http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/education/31sat.html?ref=us
This March, high school juniors taking the SAT will have the option of choosing which scores to send to colleges while hiding those they do not want admissions officials to see.
The new policy is called Score Choice, and the College Board hopes it will reduce student stress around the SAT and college admissions.
But when it comes to college admissions, few things are ever simple. Some highly selective colleges have already said that they will not go along with Score Choice, and the policy is stirring heated debate among high school counselors and college admissions officials.
Some argue that it is really a marketing tool, intended to encourage students to take the test more often. Others say that, contrary to the College Board’s goal, the policy will aggravate the testing frenzy and add yet another layer of stress and complexity to applying to college.
“In practice, it will add more anxiety, more confusion, more testing for those who can afford it and more coaching,” said Brad MacGowan, a college counselor at Newton North High School in suburban Boston and a longtime critic of the College Board and standardized testing.
Many students take the SAT more than once, and the College Board automatically sends colleges the scores of every SAT test a student takes.
Under Score Choice, students can choose their best overall SAT sitting to send to colleges, but they will not be able to mix and match scores from different sittings. (Each sitting includes tests in critical reading, mathematics and writing, with a top score of 800 in each area.)
There is no additional charge if a student selects Score Choice, which also applies to SAT subject tests, formerly called SAT II and given in areas like history, sciences and languages.
Score Choice is not a new concept. From 1993 to 2002, students were allowed to take as many SAT subject tests as they wanted and to report only their best scores to the colleges they applied to.
In ending that policy in 2002, the College Board said that some students who had stored their scores had forgotten to release them and missed admissions deadlines. It also said that ending Score Choice would be fairer to low-income and minority students, who did not have the resources to keep retaking the tests.
Now, the College Board sees things differently.
“It simply allows students to put their best foot forward,” said Laurence Bunin, a senior vice president with the College Board.
With Score Choice, Mr. Bunin said, students can “feel very comfortable going into the test center because, goodness forbid, if for whatever reason they don’t feel comfortable, it won’t be on their permanent record forever.”
William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions at Harvard, shares that view.
“In some respect,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said, “Score Choice will help defuse some of the pressure and give students a sense that not everything is riding on the tests, which really is the case.”
But Jerome A. Lucido, the vice provost for enrollment policy and management at the University of Southern California, said, “Students will like it because they’ll have a sense of control, but my sense is that it’s not worth the trade-off in terms of complexity and more gamesmanship.”
A major concern has to do with how colleges will handle Score Choice.
Admissions officials at some highly selective colleges — the University of Southern California, Stanford, Claremont McKenna and the University of Pennsylvania, among others — have said that, Score Choice or not, they want all the scores — from the SAT and the ACT.
It is in the students’ best interest to send all scores, these officials say, because their practice is to combine the highest subscores from all of the score reports.
“Our plan is to first tell students to relax,” said Bruce Poch, director of admissions at Pomona College. “The habit here is like many colleges, which is to see it all, but consider for admission purposes the highest individual score.”
Gary Meunier, a counselor at Weston High School, in Weston, Conn., said one reason he favored Score Choice was that while he believed that most schools did look at the highest subscores, he had also seen schools rule out students with any scores below 500.
“Some kids, their performance in the classroom far exceeds the way they perform on standardized tests,” Mr. Meunier said. With Score Choice, “they get a couple more shots at it,” he said. “For those kids, they take it with a little less anxiety. At one test, if they blow it, no one’s going to see it.”
Some critics of the new policy note that the SAT’s main rival, the ACT, which has been drawing increasing numbers of test takers, has long had a de facto Score Choice policy.
“Was this a student-centered decision?” said Richard H. Shaw, dean of admissions at Stanford, referring to the College Board’s reason for introducing Score Choice. “Or was it business-centered because they’re worried about losing market share?”
Mr. Shaw added that he was equally opposed to the ACT’s de facto Score Choice. “I don’t want to give them any credit whatsoever,” he said. “I think they started this.”
Score Choice was developed in response to student demand, Mr. Bunin said. “The students were clear,” he said. “They thought that having some control over their scores would reduce their stress.”
The College Board surveyed more than 3,000 high school students from a range of income groups and ethnicities, Mr. Bunin said. It also surveyed 700 counselors from a diverse group of high schools across the country, and 70 percent favored Score Choice, he said.
But other counselors, as well as admissions officials, have expressed concern that the policy will give affluent students who can afford to take the SAT many times an even greater advantage.
Among the questions being asked about how Score Choice will work is this one: What if a student opts for Score Choice and tries to apply it to a college that requires all the scores?
Mr. Poch of Pomona said: “My own view is that tests are a transcript. I don’t get to choose which grades appear on a transcript any more than I get to suppress a driving record from an insurance company.”
Tamar Lewin contributed reporting.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
2008 Top Ten US High Schools by AIME Scores
Top ten high schools in the US ranked by the number of students who scored 6 and above on the AIME.
Rank ..... Name ................... # of Students
1. ....... Stuyvesant H.S., NY .......... 38
2. ....... Thomas Jefferson H.S., VA .. 33
3. ....... Phillps Exeter Acad., NH,..... 27
4. ....... Montgomery Blair H.S., MD... 19
4. ....... Bergen Academies, NJ ........ 19
6. ....... Palo Alto H.S., CA.............. 15
7. ....... Saratoga H.S., CA.............. 15
8. ....... Detroit Country Day, MI........ 13
9. ....... Harker School, CA.............. 12
9. ....... Phillips Acad., MA.............. 12
.
.
Rank ..... Name ................... # of Students
1. ....... Stuyvesant H.S., NY .......... 38
2. ....... Thomas Jefferson H.S., VA .. 33
3. ....... Phillps Exeter Acad., NH,..... 27
4. ....... Montgomery Blair H.S., MD... 19
4. ....... Bergen Academies, NJ ........ 19
6. ....... Palo Alto H.S., CA.............. 15
7. ....... Saratoga H.S., CA.............. 15
8. ....... Detroit Country Day, MI........ 13
9. ....... Harker School, CA.............. 12
9. ....... Phillips Acad., MA.............. 12
.
.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Early Admission Stats for the Class of 2013 at Stanford, Yale and MIT
.
http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/mit_early_action_admissions_de.shtml
.
Name .......... Admit ........... Applied ............... %
.
Stanford ....... 689 ............ 5363 ................. 12.8
Yale ............ 742 ............ 5557 ................. 13.4
MIT ............. 540 ............ 5000 ................. 11
Note: The number for applied at MIT is an estimate.
.
.
http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/misc/miscellaneous/mit_early_action_admissions_de.shtml
.
Name .......... Admit ........... Applied ............... %
.
Stanford ....... 689 ............ 5363 ................. 12.8
Yale ............ 742 ............ 5557 ................. 13.4
MIT ............. 540 ............ 5000 ................. 11
Note: The number for applied at MIT is an estimate.
.
.
ENDOWMENT FALLS 25 PERCENT AT YALE
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/26942
Updated Tuesday 7:12 p.m. Yale’s endowment lost roughly a quarter of its value since the start of summer, and several capital projects — possibly including the two new residential colleges — will be delayed as a result, University President Richard Levin announced Tuesday.
Yale will not implement a formal hiring freeze or reduce financial aid even as its endowment has plunged in value to approximately $17 billion today from $22.9 billion on June 30, Levin said. But in a letter to the community and an interview with the News, the president called for budget cuts and postponements of many high-profile construction projects, including the new School of Management campus.
“In recent years, we have been in the fortunate position of being able to pursue many new ideas and exciting initiatives,” Levin said in the letter. “Now we will have to make harder choices.”
From the start of the fiscal year to Oct. 31, Yale’s marketable securities lost 13.4 percent of their value. But Levin noted in the letter that those losses grew in November and December, adding that it is difficult to know exactly how much the University has lost in investments that “are not traded on a daily basis and are difficult to value with precision.”
Given all this, Levin estimated the endowment’s value at $17 billion, representing a 25 percent decline since June 30.
Harvard University announced earlier this month that its marketable securities had fallen in value by around 22 percent; its endowment likely fell far more, however, because that figure did not include updated valuations in Harvard’s real estate and private equity investments.
“We are less hard hit than some other institutions,” Levin told the News Tuesday afternoon. “That’s because of the excellent management of our endowment by David Swensen.”
Even still, Levin wrote that he anticipates flat endowment returns in the 2009-’10 year and positive growth thereafter. He said the losses would create a budget shortfall that will stand at $100 million in 2009-’10 and is projected to rise to over $300 million in 2013-’14.
For that reason, Levin announced five policy changes — effective immediately — in response to Yale’s dramatic losses.
