June 30th, 2010 by Joe Connell
Welcome to summer! Students – I wish you relaxing and fulfilling summer breaks. Summer is an excellent time for rising juniors and seniors to get a jump start on the college admissions process. Over the summer, this blog will focus on key terms in the college admissions process, making the most of college visits and starting college applications! To get started, students should be reminded of their rights and responsibilities in the college admissions process.
Rights
- Students have the right to receive the following information from colleges: admissions processes and procedures, financial costs and financial aid opportunities, room and board costs and other policies.
- Students have the right to not be pressured by any college admissions officer. It is the job of admissions counselors to provide counsel on where they see a student being academically and personally successful.
- Students have the right to wait until May 1 (postmark date) to respond to an offer of admission and/or financial aid. (The exception to this is candidates who choose to apply early decision, which will be covered in next week’s blog.)
- Students have the right to accurate wait list information (if they are waitlisted). This includes: the number of students on the wait list, the number offered admission in the past and the availability of financial aid and housing for students on the list. Colleges must notify students of their waitlist decisions by August 1 at the latest.
Responsibilities
- Students have the responsibility to know and follow the admissions, financial aid, and housing policies and procedures for each college or university they choose to apply.
- Students have the responsibility to follow published deadlines.
- Students have the responsibility to seek assistance from their guidance counselor or other trusted advisor. It is especially important for students to follow their high school’s procedures when submitting college applications.
- Students have the responsibility to notify each college or university that accepts them of their decision by May 1. Students may only choose to attend one school, unless they are on a waitlist. If waitlisted, a student can accept the offer of another college; however, they must immediately notify the college of any changes in their plans.
For more information on rights and responsibilities, I encourage students to review the comprehensive information provided by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
Joe Connell has been helping high school students transition to college for the last nine years through positions in admissions, new student orientation and retention. Currently, Joe is the Director of Academic Services & Testing at Dutchess Community College (NY); he has previous work experience at William Paterson University (NJ), Marist College (NY) and Miami University (OH). Joe has presented on issues related to college students' transition and success at both regional and national levels and has taught both SAT preparation and college courses for the past eight years.
June 16th, 2010 by Joe Connell
The past several blogs have looked at college costs, campus safety, retention rates and graduation rates as key college factors. All of these are critical considerations when choosing a college, but they report outcomes of the college experience, and do not tell about how students learn and grow as students and individuals at college.
Over the past few decades, how colleges impact students’ experiences and learning has become an increasingly important consideration for prospective students when choosing a college. Books have been written about this topic, and national research centers have attempted to assess the topic of student engagement. In short, student engagement informs students and their families about in and out of class learning, involvement in extracurricular activities, collegiate community support and more that you can expect to experience at different colleges.
Since 1999, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), has assessed student engagement at over 1,000 colleges. The NSSE is based on five benchmarks that follow: 1) level of academic challenge; 2) active and collaborative learning; 3) student-faculty interaction; 4) enriching educational experiences; and 5) supportive campus environment. These benchmarks are regarded by college educators as reliable factors to help determine a quality education. As such, NSSE results inform prospective students about how current students study, get involved in activities, participate in campus life and feel about the college that they attend.
To get information about NSSE, I encourage you to go to their direct link. (Please be advised that their site does not provide details about individual colleges.) To get information about colleges, students should ask the schools that they are interested in if they have NSSE or similar results to share. (Some schools use similar surveys created by other research centers or organizations.) In addition, students will want to go the USA Today Newspaper site that publishes information about several hundred colleges that have agreed to have their NSSE results posted.
Joe Connell has been helping high school students transition to college for the last nine years through positions in admissions, new student orientation and retention. Currently, Joe is the Director of Academic Services & Testing at Dutchess Community College (NY); he has previous work experience at William Paterson University (NJ), Marist College (NY) and Miami University (OH). Joe has presented on issues related to college students' transition and success at both regional and national levels and has taught both SAT preparation and college courses for the past eight years.
June 9th, 2010 by Joe Connell
Knowing what college is going to cost you is getting much easier. By August 2011, colleges are required to have a net price calculator, i.e., a tool designed to provide students and their families a personalized estimate of the net price of attending the institution. Some colleges have already posted these types of calculators, so students should begin to look for them.
