This year’s Common App went up today. Seniors should take a few minutes to a) register, b) link to colleges, and c) browse their supplements. Supplements, sometimes no more than glorified “Legacy?” check boxes, more often ask additional essay questions–usually, “Why Our School?”
Then go back to enjoying summer. And while you’re in the pool, your mind might wander to the question of why, in fact, you want to go to (this) college.
Indiana University is “the new Wisconsin.” [WSJ]
NYC toddlers are 34% more excellent than last year. [NYT City Room]
The SAT still discriminates. [Head Count]
This professor is 110! [Tweed]
Good news: Some colleges (Boston College, Brown, Catholic, and a bunch more) do indeed superscore (combine a student’s highest scores on) the ACT. [College Admissions Partners]
Baddish news: Princeton fraternities are as awful as you would probably expect. [IvyGate]
Medium news: 1 in 3 of you will switch colleges. And there’s a podcast about it. [The Choice]
Elementary schoolers are philosophers, too [NYTimes].
The DOE has announced 31 new charter schools for fall 2010 and, not coincidentally, a shiny new (charter school) common app due April 1. [TheInsideSCOOP]. Not everyone loves charter schools. [NYC Public School Parents]
Columbia has switched to the Common App, just like U Chicago did. [Bwog] So have U Conn, U Mich, St. John’s College, and Yeshiva. [Common App]
School budget cuts–ouch! [GothamSchools] Also (more) excruciating (than ever): Harvard and Stanford tuition. [Daily Intel]
Constance McMillen’s prom case went before a judge today (with mixed results); her anti-discrimination suit is already having a ripple effect in Southern schools. [AP, GLSEN Blog]
Regular (non-early, non-rolling) admissions decisions will sweep in over the next few weeks. Collegewise says not to freak out over rejections:
“One of the best ways to get over a college rejection is to look ahead six months from now. This September, you will be moving into a dorm. You’ll be meeting your new roommate while your parents exact a promise that you’ll call home on a regular basis. You’ll be buying a sweatshirt bearing the name of your new college. You’ll go to your first college class, start making your initial college friends, and officially begin your life as a college freshman. Do you have any idea just how exciting that’s going to be for you?”
Application Boot Camp, sagely observing that “[c]hoosing your college is an important
decision,” says not to rush your decision process.
And The Choice is running one of those cute admissions human-interest series so that parents of college-bound teenagers can goof off at work.
Stephen Colbert was mildly hilarious about the Texas textbook debacle while interviewing historian Eric Foner last night. It’s toward the end of the episode. No word yet on whether New York schools will still teach the history of this cesspool of sin.
Congratulations to my extremely clever students who got into college!
Two nice Times Q & As this week:
1. Clara Hemphill on NYC public school admission (3 parts):
“There is no quality control on the information the schools provide about themselves. It’s next to impossible to transfer schools, so you need to kick the tires and look under the hood of any school before you enroll.”
2. Mark Kantrowitz on the FAFSA and financial aid (7 parts):
“[Y]ou should submit the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE form even if you think you won’t qualify for aid[,] because many families underestimate their eligibility for need-based aid. This is especially true at the colleges that require the PROFILE, since they tend to be among the more expensive colleges.”
And check out this one from September.
My junior year roommates had one of those “For God, For Country, and For Yale” banners on the mantle of our drafty, ant-infested common room. My non-Yale friends thought the banner was ironic, and maybe it was, but not in the way they thought. It’s the same with the new admissions video. Carve out sixteen or so minutes and see what I went through.