First, Yale will not freeze hiring, but all new positions will have to be approved by the Provost’s Office. Second, salary growth will be restrained. Third, the University will cut its 2009-’10 budget by an amount equal to 5 percent of the salaries and benefits of all non-faculty staff, primarily via attrition. Fourth, budgets for non-salary and wage expenses will also be cut five percent beginning that year, with another five percent cut anticipated for the 2010-’11 year.
Asked in the interview why he had not implemented a hiring freeze as Harvard and other schools have, Levin said he sees the economic troubles as both a challenge and an opportunity.
“We see the possibility, with so many schools freezing hiring, to do some terrific recruiting,” Levin said. “We didn’t see any advantage in a freeze.”
Certainly the most dramatic announcement in Levin’s letter was his fifth point — that major construction projects would be stalled because of the economic woes. Levin said the renovations of Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges would not be delayed, and he said no already-approved projects would be canceled.
“Let me be clear,” Levin said in the interview. “Any project that’s already started construction will go forward. Morse and Stiles will go forward, as will a couple essential utilities projects. But everything else, we’re going to have to wait until we can either raise the money to pay for the project in full or wait until we can get access to debt markets without jeopardizing our credit rating.”
Levin said that construction on the already-delayed Yale Biology Building project will be postponed for another year, and that the new campus for the School of Management and the second phase of the renovation of the Yale University Art Gallery will be tabled indefinitely “until funding is secured or market conditions improve,” as Levin put it.
Design work and fundraising for the two new residential colleges will continue, Levin said, but that project may also be delayed. Planning and development at the West Campus will be cut back only minimally because the facilities are already built and do not require major construction.
Levin’s 2,031-word letter — which he himself drafted — was the result of planning that began when the endowment’s losses became clear in October, he told the News. The Yale Corporation discussed and approved the course of action at its meeting last weekend.
In a telephone interview, Len Baker ’64, chair of the Corporation’s finance committee, said the steps outlined in Levin’s letter are appropriate for now, but that adjustments might have to be made.
“The situation is very uncertain right now because of the volatility of the markets,” Baker said. “It may turn out that we need to go further.”
On the other hand, Baker said, Yale’s financial position could be stronger than expected for several reasons. First, he said, investment valuations are deflated currently because some investors are selling securities at discounted rates.
“Prices are determined by the people who have to sell, not by the people holding securities,” Baker said. “So you can have one distressed person who is willing to sell the security for next to nothing, and everyone’s worth gets marked down.”
But, in the long-term, Baker added, the financial crisis could end up benefiting Yale. Swensen and the entire Yale Investments Office are looking for good investment opportunities in the current climate, Baker said.
And if Yale does decided to go ahead with its ambitious construction schedule, it may be able to negotiate discounted rates from contractors looking for business.
“The range of outcomes is very wide,” Baker said. “There’s a possibility that this could end up being a great time for Yale, but it’s also a time when we need to be very careful.”
Updated Tuesday 7:12 p.m. Yale’s endowment lost roughly a quarter of its value since the start of summer, and several capital projects — possibly including the two new residential colleges — will be delayed as a result, University President Richard Levin announced Tuesday.
Yale will not implement a formal hiring freeze or reduce financial aid even as its endowment has plunged in value to approximately $17 billion today from $22.9 billion on June 30, Levin said. But in a letter to the community and an interview with the News, the president called for budget cuts and postponements of many high-profile construction projects, including the new School of Management campus.
“In recent years, we have been in the fortunate position of being able to pursue many new ideas and exciting initiatives,” Levin said in the letter. “Now we will have to make harder choices.”
From the start of the fiscal year to Oct. 31, Yale’s marketable securities lost 13.4 percent of their value. But Levin noted in the letter that those losses grew in November and December, adding that it is difficult to know exactly how much the University has lost in investments that “are not traded on a daily basis and are difficult to value with precision.”
Given all this, Levin estimated the endowment’s value at $17 billion, representing a 25 percent decline since June 30.
Harvard University announced earlier this month that its marketable securities had fallen in value by around 22 percent; its endowment likely fell far more, however, because that figure did not include updated valuations in Harvard’s real estate and private equity investments.
“We are less hard hit than some other institutions,” Levin told the News Tuesday afternoon. “That’s because of the excellent management of our endowment by David Swensen.”
Even still, Levin wrote that he anticipates flat endowment returns in the 2009-’10 year and positive growth thereafter. He said the losses would create a budget shortfall that will stand at $100 million in 2009-’10 and is projected to rise to over $300 million in 2013-’14.
For that reason, Levin announced five policy changes — effective immediately — in response to Yale’s dramatic losses.
First, Yale will not freeze hiring, but all new positions will have to be approved by the Provost’s Office. Second, salary growth will be restrained. Third, the University will cut its 2009-’10 budget by an amount equal to 5 percent of the salaries and benefits of all non-faculty staff, primarily via attrition. Fourth, budgets for non-salary and wage expenses will also be cut five percent beginning that year, with another five percent cut anticipated for the 2010-’11 year.
Asked in the interview why he had not implemented a hiring freeze as Harvard and other schools have, Levin said he sees the economic troubles as both a challenge and an opportunity.
“We see the possibility, with so many schools freezing hiring, to do some terrific recruiting,” Levin said. “We didn’t see any advantage in a freeze.”
Certainly the most dramatic announcement in Levin’s letter was his fifth point — that major construction projects would be stalled because of the economic woes. Levin said the renovations of Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges would not be delayed, and he said no already-approved projects would be canceled.
“Let me be clear,” Levin said in the interview. “Any project that’s already started construction will go forward. Morse and Stiles will go forward, as will a couple essential utilities projects. But everything else, we’re going to have to wait until we can either raise the money to pay for the project in full or wait until we can get access to debt markets without jeopardizing our credit rating.”
Levin said that construction on the already-delayed Yale Biology Building project will be postponed for another year, and that the new campus for the School of Management and the second phase of the renovation of the Yale University Art Gallery will be tabled indefinitely “until funding is secured or market conditions improve,” as Levin put it.
Design work and fundraising for the two new residential colleges will continue, Levin said, but that project may also be delayed. Planning and development at the West Campus will be cut back only minimally because the facilities are already built and do not require major construction.
Levin’s 2,031-word letter — which he himself drafted — was the result of planning that began when the endowment’s losses became clear in October, he told the News. The Yale Corporation discussed and approved the course of action at its meeting last weekend.
In a telephone interview, Len Baker ’64, chair of the Corporation’s finance committee, said the steps outlined in Levin’s letter are appropriate for now, but that adjustments might have to be made.
“The situation is very uncertain right now because of the volatility of the markets,” Baker said. “It may turn out that we need to go further.”
On the other hand, Baker said, Yale’s financial position could be stronger than expected for several reasons. First, he said, investment valuations are deflated currently because some investors are selling securities at discounted rates.
“Prices are determined by the people who have to sell, not by the people holding securities,” Baker said. “So you can have one distressed person who is willing to sell the security for next to nothing, and everyone’s worth gets marked down.”
But, in the long-term, Baker added, the financial crisis could end up benefiting Yale. Swensen and the entire Yale Investments Office are looking for good investment opportunities in the current climate, Baker said.
And if Yale does decided to go ahead with its ambitious construction schedule, it may be able to negotiate discounted rates from contractors looking for business.
“The range of outcomes is very wide,” Baker said. “There’s a possibility that this could end up being a great time for Yale, but it’s also a time when we need to be very careful.”
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Duke Accepts Nearly 550 Early Decision Applicants for the Class of 2013
http://news.duke.edu/2008/12/early_decision.html
Duke University has notified 547 students that they will be the first members of the Class of 2013.
This year, 1,539 high school seniors applied through the Early Decision admission process, an increase of 291 (or 23 percent) over last year and the second largest number in school history.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag attributes the higher number of applicants “to an increasing recognition that Duke has worked hard to be affordable for students from all economic backgrounds -– two-thirds of the increase in applications was from students indicating that they would apply for need-based aid.
“It also reflects a greater effort on our part to discuss the benefits of applying Early Decision. And in an uncertain economy, I think people especially value the benefits of an exceptional education.”
Duke is one of a limited number of schools with a “need-blind” admissions policy, which means that all U.S. applicants are accepted regardless of their ability to pay for college. Duke guarantees it will meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need.
More than 40 percent of Duke’s undergraduates receive financial aid to attend the university. Last December, Duke announced significant enhancements to its financial aid program to provide access to a Duke education for lower- and middle-income families. (See http://news.duke.edu/2007/12/financialaid.html/)
The number of students accepted early this year is 75 more than last year, and represents the largest number of Early Decision offers in the last 10 years. The group is almost evenly spilt between men and women -- 275 men, 272 women.
Those who apply via the Early Decision process know they want to attend Duke and commit to enroll at the university if they receive an offer of admission. Of those admitted, 447 students were admitted to the Trinity School of Arts and Sciences and 100 were admitted to the Pratt School of Engineering.
