Program Gives MIT Undergrads a Year at Cambridge

The MIT Tech reports that 38 third-year MIT students have accepted places in this year's Cambridge-MIT Undergraduate Exchange (CME) program so far.

The program, which was founded in 2000, allows approximately 40 students from each university to spend a year at the other institution while paying normal tuition to their home universities. It is the only such exchange that Cambridge University has with a U.S. institution.

CME coordinator Dr. Gareth H. McKinley told the Tech that the program gives third-year students an excellent opportunity to broaden their academic and social horizons. "MIT teaches you to solve problems of all kinds and Cambridge teaches you which problems are worth solving," he said. “The combination of both viewpoints provides a fantastic and uniquely international viewpoint of world-leading engineering education.”

The Tech noted that the CME program has always drawn more applications from Cambridge than from MIT. Over 100 Cambridge students applied to the program this year, compared to roughly 50 from MIT. Reasons given for MIT students' lower level of interest in the CME include student concerns that study abroad may either interfere with plans to complete a second degree or conflict with participation in the MIT-based Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

Source: "CME More Popular in Cambridge," by Yinuo Qian - the MIT Tech, April 26, 2006

Technorati tags: MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge University

U of Penn Adds MidEast Studies Major

The University of Pennsylvania will add Modern Middle Eastern Studies to the degree options open to undergraduates beginning in fall 2007.

The program will allow undergrads to pursue a minor or a major in Middle Eastern studies. The interdisciplinary program will include classes in Middle Eastern languages, history, economics, political science, sociology, and archaeology.

The Modern Middle Eastern Studies program was developed partly in response to student concerns that the University's Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations major restricted classes to the humanities. Students complained that they had to declare a second degree major or minor in order to pursue social science classes relevant to the Middle East.

The new program will be run through the University's Middle East Center, which coordinates research and academic programs.

Source: "Modern Middle East Major OK'd for 2007," by Tali Yahalom - the Daily Pennsylvanian, April 26, 2007

Technorati tags: University of Pennsylvania, U Penn, Middle Eastern studies, Mideast studies

U of Vermont Admissions Get Tougher

Like many other colleges and universities across the US this year, the University of Vermont saw an increase in both the number and quality of applications submitted to it. As a result, a number of Vermont high school seniors whose GPAs and SAT scores would have all but guaranteed them admission in past years are being waitlisted or declined this year.

The University received almost 18,000 applications this year, almost 36 per cent more than last year. 2,163. Out-of-state applications rose sharply, driven by the University's rising national profile as 'a public Ivy.'

About 64 per cent of UVM students are from out-of-state. The higher tuitions paid by out-of-state students are an important source of funding for the improvements that have helped raise UVM's profile and standing, including the establishment of an Honors College and the expansion of athletics programs.

The growing number of applicants has forced UVM to become more selective in its admissions. The change has been especially dramatic in in-state admissions, which dropped from 81 per cent last year to 65 per cent this year.

UVM Provost John Bramley told the Burlington Free Press that lower acceptance rates were in the best interests of students and of the state. "We're not going to serve Vermont best by admitting everybody; it won't work," Bramley said. "We have to be selective. It's our role. We really are providing an excellent education, and that is reverberating in Vermont because that's why we're seeing our applications go up."

Source: "UVM Increases Selectivity in Admissions Process," by Jill Fahy - the Burlington Free Press, April 21, 2006

Catholic U Hiding Campus Crime Report from Prospective Applicants?

Copies of a student newspaper bearing a front-page story on local crime disappeared from racks in front of Catholic University's admissions office the same day that hundreds of prospective admits toured campus, the Associated Press reports.

The Tower's report on a string of robberies and carjackings near and on the CU campus appeared in its Friday edition.

Editor in Chief Kate McGovern told AP that one of her editors learned during the day that a stack of 100 newspapers placed in a rack near the admissions office had disappeared. When editors asked University staff what had happened, they were told that readers must have taken them. When McGovern went to the admissions office to follow up, she was given about 20 copies of the paper and told that the remaining copies would be returned to the stack on Monday.

McGovern told AP, "We knew that people weren't going to be exactly excited about the fact that our lead story was going to be about the crime on campus."

A Catholic University spokesman denied that the school was trying to hide information about crime from prospective students. He told the Washington Post that even if the papers had been removed from the rack by the admissions office, there were many other campus locations where visiting students could get a copy.

