admissions "hot spots" spread

Parent Cafe
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<p>"Once only in 'hot spots,' admissions anxiety spreads to new areas" is the title of Justin Pope's second piece on admission anxiety and stress related to college admissions. The message is that the Sun Belt and Midwest are no longer sheltered from "anxiety creep" and these "hot spots" are spreading - like a contagious virus.</p>

<p>According to the article:
In states below the Mason-Dixon line, enrollment in Kaplan SAT/ACT prep classes has grown at more than seven times the company's overall national growth rate over the last five years </p>

<p>In North Carolina, the number of AP exams taken has increased from about 28,000 in 1998 to more than 70,000 in 2005. In Texas it has increased from 74,000 to more than 200,000.</p>

<p>"..admissions anxiety is creeping into other parts of the country.</p>

<p>It shows up in this fast-growing region, where counselors at the public North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics are hearing more from pushy parents and seeing more pressure on students to apply to college early. Ravenscroft, a college prep school in nearby Raleigh, recently dropped an advanced placement class from the senior curriculum because students were already taking on too much.</p>

<p>A recent college fair in Chapel Hill attracted several parents researching colleges -- without their children. At Durham School of the Arts, senior Caitlin Millward says homework usually keeps her up past midnight, and she can hardly remember when she last read for fun.</p>

<p>"The colleges want to see kids who aren't just cogs in a wheel, but nobody has time to be anything else but a cog," says her frustrated mother, Cathy Millward. "I'm not really happy with the whole game." ...</p>

<p>"The Northeast and California and the mid-Atlantic are certainly the areas with the highest anxiety and hype," says Bill Dingledine, an educational consultant in Greenville, S.C. "It's not quite like that here. But it's moving in that direction."</p>

<p>"Terry Giffen, director of college counseling at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, says the competitiveness there is still noticeably lower than at Choate Rosemary Hall, the Connecticut prep school where he spent 11 years.</p>

<p>"Some parents will say to me, 'I'm sorry I'm kind of a nudge,'" he said. "I'll say, 'You're not on my radar screen compared to (parents in) New England.'" But recently, a parent asked him to recommend a company to prepare her son for the PSAT, a practice test that generally isn't even used in college admissions.</p>

<p>Historically, the Northeast emerged as a hot spot partly because the more competitive private colleges are clustered there. Many good students in the South and Midwest have been steered to flagship public universities, where a good academic record was once enough to get in.</p>

<p>That's no longer necessarily true. Last year, the University of Florida turned down more than 1,300 applicants with high school GPAs over 4.0, for a freshman class of about 7,200. UNC-Chapel Hill turns away nearly two-thirds of applicants."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/10/21/once_only_in_hot_spots_admissions_anxiety_spreads_to_new_areas/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/10/21/once_only_in_hot_spots_admissions_anxiety_spreads_to_new_areas/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>It's spreading because articles like this almost never mention a critical underlying fact: There are over 2600 four year colleges and universities in the U.S. More than NINETY-FIVE PERCENT ADMIT MORE STUDENTS THAN THEY REJECT. </p>

<p>If everyone who is caught in this supposed "panic" stopped focusing SOLELY on the other five percent, their anxiety levels would drop dramatically. If they did their research, kept an open mind, and stopped worrying about where the family next door is applying, they'd actually realize that, gee, you can get a terrific education at a lot of places that aren't impossible to get into. </p>

<p>By the way, that 95% number hasn't changed in the last decade or so, contrary to media reports that seem to indicate otherwise. </p>

<p>The truth is there are, and always have been, a lot of great schools out there admitting a lot of great kids without the "panic" the media likes to claim is paralyzing the nation. </p>

<p>Anyone who wants a break from panic patrol only needs to stop buying into the media garbage about "every" college being "impossible to get into" and start keeping an open mind about what truly is necessary for a great college education. Hint: It has very little to do with the admit rate of the college or university.</p>