Of those admitted, North Carolina, New York and California were the most represented states. Overall, 41 states and the District of Columbia were represented; there were also 38 students from other countries.
Guttentag said a larger applicant pool “allowed us to admit both a larger and academically more qualified group of students Early Decision. I’m delighted that we were able to fill almost a third of the incoming class with such a talented and enthusiastic group of students.
“At the same time, it’s important that we’ve left plenty of room for what I expect will be a robust Regular Decision pool.”
The students accepted through Early Decision comprise about 33 percent of the first-year class that will begin in fall 2009. Students accepted in the spring through Regular Decision account for the remaining 67 percent of the estimated total of 1,665 students Duke expects in the Class of 2013.
The deadline for Regular Decision applications to Duke is Jan. 2, 2009. For more information about the application process, go to http://admissions.duke.edu.
Denise Haviland
T: (919) 684-0164
Email: denise.haviland@duke.edu
RELATED TOPICS:
Campus News/Working at Duke
Students
NOW FEATURED ON
Duke Today
Computing the Big Questions
A cluster of 2,800 processors gets researchers answers fast more
Duke Research
Drinking from a Digital Firehose
Robots and Computers Accelerate and Expand Biologymore
Focus On
Sustainability
Duke Engage
Duke University has notified 547 students that they will be the first members of the Class of 2013.
This year, 1,539 high school seniors applied through the Early Decision admission process, an increase of 291 (or 23 percent) over last year and the second largest number in school history.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag attributes the higher number of applicants “to an increasing recognition that Duke has worked hard to be affordable for students from all economic backgrounds -– two-thirds of the increase in applications was from students indicating that they would apply for need-based aid.
“It also reflects a greater effort on our part to discuss the benefits of applying Early Decision. And in an uncertain economy, I think people especially value the benefits of an exceptional education.”
Duke is one of a limited number of schools with a “need-blind” admissions policy, which means that all U.S. applicants are accepted regardless of their ability to pay for college. Duke guarantees it will meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need.
More than 40 percent of Duke’s undergraduates receive financial aid to attend the university. Last December, Duke announced significant enhancements to its financial aid program to provide access to a Duke education for lower- and middle-income families. (See http://news.duke.edu/2007/12/financialaid.html/)
The number of students accepted early this year is 75 more than last year, and represents the largest number of Early Decision offers in the last 10 years. The group is almost evenly spilt between men and women -- 275 men, 272 women.
Those who apply via the Early Decision process know they want to attend Duke and commit to enroll at the university if they receive an offer of admission. Of those admitted, 447 students were admitted to the Trinity School of Arts and Sciences and 100 were admitted to the Pratt School of Engineering.
Of those admitted, North Carolina, New York and California were the most represented states. Overall, 41 states and the District of Columbia were represented; there were also 38 students from other countries.
Guttentag said a larger applicant pool “allowed us to admit both a larger and academically more qualified group of students Early Decision. I’m delighted that we were able to fill almost a third of the incoming class with such a talented and enthusiastic group of students.
“At the same time, it’s important that we’ve left plenty of room for what I expect will be a robust Regular Decision pool.”
The students accepted through Early Decision comprise about 33 percent of the first-year class that will begin in fall 2009. Students accepted in the spring through Regular Decision account for the remaining 67 percent of the estimated total of 1,665 students Duke expects in the Class of 2013.
The deadline for Regular Decision applications to Duke is Jan. 2, 2009. For more information about the application process, go to http://admissions.duke.edu.
Denise Haviland
T: (919) 684-0164
Email: denise.haviland@duke.edu
RELATED TOPICS:
Campus News/Working at Duke
Students
NOW FEATURED ON
Duke Today
Computing the Big Questions
A cluster of 2,800 processors gets researchers answers fast more
Duke Research
Drinking from a Digital Firehose
Robots and Computers Accelerate and Expand Biologymore
Focus On
Sustainability
Duke Engage
Monday, December 15, 2008
Yale admitted 13.4 percent of its early action applicants for the class of 2013
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/26932
Yale admitted 13.4 percent of its early action applicants for the class of 2013, a sharp drop from last year’s 18.1 percent early admission rate, the University said Monday.
A total of 742 early applicants were granted admission from a record pool of 5,557, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeff Brenzel told the News. The admissions office also sent rejection letters to more than twice as many early applicants as they did last year, denying 38.3 percent of applicants while deferring 47.6 percent to the regular decision round.
Last year, 885 early applicants were admitted from a pool of 4,888, for an acceptance rate of 18.1 percent. Yale rejected 16 percent of early applicants and deferred 65 percent.
Yale decided to admit fewer students this year despite the 13.7 percent increase in early applications because an unexpectedly high number of students admitted early from the class of 2012 chose to matriculate, Brenzel said.
“Last year, we speculated that significantly fewer of our most competitive early applicants might have Yale as their first choice school,” he said in a statement provided to the News. “However, our yield from the early process declined only modestly, and with this knowledge, I felt we should restrict the number of early offers this year and leave more room for regular decision offers.”
Last year, 80 percent of students admitted under Yale’s early action program chose to enroll, a drop from about 88 percent in prior years. As a result, more than half of the matriculating class of 2012 was composed of students admitted early.
Brenzel said the early applicant pool was “extremely strong,” as it has been in past years. He attributed the high quality of the applicant pool in part to the elimination of early application options at Harvard and Princeton universities, as well as the strength of Yale’s new financial aid policy, which is particularly attractive given the country’s recent economic downturn.
The decision to reject a higher proportion of applicants harks back to a similar practice employed several years ago, Brenzel said in an interview Monday. He described the decision to reject more applicants as a “challenging tradeoff”: While it is difficult to reject well-qualified applicants during the early round, giving them a final decision in December allows them to focus on their other applications.
The four college counselors interviewed Monday all said they saw advantages to rejecting a higher proportion of early applicants if the students would be rejected later during the regular decision process.
Yale’s decision to reject more early applicants who would not have been competitive in the regular round is “merciful,” said Alice Kleeman, a college advisor at Menlo-Atherton High School, a public school near Palo Alto, Calif.
“It’s a wake up call, while students still have time, to apply to some less selective colleges that might be a better match for them,” she said. “Deferred students have the right to believe that they are credible applicants. If they go on believing they are credible applicants when indeed they are not, that’s not doing them any favors.”
Still, while applicants can benefit from receiving bad news early, even students rejected from Yale are highly qualified, said Leonard King, director of college counseling at the Maret School in Washington, D.C.
“You could probably fill the class with the kids that Yale’s rejecting and still have a very strong class,” he said.
The drop in the overall admit rate correlates to the influx of applications Yale received this year, which King partly attributed to the attractiveness of Yale’s financial aid and early action policies during the current economic recession. Students who otherwise would have considered applying to schools with binding early decision programs may have chosen to apply early to Yale so they could compare financial aid packages, he said.
Stanford University accepted 12.8 percent of applicants to its non-binding early action program this year, a drop of 3.4 percent compared to last year. Dartmouth College admitted 25.9 percent of applicants to its binding early decision program this year, representing a 2.1 percent drop in acceptances compared to last year.
The remaining four colleges in the Ivy League with early decision programs have not yet released admissions statistics.
Of the 5,557 applications, 43 were withdrawn or incomplete, Brenzel said.
The deadline for regular applications to Yale College is Dec. 31, and regular applicants will receive news of their admission decision in early April.
Yale admitted 13.4 percent of its early action applicants for the class of 2013, a sharp drop from last year’s 18.1 percent early admission rate, the University said Monday.
A total of 742 early applicants were granted admission from a record pool of 5,557, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeff Brenzel told the News. The admissions office also sent rejection letters to more than twice as many early applicants as they did last year, denying 38.3 percent of applicants while deferring 47.6 percent to the regular decision round.
Last year, 885 early applicants were admitted from a pool of 4,888, for an acceptance rate of 18.1 percent. Yale rejected 16 percent of early applicants and deferred 65 percent.
Yale decided to admit fewer students this year despite the 13.7 percent increase in early applications because an unexpectedly high number of students admitted early from the class of 2012 chose to matriculate, Brenzel said.
“Last year, we speculated that significantly fewer of our most competitive early applicants might have Yale as their first choice school,” he said in a statement provided to the News. “However, our yield from the early process declined only modestly, and with this knowledge, I felt we should restrict the number of early offers this year and leave more room for regular decision offers.”
Last year, 80 percent of students admitted under Yale’s early action program chose to enroll, a drop from about 88 percent in prior years. As a result, more than half of the matriculating class of 2012 was composed of students admitted early.
Brenzel said the early applicant pool was “extremely strong,” as it has been in past years. He attributed the high quality of the applicant pool in part to the elimination of early application options at Harvard and Princeton universities, as well as the strength of Yale’s new financial aid policy, which is particularly attractive given the country’s recent economic downturn.
