Student Loan Blog : admissions

Kellogg Sends Acceptance Letters to 50 Rejected Applicants

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:55:00 GMT

Described as a “technological glitch,” Northwestern University accidentally sent acceptance letters to 50 potential candidates for the school’s Kellogg School of Management, the Chicago Tribune reports (“Kellogg School of Management Accidentally Sends Acceptance Letters to 50 Rejected Applicants,” Dec. 18, 2008).

It truly was a computer error, said a Northwestern spokeswoman Megan Washburn, who stated that this was the first time the school’s automated mail-merge program had erroneously sent an e-mail acceptance letter.

“It has never happened before,” Washburn said. “Our systems have been in place for years. We have never experienced a problem.” She pointed out that the 50 candidates only represent about 1 percent of the 5,500 applicants who applied to the full-time business graduate program.

One student celebrated his acceptance to Kellogg at a dinner with his parents only to discover the next day that he had actually been rejected when he logged onto the school’s website.

“It was pretty embarrassing, to be honest,” said the Chicago resident who asked the Tribune not to identify him. “It’s like you won the lottery and had the rug pulled out from under you.”

Washburn said that the school had been contacting everyone who had received an acceptance letter in error to explain the computer glitch. The 50 individuals will be reimbursed their $235 application fee as a result of the mix up, she said.

“Certainly we’re very, very sorry,” Washburn said. “It’s an isolated incident and something we definitely have corrected and will work to ensure it never happens again.”

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Admissions and Financial Aid Experts to Offer Live College Financing Advice at Free Online College Fair

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:12:00 GMT

CollegeWeekLive, the largest virtual college fair on the Web, will offer students and parents the opportunity this week to interact live and online with a wide range of college planning and financial aid professionals, including admissions counselors, financial aid experts, and advisors from some of the top college financing companies in the industry.

CollegeWeekLive will hold its free online “Paying for College” event on July 10, 2008, and NextStudent will be on-hand to help students with their questions about financial aid, scholarships, and private student loans.

Just like with a brick-and-mortar college fair, students who attend CollegeWeekLive will be able to ask questions, attend live presentations and discussions, and receive financial aid and admissions assistance from college professionals and industry experts. But instead of having to travel across the country or trek through aisles of booths, students will be able to access all participating schools and organizations at the click of a mouse.

CollegeWeekLive’s online format allows students and their parents to browse the virtual booths at their own pace and network with participating schools and financial aid companies in a low-pressure environment with one-on-one interaction.

Students can compare colleges and get an in-depth look at the college application and financial aid process through streaming video keynote presentations from admissions and financial aid experts, interactive Q&A sessions with admissions officials, and real-time video chats with current college students.

Admission to CollegeWeekLive is completely free. To attend, students, parents, or anyone else interested in participating only need to register online at the CollegeWeekLive website, providing some basic profile and contact information.

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Wilkes University Puts Freshman Recruits Front and Center and Billboard-Size

Student Loan Girl — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:56:00 GMT

Wilkes University, a small, private school in northeastern Pennsylvania, is using a quirky new in-your-face $120,000 ad campaign to get the attention of today’s media- and marketing-savvy students.

The university is plastering personalized messages on billboards, pizza boxes, gas pumps, and even on MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central to students it wants to make a part of its freshman class, reports Michael Rubinkam in a story by The Associated Press (“Pennsylvania College Woos Students by Putting Them in Ads,” April 30, 2008).

The “trendsetting and forward-thinking” marketing campaign appeals to the “look-at-me generation,” teens comfortable sharing all-things-personal on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, says Nancy Costopulos, chief marketing officer of the American Marketing Association.

The Message: Personalized and Not for the Shy

Wilkes features applicants in its ads who have a “mix of talents and determination” and who live in markets where the university wants to promote itself, says Jack Chielli, the school’s director of marketing. Students must also consent to having their names used.

The ads, writes Rubinkam, are meant “to convey the message that the school gets to know its students personally and pays close attention to their needs.”