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<p>The number of U.S. 18-year olds is increasing every year until 2009, when it will begin to decrease. That bulge in the population is fueling college application anxiety. It will simply be more difficult for today's students to get into the college of their choice than it was five or ten years ago. That said, there are many, many fine schools that are not highly selective.</p>

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<p>We have also seemingly become a national culture in which fear, competition, and complaint are fostered by the media and pumped at us continuously. (Fox News would be a good example) as if these were normal and expectable states of mind. Students and parents need to take a breath, practice gratitude and slow down the frenzied pace that induces panic. If you actually look at the factors that contribute to happiness and health in human development, college rankings are irrelevant. Education and adequate income for needs (but not wealth) are correlated with these things--and as Carolyn's statistics suggest, there are many, many paths up the mountain out there...</p>

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<p>Nothing wrong with achievement. The college competition that creates anxiety is, I think, overall a good thing. Most high school students could do with a good bit larger dose of anxiety.</p>

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<p>"Anyone who wants a break from panic patrol only needs to stop buying into the media garbage about "every" college being "impossible to get into" and start keeping an open mind about what truly is necessary for a great college education. Hint: It has very little to do with the admit rate of the college or university."</p>

<p>Carolyn, absolutely, positively yes and add an "amen" to that. I have to admit that I had fairly high hopes for Pope's series on admissions anxiety but this second installment just gave me the "creeps". The stats, argument and image of viral contagion fostered by this article are, on the whole, weak and ineffectual (I realize that that probably comes off as redundant but if the shoe fits...). As you so rightly point out, this type of media misinformation does little except fuel the supposed panic "assailing the nation". </p>

<p>FWIW, I think Pope's mishandling of the stats include indicating the number of AP's taken in North Carolina and Texas - I don't know much (yet, anyway!) about North Carolina but I learned quite a lot from the "MIT:AP Under Fire" thread (posts by Asteriskea, Stickershock, and Xiggi) about the AP incentive programs in Texas - the rise in number in AP's taken has next to nothing to to with college admission anxiety, panic, or even unhealthy competition.. I got the distinct impression that the AP incentive program instilled and promoted positive educational values and a healthy approach to raising the bar with college level achievement in mind.</p>

<p>PhatAlbert, I do agree that a certain degree of competition and stress related to competition is not a bad thing - many schools strive to create healthy competition (some of epiphany's wonderful posts come to mind on this subject) and many students strive on it. There is a difference, however, between that type of stress and the anxiety it generates and the psychological stress, anxiety and panic generated out of fear - and that is what this type of media hype preys on.</p>

<p>Btw, I heartily second Carolyn's recommendation to read Michael G. Thompson's article "College Admission: Failed Rite of Passage". It is a bit on the long side but well worth the read.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissionsadvice.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissionsadvice.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I just found this link to the "College Admission: Failed Rite of Passage" article -</p>

<p>Carolyn, thanks again.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.parentsassociation.com/college/failed_rite.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.parentsassociation.com/college/failed_rite.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>When competition generates motivation it can be healthy and fun. And there are indeed healthy levels of both guilt and anxiety that we need to be well socialized and humane with each other, given the human tendencies to greed and self-absorption...BUT much of the stress level being promoted currently is good for business but bad for adolescent health. (Last I checked USNWR was not an educational institution...Certainly the College Board is not a charity...)</p>

<p>I agree that the Thompsen article cited is worth reading and sharing with other parents...</p>

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<p>A healthy dose of perspective is all that I'm suggesting. As I noted above, there are exactly 137 colleges and universities that reject more students than they admit. Focus solely on those, and yes, the process is frighteningly unpredictable. Include some of the other 2500 colleges and universities in the mix and the process becomes more predictable and less stressful for all concerned. There are not hugely different numbers of students applying to college these days, just more students and parents falling into the trap of thinking that ONLY those 137 schools are worth attending, and in the resulting panic sending out more applications. </p>

<p>No matter how much the media strives to convince us that this is somehow a NEW situation, it is not. The Thompson article that I mentioned on my blog and that KatonahMom provides the link to was written in 1990. Read it, and you'll be struck by how similar what he was talking about then is to the anxiety you hear parents writing and talking about today. </p>