The decision to reject a higher proportion of applicants harks back to a similar practice employed several years ago, Brenzel said in an interview Monday. He described the decision to reject more applicants as a “challenging tradeoff”: While it is difficult to reject well-qualified applicants during the early round, giving them a final decision in December allows them to focus on their other applications.
The four college counselors interviewed Monday all said they saw advantages to rejecting a higher proportion of early applicants if the students would be rejected later during the regular decision process.
Yale’s decision to reject more early applicants who would not have been competitive in the regular round is “merciful,” said Alice Kleeman, a college advisor at Menlo-Atherton High School, a public school near Palo Alto, Calif.
“It’s a wake up call, while students still have time, to apply to some less selective colleges that might be a better match for them,” she said. “Deferred students have the right to believe that they are credible applicants. If they go on believing they are credible applicants when indeed they are not, that’s not doing them any favors.”
Still, while applicants can benefit from receiving bad news early, even students rejected from Yale are highly qualified, said Leonard King, director of college counseling at the Maret School in Washington, D.C.
“You could probably fill the class with the kids that Yale’s rejecting and still have a very strong class,” he said.
The drop in the overall admit rate correlates to the influx of applications Yale received this year, which King partly attributed to the attractiveness of Yale’s financial aid and early action policies during the current economic recession. Students who otherwise would have considered applying to schools with binding early decision programs may have chosen to apply early to Yale so they could compare financial aid packages, he said.
Stanford University accepted 12.8 percent of applicants to its non-binding early action program this year, a drop of 3.4 percent compared to last year. Dartmouth College admitted 25.9 percent of applicants to its binding early decision program this year, representing a 2.1 percent drop in acceptances compared to last year.
The remaining four colleges in the Ivy League with early decision programs have not yet released admissions statistics.
Of the 5,557 applications, 43 were withdrawn or incomplete, Brenzel said.
The deadline for regular applications to Yale College is Dec. 31, and regular applicants will receive news of their admission decision in early April.
Stanford offers early admission to 689 students for the Class of 2013
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2009/january7/admission-010709.html
Stanford University was more selective than ever in its early admission program this year, accepting only 689 of 5,363 applicants to the Class of 2013, the Office of Undergraduate Admission announced today.
The number of early applications was the highest in the university's history.
Students who apply through Stanford's early admission program, called restrictive early action, may consider all of their college options before responding to Stanford but must agree not to apply to other colleges or universities under any other early program.
Meanwhile, more than 25,000 students are expected to apply to Stanford by Jan. 1 through the regular admission process.
"The competition for admission to Stanford this year will be unrivaled," said Richard Shaw, dean of admission and financial aid. "Because students have accepted our recent offers of admission at unprecedented rates, we have been conservative in making decisions this year. As a result, we expect the overall admit rate to be lower than 9 percent, the lowest rate in Stanford's history. Our applicant pool is now a robust international one, and those who ultimately made the cut are distinguished on a worldwide scale."
Shaw added: "Stanford's new financial aid programs, which provide tuition-free assistance to those families who make below $100,000 a year (and have typical assets of such families), should enable every one of those students who have been offered admission, to attend Stanford in the fall."
Stanford ranks among the top 10 private universities in the nation enrolling students from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds.
Stanford University was more selective than ever in its early admission program this year, accepting only 689 of 5,363 applicants to the Class of 2013, the Office of Undergraduate Admission announced today.
The number of early applications was the highest in the university's history.
Students who apply through Stanford's early admission program, called restrictive early action, may consider all of their college options before responding to Stanford but must agree not to apply to other colleges or universities under any other early program.
Meanwhile, more than 25,000 students are expected to apply to Stanford by Jan. 1 through the regular admission process.
"The competition for admission to Stanford this year will be unrivaled," said Richard Shaw, dean of admission and financial aid. "Because students have accepted our recent offers of admission at unprecedented rates, we have been conservative in making decisions this year. As a result, we expect the overall admit rate to be lower than 9 percent, the lowest rate in Stanford's history. Our applicant pool is now a robust international one, and those who ultimately made the cut are distinguished on a worldwide scale."
Shaw added: "Stanford's new financial aid programs, which provide tuition-free assistance to those families who make below $100,000 a year (and have typical assets of such families), should enable every one of those students who have been offered admission, to attend Stanford in the fall."
Stanford ranks among the top 10 private universities in the nation enrolling students from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds.
Geographic Distribution of the Class of 2012 at Penn
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6451088/2008-UPenns-Deans-Newsletter
Friday, December 12, 2008
Early applications rise by more than 200 for Class of 2013 at Northwestern
http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2008/11/13/Campus/Early.Applications.Rise.By.More.Than.200.For.Class.Of.2013-3541169.shtml
Bucking a growing national trend, Northwestern saw a 15 percent increase in early decision applicants this year, said Associate Provost Michael Mills.
There were 1,712 early decision applications for the Class of 2013 compared to 1,484 last year. Even more significant was the 60 percent increase in minority student applications, Mills said. As of Wednesday, 74 black students and 98 Hispanic students applied early, compared to 46 and 62 students last year, respectively.
A study released in September by the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that one in three American colleges showed a decrease in early decision applications for 2007. Only 25 percent reported decreases in 2006.
Joyce Smith, the association's CEO, attributed this to an increasing number of colleges offering early action applications. Early action programs are not binding - students are still able to apply and attend other universities, Smith said.
The decrease in early decision applications will likely continue this year, she said.
"The current economic situation will press a lot of families in their ability to pay for college," Smith said. "We will probably see more applications go toward public colleges and universities."
Mills said the increase in applications at NU surprised him.
"Especially in today's economy, we've been concerned about the opposite happening," he added.
He attributed the increase of both early decision applicants and minority students to improved outreach efforts.
This includes a recent partnership with QuestBridge, a non-profit organization which pairs selective universities with high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds. NU received 548 QuestBridge applications and will admit 20 to 25 students, offering 15 of them a four-year, full-ride scholarship, Mills said.
NU has also waived application fees for students from Chicago Public Schools and implemented two new programs that target black and Hispanic students, Why NU and Symposium. Starting in December, the university will also sponsor current students to recruit in their hometowns during breaks.
At NU, the early and regular applicant pools are virtually indistinguishable, Mills said. Some universities, including Harvard and Princeton, cut early decision programs because of substantial financial discrepancies between early decision and regular decision applicants.
Jim Conroy, chairman of post-high school counseling at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, said he has seen an increase in early decision applicants over the past few years.
Conroy said he encourages his seniors to apply early only if financial need is not a factor in their college selection.
"For a lot of students, early decision is the only hook some of our students have if they aren't a legacy or an underrepresented minority," he said. "If there's any doubt at all about their financial situation, then we tell them not to do it because it's a binding decision."
Monica Magda, a senior at Neshannock Jr./Sr. High School in New Castle, Pa., applied early to NU.
"My brother goes to NU, so I've visited the campus before and I knew it was exactly where I wanted to go," Magda said. "Financial aid was not a factor in my decision, but if it had been, I probably wouldn't have applied early."
alexfinkel@u.northwestern.edu
Bucking a growing national trend, Northwestern saw a 15 percent increase in early decision applicants this year, said Associate Provost Michael Mills.
There were 1,712 early decision applications for the Class of 2013 compared to 1,484 last year. Even more significant was the 60 percent increase in minority student applications, Mills said. As of Wednesday, 74 black students and 98 Hispanic students applied early, compared to 46 and 62 students last year, respectively.
A study released in September by the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that one in three American colleges showed a decrease in early decision applications for 2007. Only 25 percent reported decreases in 2006.
Joyce Smith, the association's CEO, attributed this to an increasing number of colleges offering early action applications. Early action programs are not binding - students are still able to apply and attend other universities, Smith said.
The decrease in early decision applications will likely continue this year, she said.
"The current economic situation will press a lot of families in their ability to pay for college," Smith said. "We will probably see more applications go toward public colleges and universities."
Mills said the increase in applications at NU surprised him.
"Especially in today's economy, we've been concerned about the opposite happening," he added.
He attributed the increase of both early decision applicants and minority students to improved outreach efforts.
This includes a recent partnership with QuestBridge, a non-profit organization which pairs selective universities with high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds. NU received 548 QuestBridge applications and will admit 20 to 25 students, offering 15 of them a four-year, full-ride scholarship, Mills said.
NU has also waived application fees for students from Chicago Public Schools and implemented two new programs that target black and Hispanic students, Why NU and Symposium. Starting in December, the university will also sponsor current students to recruit in their hometowns during breaks.
At NU, the early and regular applicant pools are virtually indistinguishable, Mills said. Some universities, including Harvard and Princeton, cut early decision programs because of substantial financial discrepancies between early decision and regular decision applicants.
