College admissions in the United States

College admissions in the United States refers to the process of applying for entrance to institutions of higher education for undergraduate study at one of the nation's 2,675 schools. Generally, the college search begins in the student's junior year of high school with most activity taking place during the senior year, although students at top high schools often begin the process during their sophomore year or earlier. In addition, there are considerable numbers of students who transfer from one college to another, as well as adults older than high school age who apply to college.

Overview

Millions of high school students apply to college each year. While the number of graduates from high school peaked temporarily at 3.3 million in 2008, then to 3.4 million in 2014, numbers have been forecast to decline through 2015 and then rebound thereafter. Still, the number of students enrolled in college is expected to increase through 2020 when there will be approximately 23 million students in college. About a quarter of high school seniors apply to seven or more schools, paying an average of $40 per application. Fewer than half of all students entering college graduate in four years and slightly over half graduate from college during their lifetimes.

The application process takes considerable time and planning since it involves multiple steps, with choices to be made and deadlines to be met. Students file separate applications to each school, although the Common Application expedites the process in many instances. Most undergraduate institutions admit students to the entire college and not to a particular department or major, unlike many European universities and American graduate schools, although some undergraduate programs such as architecture or engineering may require a separate application at some universities. As a general rule, applying to two-year county and community colleges is much easier than to a four-year school, often requiring only a high school transcript or minimum test score.

New developments in college admissions include increased numbers of applications, increased interest by students in foreign countries such as Britain in applying to American universities, more students applying by an early method, applications submitted by Internet-based methods including the Common Application, increased use of consultants, guidebooks, and rankings, and increased use by colleges of waitlists. One estimate was that 80 percent of applications were submitted online in 2009.

Participants

High school art students in Minnesota.

Students

Applying to colleges can be stressful. The outcome of the admission process may affect a student's future career trajectory considerably. Entrance into top colleges is increasingly competitive, and many students feel pressure during their high school years.

Private and affluent public primary education, test-prep courses, 'enrichment' programmes, volunteer service projects, international travel, music lessons, sports activities - all the high-cost building blocks of the perfect college application - put crushing pressure on the upper middle class and their offspring.

— Yale professor William Deresiewicz, quoted in the BBC about his article in The New Republic, 2014

Parents

The college applications process can be stressful for parents of teenagers, according to journalist Andrew Ferguson, since it exposes "our vanities, our social ambitions and class insecurities, and most profoundly our love and hopes for our children."

High school counselors

High school advisors can help parents understand aspects of the college admissions process.

Some high schools have one or more teachers experienced in offering counseling to college-bound juniors and seniors. They usually work in conjunction with the guidance department who assist students in planning their high school academic path. Counselors handle many students and schools and generally do not have a role of overseeing or managing a student's college applications. Advisors recommend that students get to know their school counselor. Counselors do not complete interviews, write essays, or arrange college visits. Parents often meet with the school counselor during the junior year. Most counselors have responsibility for helping many students and, as a result, it is difficult for them to provide individual help to a particular student; one estimate was that the average ratio for all high schools of counselors to students was 460 to 1. Only about a quarter of public high schools have a counselor devoted to college counseling issues full-time, while almost three quarters of private schools have a dedicated college counselor. A report suggested that private school counselors have substantially more contact with university admissions people than public school counselors.

Consultants

Fee-based consultants, some available entirely online, can be hired to help a student gain admission to the so-called right schools, although there are some free programs to help underprivileged youth learn how to fill out applications, write essays, get ready for tests, and work on interviews. Consultants can help a student select schools to apply to, counsel them on test taking strategies, review scores, help with essay preparation (but not writing), review applications, conduct mock interviews, provide logistical planning, and collaborate with others such as athletic coaches. Consultants try to keep a low profile; however, one admissions dean explained that she can "sniff out when there has been some adult involved in the process." Assistance by consultants or other adults can go to extremes, particularly with hard-to-check variables such as the college essays; according to one view, plagiarism on admissions essays has been a "serious problem," particularly on applications to private universities and colleges. There is the possibility that hiring a professional admissions consultant can make an application appear artificial; for example, admissions personnel may suspect adult coaching when one part of an application is polished, while other parts aren't, such as varying quality regarding writing samples. Another risk in hiring a consultant, which can happen if parents become too involved in the process, is what Mamlet and VanDeVelde term overpackaging: the applicant appears so smooth and perfect that admissions officers suspect the person is not real but a marketing creation. Generally, when hiring a college admissions counselor, parents and students try to understand the counselor's philosophy, learn what services are provided, and whether any help will be offered regarding advice about financial aid or scholarships. Mamlet and VanDeVelde suggest that it is improper for an admissions counselor to tamper with a student's "authentic self." According to their view, ideal counselors have experience with college admissions, meet regularly with college admissions officers, visit campuses regularly, and belong to professional affiliations.

College admissions staff

Elite and other universities send admissions officers to high schools and college fairs to encourage high school students to apply. While the chance of admission to highly selective colleges is typically under 10%, increased numbers of applications helps maintain and improve colleges' rankings.

A typical admission staff at a college includes a dean or vice president for admission or enrollment management, middle-level managers or assistant directors, admission officers, and administrative support staff. The chief enrollment management officer is sometimes the highest-paid position in the department, earning $121,000 on average in 2010, while admissions officers average only $35,000, according to one estimate. Admissions officers tend to be in the 30-to-40 age demographic. They are chosen for their experience in admissions, aptitude for statistics and data analysis, experience in administration and marketing and public relations. They serve dual roles as counselors and recruiters, and do not see themselves as marketers or salespeople, according to one view. They are evaluated on how well they "represent their college, manage their office, recruit staff members, and work with other administrators." Michele Hernandez suggested there were basically two types of officers: a first group of personable, sharp, people-oriented go-getter types who were often recent college grads; a second group was somewhat out-of-touch "lifers" who often did not graduate from a highly selective college. Officers are generally paid an annual salary, although there have been reports of some recruiters paid on the basis of how many students they bring to a college, such as recruiters working abroad to recruit foreign students to U.S. universities.

Many colleges and universities work hard to market themselves, trying to attract the best students and maintain a reputation for academic quality. Colleges spent an average of $585 to recruit each applicant during the 2010 year. There are efforts to make increased use of social media sites such as Facebook to promote their colleges. Marketing brochures and other promotional mailings often arrive daily in the hope of persuading high school students to apply to a college. According to Joanne Levy-Prewitt, colleges send "view books" not because they intend to admit them, but "because they want multitudes of students to apply" to improve the college's selectivity ranking and to make sure that they have as many well-qualified applicants as possible from whom to choose the strongest class. Colleges get access to names and addresses after students give permission to them after taking the PSAT or SAT exams.

Information sources

US News compiles a directory of colleges and universities and has made a ranking of them, although the rankings are controversial, some colleges refuse to cooperate, and high school guidance counselors sometimes have major problems with the rankings. Other sources rank colleges according to various measures, sell guidebooks, and use their rankings as an entry into college admissions consulting services. College Board launched a website called BigFuture in 2012 with tools to help the admissions process. There are services to help expedite the college admissions process, including a web-based service that sells copies of applications that gained the applicant admission to Ivy League colleges.

Test preparation firms

Companies such as the College Board have offered services to help students prepare for their tests and provide other services, usually web-based, to help students compare schools. Some firms work with schools to provide test preparation advisors who teach students how to take the SAT and ACT entrance exams.

Planning

Timing

Timeline

Freshman/sophomore years

Grades count towards GPA

Good study habits

Course selection

Read, read, read

Extracurricular activities

Junior year

Fall: PSAT test

Meet guidance counselor

Build lists of colleges

Begin meeting college reps

College fairs

Research, visit schools

Tests: SAT/ACT, Subject SATs, APs

Summer: write essays

Senior year

Know admissions deadlines

Teacher recommendations

Apply to schools

Ask high school to send transcripts

Winter: FAFSA/CSS forms

Check if colleges received materials

April: acceptances and rejections

Revisit accepting schools

May: deposit is due

The admissions process usually begins during a student's junior year when a student meets with a guidance counselor, selects some colleges, and perhaps visits a few campuses. The summer before senior year is a time when many students finalize application plans and perhaps begin writing essays. Further, they decide whether to apply by early or regular decision. International students may need to take tests showing English-language proficiency such as the TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE Academic. Senior year is when applications are submitted. The CSS can be submitted by October first of the student's senior year, while the FAFSA becomes available on the web after January first.

Selection of colleges

Rankings

Main article: Rankings of universities in the United States

The US News ranking has generated much controversy; this map shows locations of its assessment of the top 40 universities in the US in 2007, with many located in the Northeast.

There are several college and university rankings guides published, and they include the U.S. News and World Report, Business Insider, Money Magazine, The Washington Monthly's "College Rankings" issue, and Forbes "America's Top Colleges" ranking, as well as a variety of other groups and organizations that publish rankings based on different factors and using different methodology. For a more comprehensive and detailed look at U.S. university rankings, with top-ranked schools identified, see Rankings of universities in the United States.

Rankings have been the subject of much criticism. Since much of the data is provided by colleges themselves, there are opportunities for schools to manipulate the rankings to enhance prestige. There have been instances in which school officials deliberately misreported statistics, such as an admissions dean at Claremont McKenna who falsified average SAT statistics, and a report that Emory University falsely reported student data for "more than a decade," as well as reports of false data from the United States Naval Academy and Baylor University. Writer Andrew Ferguson noted considerable hypocrisy surrounding rankings: some colleges pretend to loathe the guidebooks that rank them, yet if they get a good write-up, they “wave it around like a bride’s garter belt.” Lynn O'Shaughnessy criticized the "mindless pursuit of better numbers" by colleges to boost their college rankings as destructive and wrote that families place too much emphasis on the rankings as a way to select colleges. Further, she criticized the US News rankings for failing to take a college's affordability into account or factor in the average student indebtedness after college as well as failing to measure how well colleges actually educated their students. She noted how the US News algorithm "favors schools that spurn more students." College admissions counselors criticized rankings as misleading, and criticized the rankings inputs of peer assessments, student selectivity and alumni giving as being poor predictors of a college's overall quality. The rankings title "America's Best Colleges", prompted counselors to ask "best for whom"?

In 2007, members of the Annapolis Group discussed a letter to college presidents asking them not to participate in the US News "reputation survey". A majority of the approximately 80 presidents at the meeting agreed not to participate, although the statements were not binding. Members pledged to develop alternative web-based information formats in conjunction with several collegiate associations. US News responded that their peer assessment survey helps them measure a college's "intangibles" such as the ability of a college's reputation to help a graduate win a first job or entrance into graduate school. An article by Nicholas Thompson in Washington Monthly criticized the U.S. News rankings as "confirming the prejudices of the meritocracy" by tuning their statistical algorithms to entrench the reputations of a handful of schools, while failing to measure how much students learn. Thompson described the algorithms as being "opaque enough that no one outside the magazine can figure out exactly how they work, yet clear enough to imply legitimacy."

Further information: Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States)

Choosing schools by selectivity

rA Naviance scattergram for a hypothetical student, John Doe, applying to a particular hypothetical university. Grades and test scores can be compared with those of past applicants to that university from that high school. The method helps students see whether a school is a reach, possible, probable or solid school.