<p>There is nothing new under the sun, no matter how the media likes to believe otherwise. The key, as I say, is perspective. Focus less on panic and worry, and more on composing a sensible list that includes some of the great schools where admissions chances are higher than rejection chances. Do your best, or encourage your child to do their best, on the applications. Then, sprinkle in a LARGE teaspoon of humor and a cup of strong faith that your child (and you!) will not be defined in life only by where he or she gets in or ends up attending.</p>

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<p>Yes, but no offense intended, most of those other 2500 colleges are crap and the students who go there are not particularly intelligent on average.</p>

<p>Just the truth, and sure you can point out examples of intelligent kids or adults whose background is in subpar academic institutions, but those are EXCEPTIONS to the rule.</p>

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<p>Yup, now more than ever perspective, good information, and a sense of humor are all essential ingredients to keeping an even keel in the "stormy seas" of college admission. Luckily, we do have a wide range of choice - and darn good ones, both private and public. That said, the "panic" button articles still rule and not without reason mainly because HYPS, and other highly selective colleges and universities, are sending out mixed messages and these mixed messages seem to have short-circuited plain old common sense. Numbers of applicants of up both because of demography and the simple fact that most colleges - including the uber competitive elites - want to attract higher numbers of applicants. In another current college admission article entitled "Ready or not, the college-application season is beginning" Eric Stern, of the Sacramento Bee, takes care to quote a source to point out that "nationally, four-year colleges accept 70 percent of the students who apply for admission, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling". Yet, this story undoubtedly would not be "newsworthy" at all if it weren't for the flipside of the coin: </p>

<p>"Kathleen Beasley, who is active in the parent group for the International Baccalaureate program at Sacramento's Mira Loma High School, organized a college-application workshop on a recent Sunday.</p>

<p>She urged parents to look beyond Ivy League ambitions for their children.</p>

<p>"Everyone is now recognizing that you can do all of the right things" - from straight A's to stellar SAT scores - "and you still might not be able to get into Harvard," she said. "And that's frightening."</p>

<p>Beasley also suggests finding colleges that offer programs or courses of study that fit the students' interests.</p>

<p>For example, her oldest daughter quit high school, went to Sacramento City College, developed an interest in paleontology, studied fossils at UC-Davis and is now pursing a master's degree at a leading national program in that field, at California State University-Chico.</p>

<p>Another daughter, a high-school junior, is interested in languages and discovered that a small college in Middlebury, Vt., has a renowned foreign-language program.</p>

<p>"It seems that what parents really ought to focus on is helping their child find their passion," Beasley said. "But there are parents who say, 'Yes, but how can my kid get into Harvard?' I think parents are still in true panic mode right now." "</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/family/story/3398165p-12492689c.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/family/story/3398165p-12492689c.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I really hate how New England gets stereotyped in these articles. There are super-competitive parents in New England, but the ones the admissions people are complaining about are the ones who live in the pockets of wealth: Fairfield County, CT; suburbs north of Boston; Charlestown & Newport RI. </p>

<p>My daughter is in a class of 500. They recently had Parent Information Night for College Planning at her school, and I don't think more than 100 parents showed up. We live in a diverse town, where the median income is in the $30K range. Most people tend to assume that if you are from Connecticut, you are a rich snob, but that is just not the case. (Although I think people from CT are not terribly friendly, it's not because we're snobby, it's because we're uptight.)</p>

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<p>Yes, but no offense intended, most of those other 2500 colleges are crap and the students who go there are not particularly intelligent on average.</p>

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<p>Frankly, I am much more impressed with schools that take "Average" students and turn them into active and engaged scholars than I am by schools which take students who are already "smart" (which, of course, can be intrepreted many ways) and turn them out four years later still smart. </p>