Source: "College Editor Fights for Newspaper," by Ashton Williams - AP, April 24, 2006

Yale's Top 100 'Feeder' Schools

Approximately one quarter of the students who attended Yale over the past five years graduated from one of the 100 high schools identified as today's 'feeder' schools for the University, a report by the Yale Daily News says.

14 secondary schools have each sent at least 5 students on to Yale every year for the past five years, so that their graduates represented about 8 per cent of Yale's student body during that period.

The list of feeder schools includes private prep schools like Andover and Exeter, which have a long history of sending their graduates to the Ivy League.

However, some of the secondary schools placing the highest number of graduates at Yale in recent years have been public magnet schools, such as the Stuyvesant High School of New York City and the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology of Fairfax, Virginia.

In fact, one-third of the top 100 feeder schools are open-enrollment public schools that do not restrict enrollment the way that magnet schools do. The YDN noted, however, that these schools tend to be located in affluent suburbs of major cities. As with other feeder schools, they offer an excellent secondary education and provide extensive college counseling and other support to their students.

Yale has made a concerted effort in recent years to diversify its applicant pool. It has eliminated or reduced parental support requirements for middle-income families and created a Student Ambassadors program to recruit applicants from under-represented regions and communities.

Nonetheless, many of current Yale students who were the first graduates of their high schools to attend the University "found" Yale on their own, the YDN says. A successful applicant from a small town in West Virginia who was encouraged to consider Yale by a family friend noted that "my school didn't really know what to expect from [the admissions process] or how to go about applying or sending information" to Yale. She researched the school and its admissions requirements on her own, to the point of driving to a location several hours away to undergo an admissions interview.

A Yale alumnus who helped create the Student Ambassadors program said that he hoped it would attract more applicants like the West Virginia woman to Yale. The program sent representatives to 249 schools across the U.S. this year.

Source: "Among Admits, a Search for Singular Elis," by Jacob Leibenluft - the Yale Daily News, April 24, 2006. The article is the first in a 2-part series on Yale recruiting and admissions.
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Stanford Dean Explains Selection Process

Stanford University Dean of Admissions Rick Shaw spoke at a recent Faculty Senate meeting about how his office recruits and selects undergraduates in an increasingly competitive admissions environment.

Stanford's acceptance rate fell below 11 per cent this year, with 2,430 applicants out of a record-high pool of 22,322 being offered admission. Shaw fielded questions about admission decisions were made in such a competitive environment.

Shaw explained that the admissions office had adapted a new system under which each applicant's file is reviewed by several readers. “In the past, decisions were very individualized, with one person reading and passing competitive applications up the line all the way to the dean," he said, according to a report in the Stanford Daily. Under the revised system, 'territory managers' identify competitive applicants from the regions they cover and forward those files to other readers, who rate each applicant's strengths in several various areas. A committee then discusses the applicant pool and makes its recommendations for admission.

Shaw characterized the revised system as “a democracy...There is great opportunity for discussion of relevant qualifications, for checks and balances and for having more eyes on the process.”

The criteria that readers rate applicants on include high school academic performance, standardized test scores, non-academic achievements, and recommendations. Students are also judged on the basis of their self-presentation and evidence of having overcome or managed academic or personal difficulties.

Shaw said that readers also look for applicants with strong intellectual vitality. “We want applicants with passion, depth and breadth beyond the academic experience, who learn and engage in the subject material with maturity,” he told the meeting.

Source: "Faculty Flesh Out 2010 Admissions," by Leslie Georgatos - the Stanford Daily, April 21, 2006

Technorati tags: Stanford University, Stanford, college admissions

Wesleyan Selects Class of 2010

Wesleyan University is extending admissions offers to 1,950 applicants for seats in the Class of 2010, the Wesleyan Argus reports.

The University expects about 720 admits to accept their offers and matriculate this fall. Because this year's admit pool is larger than in past years, the University does not expect to offer admissions to many waitlisted applicants.

Wesleyan's 2006 applicant pool was about 5 per cent larger than the previous year's. Over 7,240 applications were received overall.

Early decision volume grew by 11 per cent, with 670 early applicants in 2005-2006, compared to about 600 in 2004-2005. The number of students accepted through Early Decision this year was about the same as last year, making for a lower ED acceptance rate.

Senior Associate Dean of Admission Gregory Pyke told the Wesleyan Argus that the University looks for applicants with "a high level of academic ability, looking for a real curiosity and a broad-based interest in learning…students who are going to study across the curriculum....We're looking for the diversity of background and experience that makes this the community it is."