The net calculators that exist now have been developed by or for colleges, so they all differ slightly in the information that they collect about students and their families’ income. In short, they should all be used as a tool, but not the final word on a particular college’s costs. A March 2010 article in the Washington Post provides a further explanation of the net price calculator through an interview with Jeff Whorley, President of StudentAid.com, a company that works with both students/families and also creates net price calculators for colleges/universities. The primary difference among net price calculators is the amount of information they collect and compute. The more information requested, in general, the more accurate.
The net price calculator and other financial aid changes mandated by the Higher Education Reauthorization Act of August 2008 are providing students and families a clearer picture of the cost of college attendance. Cost of attendance is the typical cost to attend for one year at a specific institution including tuition, room and board, books and supplies, travel and other educationally related expenses. Many students when looking for colleges to apply to look at the tuition price and assume that the cost of tuition is more or less the “price tag” for that school; the truth is that tuition is just a portion of the overall college budget.
Joe Connell has been helping high school students transition to college for the last nine years through positions in admissions, new student orientation and retention. Currently, Joe is the Director of Academic Services & Testing at Dutchess Community College (NY); he has previous work experience at William Paterson University (NJ), Marist College (NY) and Miami University (OH). Joe has presented on issues related to college students' transition and success at both regional and national levels and has taught both SAT preparation and college courses for the past eight years.
June 7th, 2010 by Marty Rafson
Students taking the SAT must make sure that they are very comfortable with the terms “factor” and “multiple” and, therefore, know the difference between the two. For example, let’s use the number 6. What are the factors of 6 as opposed to the multiples of 6?
By definition, the factors of 6 are those numbers that divide evenly into 6. Another way of saying this is that 6 is perfectly divisible by these factors. A factor is synonymous with a “divisor.” The factors of 6 are 1, 2, 3 and 6. When asked for the factors of 6, many students would say “1 times 6 and 2 times 3.” We are not being asked to break 6 into factors, but merely to list the factors. The best way to do this is to start with 1 (which divides evenly into all integers) and proceed upward listing all numbers that divide evenly into the given number. That is why we recommend writing the list as 1, 2, 3 and 6.
What are the multiples of 6? Think of the multiplication table: 1 times 6, 2 times 6, 3 times 6, etc. Thus, the multiples of 6 are 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, 60, …
The factors of 6 divide evenly into 6. 6 divides evenly into the multiples of 6.
One interesting note: We could have chosen any number for our illustration above but 6 was specifically chosen. Other than the number 6 itself, the other factors of 6 are 1, 2 and 3. Add them up: 1 + 2 +3 = 6, the number itself!!! It is very rare to have a number be the sum of its own factors (other than itself). Such a number is called a “perfect number.” Perfect numbers are few and far between. Challenge: What’s the next perfect number after 6? In other words, it has to be the sum of its own factors (other than itself). Hint: This one is not so big- we’ll tell you it is less than 50.
Marty Rafson wrote the ESC math curriculum and has been an SAT math teacher, tutor, and curriculum developer for 30 years. He has been a high school math teacher for 36 years and a math department chairman for 25 years. He was also an adjunct professor at City College of New York School of Education.
June 3rd, 2010 by Joe Connell
One of the serious issues that colleges are required to report on is campus safety and security. Some key crimes that many students’ families consider seriously when choosing a college are burglary, sexual assault and motor vehicle offenses. If a student chooses to live on campus, these statistics become even more important because families trust the institution with providing a safe environment for their student. To provide an accurate picture of campus safety, all institutions are required to annually share their crime statistics with the Federal Government.
From the Federal Department of Education, you can access the Campus Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool, which provides customized reports for campus crime data. The data is pulled from a database which institutions report crime statistics to as required by the Clery Act. In addition, students should be able to receive this information directly from the colleges that they are considering. It is the student’s responsibility to request this information, and it is their right to receive it.
Joe Connell has been helping high school students transition to college for the last nine years through positions in admissions, new student orientation and retention. Currently, Joe is the Director of Academic Services & Testing at Dutchess Community College (NY); he has previous work experience at William Paterson University (NJ), Marist College (NY) and Miami University (OH). Joe has presented on issues related to college students' transition and success at both regional and national levels and has taught both SAT preparation and college courses for the past eight years.