Jim Conroy, chairman of post-high school counseling at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, said he has seen an increase in early decision applicants over the past few years.
Conroy said he encourages his seniors to apply early only if financial need is not a factor in their college selection.
"For a lot of students, early decision is the only hook some of our students have if they aren't a legacy or an underrepresented minority," he said. "If there's any doubt at all about their financial situation, then we tell them not to do it because it's a binding decision."
Monica Magda, a senior at Neshannock Jr./Sr. High School in New Castle, Pa., applied early to NU.
"My brother goes to NU, so I've visited the campus before and I knew it was exactly where I wanted to go," Magda said. "Financial aid was not a factor in my decision, but if it had been, I probably wouldn't have applied early."
alexfinkel@u.northwestern.edu
Dartmouth admits 401 students through early decision for the Class of 2013
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2008/12/11.html
Dartmouth has accepted 401 students into the Class of 2013 through the early decision admissions program. Students admitted in the early decision program will comprise approximately 35 percent of the class that matriculates in the fall of 2009. A total of 1,550 early decision applications were received, the most ever, an increase of 9 percent over last year. Students were notified via a secure website on December 10.
“I’m pleased by the growing strength and diversity of our early decision applicant pool,” says Maria Laskaris, the dean of admissions and financial aid and a 1984 Dartmouth graduate. “We have worked hard to broaden awareness of Dartmouth’s resources and opportunities, particularly our longstanding commitment to expanding access and ensuring affordability. These efforts are yielding gratifying results. The students admitted during the early process form a strong, diverse, and multi talented base for the Class of 2013.”
About half of the early decision admitted students applied for financial aid, up from 41.8 percent last year. “I think the growth in the percentage of students applying for aid reflects a number of factors,” says Laskaris, “including the increased socioeconomic diversity of the applicants, our generous financial aid initiative, and the current global financial crisis.” To date, the College has awarded over $3 million in scholarship aid to students admitted to the Class of 2013.
Dartmouth’s early decision program is binding, meaning students commit to matriculate if admitted. The deadline for Dartmouth’s regular decision admissions applications is January 1, 2009; these students will be notified of decisions in late March, and, if offered admission, will have until May 1 to reply.
A few statistics about the students admitted through Dartmouth’s early decision program:
* Women and men comprise 51 percent and 49 percent of the admitted group, respectively.
* 55 percent come from public high schools, 38 percent from private schools, and 7 percent from parochial schools. In all, 329 secondary schools are represented.
* 87 percent are in the top 10 percent of their high school class (based on the schools that provide data on class rank)
* Students of color comprise 29 percent of the admitted group.
* 39 are first generation college students.
* 21 are international students.
* The students are from 39 states and 14 countries.
Dartmouth has accepted 401 students into the Class of 2013 through the early decision admissions program. Students admitted in the early decision program will comprise approximately 35 percent of the class that matriculates in the fall of 2009. A total of 1,550 early decision applications were received, the most ever, an increase of 9 percent over last year. Students were notified via a secure website on December 10.
“I’m pleased by the growing strength and diversity of our early decision applicant pool,” says Maria Laskaris, the dean of admissions and financial aid and a 1984 Dartmouth graduate. “We have worked hard to broaden awareness of Dartmouth’s resources and opportunities, particularly our longstanding commitment to expanding access and ensuring affordability. These efforts are yielding gratifying results. The students admitted during the early process form a strong, diverse, and multi talented base for the Class of 2013.”
About half of the early decision admitted students applied for financial aid, up from 41.8 percent last year. “I think the growth in the percentage of students applying for aid reflects a number of factors,” says Laskaris, “including the increased socioeconomic diversity of the applicants, our generous financial aid initiative, and the current global financial crisis.” To date, the College has awarded over $3 million in scholarship aid to students admitted to the Class of 2013.
Dartmouth’s early decision program is binding, meaning students commit to matriculate if admitted. The deadline for Dartmouth’s regular decision admissions applications is January 1, 2009; these students will be notified of decisions in late March, and, if offered admission, will have until May 1 to reply.
A few statistics about the students admitted through Dartmouth’s early decision program:
* Women and men comprise 51 percent and 49 percent of the admitted group, respectively.
* 55 percent come from public high schools, 38 percent from private schools, and 7 percent from parochial schools. In all, 329 secondary schools are represented.
* 87 percent are in the top 10 percent of their high school class (based on the schools that provide data on class rank)
* Students of color comprise 29 percent of the admitted group.
* 39 are first generation college students.
* 21 are international students.
* The students are from 39 states and 14 countries.
Early-Decision Applications Are Up at Colleges for Class 2013, in Spite of the Economy
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/education/21college.html?_r=3
Given the current economic downturn, admissions officers at Wesleyan University thought there might be a decline in early-decision applications this year. But when the deadline passed last weekend, they found that the number had risen 40 percent.
“I was surprised, and I was pleased, and I don’t have an explanation,” said Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admissions at Wesleyan, in Middletown, Conn. “It’s hard to believe that one group of 17-year-olds has become more decisive than the group you saw the previous year. So maybe it’s that in a time of economic uncertainty, people want something settled.”
This was supposed to be the year that early-decision applications took a dive. With a recession, the thinking went, selective colleges and universities that use binding early-decision programs to lock in part of their incoming classes would find fewer students ready to commit, and would lose many budget-conscious families to public universities. Indeed, state universities are seeing huge increases in applications.
But many selective private institutions are reporting large jumps in early-decision applicants. Dartmouth, Middlebury and Bowdoin are all up about 10 percent over last year; Haverford, 14 percent; Northwestern, 15 percent; and Pomona 20 percent.
“It might have something to do with last year, when some students stayed on the waiting list a little longer, and maybe told their friends, ‘If you apply early, you can find out in December,’ ” said Art Rodriguez, Pomona’s senior associate dean of admissions. “There’s just more anxiety among students and parents as they’re going through the process.”
The numbers vary from college to college, of course — with two of the most selective liberal-arts colleges, Williams and Amherst, near last year’s numbers.
Early decision has become controversial in recent years. Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia have eliminated early decision, saying that it favored wealthy applicants who did not need to compare financial-aid offers.
Some need-blind colleges said that they had been working to publicize their generous financial aid packages — and that it seemed to be paying off in early-decision applicants from less-affluent settings.
“Our decisions are need-blind, so I haven’t looked, but anecdotally from the reading I’ve done so far, I’d say it’s a very diverse group economically,” said Maria Laskaris, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions. “I’ve gotten many more questions from students and parents this year about financial aid, and I think our financial-aid messages have been resonating.”
At Wesleyan, which is also need-blind, Mr. Pyke said the proportion of early-decision applicants applying for financial aid was about the same as last year.
Early applications come in more varieties than they once did. While most selective colleges use early-decision programs under which students agree to enroll if accepted, others, like M.I.T., offer nonbinding early-action programs, or, like Stanford, single-choice early action, in which students agree to submit only one early application.
Stanford’s single-choice early-action applications increased 18 percent this year.
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., eliminated its popular early-action program this year, pushed back the deadline for binding early decision from Nov. 1 to Nov. 15 — and had a 50 percent increase in early-decision applicants.
“We used to get the bulk of our pool in early action, but we found we were turning down some great students in the regular-decision pool, while taking some who were not quite so good in early action,” said Derek Gueldenzoph, the dean of admissions.
At M.I.T., applications for the nonbinding early-action program were up 25 percent this year — and officials said about half the increase was a result of a new partnership with Questbridge, a nonprofit group that connects low-income students with top colleges. Stuart Schmill, the dean of admissions, said about three-quarters of those admitted under the early-action program typically enrolled at M.I.T.
This week, students at Berkeley Carroll, a private school in Brooklyn, knowledgeably discussed the choices they had made.
“Last year, a girl I know told me that early action was the greatest thing she ever did in her entire life, and it seems very generous, like a kind of security blanket,” said Emma Belleo, who applied early action to both Goucher College, in Towson, Md., and the State University of New York in New Paltz.
Rebecca Ballhaus applied early decision to Brown. “I’ve been pretty sure for a while that I would apply there early decision,” she said. “I like the other schools on my list, too, but when I thought about where I most wanted to go, it was Brown.”
Brandon Clarke, Berkeley Carroll’s director of college counseling, said that not a single family this year had talked about changing their college plans because of finances.
“Maybe education is the last thing people are willing to give up,” he said.
Given the current economic downturn, admissions officers at Wesleyan University thought there might be a decline in early-decision applications this year. But when the deadline passed last weekend, they found that the number had risen 40 percent.
“I was surprised, and I was pleased, and I don’t have an explanation,” said Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admissions at Wesleyan, in Middletown, Conn. “It’s hard to believe that one group of 17-year-olds has become more decisive than the group you saw the previous year. So maybe it’s that in a time of economic uncertainty, people want something settled.”