To get messages with the right personal touch, 160over90, the Philadelphia marketing firm contracted by Wilkes, interviews participating students and their friends and families, uncovering likes, dislikes, hobbies, nicknames.

The agency uses the information it gleans from these in-depth interviews to design the highly personalized ads that have turned some college-bound seniors into quasi-celebrities in their high schools and communities:

“Lake Lehman senior Greg Heindel: You give your time at the soup kitchen, the firehouse, and your church summer camp. Wilkes University would like to give you something — a top-quality education.”
“Hey Kristen Pecka. Only your closest friends at Central Catholic call you Pecka-lecka-lecka. Choose Wilkes University and add 2,362 more people to that list.”
“Scranton High senior Nicole Pollock: Our goal at Wilkes University is to be as much a mentor as your mother has been. (Now, if we could only make her ravioli.)”

Each ad includes an invitation to “call a Colonel” (the school’s mascot) and provides a phone number that plays a recorded message from a current Wilkes student.

It’s the Thought That Counts

Even if targeted recruits end up choosing another school, says Chielli, he considers the ads successful as long as they continue to grab attention and get other students to think about Wilkes.

But besides drawing more students to apply, the school wants to help make it possible for them to actually attend: Nearly all students receive some form of financial aid apart from student loans to help cover the $25,000 price tag. Wilkes awards $22 million in financial aid each year.

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Fewer Foreign Students Seeking Advanced Degrees in the U.S.

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:44:00 GMT

The growth rate of international students studying at American colleges and universities has slowed, despite an increase in foreign applications to U.S. educational institutions for the third straight year in a row, according to a recent survey.

The 2008 edition of the International Graduate Admissions Survey, a review conducted annually by the Council of Graduate Schools, found that the number of international applications increased by just 3 percent in 2008, compared to a 9-percent increase in 2007 and a 12-percent increase in 2006.

Applications are down for students from China, Korea, and India, who together account for the vast majority of international students studying in the United States each year.

The CGS survey also found a continued slowdown in the number of foreign students applying to U.S. science and engineering programs — two fields that draw heavily on international students.

In the physical sciences, applications increased by only 7 percent this year, after gains of 12 percent in 2007 and 15 percent in 2006. Meanwhile, the number of engineering applications rose by just 1 percent, following a 13-percent increase last year and a 19-percent jump between 2005 and 2006.

International Applicants Hampered by Tighter Visa Requirements

The decline in applications may be partially attributed to increased competition from advanced degree programs abroad, Karen Klomparens, dean of the graduate school at Michigan State University, told The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Growth in Foreign Applications to American Graduate Schools Slows,” April 14, 2008).

Klomparens points to Australia, New Zealand, and Europe as favored student destinations offering increased choice in doctoral education.

Some international students may also be deterred by stricter U.S. student visa requirements following the September 11^th terrorist attacks in 2001. Foreign students applying for U.S. visas must now submit to extensive record checks, a rigorous interview process, and continued monitoring.

“There’s a growing perception among international students that the United States is not as welcoming to international students as it has been in the past,” study author, Ken Redd, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer (“More Foreign Graduates Forsaking U.S. Colleges; Visa Crackdown Cited,” April 13, 2008).

Redd’s review of international graduate applications is the first phase in the three-part CGS survey that will also track offers of admission and final enrollment numbers.

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By the Numbers: Top 10 Undergraduate Business Schools

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:53:00 GMT

Are you a future MBA who sees yourself building the next Trump–like empire or heading up the new 21^st-century tech giant that will finally unseat Microsoft?

If you’re planning on joining the 20 percent of college students who major in business and you’re on the hunt to find the best business school for undergrads that could give you your head start on mega-mogul success, here’s some help.

We’ve got the vitals on the 10 best from BusinessWeek’s list of the country’s Top 50 Undergrad Business Programs for 2008.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia

The world’s first collegiate business school, established in 1881, and BusinessWeek’s number-one program for the third year in a row.