<p>However, I do agree with you: not all colleges are cut from the same cloth. Just as there are some not-so-great less selective colleges, there are also some not-so-great selective colleges. I believe that there are MANY variables that go into creating an excellent educational experience for each individual, and would suggest that if folks started really looking at the bigger picture - instead of assuming that "selectivity" or "smart students" or "prestige" are all that a great education requires - they'd be pleasantly surprised at the educational quality of many institutions.</p>

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<p>Another "Amen" to Carolyn's posts.</p>

<p>I do think you are entirely correct about colleges that take smart people and make smart people not being terribly impressive, whereas colleges that take average students and turn out engaged kids are really exceptional. On a somewhat related note, I'm eternally impressed by my alma mater; it took a die-hard science nerd and got her turned onto history. I hated history in high school. It was a slew of very special professors that changed my mind on that. THAT is what my parents paid $35,000/year for!</p>

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<p>Ok, ariesathena, what college did you go to? And was it several history teachers that inspired you, or the wider college philosophy, or ?</p>

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<p>Tufts. I have an engineering degree, but took a few required courses. I really liked a poetry class, and my prof pointed out that I got a very classical education and could see the influences. They forced me to take a history course (had to take social science, not just humanities) and I LOVED it. I had some great profs - foreign language, literature, and history were all awesome. I really enjoyed it and learned a ton - I thought I was doing it to get through requirements!</p>

<p>Tufts does have a big focus on integrating the engineering college with the liberal arts college. So there's no "math for engineers" v. "math for liberal artists." Likewise, we did have distribution requirements in liberal arts and they really encourage you to explore. We also have two free electives, that we were strongly encouraged to use in a frivolous manner.</p>

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<p>I agree pretty much with Carolyn. The hype is truly a focus on the super select schools both on the highschool and college levels. However, I have also notice that many highschools' focus is on getting the kid into the state flagship school which has become a challenge lately with the stellar academic profiles that applicants to these schools have been showing. Many of such schools are becoming an obsession for parents. And many of those parents whose budgets will be stretched even sending their kids to the state uni, have kids without good options if those kids cannot get into that state uni. My husband's cousins live in Delaware, and when their kids cannot get into U of D, they have to go to community college since the cost of going away for college is too high for them unless they can get that in state tuition. None of the kids got enough aid to go to the catholic colleges where they also applied in hopes of enough money to go away.</p>

<p>As to most of the less selective schools not being worth the experience, I beg to differ with that view. There are many, many, many schools that take most of their applicants and can give anyone who is looking for a good education what need. Many of these schools can offer kids who would not get such opportunities at more selective schools special experiences. I know kids who have had difficulties getting the widely advertised internships and research opportunities at some of the top school. Kids at schools not as well know, can have better chances at some of such programs. I would hate to send a kid as a premed at Hopkins, Cornell or other such school unless that kid is truly the top of the top. Better he goes to a small LAC that can nurture him through the gauntlet rather than try to be gatekeepers as such selective schools do.</p>

<p>Also, it has been a recent phenomonon that kids get to visit colleges that they are considering, then when they apply to them and then again when they get in. The visiting scene has been further fueled by this "demonstrated interest" busines that was fueled by so many kids applying to so many schools that the schools were getting beset with phantom applicants since you can only go to one school. Yes, if you are applying to a dozen schools that require or recommend visits and interviews, you are going to stressed out with the process.</p>

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<p>cptofthehouse: good point about the demonstrated interest factor and college visits.</p>

<p>Irishmom, I agree with you completely about the stereotyping. Just the same, the tri-state metro area (Westchester Cty., Long Island, as well as Fairfield Cty) and the Boston area have always been super competitive regions - even 20 years ago - when it comes to higher education whether it be for undergraduate admission or competition for graduate fellowships. These days, the number of kids who not only want to go to college but want to aim for the elites are up and, as a result, parents and families from these areas are caught smack in the center of the college admission maelstrom these days. </p>

<p>Anyway, here have the first installment of another series of articles, this time in Newsday, that will follow seven seniors as they go through the admissions process:</p>