This was supposed to be the year that early-decision applications took a dive. With a recession, the thinking went, selective colleges and universities that use binding early-decision programs to lock in part of their incoming classes would find fewer students ready to commit, and would lose many budget-conscious families to public universities. Indeed, state universities are seeing huge increases in applications.
But many selective private institutions are reporting large jumps in early-decision applicants. Dartmouth, Middlebury and Bowdoin are all up about 10 percent over last year; Haverford, 14 percent; Northwestern, 15 percent; and Pomona 20 percent.
“It might have something to do with last year, when some students stayed on the waiting list a little longer, and maybe told their friends, ‘If you apply early, you can find out in December,’ ” said Art Rodriguez, Pomona’s senior associate dean of admissions. “There’s just more anxiety among students and parents as they’re going through the process.”
The numbers vary from college to college, of course — with two of the most selective liberal-arts colleges, Williams and Amherst, near last year’s numbers.
Early decision has become controversial in recent years. Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia have eliminated early decision, saying that it favored wealthy applicants who did not need to compare financial-aid offers.
Some need-blind colleges said that they had been working to publicize their generous financial aid packages — and that it seemed to be paying off in early-decision applicants from less-affluent settings.
“Our decisions are need-blind, so I haven’t looked, but anecdotally from the reading I’ve done so far, I’d say it’s a very diverse group economically,” said Maria Laskaris, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions. “I’ve gotten many more questions from students and parents this year about financial aid, and I think our financial-aid messages have been resonating.”
At Wesleyan, which is also need-blind, Mr. Pyke said the proportion of early-decision applicants applying for financial aid was about the same as last year.
Early applications come in more varieties than they once did. While most selective colleges use early-decision programs under which students agree to enroll if accepted, others, like M.I.T., offer nonbinding early-action programs, or, like Stanford, single-choice early action, in which students agree to submit only one early application.
Stanford’s single-choice early-action applications increased 18 percent this year.
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., eliminated its popular early-action program this year, pushed back the deadline for binding early decision from Nov. 1 to Nov. 15 — and had a 50 percent increase in early-decision applicants.
“We used to get the bulk of our pool in early action, but we found we were turning down some great students in the regular-decision pool, while taking some who were not quite so good in early action,” said Derek Gueldenzoph, the dean of admissions.
At M.I.T., applications for the nonbinding early-action program were up 25 percent this year — and officials said about half the increase was a result of a new partnership with Questbridge, a nonprofit group that connects low-income students with top colleges. Stuart Schmill, the dean of admissions, said about three-quarters of those admitted under the early-action program typically enrolled at M.I.T.
This week, students at Berkeley Carroll, a private school in Brooklyn, knowledgeably discussed the choices they had made.
“Last year, a girl I know told me that early action was the greatest thing she ever did in her entire life, and it seems very generous, like a kind of security blanket,” said Emma Belleo, who applied early action to both Goucher College, in Towson, Md., and the State University of New York in New Paltz.
Rebecca Ballhaus applied early decision to Brown. “I’ve been pretty sure for a while that I would apply there early decision,” she said. “I like the other schools on my list, too, but when I thought about where I most wanted to go, it was Brown.”
Brandon Clarke, Berkeley Carroll’s director of college counseling, said that not a single family this year had talked about changing their college plans because of finances.
“Maybe education is the last thing people are willing to give up,” he said.
Early decision applications drop 8 percent at Penn for Class 2013
http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/12/04/News/Early.Decision.Applications.Drop.8.Percent.Interactive.Feature-3569319.shtml
The number of early decision applications decreased for the third year in a row, admissions officials announced yesterday.This year, 3,610 students applied early to Penn - an almost eight-percent drop from last year's 3,917 early applications.As in years past, about 30 percent of this year's early decision applicants will be accepted, said Dean of Admissions Eric Furda. Those admitted will make up a projected 48 percent of the class of 2013, he said.In 2004, Penn received 3,420 applications for its early decision program. Early applications peaked in 2005, when it jumped to 4,148, and has declined each year since then."We are definitely seeing something," Furda said in reference to the lower number of applications.He cited Harvard and Princeton universities' decision to end their early application programs last year and the economic crisis as possible reasons for the decline.Brown University - another school with a binding early decision program - saw a similar drop in early applications this year. According to The Brown Daily Herald, the university saw an about four-percent decrease in early applications.But at Dartmouth, early decision applications are up about 10 percent this year, according to The New York Times.Furda noted that the past three years have seen an increase in applications to non-binding early action programs.The Yale Daily News reported that early applications at Yale University rose about 10 percent this year. At Stanford University, they rose 18 percent and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by 25 percent, according to The New York Times. All three schools have non-binding early action programs.Furda wrote in an e-mail that as a result of recent layoffs and the collapse of the financial service industry, fewer students applied to Wharton than in past years. Only 29 percent of the total early decision applications applied to the school .Fifty-seven percent of early decision applicants applied to the College, 12 percent to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and two percent to the School of Nursing.While, as usual, almost half of this year's applicants hail from the Mid-Atlantic, the number of applicants from California dropped from 332 last year to 292 this year.This number is "soft" compared to last year's, Furda said, particularly since the University had increased recruiting efforts in the state this year. Despite the drop, he said Penn will continue its strong California recruitment efforts due to the size and demographics of the state.In addition, he said next year's recruitment will have an increased focus on the Southeast United States, from Texas to Florida.International applications remained relatively stable, with 602 applicants compared to 605 last year.The gender distribution also stayed fairly even with 46 percent female applicants, up from 45 percent in last year's pool.This year's total, however, does not include the 220 applicants who applied to the University through QuestBridge, a separate application program for low-income students with which the University partnered for the first time this year.This article was updated at 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 4 to clarify that early applications peaked in fall 2005, not 2006 as originally stated. Those students entered the University in 2006.
The number of early decision applications decreased for the third year in a row, admissions officials announced yesterday.This year, 3,610 students applied early to Penn - an almost eight-percent drop from last year's 3,917 early applications.As in years past, about 30 percent of this year's early decision applicants will be accepted, said Dean of Admissions Eric Furda. Those admitted will make up a projected 48 percent of the class of 2013, he said.In 2004, Penn received 3,420 applications for its early decision program. Early applications peaked in 2005, when it jumped to 4,148, and has declined each year since then."We are definitely seeing something," Furda said in reference to the lower number of applications.He cited Harvard and Princeton universities' decision to end their early application programs last year and the economic crisis as possible reasons for the decline.Brown University - another school with a binding early decision program - saw a similar drop in early applications this year. According to The Brown Daily Herald, the university saw an about four-percent decrease in early applications.But at Dartmouth, early decision applications are up about 10 percent this year, according to The New York Times.Furda noted that the past three years have seen an increase in applications to non-binding early action programs.The Yale Daily News reported that early applications at Yale University rose about 10 percent this year. At Stanford University, they rose 18 percent and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by 25 percent, according to The New York Times. All three schools have non-binding early action programs.Furda wrote in an e-mail that as a result of recent layoffs and the collapse of the financial service industry, fewer students applied to Wharton than in past years. Only 29 percent of the total early decision applications applied to the school .Fifty-seven percent of early decision applicants applied to the College, 12 percent to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and two percent to the School of Nursing.While, as usual, almost half of this year's applicants hail from the Mid-Atlantic, the number of applicants from California dropped from 332 last year to 292 this year.This number is "soft" compared to last year's, Furda said, particularly since the University had increased recruiting efforts in the state this year. Despite the drop, he said Penn will continue its strong California recruitment efforts due to the size and demographics of the state.In addition, he said next year's recruitment will have an increased focus on the Southeast United States, from Texas to Florida.International applications remained relatively stable, with 602 applicants compared to 605 last year.The gender distribution also stayed fairly even with 46 percent female applicants, up from 45 percent in last year's pool.This year's total, however, does not include the 220 applicants who applied to the University through QuestBridge, a separate application program for low-income students with which the University partnered for the first time this year.This article was updated at 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 4 to clarify that early applications peaked in fall 2005, not 2006 as originally stated. Those students entered the University in 2006.
Brown U. early apps drop slightly for Class of 2013
http://www.uwire.com/Article.aspx?id=3558084
Brown received about 4.5 percent fewer early decision applications for the class of 2013. It received 2,343 applications, slightly down from the 2,453 early applications for last year's class, Dean of Admission Jim Miller '73 said.
Miller attributed the small decrease to a drop in the number of applications for the Program in Liberal Medical Education. "PLME is down by about 80 applications," he said, though he added that he did not know the cause of the drop.
