Admissions Blog

Are college campuses prepared for COVID-19?

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Admissions.Blog

With each passing day more cases of COVID-19 are reported around the world. Meanwhile, every year college dorms across the United States become breeding grounds for viral and bacterial illnesses. Therefore, it would make sense for colleges from coast to coast to step up what is hopefully already a solid game plan should the worst happen – COVID-19 breaking out on campus.

Yet, at least publicly, there is not much proof that emergency plans are being dusted off and updated in anticipation for COVID-19. While many colleges in the U.S. are keeping mum about how they will react should COVID-19 break out on their campuses, at least one university to the north has put out a statement urging calm. Simon Fraser University in Canada released a notice stating that it “is actively reviewing its infectious disease protocols, pandemic plan and meeting with key stakeholders to ensure our three campuses are prepared and able to respond if needed.”

As recently as earlier this month, many colleges seemed just as concerned about xenophobia stemming from the Asian origins of the illness as they were about protecting the physical well-being of their current residential students.

In Maryland, enrollment professionals and those tasked with thinking about a college’s finances are worried about what COVID-19 may mean for enrollment of international students, many of whom are from China. Luckily, there are also members of the University System of Maryland who are at least thinking about how to react should COVID-19 present on one of its campuses; yet, the actual plan for such a dangerous virus – one that can take weeks for symptoms to appear and even more weeks for patients to succumb to death – are vague in Maryland and beyond.

Not only do American colleges and universities have to plan for protecting their domestic campuses, in many cases they also need to plan for evacuating and/or triaging their employees or students working or studying in remote domestic or international locales. This is a logistical challenge in normal times; in times of a real emergency, such as a pandemic, which has not occurred in the modern age, are colleges and universities up to the task of protecting their own? Or are they waiting on guidance from state governments or the federal government?

What’s certain is that currently most college students’ only knowledge of COVID-19 has come via Facebook’s random advisory showing up on students’ Facebook feeds (see below).

Students shouldn’t have to get their COVID-19 information from Facebook. Colleges needs to get ahead of matters – and quickly. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warning that community spread within the United States could come at any time, all American colleges and universities need to make their emergency plans public now so that all stakeholders are ready to appropriately respond should the virus take root in the U.S.

Caltech cuts SAT Subject Test, alters official ACT/SAT submission requirements

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Admissions.Blog

Caltech’s Undergraduate Admissions office, with the support of the Faculty Committee on Freshman Admissions, has revealed that it’s eliminating the university’s long-standing requirement for submission of SAT Subject Test scores as part of the undergraduate admissions process. This change takes effect for students applying for the Caltech starting in Fall 2020.

Caltech has long required students to take and submit scores from the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 along with at one science themed SAT Subject Test (in either ecological biology, molecular biology, chemistry, or physics).

“In reviewing our admissions requirements, we have come to the conclusion that the requirement for submission of SAT subject test scores creates an unnecessary barrier to applying for a Caltech education,” announced Nikki Chun, director of undergraduate admissions, noting that only a small percentage of high school students take the SAT subject tests. “We are guiding our focus back to long-term academic STEM preparedness based on coursework and grade performance.”

Of course, SAT Subject Tests do assess students’ depth of knowledge in advanced high school sciences.

Chun added that the Caltech admissions process has always focused, and will continue to focus, on seeking students who will approach the Institute’s core curriculum with as much enthusiasm and interest as they do classes in their specific major.

“This move will definitely widen the door for talented candidates we may not have been able to reach in the past who deserve our consideration.” said Jarrid Whitney, Caltech’s assistant vice president for student affairs, enrollment and career services.

In related news, Caltech will continue to require submission of SAT or ACT scores for first-year admission; however, applicants will not be asked to pay ACT, Inc. or College Board for the submission of ACT or SAT results “until and unless they are accepted and decide to matriculate at Caltech, Whitney adds.” Thus, Caltech will now accept self-reported scores during the admissions process.

30 Minutes of Personalized Admissions Advice are Just a Click Away

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

Get the expertise you want – in a flash!

Students and parents – no matter their background or starting level of familiarity with the world of American higher education – deserve personalized college guidance as they navigate the increasingly Byzantine transition from high school to what comes next.