Advisors typically ask students to begin to see potential colleges in terms of four types:

• Reach schools provide a slim chance of acceptance, such as a 5% or slimmer chance.
• Possibles (or high matches) have greater chance of rejection than acceptance.
• Probables (or low matches) have greater chance of acceptance than rejection.
• Solid or safety schools seldom reject candidates with similar academic credentials. High school counselors recommend that a safety school be one that a student would like to attend if rejected everywhere else. Mark Kantrowitz advised having at least one financial aid safety school that is affordable even without financial aid. Another classification is "unlikelies" (5% chance of acceptance), "reach schools" (25% chance), "possibles" (50% chance), and "likelies" (80% chance).

Typically counselors will suggest an applicant apply to a mix of the different types of schools, usually having at least one safety school, but the numbers of the others are up to students and families. Andover's counseling director recommends that a student apply to a minimum of two "solid" schools and two "probable" schools. Many high schools subscribe to an online service called Naviance, which, among other things, can help a student gauge the likelihood of admission to a particular college. It is based on a student's grades and test scores in comparison to the admissions results from students from previous years applying to that particular college (see diagram). Naviance uses a scattergram to graphically illustrate the chances for a student from a particular high school being admitted into a particular college or university. In addition, counselors can help a student consider different types of colleges, such as liberal arts colleges, research universities, and specialty schools. A report in Time magazine in 2013 suggested that it was almost impossible for poor students to gain admission to elite universities, and that the percentage of students at 28 elite colleges coming from less affluent households was relatively constant at around 10% from 2001 to 2009, based on a study that included all eight Ivy League schools. The difficulty of admissions to elite universities has sometimes prompted accusations:

The admissions system of the so-called best schools is rigged against you. If you are a middle-class youth or minority from poor circumstances, you have little chance of getting in to one of those schools. Indeed, the system exists not to provide social mobility but to prevent it and to perpetuate the prevailing social order.

— Essayist Neal Gabler in the Boston Globe, 2010

Return on investment

Return on investment
Top colleges 2013

College	ROI rank
Harvey Mudd	1
Caltech	2
MIT	3
Stanford	4
Princeton	5
Harvard	6
Dartmouth	7
Duke	8
U. Penn	9
Notre Dame	10

Former US Education Secretary William Bennett suggested college should be seen as a long-term purchase with the return on investment (ROI) being the future earnings potential of a graduate. Schools have been compared financially by examining average costs, student debt, and lifelong earnings, to yield an effective average ROI. Bennett suggested that only 150 out of the nation's 3500 colleges provided positive returns.

Better fit or prestige

Prestige of colleges correlates with age, such that the oldest east-coast schools tend to have accumulated the most prestige by virtue of their longevity. There is widespread consensus that the fit between a student and a school is an important factor. Several reports suggest that "fit should trump prestige every single time," and that it is better for a school to match a student in terms of social, cultural, and academic qualities and not be chosen simply because of a school's prestige. Others see college admissions as essentially a choice between "price and prestige". Elite colleges have been compared to designer labels, a valuable credential in the job market, and an entryway into top graduate schools. Some advisors specialize in helping students find a good fit—a suitable list of colleges—which helps students in the long run. They help students to explore their values and needs, and provide counseling to help both students and parents find a college or university program that helps students meet long-term goals. Questions include thinking about life goals, which activities a person likes best, and what style of learning works best for the student. Evaluating personal preferences is important and can take time. One advisor suggests it is important for a student to think through what is best, and choose on this basis, and "do not listen to your friends" since they have different needs and wants. "One of the worst ways to make a decision about where to go to college is to follow a friend because he or she is having a good time at that school," wrote one advisor. Since "barely half" of students entering college as freshmen ever graduate from college later in their lives, getting the right fit is important for parents and students to avoid wasting money. What is a good fit:

The college that fits you best is one that will: (1) Offer a program of study to match your interests and needs (2) Provide a style of instruction to match the way you like to learn (3) Provide a level of academic rigor to match your aptitude and preparation (4) Offer a community that feels like home to you and (5) Value you for what you do well.

— report in US News

Colleges with 4 or more
professors chosen
for
teaching excellence

University affiliation	# of Great Courses teachers
U. Texas-Austin	7
U. Virginia	6
U. Pennsylvania	6
UCLA	5
Emory	5
Georgetown	5
UNC-Chapel Hill	4
Vanderbilt	4
U. Toronto	4
William & Mary	4
SMU	4

A private admissions counselor elaborates:

A school has to fit – academically, socially, and economically ... Ask whether a college feels right ... rather than is it best ...

— Michael Szarek, 2011

One admissions dean likens "fit" to a friendship:

I draw the analogy of friends to explain why fit is so important in considering a college. You like your good friends for some reason. It may not be an objective reason. It's often subjective. There's some sense of compatibility, a kind of intuition, a match, a common sense of values, what you like to do, how you think – those are the things that really bind people together. It's similar with college. You don't want to spend four years with a college who isn't really your friend.

— Jennifer Rickard, admissions dean at Bryn Mawr

In addition, counselors can help less academically astute students find good colleges to help them pursue careers, and can point out colleges that are "gems" but relatively unknown. In some cases, choosing a college in a different part of the country can improve chances for admission, particularly if the college is seeking "geographical diversity." One study suggests that the overall prestige of a person's college is less important, overall, in predicting how they would fare in later life, and that personal characteristics, such as aptitude, are more important.

Costs

Sticker versus net price

The general pattern is that most colleges and universities, particularly private ones, have an artificially high and unreliable sticker price while charging most students, by awarding grant and scholarship money, a "discounted price" that varies considerably. Writer Lynn O'Shaughnessy in US News compared college prices with "airline tickets" since "everybody pays a different fare". Another report agreed:

Sticker price is the full price colleges list in their brochures and on their websites. Net price is the price students actually pay. Net price accounts for the fact that many students receive grants or scholarships. So it can be considerably lower than sticker price.

— Jacob Goldstein, NPR, 2012

Priciest colleges
2012–2013
tuition, room, board, books
Source: Business Insider

School	Cost
New York Univ.	$61,977
Harvey Mudd	$61,760
Bard	$61,446
Rensselaer	$60,779
Sarah Lawrence	$60,656
Wesleyan	$60,214
Dartmouth	$60,201
U. Chicago	$60,039
Bard-Simon's Rk	$60,003
Trinity	$59,860

Discounting began in the 1970s and was dramatically expanded in the 1990s, according to one report. Discrepancy between sticker and average net prices can vary substantially. Estimates vary, but show a consistent pattern of sticker prices being much greater than real costs, sometimes more than double, sometimes only one and a half times as high. Estimates are that 88% or 67% get some form of discount. One estimate in 2015 was that at private nonprofit four-year colleges, the average freshman pays 48% less than the sticker price. Generally, the sticker-to-net price discrepancy is greater at private colleges than public universities. For example, in 2011-2012, the average sticker price for tuition, fees and living expenses at private colleges, was $38,590 while the average actual cost was $23,060; at public colleges, the average sticker price was $17,130 and the average actual cost was $11,380. Another estimate was that the average full-time undergraduate gets $6,500 in grant aid along with $1,000 in tax-based aid to offset tuition and fees. There is widespread consensus that the most cost-effective college option is community colleges, which charge on average only $3,000 for full-time tuition.

Colleges use high sticker prices because it allows them wide latitude in how to use funds to attract the best students, as well as entice students with special skills or increase its overall racial or ethnic diversity. The most sought-after students can be enticed by high discounts while marginal students can be charged full freight. Further, the high sticker price is a marketing tool to suggest the overall worth of a college education, along the lines of encouraging people to think that "schools that cost more must provide a better education." A report by the Pew Research Center found that while there was growing concern about escalating college prices, most Americans believed that their personal investment in higher education was sound. But discounting adds complexity to decision-making, deterring some students from applying in some instances based on a false sense of unaffordability. In recent years, there has been attention to the problem of bright students from low-income backgrounds not applying to top colleges, and attending less challenging colleges instead or skipping college entirely; this phenomenon has been called undermatching in the sense that these students are not properly paired or "matched" with academically challenging colleges; there have been efforts at some colleges such as Williams to actively seek out bright low-income students. According to NBC reporter Nona Willis Aronowitz, the financial makeup of the student body at elite colleges tends to be mostly affluent students, with some low-income students if the college actively seeks out bright low-income applicants, but few students from middle-class backgrounds. As a result, middle-class applicants are increasingly faced with a tough choice: to either attend an elite school, paying close to the sticker price, and graduate with substantial debt, or to attend a publicly supported state school with less debt; Aronowitz described this as the "middle class squeeze". In 2015, however, there were several instances of private colleges reducing their tuition by more than 40%.

Further information: College tuition in the United States

Net price calculators

In the fall of 2011, colleges were required by federal law to post a net price calculator on their websites to give prospective students and families a rough estimate of likely college costs for their particular institution, and to "demystify pricing." A student or family could go online, find the calculator at a college's website, and enter the required financial and academic information, and the calculator should tell them an estimate of the likely cost of attending that college. The first online calculators were started by Williams College. The online calculators look at financial need and academic merit to try to estimate the likely discounted price offered to a particular student from a particular college, using information including details from tax returns, household income, grade point averages and test scores. Schools vary in terms of their pricing formulas; some consider home equity as a factor while others disregard it. Lynn O'Shaughnessy recommends that families shopping for colleges go to a college's website and use the net price calculator to get a personalized estimate of cost.

Sticker versus net price
Family income $48K-$75K
Total annual cost
Selected colleges 2012
Source: CNN/Money
Click triangles to sort

School	Sticker price	Net price (avg)
Lafayette	53020	19800
Cornell	55501	27400
New York University	57858	40300
SUNY-Binghamton	20026	19400
U. Chicago	56716	28500
Reed	54800	29400
Berkeley	29027	24300
Swarthmore	54400	20000
Georgetown	55110	26400
Harvard	52652	10600

There are numerous potential problems with the calculators. Some are difficult to find on a college's website; others require specific financial numbers, possibly leading to errors by parents or students; some are difficult to understand and use; some may be manipulated by schools to increase applications or to make it seem as if a college is "more affordable" than it is. Accuracy of calculator estimates may vary considerably from college to college. Ultimately aid decisions will not be made by calculators, but by humans in the admissions offices.

Types of financial aid

• Need-based aid is offered according to the financial need of a student. Generally colleges at the "top of the pecking order" dispense aid solely in terms of need using "fairly predictable formulas", according to one source. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that elite colleges had made little progress in helping poor students get need-based aid, and that less than 15% of undergraduates at the nation's 50 wealthiest colleges received Pell Grants in 2008-2009, which are offered on the basis of need to promising yet less affluent students. According to one source, about 30 elite universities have "coffers deep enough to meet all student need" and consequently only offer need-based aid.
• Merit-based aid is scholarships and grants awarded to top academic performers or others with special talents. One report suggested that academic scholarships tended to be few, and were usually awarded by the admissions office and are "highly competitive". Another report suggested that most colleges use merit scholarships, based on high scores or grades or other accomplishments, to lure students away from a competing college.