Prospective students also cited Wesleyan's diversity as one of the factors that attracted them to the University. "I like the way that it's a small community and the way that people here get along and support each others' education, the accessibility to the professors and teachers, and getting the help that you need," a California admit said.

A New York admit said she liked "how [the campus] is really diverse. At most other colleges, it's 'cliqued' by ethnic groups, but here everyone just sits together."

Source: "Class of '10 Takes Shape," by Hilary Moss - the Wesleyan Argus, April 21, 2006

Technorati tags: Wesleyan University, Wesleyan, college admissions

Dartmouth Students Learn from In-House Editors

The founder and financial backer of Dartmouth's unusual Departmental Editing Program announced this week that he will continue funding the program for another year.

The program provides students taking math, art history, and religion classes with the services of three in-house editors who work closely with students on developing their writing skills. Joseph Asch, a Hanover-area businessman who graduated from Dartmouth in 1979, designed and launched the DEP in 1997 after hearing complaints from professors about weak undergraduate writing skills. Faculty and students have praised the DEP for its department-centered services, which they feel are superior to the more general writing support available through Dartmouth's Research, Writing, and Information Technology Center.

Asch, who has contributed $500,000 to the program since its inception, had planned to end the program at the close of the 2005-2006 academic year. He hopes that Dartmouth officials will see the value of the program and adopt it throughout the College.

A growing number of employers are citing poor writing and communication skills as one of their top complaints about new hires. We've written about this topic before, in "MBAs Can't Write, Employers Say."

Source: "Editing Program Extended for One Year," by Marina Agakapis - The Dartmouth, April 20, 2006

Technorati tags: Dartmouth, Ivy League

UNC, Duke, Other NC Schools Post Record Low Admit Rates

The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has turned away more potential students this year than ever before, the Charlotte Observer reports.

UNC's 2006 applicant pool was both unprecedentedly large and highly qualified. As a result, even students with 4.0 GPAs and high standardized test scores faced stiff competition for seats in the Class of 2010.

Applicants "are giving us more reasons to say yes, but the number of [class] spaces has not increased," Stephen Farmer, director of undergraduate admissions at UNC, told the Observer.

UNC's 2006 acceptance rate was 33 per cent, compared to 36 per cent last year. Five years ago it was 40 per cent.

The situation was similar at Duke University, which posted a record low admit rate of 19 per cent for 2006. Its 2005 rate was 22 per cent. Historically, Duke usually accepted about 30 per cent of applicants.

Source: "College Rejections Climbing," by Fred Kelly - the Charlotte Observer, April 16, 2006.

Technorati tags: University of North Carolina, UNC, Duke University, Duke, college admissions

Sarah Lawrence Says 'No Thanks' to Casual Applicants

One of the reasons that colleges are receiving more applications today than ever before is that on-line applications make it so easy for students to apply to multiple schools. Not all colleges welcome that trend.

A surge in applications poses a serious workload problem at small institutions. College staff put hundreds of hours into application review and admissions decisions. Admissions officers are happy to make that effort when they feel that applicants are sincerely interested in attending their school. It's quite a different matter, however, if they sense that an applicant has no serious interest in matriculation.

Thyra Briggs, the dean of enrollment at Sarah Lawrence College, recently told ABC News that she is not convinced everyone who applies to the College online is submitting "a real" application. To weed out frivolous applicants, Sarah Lawrence has decided to make the written part of its application harder. (See "College Applications on the Rise, and So Are Rejections," ABC News, April 6, 2006.)

It's newsworthy that Sarah Lawrence is publicly stating that it is asking for more work from applicants in order to discourage non-serious applications. It's not news, however, that admissions committees look to essays for evidence of how serious an applicant is about wanting to attend their school.

This is one reason why it's a mistake to think that a 'shotgun' strategy to college admissions is the way to cope with a more competitive admissions environment. No one is likely to write thoughtful, effective, focused application essays for 20 different schools. You're much better off selecting a manageable number of schools that you would be genuinely happy to attend and writing an essay tailored for each individual school. It's quality, not quantity, that will make the difference in winning admission to the schools that are right for you.

Technorati tags: college admissions, college applications, Sarah Lawrence College, college selection

U of Penn Prepares for Calls from Unsuccessful Applicants

The Daily Pennsylvanian reports that University of Pennsylvania admissions officers are bracing for a flood of appeals from waitlisted and rejected applicants.

Such communications are "a rite of passage of spring," Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson said.

Dean Stetson encourages waitlisted applicants to let his office know whether they are still interested in attending Penn, and to provide any updated information that is relevant to their case for admission.