Starting in 2020, when students and parents have post-secondary- and college admissions-related questions, CollegeMeister Craig Meister has expert answers – almost instantaneously.

For the first time ever, Craig Meister, who, over the past fifteen years has become one of the world’s most trusted sources of expert and unfiltered undergraduate admissions guidance, is offering families the chance to purchase just 30 minutes of personalized college admissions coaching at a time, which lowers the price point for his personalized college admissions coaching and brings it within reach of more families than ever before.

“The fact is, the retail price of higher education in the United States today is completely obscene. Yet, knowledge is power – and I want to empower more students with the knowledge that they need to find and get into right-fit return-on-investment-friendly colleges and universities.” announced Meister.

As the price of a college education has risen, so have the hourly rates of the world’s top college admissions consultants – when such consultants offer an hourly rate at all.

“Unfortunately, many college admissions consultants don’t even work with families unless they can pay up front for a comprehensive consulting package running into the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. While, unlike most consultants, I always offered price transparency and hourly pricing on my website, my smallest service offering was one hour…” continued Meister. “By offering 30-minute CollegeMeister on Call coaching sessions, a greater swath of socioeconomically diverse families will for the first time have access to personalized college admissions coaching that they can depend on.”

Investing in expert personalized college admissions coaching when a student is in high school gives a family the information that it needs when it needs it in order set up their student to transition into a post-secondary environment that is as attractive for its educational efficacy as it is for its likelihood to be deemed a financial and experiential asset for the duration of the student’s life.

“Students who are willing – and able – to collaborate with an admissions expert early and often during their high school careers are more likely to find themselves in a right-fit return-on-investment-friendly college or university, and CollegeMeister on Call 30-minute coaching sessions will enable more students to achieve just that!” added Meister.

With 30 minutes of Craig’s undivided attention, students and parents are encouraged to ask him any college admissions questions that are on their minds. Craig’s concise, direct, and expert answers to students’ and parents’ questions will allow families to immediately make the right moves regarding academics, testing, extracurricular activities, and/or college applications in order to meet with future college admissions success.

After engaging with Craig Meister for 30 minutes, families have flexibility regarding when or if to reengage with CollegeMeister for the duration of a student’s college admissions process; there is no commitment to continue working with Craig Meister after a family’s first CollegeMeister on Call session. Even so, in the past, ninety-six percent of first-time clients have continued to work with Craig for the duration of a student’s college admissions process – and that was before ongoing 30-minute sessions were offered (previously, the majority of those families that did not continue working with Craig cited cost as the only reason they were unable to continue).

“I’m at a stage in my career where I rather help a greater diversity of students in a targeted manner than help several dozen students annually with everything. I believe in access for all; in 2020, both with new free YouTube content and 30-minute CollegeMeister on Call sessions, I’ll be able to help more students than ever before. That’s my new year’s resolution.” concluded Meister.

What are you waiting for? In 2020 get the expert college admissions advice that you need when you need it. Connect with CollegeMeister on Call today!

College Counseling: The Year in Review

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Patrick O'Connor

There are many years in the college counseling world that come and go without a lot of fanfare, but this certainly wasn’t one of them. Thanks to America’s ever-growing fascination with the college application process, counseling received more than its share of the limelight in 2019. Here are the highlights:

The Scandal Known as Varsity Blues Leave it to a small group of parents with way more dollars than sense, and a con man feigning to be an independent college counselor, to create even more angst over selective college selection than ever before. Since this story involved Hollywood, money, and some of the three schools the New York Times considers representative of the world of college admissions, way too much time and energy was devoted to understanding what this kerfuffle meant to college admissions as a whole. The average high school senior takes the SAT once and goes to college within 150 miles of home. Varsity Blues meant nothing to them. The same should have been true for the rest of us; instead, this issue is now running neck and neck with Popeye’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich for the year’s Story That Wasn’t Award.

Change to NACAC Ethics Code It made fewer headlines, but the Justice Department’s investigation into NACAC’s Code of Ethics could prove to have far more implications to the college plans of seniors than Varsity Blues could hope to. With colleges now allowed to offer incentives for students to apply early, and with colleges able to continue to pursue students who have committed to another college, the May 1 deposit date is still in effect, but may prove to have significantly less effect.