One view is that most colleges award aid using a mix of both. Further, student loans can lessen the immediate difficulty of large tuition bills but can saddle a student with debt after graduation; in contrast, grants and scholarships do not have to be paid back.

According to Lynn O'Shaughnessy, schools trying to climb the prestige ladder use merit-based scholarships to attract top students to boost their rankings in the US News guidebook. She elaborated that as a school's "stock" rises, high-performing students start attending in greater numbers, and consequently the college can "ratchet back on the merit aid to wealthy students" and shift funds towards "need-based financial aid". Elite schools such as the Ivies don't give merit scholarships, according to two reports. Another tool is to use the College Board's expected family contribution calculator that can give families an idea of how much college will cost, but not for any particular college. According to US News, 62 out of 1,137 colleges, which responded to a survey, claimed to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need of students. "Demonstrated financial need" is the gap between the "expected family contribution" (based on tax information, family size and assets) and the cost of attendance (tuition and fees, dormitory, food expenses, and so forth.)

Further information: Student financial aid in the United States

Applying for financial aid

The FAFSA website is www.fafsa.ed.gov and is free. Other websites look like the official FAFSA website, but are deliberately misleading.

There are many reports that many applicants fail to apply for financial aid when they are qualified for it; one estimate was that 1.8 million students in 2006 who would have qualified for aid did not apply for it. Applying for financial aid is recommended by almost all college admissions advisers, even for middle- and upper-class families applying to private colleges. Each college has its own criteria for determining financial need and loans. One advisor counseled against letting the sticker price of a college dissuade a student from applying, since many of the top colleges have strong endowments allowing them to subsidize expenses, such that the colleges are less expensive than so-called "second tier" or state colleges.

College advisers suggest that parents keep financial records, including tax forms, business records, to use when applying for financial aid, and complete the FAFSA online, using income and tax estimates (usually based on previous years), early in January of their college-bound student's senior year. Admissions officers can see the names of up to nine other colleges a student has applied to. According to several reports, some colleges may deny admission or reduce aid based on their interpretation of the order of colleges on the FAFSA; accordingly, several sources recommend that colleges be listed alphabetically on the FAFSA to obscure any preferences. The earliest that the FAFSA form can be filled out is January first of a student's senior year; in contrast, the CSS Profile can be filled out earlier during the preceding fall. There are reports that many parents make mistakes when filling out the FAFSA information, and mistakes include failing to hit the "submit" button, visiting an incorrect FAFSA website, such as the deceptively-named fafsa.com, leaving some fields blank instead of properly entering a zero, spelling names or entering social security numbers or estimating tax data incorrectly. Since FAFSA formulas assume 20% of a student's assets can be used for college expenses as opposed to 6% of a parent's assets, advisors recommend moving funds from student to parent accounts before filing the FAFSA, including moving funds to a parent-controlled 529 plan tax-advantaged account. Filing taxes early is recommended, but using estimates for FAFSA from previous years is possible provided the numbers are updated later after taxes are filed. There are no fees for applying on the FAFSA site. According to one source, the best time to begin searching for scholarships is before the senior year, to guarantee meeting deadlines. Several reports confirm that it is important to file aid forms such as the CSS Profile early in the school year.

In addition to cost factors, increasingly colleges are being compared on the basis of the average student debt of their graduates, and US News has developed rankings based on average student indebtedness. A report in the Utne Reader chronicled substantial student indebtedness, and suggested that 37 million Americans in 2009 held student debt, and that nine in ten students used an average of 4.6 credit cards to pay for some educational expenses. The report chronicled an increase in average indebtedness from an average of $2,000 in 1980-81 to over $25,000 in 2009, as well as substantial decreases in Federal aid and Pell grants during that time period.

US News and others suggest another factor overlooked in terms of financing college, which is the length of time it takes to earn a degree. Finishing a year early (in three years) lops off a substantial portion of the overall bill, while taking five years compounds the expense and delays entry into the workforce. Jacques Steinberg suggested that many college-bound students calculate how much debt they were likely to incur each year, and he suggested that debt for all four years of college should total less than the graduate's expected first year's salary after college, and preferably under $40,000. A handful of schools have "free tuition" policies for low income students, so that they graduate loan-free.

Selecting colleges by type

Different types of schools offer different educations: including engineering-oriented colleges such as the Rochester Institute of Technology, which emphasizes teaching, internships, and technical education.

Two-year county or community colleges, such as Union County College in New Jersey, are geared for students who live at home and commute to school, and can be a highly affordable alternative to many private colleges as well as public universities.

Some colleges focus on one particular area, such as the Juilliard School in New York City, which is highly selective, and specializes in preparing students for careers in dance, music, theater, and the arts.

Most educational institutions in the U.S. are non-profit; for-profit colleges and universities are usually more expensive and academically inferior, with many cases of scams. Colleges and universities in the U.S. vary in terms of goals: some may emphasize a vocational, business, engineering or technical curriculum while others may emphasize a liberal arts curriculum. Many combine some or all of the above. Another consideration is the male-female ratio; overall, 56% of enrolled college students are women, but the male-female ratio varies by college and year and program. Admissions guidance counselors can offer views about whether a public or private school is best, and give a sense of the tradeoffs.

Two-year colleges are often county- or community-oriented schools funded by state or local governments, and typically offer the Associates degree (A.A.). They are generally inexpensive, particularly for in-state residents, and are focused on teaching, and accept most applicants meeting minimum grade and SAT score levels. Students commute to school and rarely live in dorms on campus. These schools often have articulation arrangements with four-year state public schools to permit students to transfer. Consultants suggest that community colleges are reasonably priced, and after two years with solid grades and academic performance, many colleges are willing to accept transfers.

Four-year colleges offer Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees. These are primarily undergraduate institutions, although some might have limited programs at the graduate level. Graduates of the tuition-free United States service academies receive both a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission.

Universities have both undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate programs grant a variety of Master's degrees including M.B.A.s or M.F.A.s. The highest academic degree is the Doctor of Philosophy or Ph.D. Medical schools award either the M.D. or D.O. degrees while law schools award the J.D. degree. Public and private universities are generally research-oriented institutions that teach both an undergraduate and graduate students.

Liberal arts colleges are four-year institutions that emphasize interactive instruction, although research is still a component of these institutions. They are usually residential colleges with most students living on campus in dorms. They tend to have smaller enrollments, class sizes, and lower student-teacher ratios than universities, and encourage teacher-student interaction with classes taught by full-time faculty members rather than graduate students known as teaching assistants. There are further distinctions within the category of liberal arts colleges: some are coeducational, women's colleges, or men's colleges. There are historically black colleges; in addition, while most schools are secular, some stress a particular religious orientation. Most are private colleges but there are some public ones.

State colleges and universities. Since they are usually subsidized with state funds, tuitions tend to be lower than private schools. They tend to be large, sometimes with student bodies numbering in the tens of thousands, and offer a variety of programs. They are generally less selective in terms of admissions than elite competitive private schools, and are usually less expensive, sometimes half or a third as much as a private institution for in-state residents; the affordability may be leading more students in recent years to choose public or state-subsidized or community colleges. There are reports that in budget shortfalls in the past few years, many state schools are selectively trying to attract higher-paying out-of-state residents. In the past few years, competition for spots in public institutions has become more intense, with some state schools such as the State University of New York reporting record numbers of students saying "yes" to their offers of admission, unlike years previously. There are reports that tuitions at state universities are rising faster than private universities. Flagship state universities are usually the most prominent public schools in a state, and are often the oldest, have the most funding, and are often the least expensive public college.

Specialty colleges such as the United States service academies have particular admissions requirements; applicants must be nominated by their congressperson.

Physically being on a college campus, talking with students, reading in the library, and dining at an on-campus cafeteria can help a prospective student determine if the school feels right. Photo: inside Wilson Commons at the University of Rochester.

Students learning massage therapy at the New York College of Health Professions in New York State.

Engineering or technical schools specialize in technical and scientific subjects. Some programs can be more competitive and applicants are often evaluated on the basis of grades in subjects such as mathematics (particularly calculus), physics, chemistry, mathematics, and science courses.

Visiting colleges

The consensus view among guidance advisors is that it is a good idea to visit colleges, preferably when college is in session and not during a summer break, with a chance to meet an actual student in the form of a tour guide, and taking notes for reference later when applying. Sometimes a college will waive the application fee based on the college visit. A benefit is seeing a school as it really is—not just glossy pictures from a brochure or a promotional video from a website. Another suggested that students should ask themselves, when visiting a particular college: "can I see myself here"? Reporter Jenna Johnson in the Washington Post suggested that students contact a professor in an area of interest at the college before visiting, and try to meet with them briefly or sit in on one of their classes. Reporter Brennan Barnard in the New York Times recommended that student visitors should ask good questions (by avoiding factual questions better answered by the college's website), and ask for complimentary passes for dining or free food. Barnard recommends going beyond the usual tour to ask random strangers about life on campus and reading the student newspaper. He recommends arranging to speak with a professor in the department of interest as well as athletic coaches and music directors, possibly by emailing them in advance of the visit, to try to meet them even briefly. A followup "thank you" note to the host is a good idea (avoid texting abbreviations.)

Counselor Michael Szarek commented on the importance of campus visits in dispelling false impressions:

Half of all college classes are not outdoors. Half of all college classes are not gathered around an electron microscope. Sometimes the leaves are brown, or even fall to the ground. So, use the viewbook to get a sense of the institution and what the college thinks are its strengths. But always rely on the campus visit.

— Michael Szarek, 2011

However, one account suggested colleges structured the campus visit with the same boring format, which rarely includes a faculty member:

First there is an “informational session,” conducted by an admissions officer. This is followed by an hour-long campus tour, which is led by a student with a talent for walking backwards .... On the campus tour, we are always shown a dorm room and a dining hall. We are always taken to a library and told how many volumes it contains. We are informed how many students study abroad (a lot), how many student clubs there are (ditto), and how small the classes are (very small.)

— Carl Elliott in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012

Applications considerations

Extracurricular activities

There are conflicting views about student participation in extracurricular activities. A predominant position is that colleges were after "well-rounded bodies of individual specialists", suggesting that it is better for a student to be deeply involved in one or two activities rather than nine or ten superficially, such as a "violin-playing quarterback" or a "math-medalist poet," and that students should not "overdo it" and that parents should not become overconcerned about their child's extracurricular activities. Applicants who achieve a leadership position in an extracurricular activity are regarded more highly than applicants who merely participate in a bunch of activities. Advisors recommend that a student should choose which extracurricular activities they genuinely care about, pursue them with "gusto" and "joyful commitment" that demonstrates integrity and commitment. And, consistent with this view, is that too many extracurricular activities may look suspect to admissions officers, particularly if it seems unreasonable that any person could be as active and succeed scholastically at the same time. Jobs are generally viewed favorably by admissions committees, including even part-time service jobs such as flipping hamburgers, since it suggests that a student has learned to handle time management, to accept responsibility, and develop people skills. A less dominant position was that it is helpful to be involved in a "variety of activities", including jobs, internships, and community service. Some universities, such as the University of California, have formal programs for spot-checking applications for accuracy, such as sending a follow-up letter to the student asking for proof about an extracurricular activity or summer job. Advisors recommend that extracurricular activities should never interfere with a student's overall academic performance. A student with lots of extracurricular activities senior year, but little in preceding years, particularly when the essays focus on the extracurricular activities, are suspect; it suggests an applicant is being coached, and may reflect negatively on an application. Advisors warn against "overscheduling" students with too many activities or courses.