Previous Rank: 1
Tuition: $35,916
Full-Time Enrollment: 2,519
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 16%
School Mascot: the Quakers

McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

Previous Rank: 2
Tuition: $8,690
Full-Time Enrollment: 652
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 34%
School Mascot: the Virginia Cavaliers

Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame
South Bend, Indiana

The Mendoza College offers undergraduate degrees in accountancy, finance, marketing, and management (with your choice of management track in consulting, entrepreneurship, or information technology).

Previous Rank: 7
Tuition: $35,187
Full-Time Enrollment: 1,626
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 29%
School Mascot: the Fighting Irish

Cornell University
Ithaca, New York

Previous Rank: 10
Tuition: $19,291
Full-Time Enrollment: 708
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 37%
School Mascot: the Big Red Bears

Goizueta Business School at Emory University
Atlanta

Previous Rank: 4
Tuition: $34,336
Full-Time Enrollment: 622
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 44%
School Mascot: Dooley, the Spirit of Emory

Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Combining a liberal arts and business education, the three-year Bachelor of Business Administration program allows you to apply during your freshman year of college and begin the BBA program as a sophomore. If you’re a high school senior, you may be still be able to apply for the Ross BBA program through the Preferred Admissions process.

Previous Rank: 5
Tuition: $12,585
Full-Time Enrollment: 1,069
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 49%
School Mascot: the Wolverines

Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah

Earn your Bachelor of Science in accountancy, management, or information systems.

Previous Rank: 8
Tuition: $3,840
Full-Time Enrollment: 1,616
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 74%
School Mascot: Cosmo the Cougar

New York University Stern School of Business
New York

Previous Rank: 9
Tuition: $36,524
Full-Time Enrollment: 2,335
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 24%
School Mascot: the Bobcats

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Previous Rank: 6
Tuition: $34,986
Full-Time Enrollment: 246
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 12.5%
School Mascot: the Beaver

McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas

Choose a major in accounting, finance, international business, marketing, management information systems, management, supply chain management, or engineering route to business for your BBA.

According to the McCombs website, more current CEOs in the S&P 500 have graduated from McCombs than from any other public business school.

Previous Rank: 13
Tuition: $8,908
Full-Time Enrollment: 3,969
Undergraduate Admission Rate: 52% (in 2006)
School Mascot: Bevo the Longhorn

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Can the “Personal Potential Index” Measure What Standardized Tests Miss?

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:48:00 GMT

The Educational Testing Service may soon offer hope to students who dream about attending graduate school but have difficulty performing well on current standardized tests. Ironically, ETS is doing so by introducing another standardized measurement tool, the “Personal Potential Index.” But instead of measuring graduate school candidates solely on cognitive skills or factual knowledge like traditional admissions tests, the Personal Potential Index would gauge a candidate’s non-academic strengths and weaknesses.

Developed at the request of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) advisory board, which was seeking ways “to measure and evaluate non-cognitive abilities,” the Personal Potential Index aims to give graduate schools a broader perspective on applicants, according to a recent article by Scott Jaschik that appeared in Inside Higher Ed (“New Standard for Getting In,” July 6, 2007).

“The development of the index is a significant acknowledgment of the dissatisfaction with traditional admissions measures,” Jaschik writes.

Personal Potential in 6 Dimensions

Supporters of the index, Jaschik says, hope that it will “create a standardized tool that gives credit to strengths that many students … may have that don’t show up on the GRE.”

Intended as a supplement to traditional admissions measures such as test scores and letters of recommendation, the index would be filled out online by three or four people recommending a student for admission. Professors and supervisors would answer four questions for each of the six non-cognitive areas measured, rating applicants on a five-point scale, from “below average” to “truly exceptional”:

knowledge and creativity
communication skills
teamwork
resilience
planning and organization
ethics and integrity

This evaluation could reveal handicaps in people who, for example, don’t play well with others or who collapse like a deck of cards under pressure. A teamwork question may ask whether the candidate is supportive of others’ work, while a resilience question may ask how well an applicant can overcome setbacks and challenges.