<p>"A generation ago, Daniel Bianculli could have counted on an admissions letter from an Ivy League university. His SAT scores are in the top 99th percentile, he plays the trumpet in the band and starts on three varsity teams at Oyster Bay High. He wants to study physics and engineering at a place like Cornell so that one day he can join the CIA and thwart terrorists.</p>

<p>But this year, the most competitive for college admissions in decades, he faces staggering odds. Cornell accepted just one of Oyster Bay's 11 applicants from the class of 2006. Bianculli can't even count on a spot at his other favorites, including Carnegie Mellon and Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>Bianculli lacks what colleges call a "hook." He's not a recruited athlete, a legacy or a member of an underrepresented minority group. He doesn't come from a family that can donate a campus building, either.</p>

<p>"This kind of kid would have been a slam dunk for all the great colleges fifteen years ago, but now it's going to be hard," said Gwyeth Smith Jr., Oyster Bay's guidance director. "We have to be nervous, especially because he's coming off Long Island, where there are a lot of Dan Biancullis in the applicant pool."</p>

<p>As they cram for next Saturday's SATs and sweat over essays to meet Wednesday's deadline to apply early to elite colleges, Long Island students confront a demographic mountain. Nationwide, the high school class of 2012 -- this year's seventh-graders -- will be 11 percent larger than the class of 2000. The growth is even more dramatic on Long Island, where the class of 2012 will swell by 35 percent.</p>

<p>And the best scholars are better prepared than ever. The number of American high school students taking college-level Advanced Placement exams has increased by 143 percent in the past 10 years. On Long Island, nearly 30 percent of last year's seniors scored at least a 3 out of a possible 4 on one or more AP exams during their high school careers. That's almost double the rate of seniors nationwide.</p>

<p>"We're turning away students who are number one and two in their class not because we're arrogant but because we don't have room," said Lee Stetson, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, which rejected 62 percent of the 1,035 high school valedictorians who applied this year. Penn isn't alone. Duke rebuffed 58 percent of valedictorians, and Harvard said no to one out of every four applicants with perfect SAT scores.</p>

<p>An Ivy League hot spot</p>

<p>Admissions officers point out that Long Island still manages to send an enviable number of students to top colleges. They credit rigorous high schools located in small districts that offer individualized attention. Jericho, for example, sent a remarkable 9 percent of its Class of 2006 to the Ivies (25 of 264).</p>

<p>Yet the competition intensifies -- here, in Boston's suburbs, in Marin County, Calif. -- anywhere with pockets of wealth and distinguished private and public schools. Said Rachel Korn, who worked in admissions at Brandeis, Wellesley and Penn before editing a book of tips for applicants: "Long Island has so many highly talented students from ultra-competitive schools that it's tough to make the cut."...</p>

<p>"Driven by the growing demand as well as students who want to hedge their bets, applications have soared at places such as Reed College in Oregon (up 15 percent from last year) and College of the Holy Cross, outside Boston (up 41 percent). And, suddenly the "safety schools" aren't so safe: The University of Miami, once derisively known as a "Suntan U," received 19,100 applications this year for 2,000 openings.</p>

<p>Local guidance counselors assure parents there are scores of hidden gems among the nation's 2,533 colleges. Outstanding schools such as Grinnell, Davidson, Carleton, the Claremont colleges, Emory, Oberlin don't yet have window-decal cachet. It's the three dozen bigger-name campuses that continue to mesmerize brand-conscious parents who were satisfied with SUNY schools for themselves." "</p>

<p><a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liaply1029,0,1808956,print.story?coll=ny-main-bigpix%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liaply1029,0,1808956,print.story?coll=ny-main-bigpix&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I personally know a number of New Englanders who have been relocated to Greenville because their business relocated there. I wonder if some of what this fellow sees is because folks from other regions are now moving in. My understanding is the Greenville area is one of the fastest growing in the country...and my guess is there are a lot of "transplants" there.</p>

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<p>Good to see schools like Davidson, Holy Cross and Reed getting more popular. All 3 are very good LAC'S with strong alumni networks.</p>