Number of applications

There are differing views on how many schools a student should apply to. Several reports suggest that applying to too many schools caused unnecessary stress and expense, and hampers a student from targeting applications to a few select schools. But other advisors suggest that applying to more schools increases overall chances for acceptance. Mamlet and VanDeVelde suggest applying to eight to ten schools is best, and that applying to too many schools is counterproductive. There are reports that the average number of schools that students are applying to has been increasing, perhaps because of greater use of the Common Application. In 2008, applications to Harvard University had increased to a record number at 27,278, a 19% increase from the year before. One effect of these numerous applications is to lower the average yield of colleges, which dropped from 46% to 38% in 2001 according to one account.

Online identity

There are reports that some college admissions departments scrutinize applicants' personalities online, such as Facebook or MySpace profiles, and as a result, they urge students to remove "sarcastic jokes, bad pictures, or political cartoons," and be wary about what their friends post on their pages as well. A concurring report suggested that some offices have people tasked with "checking out applicants' Facebook pages", although there is a contrasting report from one college recruiter who said that their policy is not to examine Facebook profiles and that "Facebook is reserved for students on a recreational basis." The same caution applies to email addresses; one advisor cautions against having jazzed-up email addresses such as "Spicychick@gmail.com", but rather that users should stick with their name, if possible, since it can help colleges find a student's records.

Choosing how to apply

Acceptances at selective schools:
early vs regular admission (2009)

School	Overall	Early	Regular
Brown	14%	23%	13%
Columbia	11%	24%	9%
Cornell	21%	37%	20%
Dartmouth	15%	21%	6%
Harvard	9%	21%	6%
Pennsylvania	9%	26%	7%
Yale	10%	20%	12%
Stanford	10%	16%	9%
MIT	12%	11%	13%
Total	14%	26%	12%

Applying in the fall

Many schools have implemented a system through which students can apply at a time other than the most common usual deadline of January first of the senior year, to lighten the load on students and admissions officers. Several reports suggest an increase in early admissions.

Many open slots for students at many private universities begin to fill up early in a student's senior year of high school. One estimate is that a third of slots for next year's freshman class are filled by December, which is an increase from one-fifth ten years ago. Another estimate suggests 45% of positions are taken by December. There are reports for specific schools filling up by December 2011 for the 2012–2013 freshman year. For example, American University filled 31% of its class; Columbia 45%, Davidson 40%, Emory 32%, Hamilton 38%, Kenyon 29%, Middlebury 45%, Sarah Lawrence 21%, Smith 20%, and others.

Numerous reports suggest that more students are applying using early decision or early action approaches. Schools such as Duke University, Haverford College, and the University of Chicago reported increases in early applications in 2011. While early applications had been used by many students in elite prep schools and top high schools primarily in the northeastern United States, they are being used by a more diverse group of students including foreigners and minority applicants to apply to more colleges. A downside of applying early is an inability to compare competing aid packages from different schools, but to an extent this can be mitigated if parents and students ask the college for a fairly firm estimate of expected costs before applying by an early method. Several sources suggested that early admissions programs favor students from wealthier families since there was no need to compare financial aid offers. Adviser Michele Hernandez suggested that the early decision and early action candidate pools were "much more homogeneous" with most applicants being affluent white students. High-end academic applicants tended to want to have a choice, while minority applicants needed to compare scholarship offers from different colleges; accordingly, these latter two groups tended to avoid early applications. According to Hernandez, Ivy League financial aid packages were similar whether one applied early admission or regular admission, since the Ivies are 100% need blind meaning that they do not take into account an applicant's ability to pay. Early applicants are urged to submit applications in September and October, and not wait until November, so staff more time to consider the application. There has been controversy surrounding early admissions programs, since there have been reports that most of those accepted in early admissions tended to be white, from good high schools and having upscale family incomes. A report in US News suggested that early admissions approaches were not advised for students who were obviously under or over qualified, dependent on financial aid, undecided, behind in their college search plans, or late bloomers.

Early decision

• Binding commitment. Early decision is a binding decision, meaning that students must withdraw applications to other schools if accepted. It is not legally binding, but there is a commitment involved with penalties for withdrawing for spurious reasons. Advisers suggest that this method is only for students who are absolutely certain about wanting to attend a specific school. If financial aid is a concern or if a family is "shopping for the best deal", then it is usually advised to apply early action or regular decision instead. The one stipulated situation under which a student may back out of the agreement is if the financial aid offer is insufficient. A student who backs out for other reasons may be "blacklisted" by the early decision college, which may contact the student's high school guidance office, and prevent it from sending transcripts to other colleges, and high schools generally comply with such requests. In addition, the jilted college may contact other colleges about the withdrawal, and the other colleges would likely break off their offers of acceptance as well. And by the time that an early decision aid package is offered it may be March or April of senior year, and then if a student backs out at that point for financial reasons, valuable time may be lost.
• November application. It is made early in the academic year, typically the first week in November, although deadlines vary somewhat, so a student who applies for early decision and is accepted, typically by mid-December, must attend that college. One report maintains that some colleges defer decisions on some early applicants until the next year, past their own deadlines for notifying early applicants.
• Benefits for universities. Admitting early decision applicants benefits schools because there is an almost certain probability that the admitted applicants will attend and, as a result, colleges can increase their yield by admitting them, and this can help a college improve its ranking. In addition, it helps admissions departments spread the work of sifting through applications throughout more of the school year. Generally counselors suggest this option is only for students who know with certainty that one particular college is their first choice.
• Greater chance of acceptance. There is strong consensus that applying early decision brings a greater statistical chance of being accepted, possibly doubling or tripling the chances of an acceptance letter. In 2009, the average early acceptance rate according to one estimate was 15 percentage points greater than regular decision applicants. There is less agreement, however, whether it will help a borderline student win acceptance to a competitive college. There are numerous reports that early decision candidates tend to have stronger educational credentials than regular decision candidates, and as a result, these candidates would have been admitted whether they applied by early or regular methods, and therefore the greater statistical likelihood of acceptance may have been explained by membership in the stronger applicant pool. But a more widely held view is that early decision method boosts the chances of a borderline student; as Robert J. Massa of Lafayette College explained, "colleges really want qualified students who want them" and are more likely to offer acceptances to students ready to make a full commitment. There was a report that the "acceptance rate gap" between early and regular decision—currently an average of 57% accepted if applied early decision versus 50% if applied regular decision—has been narrowing in recent years.
• Other benefits. Seniors can know sooner where they will attend and can get the hassle and uncertainty of the applications process over sooner. There is less work and expense applying to other colleges.
• How early decision affects financial aid. There are conflicting reports about how early decision affects aid offers. The more widely held view is that a student's bargaining position is weaker because the student cannot compare offers from different colleges. Since the applicant is declaring an intention to attend if accepted, then the school can "pinpoint the smallest amount of financial aid it will take for the student to attend." There have been reports of problems with early Decision aid offers falling below levels that had been expected prior to applying. A report in the Chicago Tribune suggested that applying early decision could cost "thousands more than necessary." A report in US News pointed to a research study concluding that regular decision applicants get more financial aid than early ones. Lynn O'Shaughnessy described early decision as "essentially applying blind" because a student has agreed to attend to before seeing the financial aid package; and this practice "favors rich students." A second report confirms that early decision applicants tend to come from wealthier families. However, a contrasting view is that students who apply early have an advantage getting aid because they are applying earlier in the year when that aid is being doled out, and the early decision kids have "first crack at the money," particularly at competitive schools without extra-large endowments. Two reports suggested that while a student's bargaining position is somewhat weaker, it is not totally diminished, and that if a college thinks an early decision admittee may withdraw because of financial concerns, the college "may pull out all the stops" to prevent this, and that the possibility of backing out for financial reasons gives an applicant some form of negotiating leverage. Ivy League universities and other universities with large endowments may be somewhat different, in the sense that all aid offers are likely to be based solely on financial need, and that whether an applicant applied by early or regular methods would have no impact on the resulting financial aid package, according to one report.

Early action

College admissions consultant Michael Szarek advises against applying early decision unless a student is totally certain of the choice and parents have sufficient resources to pay the bill, and he often recommends the non-binding alternative, early action, as an alternative.

Generally early action is similar to early decision except the decision is not binding, so a student could apply to multiple colleges. The time frame is similar: apply by early November, get a decision by mid-December, although specific deadlines vary by school. It allows a student to compare competing offers. The exception is that there are four colleges – Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale—which have a single-choice early action program, meaning that an applicant can only apply early action to one school. Early action can be the best choice for students who know they prefer one particular school and have done everything possible to secure admission since a student will know the result of the application sooner, and to varying extents allows a student to compare aid offers from different schools. One report suggested that non-binding early action programs continued to be highly popular, and noticed that three schools––Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia—which had abandoned early admissions programs in 2006, reestablished them in 2011 after other colleges failed to follow their lead. Generally fewer schools offer the early action program but ones that do include Georgetown University, MIT, and Boston College. One account suggested that early action did not give as much of an "admissions edge" as early decision because it was non-binding.

Regular admission

Regular admission is a good choice for students who are unsure where they would like to go. One advantage is that it can help students who have improved their grades substantially in the fall of their senior year, since decisions are not made until March of senior year. In addition, it offers students more time to make their decision about a college under somewhat less pressure than an early method. The fairly dominant view is that regular admission is more likely to result in higher offers of financial aid, particularly if students are admitted to several institutions that present different aid offers. Accordingly, one offer can be used as leverage to try to get a better offer at another institution, particularly if there are competing multiple acceptances. Several reports suggested that a "growing number of colleges" including Harvard, Cornell, and Carnegie-Mellon have stated publicly that they will consider matching offers from competing colleges. Kim Clark explained:

If you want to go to Cornell ... and you don't think your family can afford the full sticker prices ... you are likely to get bigger scholarships if you also apply—and get in—to wealthy and more competitive schools. ... Cornell will now adopt Harvard's definition of "need," which, in many cases, will mean bigger scholarships.

— report in US News, 2010

However, a dissenting view in the New York Times suggested that only one to two percent of colleges adjust aid packages based on offers from competing colleges, and that most colleges do not get into bidding wars over specific students.

Rolling admissions

Some colleges offer this type of admission, typically used by schools with large numbers of applicants, which means that colleges are continually receiving applications and making decisions, typically within four to six weeks after application. It allows prospective students to apply at any time between the fall and spring and to receive their result a few weeks later. One benefit is that if a student is accepted early in the school year, there is less anxiety about acceptance for the rest of the year. Rolling admission schools are also beneficial to students who are rejected from all the schools they applied regularly to, yet still wish to enroll without taking a gap year. Guidance counselors suggest that rolling admissions should not be used late in senior year since financial aid money may have already been distributed, and few slots may be left for September. One advisor suggests that if a college offers rolling admissions and is on a student's list, then it should be applied to as soon as rolling admissions becomes available for that year. Another report suggested that rolling admissions was more characteristic of noncompetitive colleges.