In addition to rated answers, the index also allows a candidate’s reviewers to provide written remarks or elaborations in each of the measured categories and to comment on an applicant’s “overall suitability for the programs to which they are applying.” Schools would receive overall average ratings, as well as average scores for each category, and would have access to evaluators’ complete responses for each candidate.

Standardizing the Intangibles

Although ETS hopes that graduate schools may eventually be able to use the index to hone in on which non-cognitive skills will be predictive of a candidate’s success, some critics question if it makes sense for ETS to attempt “to quantify qualities that relate to character and personality in ways that may be unique to individuals and not suited for numbers.”

Some, like Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, say the index simply goes too far. Schaeffer questions, for example, what a 3.8 rating reveals about a candidate’s resilience or organization. “This is overkill,” he’s quoted as saying, “trying to over-qualify everything to a decimal point.” Schaeffer commends the non-cognitive focus of the index, but wonders “why the questions couldn’t be more open-ended with the idea that admissions committees could read what people write, rather than having a score to quickly consider.”

The ultimate value of the index, which is still in the pilot stages, remains to be seen. But for now, at least, ETS is acknowledging that an individual’s academic and testing abilities can’t be the only measures by which to identify educational success. “I think what’s happening is that the largest manufacturer of standardized tests has seen the writing on the wall,” Schaeffer says in Jaschik’s article, “and that the future [of admissions] is not just in testing.”

The student loan advisors at NextStudent are helpful and knowledgeable about student loans. They are a trusted source in getting you the appropriate information about your student loan consolidation and student loan options and in helping students get the college financing they need. Go to www.nextstudent.com for more information.

Be sure to tune in next Monday for my next blog on student loan issues in the news.

Student Loan Girl

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Goodbye SATs? Achievement-Based Admissions is New Trend in Colleges

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:23:00 GMT

By now, many college-bound high school students will have received their college admissions letters and either are overcome with joyful anticipation or overwhelmed with heartbreak. Whatever the case, it is too late for them.

Why? Most probably because they slaved away for years, desperate to retain their 4.0 GPAs and clinch a perfect SAT score. Has anyone heard of high school seniors who are too stressed out to have half a life, obsessed with a stellar academic record that gets them into college and little else? Does this sound like you? Either way, hope is on the horizon.

‘SAT-Optional’ Schools Rule

Many colleges have joined the “SAT-Optional” bandwagon, no longer basing admissions on SAT scores, but rather on a student’s actual accomplishments and achievements. According to the May 9, 2007 article by Scott Jaschik, titled “Advance for SAT-Optional Movement,” that appeared in Inside Higher Ed, a school by the name of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) “will become the first competitive science and engineering focused institution to make the leap.” In fact, the article stated that starting in the fall of 2007:

“That’s normally the kind of clipping that someone in admissions would love — great free publicity. But a quote caught Tichenor’s eye. [Kristin Tichenor is associate vice president for enrollment management at WPI.] The accepted student said ‘I’m really excited to be going to WPI — my guidance counselors told me I’d never get in because of my test scores.’ Tichenor was curious and looked up her test scores, which in fact were ‘squarely’ in the middle range of those accepted to the institute.”

According to the article, “This fall, WPI will no longer require the SAT — joining a movement of 700-plus colleges that has been growing in recent years. That trend has been most evident among liberal arts colleges.”

Real Life Experience vs. Test Performance

To me, this is a huge relief. It always has bothered me that college students need to perform well on a standardized test in order to prove their “worthiness” to attend a particular college and be selected for admissions. An interesting observation also has recently come to light, that SAT scores give no indication as to the student’s potential success in college.