College Testing and the University of California The value of the SAT and ACT popped up in the headlines all year, as even more colleges decided test scores no longer had to be part of their application process. At year’s end, the test optional movement got a big media splash, as the University of California announced it was reviewing its testing policy. Combined with a lawsuit filed against the UCs claiming the tests are discriminatory, it’s clear that business as usual in the college application process is on its way out. Will more changes ensue?

The Harvard Case and Race Affirmative action advocates celebrated a legal victory this fall when a court ruled Harvard’s admissions procedures do, and may, use race as a factor in reviewing college applications. The case drew national attention in part because it was initiated by a group claiming Harvard didn’t admit enough students of Asian descent. It’s likely to stay in the headlines when the decision is ultimately appealed to the US Supreme Court, a group that, as it currently stands, has been known to be highly skeptical of race-based programs—meaning this year’s lower court victory could be pyrrhic at best.

Improved Research on College Counseling Academic research has never gotten its due in the world of school counseling, and that’s certainly true in the more specific field of college counseling. That trend may be changing, as a report from Harvard lays the groundwork for a more data-based approach to measure the difference counselors make in their work. The findings include an indication that counselors tend to be more effective in college counseling if the counselor was raised in the same area where they work, and, as a rule, are more helpful providing information to the student about the college the counselor attended. The report suggests this may be due to undertraining in college admissions as part of counselor education programs– to which most of the counseling world replied, no kidding. Look for more to come here.

Billions More for More Counselors, But Who Cares It’s hard to remember the need for more counselors was one of the favorite topics of the media just two years ago. A sign of American’s true indifference—or short attention span—rests with a congressional bill that provides up to $5 billion for new school counselor positions, a bill that is currently languishing in committee. Is this bill a victim of an absence of school shootings, impeachment, or both? Given what it can do, is there really any reason this bill can’t be a focus of action in 2020? That’s really up to us.

Will Ivy League admissions deans blame the Russians next?

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

With Ivy League early decision and early action statistics for Fall 2019 slowly but surely coming into focus, a trend is becoming clear: overall demand for venerable “elite” colleges and universities is on the wane, and in the process, “elite” American colleges are becoming ever so slightly less selective than they very recently were.

In addition to Penn, which earlier this fall revealed that it experienced a plunge in Early Decision applications, Harvard is reporting a higher acceptance rate for this year’s early application cycle than last year’s early application cycle. Harvard’s Restrictive Early Action acceptance rate ticked up to 13.9% this fall after clocking in at 13.4 percent last year. Overall, Harvard saw a nearly eight percent drop in REA applications compared to last year. The aforementioned Penn saw its ED acceptance rate rise over one percentage point to 19.7%. Yale got roughly four percent fewer early applications this fall (which resulted in a slightly higher early acceptance rate) and Dartmouth received a whopping sixteen percent fewer ED applications this fall compared to last year (and this was after many years of year-on-year increases in apps).

Princeton is suddenly shy about reporting its Single-Choice Early Action acceptance rate (and even the total number of early applicants); though basic online research shows that Princeton accepted 791 students this fall compared to 743 last fall – at minimum an increase in raw numbers of accepted students if not an increase in acceptance rate (TBD). Yet, it’s always wise to watch what these colleges do report in their press releases versus what they don’t. The omissions tell the tale. Columbia still hasn’t reported out any stats for this year’s admissions cycle. Outside of the Ivy League, other colleges with traditionally Ivy-level acceptance rates are also uncharacteristically demure and uncommunicative this December on the topic of their ED and EA application numbers and acceptance rates.

Meanwhile, Cornell’s Early Decision acceptance rate rose to 23.8 this year from 22.6 last year and was one of two Ivies that received more ED applications this year than last year. The biggest outlier so far this cycle, Brown University, which has always had a looser association with academic quality and accepting students based on academic merit (as opposed to immutable characteristics) compared to other Ivies, saw its ED acceptance rate fall to a new low while also receiving eight percent more ED apps this year compared to last year. Did Brown applicants not experience the California wildfires?! LOL…not at the wildfires; at that ridiculous line of reasoning. Will Ivy League admissions deans contrive to blame Russian interference next?