Testing options

Test preparation courses

There are conflicting reports about the usefulness of test preparation courses. Mamlet and VanDeVelde suggest that "most students don't need a coach or a class" and that the single largest factor was "familiarity with the test". Another report agreed that SAT/ACT prep courses were a waste of money and that taking a few practice exams, and understanding how each test works, was all that was needed. According to NBC News, the multi-billion dollar private test prep industry, including coaching and tutoring as well as software and clinics, is a source of "inequality and injustice" in higher education since it enables the offspring of well-to-do families to improve their test scores by means of learning "tips and tricks"; there is a report in March 2014 that the College Board is planning to redesign the SAT to make it less susceptible to gaming. Test prep courses can cost $1,000 per course; tutors can cost $15,000 per year, according to one estimate.

Standardized admissions tests

A sample so-called "grid-in" question from a standardized test.

In 2003, according to one estimate, 1.4 million students took the SAT and 1.4 million also took the ACT test, paying about $50 per test. Generally counselors suggest that students should plan on taking the SAT or ACT test twice, so that a low score can possibly be improved. One advisor suggested that students with weak SAT or ACT scores could consider applying to colleges where these measures were optional. One suggested retaking the tests if there are "subpar test scores" in September and October (if applying early admission) or November and December (if applying regular admission.) Generally over half of juniors retaking the SAT or ACT tests during the senior year saw improvements in their scores. Colleges vary in terms of how much emphasis they place on these scores.

A consensus view is that most colleges accept either the SAT or ACT, and have formulas for converting scores into admissions criteria, and can convert SAT scores into ACT scores and vice versa relatively easily. The ACT is reportedly more popular in the midwest and south while the SAT is more popular on the east and west coasts. Apparently there have been instances of persons taking admissions tests in place of the real student as paid SAT test-takers, which is illegal, but the existence of such services has been called "an open secret in competitive circles"; for example, in 2011, an Emory University sophomore was arrested for taking the test for another person on a fee basis. One report suggested the College Board was considering requiring that test-takers submit a photograph of themselves on the test day as a precaution against impersonation. The photos would be stored in a password-protected database, but would not be shared with college admissions departments.

Michele Hernandez recommended taking the SAT or ACT test only once or twice otherwise an applicant may appear "score obsessed." One report suggested that a benefit of the ACT test was that it allowed the test-taker to have greater freedom to choose which scores to send to which colleges. Counselors suggest that students practice taking the test under actual testing conditions. Counselors advise students taking tests should become familiar with directions beforehand so there will be more time to focus on problems during the actual test. And the use of tests by colleges has been criticized as being ineffective at predicting ultimate life success; one study suggested that SAT results "don't mean much long term".

ACT test	SAT test
Content-based test	Tests reasoning ability
Emphasizes higher math	Emphasizes vocabulary
Longer questions	Trickier questions
More popular in south & midwest	More popular in east & west
Science reasoning section	Vocabulary section
No penalty for wrong answers	Penalty for guessing
Greater choice in selecting which scores to send to colleges	Fewer options
Difficult questions randomly interspersed	Difficulty progresses within each section

Regarding whether to choose the SAT or ACT, the consensus view is that both tests are roughly equivalent and tend to bring similar results, and that each test is equally accepted by colleges. Reporter Jacques Steinberg in the New York Times suggested that admissions deans repeatedly inform him that colleges view the ACT and SAT tests equally and do not have a preference. At the same time, small differences between the tests may translate into a slight benefit for the test-taker. One source noted that there is no penalty for wrong answers on the ACT, so advisors suggest that it is okay to guess if time is limited—but the SAT penalizes incorrect guesses. One report suggested that the SAT favors "white male students" from upper income backgrounds. Another report suggests that the ACT has more questions geared to higher levels of high school mathematics, suggesting that students who do well in math may perform better, but that the SAT is a better choice for students with an excellent vocabulary. According to one view, the SAT is more focused on testing reasoning ability while the ACT is more of a content-based test of achievement. In addition, according to this view, some SAT questions can be trickier and harder to decipher while some ACT questions may be longer; question difficulty progresses within each SAT section while difficult questions are randomly interspersed in the ACT; the SAT has a separate vocabulary section while the ACT has a separate science reasoning section.

SAT subject tests

Several sources suggested that the SAT subject tests were becoming more important in evaluating applicants. One described them as "true equalizers" in admissions, suggesting how strong a high school is, and elaborated that some admissions officers considered them to be a better indicator of academic ability than high school grades. Another suggested that selective colleges like to get results from SAT subject tests in addition to other ones, while public universities placed less emphasis on them.

Advanced placement tests

There was a report that scores on Advanced Placement exams could be helpful in the evaluations process. One report suggested there was a limit on the number of AP tests that should be taken, such that taking 12 AP tests was not as helpful as taking five and doing well on those five.

Common vs. college's application

The Common Application has made it easier to apply to many colleges. Photo: sign in the admissions office of a Pennsylvania college.

The advantage of the Common Application is that it is the same for numerous colleges, and can save time and trouble for a student. It is accepted at 488 colleges out of several thousand, but only a third of the 488 use it exclusively, meaning that two-thirds allow an applicant to submit either the Common Application or the school's specific application form. According to Hernandez, many admissions officers complain that the Common Application stifles creativity and encourages "dull responses", and she recommends that students use the college's particular application when there is a choice.

Interviews

Admissions office of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.

There are differing recommendations about the importance of interviews, with the consensus view that interviews were overall less important than college admissions essays, but should be done if they were offered. One counselor suggested that if an interview was offered by a college admissions program, then it was not really optional but it should be seen as a requirement––not going to such an interview could be detrimental to a student's chances for admission. One counselor suggested that a student try to get an interview, even if it was not required, since it might help "exhibit character strengths" that might not show up via grades on high school transcripts. Several reports noted that most Ivy League schools have abandoned the interview requirement, but that if there is an opportunity for an interview, even with an alumnus of the college, then it is a good idea to do it since not doing it signals a lack of interest in the school. Knowing a college can be helpful during an interview, so that an applicant can say something specific about the school, or a professor who teaches there, or a subject or internship opportunities, since it shows sincere interest. Counselor Donald Dunbar suggested that a goal of interview preparation should be to present oneself as "comfortable with spontaneous conversation" and being able to talk about interests without sounding like the answers were prepared in advance. He suggested it was important to show intellectual passion and loving learning with a deep excitement, and show "social maturity" with sensitivity, empathy for others unlike oneself, and concern for issues larger than personal career ambitions. He advised that an applicant's attitude should not be what can the college offer but what can the student offer the college, and to avoid asking questions about facts better answered elsewhere, and to show an openness to new ideas, an ability to work cooperatively with others, ambition, and caring about others. Counselors suggest that interviewees should be ready for sometimes provocative questions to test social sensitivity; Dunbar suggested that if an interviewer asks a "baiting or leading question", an applicant should respond by laughing while politely disagreeing with the perspective, and to keep trying to enjoy the conversation with the interviewer. Dunbar advised that applicants should avoid sounding snide, annoyed, contemptuous, and avoid describing oneself as humiliated, bored, depressed, angry, shy, inhibited, anxious, frightened, and frustrated, and should be upbeat but avoid going for the hard sell. Another report suggested that shy or timid applicants were at a disadvantage. Hernandez suggested that visits by college admissions personnel to the high schools were a waste of time for colleges, since there was not enough time to get to know specific applicants. In addition, she felt that personal interviews were generally overrated, though she noted that many Ivies have alumni interviews, which can help in borderline situations. Hernandez suggested that a student try to find a common bond with the interviewer, and send a brief follow-up letter afterwards. Interviews rarely matter at big colleges but may be more of a factor at small liberal arts colleges if offered:

Our advice is that if offered an interview, a student should take it ... And they should dress as if they are going to dinner with their grandparents. The biggest faux pax comes in inappropriate dress for both sexes. Spaghetti straps, buttons that pop open. For boys a rumpled T-shirt ... If you look in the mirror and you think you look good, change your clothes. This is not a date.

— Mamlet and VanDeVelde

Essays

There are differing opinions about the importance of the college essay. The consensus view is that the essay is less important than grades and test scores, but that an essay can make a difference in some instances, often at highly selective colleges where they can "make or break your application." There was one report that essays were becoming more important as a way to judge a student's potential, and that essays have supplanted personal interviews as a primary way to evaluate a student's character.

Generally counselors recommend that the essay should not be too long, such as over 500 words. The Common Application suggests 250 to 500 words in length. One advisor suggested that an essay longer than 700 words risked "straining their patience," but the 500-word suggested maximum length is not a hard–and–fast rule, and what's important is honing and rewriting:

Writing is easy; rewriting is hard. And essays deserve to be rewritten several times. Lots of kids think the objective is to write about something that will impress the admission office. In part that is true, but what impresses an admission officer is an essay that conveys something positive about the applicant; that allows the committee to get to know the kid just a bit from those few pieces of paper. The essay is an opportunity to provide a different perspective about the applicant, a reason to accept a kid. It is an opportunity not to be wasted.

— Steve Cohen in The Washington Post, 2011

Advisors suggest that the essay should be concise, honest (with no embellishments), coherent, not boring, accurate, evoking vivid images, revealing a likeable and smart individual, with cautious use of humor, and possibly touching on controversial topics but in a balanced way. Other tips include avoiding jargon or abbreviations, overly emotional appeals, profanity or texttalk (example: Schools H8 2 C texttalk), or artiness (e.g. poetry in an application) or being cocky.

Former guidance counselor for students at Andover and college admissions authority, Donald Dunbar, suggested that essays must emphasize personal character and demonstrate intellectual curiosity, maturity, social conscience, concern for the community, tolerance, and inclusiveness. He advises don't just "be yourself", but show your "best self", and that demonstrating class participation suggests a "willingness to go beyond selfishness" and shows enthusiasm for learning. Alan Gelb suggests that the only no-no is "shameless self-promotion". Topics to avoid include babysitting experiences, pets, encounters with illegal drugs or alcohol or criminal activity, excuses to explain a low grade, stories about a former home or big brother or sister, simply listing achievements, expressing thanks for being chosen as a leader, talking about a "wilderness leadership course," general complaining or whining, racism or sexism or disrespect for groups of people, bad taste or profanity or vulgarity or bathroom humor, early love or sex experiences, criticism or disrespect for parents, telling only jokes, excessive bragging or too many instances of the "I" pronoun, divulging personal health information about yourself or a friend or a family member, copy-and-pasting a term paper in the essay form such as about global warming or the European debt crisis, and experiences involving lawbreaking or illegal activity. Applicants should not express opinions too strongly as if no possible counterviews were possible. The topic should be something the applicant cares about, and should show leadership in the sense of "asserting yourself to help others have more success." According to Dunbar, leadership is not necessarily about being in charge such as being the team captain or school president. Applicants should present a broad perspective and avoid simplistic words such as never, always, only, or nobody, which suggest narrow thinking. Dunbar advised against the standard "tell 'em what you've told 'em" essay formula but doing something different, interesting, and exciting.