The article reported, “Tichenor said that in discussions, admissions officers have been asking ‘who isn’t here?’ and what WPI could do to attract those groups. At the same time, she said, her office was studying the students who are most successful at WPI, and finding little correlation to SAT scores. Meanwhile, some students with very high SAT scores were floundering. The conclusion the admissions team came to was that high school grades in strong math and science courses in high school were the key factor, not test scores. (The change will be in place for at least five years, while WPI will study the success rates of those who do and do not submit SAT scores.)

“‘Obviously we want to make sure that the students we admit are successful, but all of our internal studies have found the the SAT is not the best barometer,’ Tichenor said.”

We only can hope that other colleges will soon follow suit. If more schools would formulate admission policies admitting students on the basis of merit over test scores, I believe that we would have a more highly educated college population. In addition, such college graduates would be better equipped for the real world, as opposed to students who do great on tests but have little practical life experience that prepares them for a successful future.

It is important to keep up to date on the effects of legislation and news on student loans and education. What goes on in government and in your state can have a great impact on your student loans and your college education.

For all the information you need about student loans, go to www.nextstudent.com.

Be sure to tune in next Wednesday for my next blog on student loan legislation in the news.

Student Loan Girl

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‘Perfect’ Students Rejected by Top College Admissions’ Offices

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:51:00 GMT

This time of year should be one of ecstatic joy and celebration for college-bound high school seniors, as they receive their acceptance letters from the college of their choice after years of sacrifice and excruciatingly hard work. Unfortunately, that may not be the case if acceptance rates at the Ivy League schools are any indication.

It appears that getting into the college of your choice is getting tougher and tougher each year. With the ability of students to apply via the Internet, it seems that more students than ever are applying to multiple colleges, thus the huge increase in applications. And it no longer is enough to have an impressive resume loaded with extracurricular activities in addition to an academic record that would make most moms proud.

And speaking of competition ... for 2007, top schools like Yale, Harvard, and Princeton accepted approximately only 10 percent of its application pool, meaning that most who applied faced almost impossible competition.

2007 Acceptance Stats for Ivy League Schools*

School Acceptance Rate

Yale 8.6%

Harvard 9%

Princeton 10.2%

Columbia 10.4%

Brown 13.5%

Dartmouth 15%

Penn 17.7%

Cornell 20.5%

*Compiled from a chart found at Admissions Consultants at http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/ivy_league_table.asp.

That means that for each of the Ivy League schools, there were several thousand applicants who were exceptional students, having achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average (GPA) for all four years of high school or a perfect score on their SATs, or for some, both. Forget about the long list of extracurricular activities that must have composed the impressive resumes of these students.

What to Make of It?

For some, the realization that “exceptional is now the norm” becomes the new reality. For others, it may be utter disbelief that their perfect academic record and flawless high school performance failed to earn them a spot at their first-choice college. The reality is that there is fierce competition among applicants for all colleges since children of baby boomers have started to graduate from high school in record numbers, never before seen to this extent.

Chalk it Up to Experience

So, if you find yourself among the many thousands of disappointed college-bound students who did not get into their first-choice college, do not despair. There are many who were in the same boat as you and went on to happiness and success at their second or even third college choices. Please do not chastise yourself thinking that you could have worked even harder or spent more hours studying or been more involved in the community or extracurricular activities than you already were. And it goes without saying that just because you were rejected as a college student at a specific school does not mean that you are rejected as a person or have any less value than those who were accepted, as silly as that sounds.

My advice? Simply accept the regrettable as happening, but do not be bound by it or let this negative event define you. You also may recognize that everything happens for a reason, even if you do not completely understand it at the time. Perhaps in another year, you will not even remember this happened and you will be better off for it. Who knows?

The student loan advisors at NextStudent are helpful and knowledgeable about student loans. They are a trusted source in getting you the appropriate information about your student loan consolidation, student loan options and helping students get the college financing they need. Go to www.nextstudent.com for more information.

Be sure to tune in next Thursday for my next blog on student loan advice.

Student Loan Girl

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