^^^^^
well, I guess if you don’t want to “play the game” starting in 8th grade now, you have this list of schools to AVOID.
Luckily, some of those colleges accept both this Coalition quatsch and the Common App. Some, like Rice, accept the Universal Application as well.
I agree with the other posters: what about learning for learning’s sake?
The usual arguments (from what I’ve seen) for the Coalition is that it introduces college apps and awareness earlier. If that’s the problem, why not try attaching the problem head-on by creating and promoting a series of best practices for counselors (or maybe a free or low-cost training) and initiating an awareness campaign where it’s needed most?
Hard to avoid when your own flagship is there. Also some other solid state schools there…
As a mom to younger kids I HATE THIS! As someone who works in a school district with a large low socioeconomic population I can not imagine that this will be helpful in any way. A “feel good initiative” that will continue the rat race for upper middle income and higher income families who will have 4 years to create, craft, tweak, and polish the perfect paper child while missing out on the thing that these colleges REALLY want and need - authentic young adults with a variety of real world views and experiences. Much like other initiatives from so called experts who really know little about the real world.
@novicemom23kids Why can’t I like that post more than once?
@novicemom23kids BINGO!
What just drives me up a freaking wall is that it would be so freaking easy to reach out to students who have been there. They exist right on their very campuses! Almost every PhD student in my department came from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds (the majority of us are first gen college students, came from low income, some of us are first gen Americans, and so on) and they went to pretty elite under colleges (many on those lists).
It’s just so frustrating because we want to help. We absolutely want to help people in our home towns and who grew up like we did. Many of us are involved in outside initiatives to help high school students learn how to navigate things like applications and FAFSA, but people at our own universities don’t want to hear from us. ~X(
I don’t think we know enough yet about how this will work.
But fwiw, here’s a blurb from Yale http://admissions.yale.edu/coalition-application
I think it’s hard to generalize at this point.
It will take a while for counselors in public schools to get familiar and accept it.
It took couple years for counselors to learn and widely use Naviance.
Do they really think most counselors are going to go through all that stuff? Our counselors have mostly (but not always) been supportive of what my kids wanted to do and they got the paperwork in on time, but they don’t do a lot of individualized college guidance. The last time I ever saw my kid’s counselor was in the middle of junior year when we submitted her senior course requests. Our entire college discussion consisted of my daughter telling her where to send the letters. Do they really think that kids in 8th and 9th grade are getting personalized college guidance? I haven’t even met my sophomore’s GC yet. I certainly wouldn’t expect that our middle school counselors, who are responsible for about 250 students each, to suddenly start giving personalized college guidance. They barely know what’s going on in the high school–most questions about high school get referred to the high school–much less what comes after.
My kids go to blah city high school. I will ask the guidance department on what they think. I am curious.
I’ve posted this before, but here it is again - a vocal critic of the Coalition and its application thinks that the real purpose of this new tool isn’t about access but about a grab for prestige:
Above, I didn’t realize that Ramapo College or University of New Hampshire were bastions of exclusivity, prestige, power and privilege. There are a good number of mid-tier state schools on that member list as well. I think like anything else in life, you have to assume that elite schools have the swagger to lead an effort like this. Nothing pops out at me that this is detrimental to students or self-serving to the schools. The technology of the Common App is abysmal.
When the announcement came out, our flagship state U was a coalition application exclusive member, so we may have to do this. Rumor has it that some schools have dropped out or dropped the exclusive restriction for the first year because of the delayed rollout. But, my HS rising junior may have to do this senior year to apply to our flagship.
I have heard rumors (http://www.examiner.com/article/two-women-two-applications-and-an-industry-that-s-lost-its-center) that the Common App is attempting to “compete” with the portfolio by encouraging colleges to request a ZeeMee link. Because every bad idea deserves to be copied, I guess.
I am so glad this is my last kid through the admissions process.
I was shocked when I looked at this list of schools! My D16 managed to apply to and get into 7 schools without even using the Common App because she thought even that had too many questions and requirements. At least two of the schools she got in to - which I swear she picked, in part, because their applications were really easy - are on this list of coalition members (Indiana, Minnesota). I know that Pitt also had a pretty simple application, but I guess not anymore!
I have been thinking that S19 is much more likely to apply to in-state schools and now I see that my state has at least four in-state schools among the coalition. Really, you have to document achievements in 9th grade to get into JMU? I’m hoping that the size of the coalition won’t grow too drastically by the fall of 2018 when my son applies.
I have an ADHD introvert who likes math and is devoted to his orchestra instrument. He doesn’t play sports, do theatre, debate, robotics, student government, model UN, etc., nor does he want to. He’s a nice kid, a good student, a rule-follower, an excellent test taker. I’ll make sure he does some volunteer work and gets a part-time job when he’s a little older, but he’s never going to be a standout leader among his HS peers - he doesn’t have the personality for it. Neither do his parents and we are well-educated contributing members of society with good jobs. No kid should be treated like garbage in the admissions process because they don’t have enough activities when they’re 14 years old!
You don’t “have to” document those. The locker is a tool, not much different than creating your own file.
And you don’t have to apply to a highly competitive school that expects a pattern of ECs. So many colleges don’t.
Below are the requirements to become a member of the Coalition. Ramapo qualifies because it is a public affordable college that has a six year graduation rate of 74%. I think the Coalition realized if they held the public universities to the “meets full financial need” requirement, there would be far too few members. Only about 140 schools in the US qualify. That seems pretty exclusive to me. The private colleges and universities are the wealthiest and, as often pointed out on CC, among the most selective schools.
"Coalition members must have a six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent and meet students’ full financial need or, if public, offer affordable in-state tuition. "
I don’t think this Coalition really benefits any student, regardless of income, education level or “talent”. This just upped the game on the affluent communities where the stress and pressure is high already. This has simply pushed down the stress to freshmen and (hopefully not), even 8th graders.
What’s worse, by joining this coalition, now high school students will have long-term dream school. It’s bad enough juniors and seniors tend to focus on reach schools, now freshmen and sophomores will see the Coalition member names regularly. It will be even more difficult to make students think about safeties and matches.
I’m not sure how this will work out. There’s a large number of coalition schools that won’t implement it this fall. The Yale link shows they still offer application options.
But forming some record of highlights/history is something many of us have been doing for a long time, almost instinctively. When I worked on an early project, I saved a digest of it for future resumes or if asked for more detail, in the future. I had saved writing samples, ‘Attagirls,’ some job descriptions,etc. And I saved some of this sort of thing when my kids were in hs, so they could refer to it later, if needed. And all that without having a dream goal in mind.
When a hs asks a kid for a brag sheet, we know many kids go blank. Right now, I just see the locker as a file. Some kids may be doing it already. Many aren’t. So often, when a kid asks about ECs and awards, you have to get him to tweak his memory, search beyond what he remembers of the last year or two.
^my son put together his resume this past weekend. Even if he never uses it, it was a great exercise for him recollecting all his accomplishments over last 3 years. Its a very nice snapshot that he can refer to any time.
One of the critical points of the platform is the sharing with mentors. I do not have personal experience with mentoring programs but this might be a tool for them to better advise the students they are working with.
Well who cares about the Common App, the Universal App or the Coalition? There is a NEW player in town!! Cappex plans to introduce their own, streamlined application!! https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/assets/application/counselorfaq/Cappex-Application-FAQ-v03.pdf