Sally Rubenstone, senior adviser at College Confidential, a Web site dedicated to providing information about the college admissions process, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that she predicted the number of applications for early decision would decrease while the number of students applying with early action would greatly increase because of the recent economic crisis.
"Middle class students … may favor Early Action over Early Decision in order to be able to compare financial aid offers in the spring," Rubenstone wrote.
The number of early applications to Brown has stayed fairly consistent in spite of the economy's downturn, which Miller said might be due to the new financial aid policies the University adopted last February, which relieved the loan burden on some families.
The class of 2013 is the first to use the common application in applying to Brown, but Miller said the only effect it seemed to have had on early decision applications was that applicants were submitting their paperwork closer to the deadline. More applicants also submitted their applications online than ever before.
"Ninety-eight percent of (early) applicants applied online, up 10 percent from last year," Miller said.
Applicants to the class of 2013 face a demographic challenge. This year's group of high school seniors is likely one of the largest groups applying to college in history, according to a Sept. 13 New York Times article. Rubenstone said the rumor that a lot of people would be applying might have adverse affects for applicants and colleges.
"When the word gets out that a huge number of seniors will be heading off to college, with it comes the fear that extra seniors means fewer college slots. To compensate, many students file more applications … which wreaks havoc in admissions offices because 'yield' statistics from past admissions cycles may not be reliable," she wrote.
Fifty-two more students than were expected enrolled for the class of 2012 this past fall, but despite that, Miller said the admission office would not make it a point to admit fewer students to compensate for prior overenrollment.
"Our expectation is that we'll have a normal sized freshman class of about 1,485," he said.
He also reiterated the current state of uncertainty in the admissions office.
Though admissions hasn't seen much of a change, Miller said any change in the number of applicants will be seen after the regular decision deadline.
"We're in a wait-and-see mode," he said. "We don't know how applications and enrollments will be affected."
This story was originally published by Brown Daily Herald
Brown received about 4.5 percent fewer early decision applications for the class of 2013. It received 2,343 applications, slightly down from the 2,453 early applications for last year's class, Dean of Admission Jim Miller '73 said.
Miller attributed the small decrease to a drop in the number of applications for the Program in Liberal Medical Education. "PLME is down by about 80 applications," he said, though he added that he did not know the cause of the drop.
Sally Rubenstone, senior adviser at College Confidential, a Web site dedicated to providing information about the college admissions process, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that she predicted the number of applications for early decision would decrease while the number of students applying with early action would greatly increase because of the recent economic crisis.
"Middle class students … may favor Early Action over Early Decision in order to be able to compare financial aid offers in the spring," Rubenstone wrote.
The number of early applications to Brown has stayed fairly consistent in spite of the economy's downturn, which Miller said might be due to the new financial aid policies the University adopted last February, which relieved the loan burden on some families.
The class of 2013 is the first to use the common application in applying to Brown, but Miller said the only effect it seemed to have had on early decision applications was that applicants were submitting their paperwork closer to the deadline. More applicants also submitted their applications online than ever before.
"Ninety-eight percent of (early) applicants applied online, up 10 percent from last year," Miller said.
Applicants to the class of 2013 face a demographic challenge. This year's group of high school seniors is likely one of the largest groups applying to college in history, according to a Sept. 13 New York Times article. Rubenstone said the rumor that a lot of people would be applying might have adverse affects for applicants and colleges.
"When the word gets out that a huge number of seniors will be heading off to college, with it comes the fear that extra seniors means fewer college slots. To compensate, many students file more applications … which wreaks havoc in admissions offices because 'yield' statistics from past admissions cycles may not be reliable," she wrote.
Fifty-two more students than were expected enrolled for the class of 2012 this past fall, but despite that, Miller said the admission office would not make it a point to admit fewer students to compensate for prior overenrollment.
"Our expectation is that we'll have a normal sized freshman class of about 1,485," he said.
He also reiterated the current state of uncertainty in the admissions office.
Though admissions hasn't seen much of a change, Miller said any change in the number of applicants will be seen after the regular decision deadline.
"We're in a wait-and-see mode," he said. "We don't know how applications and enrollments will be affected."
This story was originally published by Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Harvard Endowment Fell 22 Percent in Four Months
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525669
Decline dwarfs University's previous worst single-year loss
Published On Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:41 PM
By JUNE Q. WU and CLIFFORD M MARKS Crimson Staff Writers
Harvard’s endowment—the largest in higher education—fell 22 percent in four months from its June 30 value of $36.9 billion, marking the endowment’s largest decline in modern history, University officials announced yesterday. The precipitous drop will require Harvard’s faculties to take a “hard look at hiring, staffing levels, and compensation,” wrote University President Drew G. Faust and Executive Vice President Edward C. Forst ’82 in a letter informing the deans of Harvard’s losses. The decline, which amounts to more than $8 billion, is larger than the endowments of all but four other universities—Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. In the same period, the S&P 500 fell 24.6 percent. The index has fallen an additional 12.4 percent since then. The estimate of 22 percent may not fully capture the actual losses from this period, Forst said in an interview yesterday, as some of Harvard’s money is invested with external managers that have yet to report their latest figures. Faust and Forst wrote in yesterday’s letter that the University should plan for a 30 percent drop-off in endowment value for the year ending June 30, 2009. The news comes during the worst economic turmoil in decades. University endowments across the country have begun announcing unprecedented losses and instituting hiring or construction freezes in an effort to save funds. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences placed a freeze on staff hiring last week, following a cautionary letter from Faust a month earlier that warned of cutbacks ahead. Yesterday’s figure dwarfs Harvard’s worst single-year endowment loss of 12.2 percent in 1974. The endowment has clocked only three years of negative returns, all under three percent, in the subsequent three decades. Forst said University leaders have delayed setting the endowment payout rate for the next fiscal year—a figure generally announced the December before—until Harvard’s schools can reevaluate their budgets. “Given the extreme volatility in the markets, I don’t expect [the payout rate] will be set until we have a much more concrete sense about financial plans and endowment performance,” Forst said. Yesterday’s letter did state that University leaders expect to spend a higher percentage of the endowment next year in an effort to buffer the immediate impact of the losses. The letter also stressed the possibility of slowing construction projects or reevaluating “staffing levels,” and Forst confirmed that the University will reevaluate the scope and pace of every major capital program—including Allston expansion plans and House renovations at the College. “We expect that every part of the University is going to have to find ways to reduce its operating expenses,” Forst said. The need for budget reductions could have particular impact on employee salaries and benefits, which make up half of the University’s costs, according to yesterday’s letter. Forst would not say whether more hiring freezes would follow last week’s freeze in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but said individual schools will need to “take a hard look at compensation generally.” The central administration will work closely with leaders at the schools to tailor solutions to their individual circumstances, Forst said, adding that Faust convened a two-hour meeting yesterday morning to discuss the latest financial update with the deans. “Obviously, no one is happy with the endowment being down,” FAS Dean Michael D. Smith wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson yesterday, “but it does help out planning efforts to understand where the portion of the endowment that we can measure stands.” While the schools struggle to budget for this new development, Harvard’s money managers plan to increase the University’s financial flexibility by upping cash holdings and reducing the amount of risk in the endowment portfolio. Leveraging its strong credit ratings—the highest granted by rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s—Harvard will issue new taxable fixed-rate debt. Unlike tax-free debt, these bonds can be used for any University expenditure and thus increase Harvard’s cash flexibility, Forst said. The University will also convert existing short-term tax-exempt debt into bonds with longer maturities, allowing the University to postpone short-term payments to debt holders and retain a larger financial cushion to the volatility in the credit markets. Multiple media outlets recently reported that Harvard was also seeking to shore up endowment holdings by selling $1.5 billion of its private equity portfolio at a drastically reduced price, but Forst declined to address those reports yesterday. —Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu. —Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at junewu@fas.harvard.edu.
