CommonApp Essay Questions for 2006-2007

Applicants who want to get an early start on applications to schools that accept the Common Application can go ahead and start working on their essays now. The 2007 Common Application will not be available until early July, but the Common App confirms that it will use the same essay prompts this year that it used last year.

The essay prompts are:

• Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
• Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
• Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
• Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
• A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
• Topic of your choice.

For more information, see the "Common Questions" page on the Common Application website (www.commonapp.org).

High Yield Forces SIU Campus to Cap Fall '06 Enrollment

We've posted a number of items lately about universities experiencing higher-than-expected applicant yield this year. Here's an unusual twist on that story:

Southern Illinois University's Edwardsville campus has enrolled so many more freshmen than it expected to this fall that school officials decided to cap fall enrollment. Admits who did not inform the school of their intent to enroll by the cut-off date are being told that there is no more room at the University this fall.

So far, about 50 students have been affected by the cap. They may be able to begin classes at SIUE in the spring.

SIUE received 6,041 applications in 2005-2006. It extended admissions offers to 4,369, expecting enough admits to enroll to fill a normal freshman class. Instead, it saw a 5 per cent increase in yield and the prospect of the school running out of class and dorm space. University officials decided to cap fall enrollment at 1,850.

We've noticed that many of the schools reporting exceptionally large increases in yield this year are large public universities. This may reflect increasing concern among applicants and parents about college costs.

Source: "For Colleges, Enrollment is Something of a Gamble," by Kavita Kumar - the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 18, 2006

Employers Woo Top College Grads

2006 college graduates are headed for the best job market that newly-minted degree holders have seen in years.

The current issue of Forbes reports on the array of tempting first job choices being offered to this year's graduates -- and on what options are proving popular.

Wall Street firms like JPMorgan Chase, Golman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley are offering as much as $60,000 in salary plus bonuses to secure the services of elite college graduates as analysts and traders. A career services officer at Duke said that hedge funds were also hiring grads and interns to fill their ranks.

Google and Microsoft are actively recruiting college graduates to work on software development and product management. Google has been the top employer of Stanford grads for the past few years. Microsoft, according to one of its recruiters, targets top schools when looking for talent -- which is definitely the case now: the company is looking to hire about 1,000 grads per year.

A University of Pennsylvania career services officer noted, however, that Teach for America is one of the top first job choices among graduates there. She said that the program's reputation as a place where 'top people' come to serve was a major draw among students.

Similarly, the director of Stanford's Career Development Center told Forbes that some students were passing up on corporate and government positions in favor of internships at the World Bank. The interns' low pay is offset by their exceptional opportunities to network, he said, adding that the internships are especially attractive for students who have their sights set on graduate school.

Internships are increasingly useful as a means of entry to corporate employment as well. Goldman Sachs extends employment offers to over 70% of its interns, and IBM hires about half of the 60 undergrads accepted into its highly selective Extreme Blue internships each year.

Source: "Best First Jobs for College Graduates," by Tom Van Riper - Forbes, June 13, 2006

Purdue Prepares for Biggest Freshman Class Ever

Purdue University is getting its campus ready for the largest incoming freshman class in the school's history.

Approximately 7,715 first-year students are expected to enroll this fall. Dean of Admissions Doug Christiansen told the campus paper that the Class of 2010 "will be one of the largest, best prepared, and most diverse classes we have had in Purdue's history."

Purdue was able to increase the size of this year's freshman class because more upperclassmen are graduating early.

Purdue received over 25,000 applications for fall 2006 admission. Christiansen said that Purdue's rising profile and its graduates' success in the job market were major reasons for applicants' growing interest in the University.

Source: "Campus Preps for Large Class," by Joey Marburger - the Exponent, June 2006

4 of 10 UCLA '06 Applicants Had 4.0 GPA

Approximately 21,000 of 47,258 students who applied to the University of California at Los Angeles for freshman admission in fall 2006 had a 4.0 or higher grade point average, the campus newspaper reports.

Fall 2006 application volume hit a record high for UCLA, which receives more applications than almost any other university in the country. Application volume has been increasing for years, leading UCLA's acceptance rate to drop from about 33 per cent in 1998 to about 25 per cent today. Undergraduate admissions director Vu Tran told the Daily Bruin that selectivity may have to increase further if the applicant pool continues to grow.

Faculty are seeing the impact of more competitive admissions in their classes. An English professor said that she used to routinely give some first-year students Fs on their papers, but that she seldom has to do that anymore because students are better-prepared for college-level work.

Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, dean of the UCLA graduate division, said that greater competition among UCLA undergrads had led to a difference in the motives for cheating. "The students caught [recently] weren't D students just trying to pass a class; they were B students trying to get an A," she said.

Source: "High GPAs No Longer the Key to Success," by Alexa Vaughn - the Daily Bruin, June 12, 2006

"Summer Shoppers" Keep Grinnell Admissions Officers Guessing

The Des Moines Register reports that freshman enrollment is higher at Iowa's colleges and universities this year than it was a year ago, but that admissions officers are unsure of what those figures really mean. It appears that an unknown number of admits sent deposits to multiple institutions, implying that 'real' enrollment figures will not be known until later this summer.

An Iowa State University admissions officer told the Register that campus visits and registrations for summer orientation were up this May. He didn't take that as evidence that everyone who visited campus or registered for orientation was committed to attending ISU, however. He believes that some students are using the orientation session as part of their school 'summer shopping' process.

Jim Sumner, dean of admission and financial aid at Grinnell College, said it was clear that some of Grinnell's incoming freshmen had accepted admissions offers from other institutions as well.

Students gave the Register various reasons for sending deposits to more than one school. Some said they wanted to get a better feel for the communities that schools are located in before making a final choice. Others were hoping to use multiple acceptances as a way to leverage more financial aid from schools.

College and university officials expressed frustration at their inability to nail down a firm fall enrollment figure. Uncertain enrollment figures leave schools guessing how many residential hall places and class seats they will need for the fall.

In the end, however, it's students who suffer if enough admits use double depositing to leave their options open. "The more students are undecided, the harder it is for any university or college to make sure we have appropriate classes and courses," Iowa State University Director of Admissions Marc Harding told the Register. Other admissions officers have pointed out that double-depositing is unfair to waitlisted students who might have been offered class seats held by students who were juggling multiple admission offers.

Source: Shopping Around for Schools," by Lisa Rossi - the Des Moines Register, June 8, 2006.

For more on double depositing, look for out May 16 post in last month's archive.

Hobart and William Smith Make SAT Optional for Applicants

Hobart and William Smith Colleges announced yesterday that they were adopting a SAT-optional application policy, becoming the most recent of several prominent liberal arts colleges that have done so.

Applicants may submit standardized test scores as part of a Hobard or William Smith application if they choose to, but the Colleges will no longer require scores. Admissions committees will instead base decisions on high school transcripts and other records that demonstrate an applicant's abilities and growth over a period of months and years.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are separate but coordinating colleges in Geneva, New York. Each school (Hobart for men and William Smith for women) has its own dean and its own admissions office, but the schools jointly operate co-ed living and campus facilities and classes. Students and alumni express enthusiasm for the schools' small class sizes, interdisciplinary curriculum, beautiful lakeside campus, and family atmosphere.

Applications to Hobart and William Smith have increased by 35 per cent over the past eight years. In the past three years, Hobart and William Smith has graduated students who went on to receive Fulbright Scholarships, a Goldwater Award, a Rhodes Fellowship, and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

Source: "Colleges Adopt SAT Optional Policy" - press release, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva, NY), June 6, 2006

NACAC Database of Schools w/Spaces Available

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has posted a publicly accessible database to its website of colleges and universities that are still accepting applications for fall 2006 admissions.

The database lists schools by state and indicates whether they have freshman and/or transfer spaces open. It also indicates whether campus housing and financial aid might be available.

To access the database, go to the NACAC website (www.nacacnet.org) and click on the link for "2006 Space Availability Results."

Creighton Students Get Decisions by Text Message

Creighton University appears to be the first U.S. institution of higher education to use text messaging to inform applicants of admissions decisions.

Director of Admissions Mary Chase told a student reporter that Creighton added a question to this year's application form asking students whether they would like a text message sent to them if they were accepted. A number of applicants welcomed that option.

Chase said that she and her staff decided to try text notifications after noticing how Creighton students used text messages to communicate with one another on campus.

Only positive admissions decisions were communicated to students by text. Formal notification of all admissions decisions was made by letter and email.

Chase was pleased with the outcome of this year's experiment, noting that many applicants appreciated receiving expedited information about their acceptance. She thinks it best to continue the program on an opt-in basis only, however, since some services charge users a fee to receive text messages.

Source: "College Tries Texting Letters of Admission," by Lexie Clinton - the Daily Cardinal, June 1, 2006