While it has clearly become de rigueur in “smart” circles to blame Fall 2019’s drop in early application numbers on California wildfires or changing high school demographics, more likely explanations exist by exploring the pervasive ridiculousness of the current college admissions process at America’s most selective institutions and the increasing skepticism many have about the value of what passes for higher education these days relative to the costs. According to Gallup, 51% of U.S. adults now consider a college education to be “very important,” down from 70% in 2013. Don’t expect Ivy League admissions deans to meaningfully engage in conversation on this topic.

It certainly doesn’t bode well for demand for American higher education generally when even a college like Harvard, which doesn’t depend on the vile racket that is the student loan-debt slavery industry, can’t squeeze out a lower acceptance rate year on year. Marketing can only take these hedge funds that dabble in play school (and major in network-building) so far. Demand is simply dropping and demand is likely to continue to fall until these schools tap new markets by changing admissions requirements (lowering them) by some chicanery like removing their SAT-ACT requirements or eventually just turning the whole thing into a literal lottery through which students only have to submit their names, addresses, and demographics in order to have a shot at admission. How far these selective schools will go in their race to the bottom regarding objective student academic/intellectual qualifications remains to be seen.

Alternatively, “selective” colleges could reform their education or pricing models; yet, you can bet that these institutions will tinker or outright disassemble their current admissions models before they touch the holy grail of actual education reform within their walls in order to make their value propositions to students/families more attractive. Though, pricing reform is certainly doable for the richest of these institutions (the Harvards and Yales of the world could offer free tuition for all undergraduates to drive up demand – for at least a few admissions cycles).

All in all, some sort of major reform or change will come from the drop in demand for an Ivy education. What this reform or change will look like remains to be seen. One thing is certain: those who run the Ivies like to be in control…of at least the narrative; therefore, whatever changes are made will be undertaken in an effort to spin the public on these institutions’ continued relevance and trend-setting reputations in polite society. Stay tuned.

Use Winter Break to Make the Most of Summer Break

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Craig Meister

Take time in December to apply to the most coveted summer academic programs, internships, jobs, or community service activities if you want to have the best shot at getting them.

Columbia unveils NYC-Tel Aviv dual degree program

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Craig Meister

Columbia University has announced a new Dual Degree Program between Tel Aviv University and Columbia University, which will complement Columbia’s ongoing successful Dual BA Programs with Sciences Po in France, now in its ninth year, and with Trinity College Dublin, now in its second year.

Students enrolled in the Dual Degree Program between Tel Aviv University and Columbia University will begin their college educations in one of six academic tracks in Israel, where they undertake the intensive undergraduate curriculum at TAU, one of Israel’s most distinguished institutions of higher education. After two years in Tel Aviv, students matriculate at Columbia, where they will complete the requirements for a major and fulfill the Columbia Core Curriculum. Upon completion of the Program, students will graduate with two bachelor’s degrees: one from Tel Aviv University and another Columbia University.

Students may apply using an online application by February 3, 2020, for fall 2020 enrollment. For admissions requirements please visit the Program website. Students interested in starting the program in Fall 2020 should apply using an online application by February 3, 2020. For admissions requirements please visit the Program website.

How to Recover from Early Decision or Early Action Rejection

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Craig Meister

Depending on when you are reading this, you may be just days away from learning whether or not you have earned early action or early decision admission to your top choice college or university. Or you may have just gotten the news you dreaded most.

If you get in, celebrate and congratulate yourself (and all those who have supported you) for such a terrific achievement.

If you don’t get in, don’t flip out! It is human nature to become quite sad when one does not get what one wants. We all handle disappointment differently, so some of you who are rejected may scream, cry, or stay in bed all day, while others may simply go for a run, workout at the gym, or eat a lot of ice cream.

While you can react in any of the above ways in the moments and hours immediately following bad news, I suggest that you reengage with the college admissions process quickly in order to increase your chances of getting acceptance letters from colleges that you have applied to (or will apply to) regular decision.

Make sure to finish up your applications strong before your regular decision college application deadlines. Make sure to request on that your transcripts be sent to regular decision colleges if you have not already done so. And make sure to have CollegeBoard and/or ACT, Inc. send your test scores promptly to all colleges still pending on your list.

Watch below for some more tips on how to recover from ED/EA rejection.