Applicants who have been denied, however, have no chance of reversing that decision at this point in the admissions cycle. Penn also discourages requests for feedback on failed applications. According to Dean Stetson, "We have found over the years that it's better not to discuss specifics of why a student is not chosen, because it creates a point of tension where the student might argue with us."

Stetson expressed sympathy for the frustration that rejected applicants feel. "It's a reflection of how much they really want to come to Penn, " he said.

The University of Pennsylvania accepted just 17.7% of applicants for 2006.

Source: "Officials Brace for Year's Complaints," by Meagan Steiner - The Daily Pennsylvanian, April 10, 2006

Technorati tags: University of Pennsylvania, college admissions, waitlist

SAT-Optional Admissions Gain Ground - But How Much Do They Benefit Applicants?

Bennington College has just joined the ranks of selective schools that make standardized test scores an optional part of the application process. Bates, Bowdoin, Sarah Lawrence, Bard, and Hamilton are also among the four-year institutions that do not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores.

"More Schools Make SATs an Optional Part of Admissions"

From All Star Essays - April 6, 2006

A growing list of colleges and universities are making standardized tests an optional part of the admissions process. It's a welcome development.

The recent scandal over mis-graded SATs underlined the fact that standardized tests are as prone to imperfection as any other process is. But even before that mishap, it was clear for some time that people are placing far too much importance on the SAT. It's ridiculous to hear of high school students spending hundreds of dollars on SAT tutors and prep courses, or of students re-taking the SAT multiple times to get the 'right' score.

Colleges and universities that make standardized test scores an optional part of their admissions process give applicants a valuable option. If a student has a good SAT or ACT score, they're free to report it. But if their score does not fairly reflect their academic abilities -- or if they simply don't want to take the test -- they can leave that part of the application blank without being penalized for it.

USA Today recently reported that a growing number of schools are introducing SAT-optional admissions. A number of schools that have done so recently saw a jump in their 2006 application volume. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a good part of that increase comes from applicants who were attracted specifically by the SAT-optional policy. (A full list of schools that do not require standardized test scores from applicants can be found at www.fairtest.org.)

Students should think carefully, however, before deciding to limit their applications to SAT-optional schools. They might be shortchanging themselves, in several ways:

- Only a limited number of selective schools have SAT-optional policies. Most of the institutions that do not require standardized test scores for admission are either community colleges or highly specialized institutions. You'll be limiting yourself to a small number of potential schools if you are not willing to provide a SAT or ACT score.

- Even SAT-optional schools may want a test score for scholarships or class placement. Bowdoin College has had a SAT-optional admissions policy for 30 years – but it still asks incoming students to take the test before they matriculate, since the scores are used for counseling and class placement. More importantly, many schools use SAT or ACT scores in deciding which students to give academic scholarships to.

- You'll have to take a standardized test if you want to go to graduate or professional school – so you may as well familiarize yourself with the process by taking the SAT or ACT.

Another factor to keep in mind is that if you don't submit SAT or ACT scores with your college applications, you're giving the admissions committee one less piece of information about you. That will be an even greater concern if your high school no longer reports class rankings, as a growing number of schools no longer do. The less information you give an admissions committee, the better that information needs to be. Make sure that your recommendation letters give a persuasive picture of your intellectual abilities and scholastic achievements. And make sure that your essays give a persuasive picture of your personality and interests, and make clear why you are especially well suited to be a student at your targeted school.

NYU Posts 27.8% Admit Rate for '06

New York University accepted 9,767 of its 35,073 applicants for 2006 admission, according to an article in today's Washington Square News.

NYU's 2006 acceptance rate of 27.8 per cent marks a slight decline from its 2005 rate of 29.4 per cent.

Provost for Admissions and Financial Aid Barbara Hall told the WSN that NYU extended admissions offers to fewer students this year than it did last year, despite the record high volume of applications received. Last year, a higher percentage of admits accepted NYU admissions offers than had in the past, leading to an unusually large Class of 2009. The School is taking a more cautious approach to admissions this year to maintain level enrollment.

Hall also told the WSN that NYU admissions had introduced a new application review policy this year whereby applications from "particularly compelling" applicants receive a third reading before being cut. Hall noted that all applications get read twice, but that "it’s a third read that gives us one more consideration when we make the final decision" in certain cases.

Source: "NYU Admits Fewer Students for '06," by David Idol. The Washington Square News, April 6, 2006.

