Response to Elena: there are few early birds

Posted by Dee 

Glad you sent in your question, Elena! (on the AdmitSpit post titled, “Just got a comment…“)

“What’s the point of sending SAT/ACT scores to colleges before senior year? I was trying to guess-timate the costs of applying to college, and I was guessing it’d be about $100 per college with all the tests and whatnot needed to be sent in addition to the actual app. I’ve heard that large colleges like the UCs don’t bother looking at students’ scores because they receive so many, and I’m guessing many privates hold the same policy? Do you know if colleges keep these files on record, or do you have to re-send the scores when you apply there?”

You are partially correct.

The University of California campuses (and probably also most other large public institutions) DO NOT keep your scores on record if you send them before you

Response to Kathleen: Common App and stickers?

Posted by Dee

Kathleen left a very sweet comment on our latest AdmitSpit post titled, “Just got a comment…” saying:

“… I recently visited a college, and they gave me a sample of the 2006-2007 common application. On this application was a sticker saying “application fee waived”. The problem is, the application is for the 2006-2007 season, and I won’t be applying until this fall. Should I remove the sticker from the common application papers? Also, does the common application require fees to send online?”

I think Kathleen that the whole point was indeed to give you a “sample” of the Common App so you could get the gist of the types of questions they give in essays and short answers, etc. I don’t think that they necessarily actually wanted you to use that 2006-2007 form to apply for the 2007-2008 year. So no, you shouldn’t remove the sticker from the common application papers because you shouldn’t actually use those papers at all (and if you’re thinking of reattaching the sticker to the correct version of the Common App papers, I say that’s just a bad idea!)

The Common App does require fees — but those are simply the fees that the

They told you to wait

Posted by Doreen 

I know how frustrating it is to be waitlisted. I applied to six private schools last year, five of which were Ivies, and when I got the responses from the Ivy schools, two of the five had waitlisted me, one of which was one of my top choice schools.

Naturally I was frustrated — yes I had other options – I had other great schools I could go to in the fall, but being waitlisted was almost as bad as being rejected since I had little idea about where I stood! Should I wait around for their response before submitting an affirmative answer and deposit for another school? When would they make a final decision on my admission? Would they ever make a final decision or would they just leave me hanging forever? Did being waitlisted and then getting accepted make me less than my peers who were accepted first? How many other people were waitlisted? Did they rank the waiting list? How can I find out how high up I am on the list? Or… how low I am on the list?! If there is a list that is… the unanswered questions go on and on. So, here are some thoughts in retrospect.

The decision letter:

The letter they send you saying that you’re waitlisted will tell you little beyond the fact that you were put on the waiting list; they’ll probably comment that you’re a great student and that there were so many qualified students that they couldn’t have space for all of the wonderful applicants and yadda yadda. Some schools may include percentages of applicants that were waitlisted with you, but this is rare — usually they leave you in the dark on those things.

The postcard:

Usually, the school will give you the option though of staying on the waitlist or not.

Response to BB: how many years of language is enough?

Posted by Dee

BB commented:

“I was recently reading a Princeton Review college book and it said that many of the Ivies – notably harvard along with a few companions – highly recommended four years of a foreign language. When they say “recommend”, what does that really mean? Does it mean “mandatory”? Thank you. I would fit Span IV into my schedule, but i simply cannot legally take 8 classes. I’m taking the four AP core classes along with journalism, Symphonic Band (highest band), and Academic Decathlon. Is that good enough?”

This is a fantastic question, BB. I remember struggling with this question myself… I attended a private middle school where we were a year ahead in language from our public school counterparts, so when I moved to my public high school I was in French 3 in freshman year and completed French 4AP in sophomore year.

What was I to do?! All the colleges were recommending four years of foreign language and I was already done two years early! Should I take French 5AP? Then what about senior year? We didn’t have a French 6. Plus, I didn’t even like French all that much, so dealing with two more years would just be a bane to my schedule when there were other courses I preferred taking. Would completing 4AP be good

College rankings boosting college presidents’ bonuses

Posted by Dee 

Bob Werber from Inside Higher Ed commented on the AdmitSpit post titled, “Ranking run-ins” today to let us know about an article they wrote related to the U.S. News and World Report rankings.

The article, “Should U.S. News Make Presidents Rich?” details Arizona State University’s move to link tens of thousands of dollars in bonus pay for the university’s president, Michael Crow, to improved U.S. News rankings.

Initially upon reading Bob’s comment and the first part of the article, I was quite annoyed, and agreed with the sentiment and words that Lloyd Thacker, a “leading critic of the role of magazine rankings,” shared saying that boosting Crow’s salary based on rankings was “rotten, educationally irresponsible, wimpy, short-sighted, and wrong.”