Decline dwarfs University's previous worst single-year loss
Published On Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:41 PM
By JUNE Q. WU and CLIFFORD M MARKS Crimson Staff Writers
Harvard’s endowment—the largest in higher education—fell 22 percent in four months from its June 30 value of $36.9 billion, marking the endowment’s largest decline in modern history, University officials announced yesterday. The precipitous drop will require Harvard’s faculties to take a “hard look at hiring, staffing levels, and compensation,” wrote University President Drew G. Faust and Executive Vice President Edward C. Forst ’82 in a letter informing the deans of Harvard’s losses. The decline, which amounts to more than $8 billion, is larger than the endowments of all but four other universities—Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. In the same period, the S&P 500 fell 24.6 percent. The index has fallen an additional 12.4 percent since then. The estimate of 22 percent may not fully capture the actual losses from this period, Forst said in an interview yesterday, as some of Harvard’s money is invested with external managers that have yet to report their latest figures. Faust and Forst wrote in yesterday’s letter that the University should plan for a 30 percent drop-off in endowment value for the year ending June 30, 2009. The news comes during the worst economic turmoil in decades. University endowments across the country have begun announcing unprecedented losses and instituting hiring or construction freezes in an effort to save funds. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences placed a freeze on staff hiring last week, following a cautionary letter from Faust a month earlier that warned of cutbacks ahead. Yesterday’s figure dwarfs Harvard’s worst single-year endowment loss of 12.2 percent in 1974. The endowment has clocked only three years of negative returns, all under three percent, in the subsequent three decades. Forst said University leaders have delayed setting the endowment payout rate for the next fiscal year—a figure generally announced the December before—until Harvard’s schools can reevaluate their budgets. “Given the extreme volatility in the markets, I don’t expect [the payout rate] will be set until we have a much more concrete sense about financial plans and endowment performance,” Forst said. Yesterday’s letter did state that University leaders expect to spend a higher percentage of the endowment next year in an effort to buffer the immediate impact of the losses. The letter also stressed the possibility of slowing construction projects or reevaluating “staffing levels,” and Forst confirmed that the University will reevaluate the scope and pace of every major capital program—including Allston expansion plans and House renovations at the College. “We expect that every part of the University is going to have to find ways to reduce its operating expenses,” Forst said. The need for budget reductions could have particular impact on employee salaries and benefits, which make up half of the University’s costs, according to yesterday’s letter. Forst would not say whether more hiring freezes would follow last week’s freeze in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but said individual schools will need to “take a hard look at compensation generally.” The central administration will work closely with leaders at the schools to tailor solutions to their individual circumstances, Forst said, adding that Faust convened a two-hour meeting yesterday morning to discuss the latest financial update with the deans. “Obviously, no one is happy with the endowment being down,” FAS Dean Michael D. Smith wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson yesterday, “but it does help out planning efforts to understand where the portion of the endowment that we can measure stands.” While the schools struggle to budget for this new development, Harvard’s money managers plan to increase the University’s financial flexibility by upping cash holdings and reducing the amount of risk in the endowment portfolio. Leveraging its strong credit ratings—the highest granted by rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s—Harvard will issue new taxable fixed-rate debt. Unlike tax-free debt, these bonds can be used for any University expenditure and thus increase Harvard’s cash flexibility, Forst said. The University will also convert existing short-term tax-exempt debt into bonds with longer maturities, allowing the University to postpone short-term payments to debt holders and retain a larger financial cushion to the volatility in the credit markets. Multiple media outlets recently reported that Harvard was also seeking to shore up endowment holdings by selling $1.5 billion of its private equity portfolio at a drastically reduced price, but Forst declined to address those reports yesterday. —Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu. —Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at junewu@fas.harvard.edu.
Early applications to the College decrease by 15 percent at Chicago
http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2008/12/2/early-applications-to-the-college-decrease-by-15-percent
The College received 15 percent fewer early applications than it did during last year’s record-high, according to admissions office figures. Admissions officials attributed the decline to several factors, including the current fiscal crisis and the College’s increased selectivity, a potential deterrent to “casual applicants.”
The College received 15 percent fewer early applications than it did during last year’s record-high, according to admissions office figures. Admissions officials attributed the decline to several factors, including the current fiscal crisis and the College’s increased selectivity, a potential deterrent to “casual applicants.”
The College received 3,795 applications this year, the second-highest early pool in the College’s history, compared to 4,424 applications last year.
The decline is particularly notable since this year is the first time the College used the Common Application, a move that was expected to make the University more accessible to prospective students, increasing the applicant pool.
Dean of College Admissions Ted O’Neill said it was too early to tell exactly what effect the application switch had in comparison to other factors, like financial aid availability.
“I’m not sure right now what the markers would be that would tell us that the Common Application attracted students or sent applicants away,” he said in an e-mail interview. “Of course, in any year in which there are many variables, which is to say every year, a lot of things would have to be taken into account to see which influences were significant.”
Applications increased for international and black students, as well as Americans living abroad. Latino applications slightly decreased. The most significant change came from the Midwest (excluding Illinois), where 36 percent fewer students applied to the College.
“We have to at least consider the possibility that the economy may disproportionately affect a Midwestern university in competition with most of the best public universities in the country and in a part of the country where going to public universities is a perfectly acceptable behavior,” O’Neill said.
Northwestern, however, which is also located in Illinois, saw a 15 percent increase in its early applications. Officials there were surprised with the results, expecting, like O’Neill, that the fiscal climate would compel highschool students to apply to public colleges.
O’Neill also said that the large increase from last year may not have been sustainable, regardless of the economic situation.
“[The increase] may simply have been an anomaly,” he said.
Harvard and Princeton both discontinued their early admissions programs last year, which many admissions experts said caused significant increases in peer schools’ early admissions numbers. But several schools that received a boon last year continued the trend this year. Dartmouth, MIT, Stanford, and Yale all received over 10 percent more applicants than last year.
Last year’s College acceptance rate, the lowest in the College’s history, may also have impacted application numbers, O’Neill said. The increase in both regular and early applications led the College’s acceptance rate to go from 35 to 28 percent, representing an increase in selectivity.
“So, coming off the best year ever in admissions at Chicago, we can only guess that casual applicants were discouraged by our increased selectivity. The quality of the early applicants so far seems to bear that out,” O’Neill said.
While not familiar enough with the University’s situation to make a conclusive judgment, Melissa Clinedinst, assistant director of research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said that a one-year change in selectivity usually does not affect the next year’s early applications.
“Students have an idea of what colleges they want to apply to earlier than when the selectivity numbers are released. They also have a sense of how selective certain schools are,” Clinedinst said. “I think it’ll be interesting to see early numbers alongside regular numbers and see if they correlate.”
So far, O’Neill said, despite the decrease in early applicants, regular decision applications are outpacing last year’s numbers. The deadline for applications is January 2.
The College received 15 percent fewer early applications than it did during last year’s record-high, according to admissions office figures. Admissions officials attributed the decline to several factors, including the current fiscal crisis and the College’s increased selectivity, a potential deterrent to “casual applicants.”
The College received 15 percent fewer early applications than it did during last year’s record-high, according to admissions office figures. Admissions officials attributed the decline to several factors, including the current fiscal crisis and the College’s increased selectivity, a potential deterrent to “casual applicants.”
The College received 3,795 applications this year, the second-highest early pool in the College’s history, compared to 4,424 applications last year.
The decline is particularly notable since this year is the first time the College used the Common Application, a move that was expected to make the University more accessible to prospective students, increasing the applicant pool.
Dean of College Admissions Ted O’Neill said it was too early to tell exactly what effect the application switch had in comparison to other factors, like financial aid availability.
“I’m not sure right now what the markers would be that would tell us that the Common Application attracted students or sent applicants away,” he said in an e-mail interview. “Of course, in any year in which there are many variables, which is to say every year, a lot of things would have to be taken into account to see which influences were significant.”
Applications increased for international and black students, as well as Americans living abroad. Latino applications slightly decreased. The most significant change came from the Midwest (excluding Illinois), where 36 percent fewer students applied to the College.
“We have to at least consider the possibility that the economy may disproportionately affect a Midwestern university in competition with most of the best public universities in the country and in a part of the country where going to public universities is a perfectly acceptable behavior,” O’Neill said.
Northwestern, however, which is also located in Illinois, saw a 15 percent increase in its early applications. Officials there were surprised with the results, expecting, like O’Neill, that the fiscal climate would compel highschool students to apply to public colleges.
O’Neill also said that the large increase from last year may not have been sustainable, regardless of the economic situation.
“[The increase] may simply have been an anomaly,” he said.
Harvard and Princeton both discontinued their early admissions programs last year, which many admissions experts said caused significant increases in peer schools’ early admissions numbers. But several schools that received a boon last year continued the trend this year. Dartmouth, MIT, Stanford, and Yale all received over 10 percent more applicants than last year.
Last year’s College acceptance rate, the lowest in the College’s history, may also have impacted application numbers, O’Neill said. The increase in both regular and early applications led the College’s acceptance rate to go from 35 to 28 percent, representing an increase in selectivity.
“So, coming off the best year ever in admissions at Chicago, we can only guess that casual applicants were discouraged by our increased selectivity. The quality of the early applicants so far seems to bear that out,” O’Neill said.
While not familiar enough with the University’s situation to make a conclusive judgment, Melissa Clinedinst, assistant director of research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said that a one-year change in selectivity usually does not affect the next year’s early applications.
“Students have an idea of what colleges they want to apply to earlier than when the selectivity numbers are released. They also have a sense of how selective certain schools are,” Clinedinst said. “I think it’ll be interesting to see early numbers alongside regular numbers and see if they correlate.”
So far, O’Neill said, despite the decrease in early applicants, regular decision applications are outpacing last year’s numbers. The deadline for applications is January 2.
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