar grades and high SAT scores. But she said she needed a hook to get in: field hockey.
Pierre Gergis, a Cedar Crest High School senior, is going to Columbia University in New York. He thinks his hook was his persistence. He e-mailed the admissions counselor and did whatever the school requested, including retaking an SAT II test. Perhaps his Egyptian heritage also helped him stand out, he said.
With so many students applying, Ivy League universities and other selective schools are admitting a smaller percentage of applicants than ever this year. Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities' acceptance rates are all around 9 percent.
It's no longer enough to have top grades and extra-curriculars. Elite schools are seeking something extra, and it is nearly impossible to figure out what it is, college counselors say.
There aren't nearly enough spots in Ivy League schools for all the top students, said Peter Van Buskirk, former dean of admissions at Franklin & Marshall College and author of Winning The College Admission Game.
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/121017031836430.xml&coll=1
An Admissions Dean’s Tips for Getting In
How to write a memorable essay and explain a bad grade
By Kim Clark
U.S. News & World Report
Posted November 7, 2007
What can applicants do to increase their chances of getting in to a good college? Colleges usually just tell applicants the same old generalities about wanting students with good grades and test scores and community service. But Peter Van Buskirk, a former admissions dean at Franklin & Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has started spilling the beans about what really goes on behind those closed-door admissions meetings.
View the entire article and watch the video
The College Experience... If You Can Pay
By Jennifer Epstein
InsideHigherEd...
Published: August 13, 2007
To ambitious high schoolers, a summer in the hallowed halls of an elite university seems like an ideal résumé boost -- even when those halls are without air conditioning.
For decades, colleges have obliged to that teenaged fantasy, opening their campuses to high school students for programs that bring in revenue and fill otherwise empty buildings. Summer programs report substantial demand, sometimes far outpacing supply, if only because of how attractive students and parents think a program can seem on a college application.
View the entire article and quotes from Peter Van Buskirk at InsideHigherEd
Former F&M dean coaches readers on 'Winning the College Admission Game'
By Jo-Anne Greene
Lancaster Sunday News
Published: May 20, 2007 12:02 AM EST
REVIEW - This time of year, high-school juniors' mailboxes overflow with "love notes" from colleges, if not from prom dates.
All of them say: We need you, we want you, come see us, or at least log onto our Web site and here's a special password just for you.
Don't let these flattering solicitations turn your head, advises Peter Van Buskirk, former dean of admission at Franklin & Marshall College.
What many colleges want more than you is your application, he says in his new book, "Winning the College Admission Game," just published by Peterson's at $15.
View the entire article from Lancaster Online...
A college-admissions presentation worth sharing
By Caroline
A Blog for Matters Related to Schools In San Francisco
Published: April 14, 2007
An overflow crowd of parents, students and guests jammed the San Francisco School of the Arts library Thursday evening to hear college admissions expert and author Peter Van Buskirk explode myths about getting into college.
Van Buskirk’s presentation, and his new book, are titled Winning the College Admission Game, a name that’s not terribly appealing to "keep it real" types -- but the engaging presentation made up for that.
View the entire article...
College Admissions:... The Sequel
By Ellen Gamerman, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal Online
Published: October 31, 2006
Like a lot of teenagers, Neil Verma is practically obsessed with getting into the right college. He spends as many as four hours a night studying to make sure his grades impress the admissions office. He's researching the best teachers to ask for recommendations. And he's constantly checking his to-do list so he won't miss the application deadlines.
But Mr. Verma's not a high-schooler. He's already in college, attending the University of Miami as a freshman. He's putting himself through the admissions wringer all over again this year, hoping to be accepted as a transfer student at Dartmouth or the University of Chicago. Both schools were his top choices and turned him down last year. "I have to try," he says.
View the entire article from the Wall Street Journal Online
Flag is raised on admissions
By Mary Beth Marklein
USA Today
Published: October 2006
Shortly after Harvard announced last month that it was ending its early-admission policy, admissions dean William Fitzsimmons got a thank-you e-mail from a woman with a story to tell.
She and her best friend had applied to the same school. The friend got in, she didn't. And that was the end of the friendship. Now, as Fitzsimmons prepares to conduct Harvard's last review of early-admission applicants (the deadline is Nov. 1), he worries that the admissions "rat race" is destroying "the quality of the social fabric" in high schools.
View the entire article from USA Today
A Call for Transparency in College Admission
By Peter Van Buskirk
InsideHigherEd
Published: October 6, 2006
A great deal of attention has been given of late to the efforts of Lloyd Thacker and others who seek to reform the college admission process. Citing an obsession with college entrance testing, run-away early decision programs, chronic misuses of college rankings and a propensity among colleges to strategically leverage their enrollments, Thacker points to a system out of control.
Lloyd Thacker is right. The high school to college transition does face serious problems. Far-reaching as they might be, the impact of the practices and behaviors of which he speaks is felt most acutely by the families and supporters of students who aspire to the so-called elite institutions in the United States. While many agree that something needs to be done, advancing a reform mandate to a handful of presidents from these colleges in closed-door meetings (as Thacker has done), though, is an exercise in futility at best.
The seemingly benign process that ushered generations of young people to the doorsteps of a college education has evolved, in some quarters, into a swirling caldron of angst and anxiety.
View the entire article from InsideHigherEd
The new math of college admissions
Test scores and selectivity help identify the "best" schools. But such stats are easy to manipulate.
By Sarah Max, senior writer
CNN/Money.com
March 29, 2005: 9:34 AM EST
SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) – Here is a pop quiz:
A college is looking to attract the best and brightest by scoring well on various rankings of the "best" schools. Ranking factors include average SAT scores and grade point averages, the percentage of prospective students admitted and the percentage of those students who actually enroll.
To improve its position, a college should:
A) Encourage the brightest students to apply early and give their word that they will enroll if accepted.
B) Admit students with lower test scores via a wait list or deferred enrollment and exclude them from statistics used for rankings.
C) Offer discounted tuition to the smartest students.
At a growing number of schools, say college admissions experts, the answer is all of the above.
Judged by the numbers
"As colleges have become adept at marketing they have transformed themselves from institutions of higher education to branded items," said Peter Van Buskirk, executive director for high school outreach programs for Thomson Peterson's. "Image is everything."
View the entire article
Program to instruct DODDS pupils, parents on college applications process
By Joseph Giordano
Stars and Stripes, Pacific Edition
Published: April 14, 2004
Yongsan Garrison, South Korea--Students and parents at schools throughout the Pacific will get a firsthand look at an interactive program which promises to help them navigate the pitfalls of the college application process.
"The Admissions Game," created by a former dean of admissions at Franklin & Marshall College, pits four high school students in a mock game show, with the audience serving as the admissions committee at a fictitious college.
View the entire article from Stars & Stripes ...
Articles/Op-Ed pieces regarding college rankings
Athens Online (OH)
Chicago Tribune (IL)
Harrisburg Patriot News (PA)
Additional stories have appeared in the following newspapers:
- Baltimore Business Journal (MD)
- Buffalo News (NY)
- Cleveland Plain Dealer (OH)
- Eagle Tribune (MA)
- Houston Chronicle (TX)
- Metrowest Daily News (MA)
- Munster Times (Munster (IN)
- North Port Sun Herald (North Port, FL)
- Saginaw News (MI)
- Sun Sentinel (South Florida)
- The Dominion Post (Morgantown, WV)
- York Daily Record (PA)
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