Former admissions director Michele Hernandez agreed, and suggested that the best essay topics were a slice-of-life story, with poignant details, in which the writer shows and does not tell. She suggested that a student show their essay to a literate friend and ask if would they admit this person to the college She recommended that applicants not try to come across as a "preppy well-off kid" but downplay parental status. Advisors Mamlet and VanDeVelde suggest that students proactively try to explain an unusual grade, such as a low grade in a core course. There are online databases available to help students write cogent essays.

Teacher recommendations

Some colleges ask for teacher recommendation letters, typically from 11th or 12th grade teachers of core courses, and preferably who know the student well. One report suggested that having more than four recommendations was a mistake, and that a "thick file" indicated a "thick student" to admissions personnel. One report, however, was that teacher recommendations were becoming less important as a rating measure, according to one report. There is a report that some colleges are asking for recommendation letters from parents to describe their child:

You might think they do nothing but brag ... But parents really nail their kids. They really get to the essence of what their daughter is about in a way we can’t get anywhere else.

— Deb Shaver, director of admissions at Smith College

Other considerations

Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Advisors counsel that applicants should meet deadlines, spend time researching colleges, be open-minded, have fun, communicate what "resonates" to the applicant about a particular school, not fall in love with one or two colleges, follow directions precisely and make sure to click the "submit" button. Rudeness towards staff members, feigning enthusiasm, and being pretentious are other turnoffs reported by admissions officers. There is strong consensus among counselors and advisors that starting the college search early is vital. One recommends starting early in the senior year; another suggests that even this is too late, and that the process should begin during the junior year and summer before senior year. And sources suggest that students who begin the process earlier tend to earn more acceptance letters. Another advantage of beginning early is so that applications can be proofread for mistakes. Advisors suggest that emails should be sent to specific persons in the admissions office, not to a generalized inbox. Advisors suggest that applicants sending in paper applications should take care that handwriting is legible, particularly email addresses. Advisors counsel that mistakes or changes should be explained somewhere in the application; for example, an adviser at Grinnell College suggested that a record need not be perfect but there must be an "explanation for any significant blip." Advisors suggest that applicants should "own up to any bad behavior" such as suspensions since schools are "dutybound to report them", and suggest that a person should "accept responsibility and show contrition for "lessons learned," according to one view. Disciplinary actions are usually reported to the colleges by the high school as a matter of course. Advisors suggest that the application should help a student position themselves to create a unique picture. It helps, according to one advisor, if a person knows himself or herself, because that enables an applicant to communicate effectively with a prospective school.

International applications

Foreign (non-US citizen) students applying from another country form a large and growing percentage of applicants (including accepted applicants) to American universities. According to Andover counseling director Sean Logan, applications to American universities from foreign students have increased dramatically in the past decade. International applications are typically similar to domestic ones but with additional complications. Most international applicants do not receive a GPA score or transcript from their school. Most will not normally take SAT or ACT exams, so these must be arranged. Most American universities are happy to accept international and foreign qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate or IB, or British A Levels, although it is often up to the applicant to elaborate on the meaning of these qualifications. Non-native English speakers may be asked to provide English language qualifications. If a university requires or offers an interview, these can normally be conducted over the phone or with alumni residing in the applicant's country, according to Uni in the USA, a guide book catering to the growing number of British students seeking to study in the United States. International applicants often must cope with higher tuition fees and less available financial aid, although this varies significantly by college. Further, international applicants also have to apply for a student visa, which can be a complex and time-consuming process.

How colleges evaluate applicants

Factors having considerable importance

Factor	% Agree
Grades in college prep courses	83%
Strength of curriculum	66%
Admission test scores	59%
Grades in all courses	46%
Essay or writing sample	27%
Student's demonstrated interest	23%
Class rank	22%
Counselor recommendation	19%
Teacher recommendation	19%
Subject test scores	10%
Interview	9%
Extracurricular activities	7%
Portfolio	6%
SAT II scores	5%
State graduation exam	4%
Source: 2010 survey by NACAC

Overview

Colleges use a variety of methods to evaluate applicants. One source noted that four of every five colleges accept more than half of all applicants, and three-fourths of students who apply to colleges are accepted by their first choice college. Depending on the size and values of the school, admissions criteria can vary from being almost entirely formulaic to involving significant subjective judgment regarding the student's "fit" for the institution. Criteria vary considerably by school, and one view is that the "great deal of inconsistency across institutions" sometimes gave an incorrect impression that "student selection is arbitrary." Criteria include standardized test scores (generally ACT and/or SAT), class rank, grades (as shown in the high school transcript), degree of extracurricular involvement, and leadership potential. One report suggested that the most important criteria, in order of importance, were

1. Grades in college preparatory courses
2. Strength of curriculum
3. Grades in all courses
4. Class rank

Many colleges also rely on personal essay(s) written by the applicant and letters of recommendation written by the applicant's teachers and guidance counselor; one benefit of the essay is to help colleges such as Pitzer College, which claims that half of its applicants have "perfect or near-perfect grades and test scores," further differentiate students. Institutions place different weight on these criteria: for example, some schools do not require or even accept the SATs for admission. It should be noted that some factors are beyond a student's control, such as a college's need in a given year for diversity, legacy applicants, or athletic recruiting.

It is a complicated task for admissions staff at selective colleges to analyze and process thousands of applications with a "huge mail deluge" since there are often six pieces of mail for each applicant, including transcripts, letters of recommendation, and the application itself. College admissions personnel spend less time on average reading each particular application; in 2009, the average admissions officer was responsible for analyzing 514 applications, and the trend was in the direction of officers having to read more and more applications. A typical college application receives only about 25 minutes of reading time, including three to five minutes for the personal essay if it is read. Advisors suggest that understanding some of the criteria can help an applicant apply to colleges with greater success. Some colleges extract information from the federal FAFSA financial aid form, including names of other schools the applicant is applying to. Counselors urge students and parents to understand what types of things colleges tend to look for in applications, and plan accordingly. A key attribute admissions evaluators look for, according to Mamlet and Vandevelde, is authenticity—a real person who comes through the application, not a packaged artificial entity or distortion crafted to impress an admissions officer. An admissions officer at Vanderbilt University wrote about how their office evaluates applicants: "It's really about, 'What did I take advantage of in the environment I was given.'" Several reports suggested that colleges were not looking for the "well-rounded kid" but rather a "well-rounded class":

Colleges are looking for ... the well-rounded class. Colleges put together their entering class as a mosaic: a few great scholars for each academic department; a handful of athletes; some musicians, dancers, and theater stars; a few for racial and economic diversity; some potential club leaders, etc. Colleges want a kid who is devoted to – and excels at – something. The word they most often use is passion.

— Steve Cohen in the Washington Post, 2011

Colleges want students who have demonstrated through their actions an ability to see and connect with a world that is larger than they are.

— Robin Mamlet and Christine Vandevelde, 2011

Academic evaluation

Admissions results 2012

2012 Admission Decisions for selected colleges
Source: The New York Times
Based on self-reported data from colleges
---Click triangles to sort columns---

University	St	Ap- plied #	Over -all rate	Early rate	Regu -lar rate
Amherst	MA	5511	12%		10%
Babson	MA	5511	29%	53%	21%
Barnard	NY	5440	21%	45%	18%
SUNY-Bing.	NY	28174	42%	56%	36%
Boston Coll	MA	34000	29%	40%	26%
Boston U	MA	43979	45%	47%	44%
Bowdoin	ME	6716	16%	25%	14%
Brown	RI	28742	10%	19%
Caltech	CA	5225	17%	19%
Carleton	MN	5850	26%	41%	26%
Carnegie-Mel	PA	17300	27%	26%	27%
Claremont Mc	CA	5056	12%	29%	10%
Colby	ME	5241	29%	50%	29%
Colgate	NY	7795	29%	51%	27%
Columbia	NY	31851	7%	20%
Cooper Union	NY	3556	6%	9%	6%
Cornell	NY	37812	16%	33%
Dartmouth	NH	23110	9%	26%	8%
Dickinson	PA	5843	40%	53%	28%
Duke	NC	31600	12%	25%	11%
Elon	NC	10195	51%	86%	29%
Emory	GA	17502	26%	38%	25%
G Washington	DC	21759	33%	38%
Grinnell	IA	4554	30%	58%	28%
Hamilton	NY	5107	27%	44%
Hanover	IN	3546	62%		62%
Harvard	MA	34302	6%	18%	4%
Harvey Mudd	CA	3591	17%	20%	17%
Johns Hopkins	MD	20496	18%	38%	16%
Juilliard	NY	2319	7%		7%
Lafayette	PA	6654	34%	56%	32%
Lehigh	PA	11527	32%	63%	30%
Lewis&Clark	OR	6506	64%	85%	58%
Macalester	MN	6031	35%
Middlebury	VT	8849	18%	32%	16%
MIT	MA	11632	9%	11%
Northwestern	IL	32066	15%	33%	15%
Ohio State	OH	26100	63%
Olin	MA	785	18%		18%
Pitzer	CA	4227	16%
Pomona	CA	7457	13%	38%	16%
Princeton	NJ	26664	8%	21%
Rensselaer	NY	15203	43%	43%	35%
Reed	OR	3131	34%
Rice	TX	12393	21%	31%
Rutgers	NJ	28126	59%
Scripps	CA	2373	30%	39%	30%
St. Lawrence	NY	4033	46%	87%	43%
Stanford	CA	36631	7%	13%	7%
SUNY StonyB	NY	27305	38%		38%
TCNJ	NJ	9956	47%	55%
Texas A&M	TX	31478	59%		59%
Trinity	CT	7716	33%
UC Berkeley	CA	61702	21%
UC Davis	CA	49416	46%
UC Irvine	CA	54532	36%
UCLA	CA	72657	21%
UC Merced	CA	13148	75%
UC Riverside	CA	29888	61%
UC San Diego	CA	60838	38%
UC Santa Bar	CA	54831	42%
UC Santa Cr.	CA	32954	60%
U Chicago	IL	25277	13%	18%
U Delaware	DE	26534	53%		53%
U Florida	FL	29220	41%		41%
UNC Chapel H	NC	28491	27%	38%	16%
U. Penn.	PA	31217	12%	25%	10%
U Puget Sou.	WA	6772	53%	88%	53%
USC	CA	46030	18%		18%
U. Virginia	VA	27200	29%	29%	23%
U. Wisc-Mad.	WI	29008	54%	54%
Vanderbilt	TN	28335	13%	25%	12%
Vassar	NY	7908	22%	43%	21%
Wake Forest	NC	11366	32%	43%	31%
Wash & Lee	VA	5970	18%	40%	15%
Washington U	MO	28826	15%	31%	17%
Wesleyan	CT	10503	20%	45%	18%
William & M.	VA	13651	31%	48%	29%
Williams	MA	7067	17%
Yale	CT	28974	7%	16%	5%

Results for admissions decisions for selected colleges are posted in the table to the right.