But before running with that view, I realized that perhaps Arizona State’s decision

An exclusive Q&A with Zinch.com’s Mick Hagen

Posted by Doreen

A new site, Zinch.com, founded by Princeton student Mick Hagen, is live and, might I say, pretty cool! Here’s an exclusive Q&A with Mick. If you have questions for him, leave a comment. He’s a really nice guy (see photo) and I’m sure he’s up for answering any queries you may have!

Doreen: So, Mick, Zinch.com was launched just this week. How does it feel?

Mick: Doreen, my oh my. It feels so good. No. I take that back. It feels great! After months and months of brainstorming, research, broken pencils, programming, headaches, late nights, sack lunches, and prayers… we’re finally live. Now we just gotta preach the good news of Zinch, and let the students know about it.

Doreen: So, what is Zinch? Tell us about what it does for students, and how it works on the admission officer’s side as well.

Mick: Zinch.com is a tool to level the playing field in college admissions by giving every high school student in America the opportunity to showcase themselves, communicating those talents and accomplishments that make them unique. This information is then sent to the specified college or university the student wishes

Ranking run-ins

Posted by Dee

Not unlike most years, the U.S. News and World Report 2008 college rankings are of course expected to receive controversy when published in August this year… but there’s a new something festering beneath the tidy, numerical surface this time.

Plenty have spoken out publicly against the rankings over the years, but not college administrators, who, if anything, bow down to the wondrous accuracy of the rankings in hopes of being boosted up them… I don’t call that subjective at all. But this year, it seems more college presidents are out to complain… finally!

According to an article published today in Inside Higher Ed, nearly a dozen liberal arts colleges are set to join the initiative that Sarah Lawrence College’s president, Michele Tolela Myers, began Sunday — against the revered U.S. News rankings. Apparently, Sunday Ms. Myers publicly charged the publication with making up data about Sarah Lawrence (apparently the issue is that Sarah Lawrence made the decision not to collect or use SAT scores in their admissions process so U.S. News decided to make up an average SAT score… one standard deviation lower than the SAT averages of schools similar to Sarah Lawrence!) So now, a handful

Response to M: the last word on the whole harvard debate

Posted by Aaron

M wrote on the post titled, “Harvard, Harvard, Harvard” the following:

“It’s true that the name Harvard will help you get a great job after college. However, after the first month of a job, you are evaluated on your performance, not the school you attended. In regards to coasting through life after graduating from Harvard, that is false. The only Harvard graduates who do that are ones with enough connections/money. Additionally, other Ivies, such as U Penn’s Wharton school, lead their students to the fast track in the business world. Non ivies such as MIT and Cal Tech have much better engineering programmes than Yale. Hence, if you are not sure what you are interested in, then Harvard is arguably the best school to attend. Yet, if you have an idea which field you are interested in, Harvard is not necessarily the best choice.”

With any college, the way I see it, you are learning as well as making future connections. For example, here in Los Angeles, going to USC is very helpful since the graduates already have a connection to all the USC alum in California since they have a “we help our own” mentality. This happens with all schools – it’s just something people find common ground with.

The way I see going to a top tier school as an advantage, compared to other schools, is that when applying for a job if you went to, say, Harvard, you almost have

Soon to be AP registration: season 2007

Posted by Dee

Well, AP registration is around the corner (early March for most of you), and there’s always many, many discussions, controversies, stress, etc. related to these annual AP exams.

And this year, the lovely and revered CollegeBoard has sprung upon all AP test-takers some new talking points!

1. Testing via computer?!?!

Oh yes, this year, the CollegeBoard has introduced two AP tests that you take on a computer — that is, what they’ve dubbed Internet-based tests (iBT). The AP Chinese Language and Culture exam and the AP Japanese Language and Culture are offered for the first time this year, and through the iBT method, where each

When to know if you’re accepted: season 2007

Posted by Dee

It’s almost March, which means that results from regular admissions will start trickling in soon enough.

Since there seems to be no comprehensive list anywhere on the Internet that compiles the dates when each of the top schools report their decisions for regular admissions, we at AdmitSpit created one. The name of each school, along with the date you should expect a response and any special notes are provided. This data was taken from each college’s admissions Web site. This post will likely be updated with more detailed dates and times as deadlines approach and colleges release more precise information about when notifications will be sent out.

Brown: Decisions will be mailed “end of March” 2007, and definitely they will be mailed no later than in the first week of April.

CIT: Decisions mailed “late March/early April.”

Columbia University: Regular Decision application decisions are mailed out in the first week of April, along with invitations for on-campus and regional programs for accepted students.

Cornell: Regular Decision application decisions for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Hotel Administration, and Industrial and Labor Relations are rolling starting in the