Harvard OKs Minors for Undergrads

Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences has approved an undergraduate curriculum revision that will allow future students to declare secondary fields for their degrees. Secondary fields are similar to the degree minors that many colleges and universities allow students to pursue.

Faculty who voted for the revision said that it would benefit students by allowing them to combine study of a "popular and pragmatic" field like economics with a concentration in a less easily marketed field. Faculty who opposed the change expressed concern about possible conflicts between secondary field and core requirements. They also worried that allowing minors might lead to over-enrollment in certain classes.

Freed Professor of Economics Caroline M. Hoxby was quoted by the Harvard Crimson as saying that her department is "glad to teach any student who wants to learn economics," but warned that department resources would be stretched thin if a large number of additional students signed up for economics classes. Economics is the most popular major at Harvard, with over 700 current students having declared it their concentration.

Source: "Faculty Approves Secondary Fields," by Evan H. Jacobs and Anton S. Troianovski. The Harvard Crimson, April 5, 2006.

The Crimson criticized the move to allow secondary fields in its April 6 edition:

...More likely then not, the secondary field option will unduly pressure students to make curricular choices that will ultimately leave them less satisfied. The game theory dynamic is unavoidable. Dog eats dog in the Harvard world, and graduating without this additional feather in one’s cap will be frowned upon soon enough. Once there is a secondary field option in place, and as a few students begin to opt into it, a large number of students will quickly feel compelled to do so as well....

The philosophy behind Harvard’s current educational system is one that emphasizes finding the right mix of breadth—general education—and depth—concentration requirements—to create a comprehensive and enriching academic experience. A departure from this philosophy represents Harvard at its worst: responding to short-term market forces and the expense of sound conviction. In addition to breadth and depth, students will now unavoidably be pursuing credentials—credentials for things that are irrelevant to a worthwhile academic experience....

From "Second-Guessing Secondary Fields," The Crimson Staff (editorial), The Harvard Crimson, April 6, 2006

Ivy League Schools Post Record Low Acceptance Rates for '06

"Ivy League Applicant Pools Go Up – And Acceptance Rates Go Down"

from All Star Essays - April 4, 2006

As the saying goes, 'What goes up, must come down.'

When what goes up is the number of applications to a particular school, what comes down has to be the school's acceptance rate. That's because the number of incoming freshmen that most schools can accommodate stays flat even when their applicant pool grows.

This is exactly what happened with 2006 Ivy League admissions.

All eight of the Ivy League schools have released their 2006 admission numbers. With the exception of Harvard, all of them noted significant increases in their applicant pools and significant decreases in their acceptance rates.

Click here to see a table of '06 admission statistics for Ivy League schools.

Harvard, Yale, Other Ivies Release '06 Admit Info

Several Ivy League schools have released their admissions statistics for the 2005-2006 application season.

Harvard accepted 2,109 applicants from a pool of 22,753. This 9.3 per cent acceptance rate is actually slightly higher than last year's rate of 9.2 per cent. For the second time in the school's history, women outnumber men in the admitted class, making for 51.8 per cent of admits. 9.8 per cent of Class of 2010 admits are Hispanic; 10.5 per cent are African-American; and 17.7 per cent are Asian. Approximately 22.8 per cent of admits are believed to qualify for the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which significantly lowers the tuition contribution expected from middle-income parents.

Yale's acceptance rate dropped to 8.6 per cent, setting an all-time low both for the University and for the Ivy League. Only 1,823 out of 21,099 applicants were admitted, with about another 700 being waitisted. The acceptance rate for early applicants was 17.7 per cent, and that for regular applicants, 5.8 per cent.

The University of Pennsylvania's '06 acceptance rate is just under 17.7 per cent, with admissions offers going to 3,622 out of 20,479 applicants. The University had previously announced that it would extend admissions offers cautiously this spring and make more use of the waitlist to control the size of its incoming freshman class, due to housing and other problems that arose from an unexpectedly high yield rate for last year's admissions.

Dartmouth accepted 15.4 per cent of its '06 applicant pool. 2,150 out of 13,937 applicants are receiving admissions offers.

Columbia is said to have extended admissions offers to 1,653 applicants, out of a pool of 17,148.

Last month, Cornell officials said that approximatley 21 per cent of the University's '06 applicants would receive admissions offers.

(Added April 4:)

Brown announced that it has accepted 2,525 of its 18,313 applicants for the Class of 2010. This 13.8 per cent acceptance rate is the lowest one in Brown's history and reflects the unusually large size of the 2005-2006 applicant pool.