Statistical analysis

There are numerous reports that colleges use proprietary mathematical algorithms as part of their process for evaluating applications. Some colleges hire statistical experts known as "enrollment consultants" to help them predict enrollment by developing computer models to select applicants in such a way as to maximize yield and acceptance rates. Some of these models take into account factors such as an applicant's "zip code, religion, first-choice major and extracurricular interests, as well as academic performance". Colleges have been reported to have mathematical algorithms that recalculate an applicant's high school grade point average by weighing different course grades by factors such as perceived course difficulty and strength of high school curriculum This helps the college come up with a revised GPA number for a student to compare against applicants from other schools. Furthermore, many colleges track how well other students from the same high school have done—that is, applicants from the same high school who attended or are attending the college—by comparing their high school grades against their college grades, and admissions officers use this data to try to estimate the likely college grade performance of a given applicant. Generally admissions departments do not reveal the particulars of such mathematical analyses. According to Michele Hernandez, Ivy League admissions departments compile an academic index based on three main factors:

• Highest SAT Reasoning Math/Critical Reading score
• Average of three highest SAT Subject tests
• Converted rank score based on grades, class rank, and high school difficulty

In her view, two-thirds of this evaluation is based on tests, while only one third is based on grades, leading her to conclude at one point that grades were less important overall as a factor than test scores, while in a different chapter she also suggested that the high school transcript information described roughly 60% of the college's perception of a student's academic performance. Next, the composite academic index score was combined with an analysis of personal factors such as extracurricular activity or the essay, such that the academic factor was weighted 70% to 85% while the personal evaluation was weighted only 30% to 15%. Generally the particulars of the mathematical formulas are not revealed to the public, and different colleges have different formulas. Part of the purpose of algorithms is to expedite the handling of thousands of applications in a short amount of time. For example, at Dartmouth College, data goes into a master card for each application, which leads to a ready sheet, where readers summarize applications; then, an initial screening is done: top applications go directly to the director of admissions for approval while lackluster ones go to another director. Dartmouth uses "A" for accept, "R" for reject, "P" for possible, with "P+" and "P-" being variants. A committee might spend a week with the "P" ones, of which they only accept about a sixth, according to Hernandez.

Analysis of grades

The consensus view is that high school grades are probably the single most important factor in winning admission. Maintaining high grades is particularly important for the fall semester of senior year, as well as winter grades if applying by regular admission, and there is a report that colleges are paying greater attention to a student's grades throughout senior year. Particularly important is academic performance in core courses, and having a high grade point average based on good grades in AP-level or honors courses. Colleges evaluate applicants often by examining how a student has successfully exploited what a high school has had to offer. High school guidance counselor Erin Day of Summit High School in New Jersey suggested that of the top five criteria for getting into college, having good grades were first, second, and third most important overall (test scores were fourth, extracurricular activities and essay were fifth). An ideal academic record is one of increasingly better grades in courses of progressive difficulty. Hernandez wrote that colleges looked for patterns with both grades and test scores; high grades with low test scores suggested a hard-working student, but high test scores with low grades suggested a picture of a lazy student. Ninth grade grades generally do not count much, but trends are important—an upward trend in grades was a positive factor, a decline a negative one. Public universities are more likely to evaluate applicants based on grades and test scores alone, while private universities tend to be more "holistic" and consider other measures, according to one view.

ACT and SAT scores

The consensus view is that these are important, although Mamlet and VanDeVelde feel the scores "don't count as much as people think they do." There are many reports that admissions departments consider only the highest test results in different test subsections, sometimes called superscore results or superscoring, so if a student takes a standardized test during multiple sittings, for example, admissions officers consider the highest math and verbal scores, regardless of test date. Two sources in the Washington Post suggested that colleges routinely superscore the SAT test but rarely the ACT, possibly because of difficulty processing five separate rounded numbers.

Rigor of high school courses

Analysis of high school applicants

A consensus view is that taking rigorous high school courses is a plus. Guidance counselors report that admissions personnel take a student's course of study into serious consideration when evaluating applications. Admissions officers construct a high school profile and take into account such data as curriculum offerings, demographics, and grade distributions at the high school. One adviser suggested taking the hardest courses that there were, and that the worst thing, in terms of evaluations, was to drop a hard course.

Personal evaluation

Athletic ability

Athletes in popular sports such as football are recruited by colleges hoping to improve their athletic programs.

A survey of admissions officers revealed that 28% agreed that their school had accepted athletes despite having lower grades and test scores than others. A survey by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that schools with strong athletics departments tended to have athletes with lower SAT scores than non-athletic students. Athletes get better treatment even at elite colleges, according to one academic study. A report suggested that some applications by athletes go first to a special committee for review by coaches, who may then, in turn, advocate for particular players. Recruited athletes who play in-demand or "revenue" sports (i.e. generate ticket sales) such as football or basketball can have a "significantly greater advantage in admissions" than others. Some Ivy League coaches, seeking to improve the average academic performance of their teams, would admit mediocre athletes with top academic skills as a means to balance out the stellar athletes with below-average academic ability. To fix this "average score" arrangement in which there had been a temptation to admit an extremely poor student with great athletic ability, many schools went to a banding arrangement. For example, coaches would consider all wrestling applicants within a specified range or band of academic performance, and coaches could admit more wrestler-applicants who showed greater scholastic promise. Howard and Matthew Greene report that coaches do not make admissions decisions, but they can advocate for a particular applicant. And they report that committed athletes should explain in their applications how much time they have used towards perfecting their athletic ability:

We often talk with highly involved athletes who have little time for other activities outside of their sports. In many cases their grades suffer. Most student-athletes are not "recruited" to colleges, but colleges will respect their commitment and drive.

— Howard and Matthew Greene, 2003

Particular skills

Some colleges are more likely to admit students with in-demand skills, such as writing, debating, theater management, science competitions, organizational skills, musical skills, and so forth.

Personal initiative

Admissions personnel look favorably on applications where it is clear that the student, himself or herself, appears to be firmly in control over the whole application process; the appearance of pushy parents or coaching can have a dampening effect. Ideally it is best if the student, himself or herself, is in charge of organizing the college search and decision-making process; the "student must be in the driver's seat". One admissions dean explained: And admissions officers are turned off by "micromanaging parents".

Students who really manage the show on their own, fill out the application on their own, make their own appointments for interviews, correspond with you on their own email account – these students get extra points because they're managing their lives.

— Jennifer Delahunty, Admissions Dean at Kenyon

Demonstrated interest

This can be an important factor in some situations, sometimes a "driving factor", since a college may be more likely to say yes to a student likely to matriculate. Accordingly, it has been advised to become knowledgeable about schools being applied to, and "tailor each application accordingly." College visits (including overnight ones), interviews, attending College Fair days, comments in the essay, contacting college faculty members, answering and opening emails, place position of the college on the FAFSA form or its FAFSA position, and other indications of interest can be a factor for many colleges concerned about their yield—the percent of students who accept an offer of enrollment. According to Andover's college counseling director Sean Logan, it is important to have numerous contact points with colleges to show demonstrated interest: visiting, phone contact, emailing, visits to websites (including number of clicks as well as length of time on the website), whether a college visit included a tour and interview, and whether a college-recommended off-campus personal interview was done. Schools such as Connecticut College and Emory University have been credited as "popularizing the yield game" by refusing well-qualified students who failed to show much real interest in attending, as a way to boost their yield scores. One top high school student was waitlisted at a "likely" college for showing lack of interest:

We assumed they weren't coming, because we didn't have much contact from them. We know they're probably using us as a back-up and they haven't done much to show any sincere interest, so we decided to waitlist them.

— Andover college counseling director Sean Logan, remembering a comment from a college admissions director.

Active participation

Students with special skills such as wrestling may be given preferential treatment.

One report suggested that colleges seek students who will be actively involved on campus and not spend every day studying alone. As a result, they look for high school teacher recommendations that suggest active classroom participation, students who speak up in class, who ask questions.

Weeding out problem people

Admissions tries to screen out difficult people. According to Dunbar, many colleges are "afraid of aggression." He recommends avoiding "harsh humor" or signs of severe emotion, anger, or aggression. Admissions evaluators look for signals that might indicate a difficult person, such as nonconstructive or disrespectful criticisms of others, or evidence of substance abuse. Colleges try to weed out dependent people who either follow their parents too closely, or do only what the "cool kids" do. Dunbar advised that "parental control of any kind, if detected, can be very damaging," and advised that students should not appear to be controlled by parental whims.

Analysis of essays

Dartmouth College admissions, according to Michele Hernandez, spends a week examining the possibles or Ps, and after much deliberation, accepts perhaps a sixth of them.

Michele Hernandez suggested that almost all admissions essays were weak, cliche-ridden, and "not worth reading". The staff gets thousands of essays and have to wade through most of them. When she worked as an admissions director at Dartmouth, she noticed that most essays were only read for three minutes. Some too-common essay types were the "outward bound" essay about how a person discovered their inner grit while hiking tough mountains, or the "community service" essay about how a student discovered, while working among disadvantaged peoples, that "all persons were the same". Admissions officers seek to learn how a person thinks, what kind of person they are, and their level of intellectual promise. Essays are generally important only in borderline cases.

Other factors

One report was that at Ivy League universities, 40% of students were so-called "special cases" including student-athletes, minorities, low-income, legacies, and development cases, and that admissions standards were typically lowered for these groups.

Ability to pay

While there is general agreement that chances for admission are higher for students who are prepared to pay the full price, there are indications that this has been even more prevalent in the past few years given economic uncertainty and rising college costs, particularly at schools without large endowments. Half of admissions officers at both public universities and a third of officers at four-year colleges were actively seeking students who could "pay full price" and did not need financial aid, according to one survey of 462 admissions directors and managers in 2011. The report suggested that full-pay students tended to have lower high school grades and test scores than other students, compared to other applicants, on average. Two other reports confirmed that public university admissions officers were actively seeking out-of-state and international students since they paid higher rates for tuition. Another report found that one in ten admissions officers had said that their college admitted full-pay students despite their having lower average grades and test scores. Reports vary about whether the financial neediness of applicants impacts admissions chances; one suggested that applicants with strong academic credentials or talents are more likely to get financial aid, but that depending on the college, "borderline admits" needing money were most vulnerable; a second report was that "colleges like rich students". George Washington University, despite claiming to have need blind admissions, was more likely to waitlist financially needy applicants, according to one report. One view was that financial aid depends on how a specific student compares with other students:

What this means is that your financial aid package from a reach college may not be as attractive as the package from one of your target, or well matched, colleges. If you are looking for generous scholarship aid, you need to look at colleges and universities where your academic profile is strong compared to that of the average admitted student.

— Hannah Serota, college counselor

By contrast, other schools practice need-blind admission.

Geographic diversity

One view was that state schools strive to admit students from "all parts of a state," which suggests that applicants who live farther away from a given school had a better chance of admission. But a contrary view was that geographic location of the applicant matters perhaps only slightly, if at all; Hernandez looked at acceptance ratios to Dartmouth for different geographic locations, and found that geographic distance was not a factor influencing admittances.

Race and ethnicity

Students at the Commons at Green River Community College in Washington.

A survey of admissions personnel suggested that two-fifths had said yes to applicants from minorities despite having lower grades and test scores than other applicants, on average. At the same time, rulings by the Supreme Court have prevented race from becoming an "overriding factor" in college admissions. A report suggested minority students have a better chance overall at selective colleges. In the case of multiracial students, they have a choice of which box to check since it may be perceived either as "gamesmanship" or reflecting one's racial makeup. Some Asian-Americans have felt loathe to describe themselves as Asian, or to reveal information about their ethnic background, on the supposition that college admissions departments discriminate against them because of their ethnicity and consider them incorrectly to be "boring academic robots", according to several reports. Typically, Asian applicants require a SAT score 140 points above that of a comparable white student, and considerably higher than that of a non-Asian minority, to have a similar chance of admission. Asians get a "raw deal" in Ivy admissions, according to Hernandez, and have to be much better students than the typical white applicant to be admitted. She wrote that it benefits an applicant to be African American, Latino, or Native American, since colleges can advertise their diversity as a result. The admissions practices of Harvard and Princeton were investigated for possible discrimination against Asian-American applicants by Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Legacy applicants

Main article: Legacy preferences

There are differing views about how important it is to have a family member or relative who also attended a college. It is clear that it is a factor; one report suggested that having a family member who is an alumnus gives "a leg up" for applicants. One report suggested that siblings do not count as legacies. In some cases, a parent's attendance at a related graduate school counts as a legacy, but most colleges do not count this. Many selective private colleges have a higher admit rate for alumni children as a way to "keep the larger set of alumni happy and giving", and being a legacy applicant can mean as much as "100 or 200 points on the SAT".

Legacy admissions have had a history of controversy; economist Peter Sacks criticized the practice of legacy admissions as a "social reproduction process" in which "elite institutions have an implicit bargain with their alumni ... ’You give us money, and we will move your kid to the front of the line.'" Another agreed that legacies perpetuated a "hereditary aristocracy". But an opposing view is that all colleges, to varying extents, make choices as part of the admissions process, including state schools that charge in-state residents (with taxpaying parents) a lower rate than out-of-state residents, and it was argued that there was not really much difference between taxpaying parents contributing to a state school as well as generous alumni contributing to a private school—both with the possibility that it will help their offspring get into college. Consultant Donald Dunbar suggested that admitting legacies encourages future donations, and in turn these incoming money flows help the school subsidize the education of more minority students; another source suggested that alumni gifts was important in helping a college pay for need-blind programs. Legacy admissions was criticized by Daniel Golden in his book The Price of Admission in which elite schools gave "heavy preferences to the wealthy", according to essayist Neal Gabler in the Boston Globe.

Family wealth

Main article: Development case

In certain cases, family wealth of applicants is considered, based on potential to make a substantial donation to the school (above and beyond paying tuition, and separate from considerations such as ability or fame). Such candidates are known as development cases, and are intended to bolster the finances of the university, especially to its further mission. The practice is not widely discussed by universities that use it, but is reported to be used by a number of top-ranked schools, Ivy League and otherwise, and has been associated with Duke University (which acknowledges its use) and Brown University (which does not comment), especially since the 1980s.

Personal connections

Counselors and admissions directors tend to agree that in a few selected cases, connections were important. A report based on a survey of admissions directors suggested that "whom you know does matter", since higher-level administrators and prominent alumni and trustees can exert pressure on the admissions departments to admit certain applicants.

Other considerations

There was a report that more colleges are resorting to computerized fact-checking software, as well as anti-plagiarism tools such as Turnitin, which checks documents for unoriginal content on the web, possibly as a response to well-publicized scandals in which a student won admission to Harvard University by fraudulent means. Supplementary materials generally carry "no weight" in college admissions, according to one view. A report in Time Magazine suggested that many elite colleges used a vaguer measure of institutional fit to decide who is admitted, which is based on nonacademic qualities and may favor "underrepresented minorities and students who demonstrate exceptional talent." Students who take a "gap year" between high school and college can benefit if the year was enriching and developing and helped the student mature.

Acceptances and rejections

Colleges use waitlists to hedge their bets, uncertain about how many accepted students will say yes, and to draw applicants from the waitlist when vacancies open. In addition, waitlists allow colleges to target acceptance letters to students likely to attend to maintain the college's selectivity ranking and yield.

Notifications

Students are usually notified of a college's decision in April, sometimes in the last two weeks of March, unless they had applied using an early approach, and are usually notified by email, although some colleges still send "fat" envelopes (usually an acceptance) or "thin" envelopes (usually a rejection). A trend appears to be declining percentages of acceptances to leading schools. There are indications that the percentage of students who say "yes" to an offer of admission (the yield) has been declining, from 49 percent in 2001 to 43 percent in 2009. Admitted students may also be awarded financial aid. There are two kinds of financial aid: need-based aid, awarded entirely on the financial specifics of the student's family, and merit-based aid, given to students judged to show exceptional academic promise. Several reports confirm that accepted students who are dissatisfied with an aid offer should contact the college to see if the offer can be improved. International students who have been accepted should complete an I-20 form. A disappointing aid package may be appealed with a polite call to the school's financial aid office, while being thankful for any funds that have already been offered. In some cases, it is possible to bargain with a school for a more generous aid package, particularly if there is a more generous offer from a second school that the first school sees as a competitor. One report suggested that even by May 2012, 375 colleges still had space for freshmen or transfer applicants for fall of 2012. Seniors accepted to college are expected to maintain good grades during the spring; for example, one hundred high school applicants accepted to Texas Christian University, whose grades plummeted in the spring of their senior year as a symptom of senioritis, received so-called "fear of God" letters from an admissions dean asking them to explain themselves, and threatening to rescind offers of admission.

Wait list considerations

About half of colleges use a wait list, particularly those that accept fewer than half of all applications. Since students on average tend to be sending out more applications, colleges have been having a tougher time knowing for certain whether the students to whom they have offered admission will, in fact, attend in the fall. Some of the uncertainty is related to the phenomenon of students applying to more and more schools, sometimes 15 or more, to increase their chances in a statistical sense, but this adds a new layer of guesswork for colleges trying to predict how many accepted students will say yes, and puts waitlisted students in "limbo" or the "basic equivalent of purgatory," according to US News. In addition, many colleges lose some students due to a phenomenon sometimes called summer melt, meaning that some students, even ones who have sent in a deposit, will not show up in the fall, and melt away, and this "melt percentage" can be as high as 5% to 10% of persons who have paid a deposit.

The admission process is a complicated dance of supply and demand for colleges. And this spring, many institutions have accepted fewer applicants, and placed more on waiting lists, until it becomes clear over the next few weeks how many spots remain.

— Jacques Steinberg in The New York Times, April 2010

As a result, colleges use wait lists as a hedge to make sure they have enough students in the fall. Some schools "under-invite" applicants in the regular admissions season to appear highly selective and then about-face and accept them from their wait lists later. One report is that Vanderbilt gets a tenth of their freshman class from the wait list. But it varies from college to college and from year to year. For example, in 2010 Stanford and Yale wait-listed 1,000 students while Duke wait-listed 3,000 students. Overall, one survey suggested that 30% of wait-listed students are eventually accepted, but this is an average figure for all wait-listed students, and the percentage is dramatically lower at elite or prestigious schools. There is a report suggesting that in recent years, the lists are more fluid than in previous years, in the sense that there is more wait list activity—which have become more of a safety net for colleges rather than students. Estimates vary about how many college applicants find themselves on a wait list; one report was that 10% of applicants were wait-listed.

Average yields and wait list acceptances
for selected schools 2009–2010
Sources and notes:

College	Yield	Wait list acceptances
Harvard	75%	70
Dartmouth	52%	95
Stanford	71%	76
U. Pennsylvania	63%
SUNY New Paltz	21%
Cornell	49%
Amherst		35
Lafayette	26%
U. North Carolina	54%
U. Iowa	33%
Connecticut College	30%	44
Colorado College	35%

One adviser suggested that students who are wait-listed "work the wait list" by staying in touch with the admissions office to make sure they know the student will attend if accepted, and possibly take steps such as forwarding new grades and making a subsequent college visit, or send a one-page letter or 60-second video describing a strong desire to attend and the reasons. A former dean of admissions at Franklin and Marshall College suggests that students not view the wait list letter as a "polite denial" but rather as a possible opportunity. A second report in 2011 confirmed this, and it suggested that private colleges without "billion-dollar endowments or 40,000 applicants" were finding that the period from May to the start of classes in fall was a time of uncertainty, with many institutions seeking new applicants, and unsure how many of the applicants that had promised to attend would, in fact, show up in the fall. What can happen is that institutions at the top of the "food chain" accept students from their wait lists, and these students in turn sacrifice their deposit to schools lower down the chain, generating vacancies and uncertainty. A downside to wait lists is that by the time a student is accepted, there may be much less money available for scholarships or grants. There was a report in The Wall Street Journal of a few colleges, such as Franklin & Marshall, that deliberately waitlisted overqualified students on the assumption that, even if accepted, they would almost certainly not enroll. The alleged purpose was to boost the admissions yield rate––the percentage of students who accept a college's admissions offer––as a means to improve the college's overall performance on the influential US News college rankings.

Duke University in 2010 had 27,000 freshman applicants, accepted 4,000 and placed 856 on its waiting list in April, since it was uncertain how many of those accepted would choose to attend; in this sense, the wait list is a form of hedge for the university to guard against uncertainty. Duke does not rank students on the wait list, but chooses based on other characteristics.

Transfer admissions

Main article: Transfer admissions in the United States

While most college admissions involves high school students applying to colleges, transfer admissions are important as well. Estimates of the percentage of college students who transfer vary from 20% to 33% to 60%, with the consensus position being around a third of college students transfer, and there are many indications that transfer activity is increasing. One report suggested that nearly half of all undergraduates in the nation were attending community colleges. Media coverage of student transfers is generally less than coverage of the high school to college transition. A common transfer path is students moving from two-year community colleges to four-year institutions, although there is considerable movement between four-year institutions. Reasons for transferring include unhappiness with campus life, cost, and course and degree selection. There are no consistent national rules for transfers, and requirements vary by college. Many community colleges have articulation agreements with four-year schools, particularly flagship state universities, so that matters such as the transfers of credits are handled appropriately. There are indications that many private colleges are more actively seeking transfer applicants. Still, transferring can be difficult; transfer students have been described in the past as "academic nomads".

See also

• Admissions essay
• American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
• College application
• College tour
• Common Application
• Cooling Out

• Early action
• Early decision
• FAFSA
• FAFSA position
• Hidden Ivies
• NACAC
• Need-blind admission

• Open-door academic policy
• Rolling admission
• Senioritis
• Student financial aid in the United States
• The Early Admissions Game
• Transfer admissions in the United States
• University and college admissions

External links

General information

• How To Choose a College That's Right For You – NPR
• Uni in the USA, a guide to studying in America aimed at British students

Financial tools

• CNN Money tool for estimating college's average net price based on income
• CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE
• College Board's Expected Family Contribution Calculator A tool to get a rough idea of cost but not for any specific college
• 2013 College Education Return on Investment (ROI) Rankings
• 100 colleges meeting 94% to 100% of demonstrated financial need
• College Abacus free tool to compare college costs

College search engines

• College Board BigFuture
• College Navigator
• College Data
• Student Advisor
• Do It Yourself College Rankings