Asiamerican Dad's Top 10 College Admissions Myths

Here is the Washingon Post list: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/7-college-admissions-myths/2011/10/20/gIQAmk4GAM_story.html

Not my top 7, but not a bad start.
1. It’s best to set your heart on one school and really go for it.

2. The tuition price listed in brochures is what everyone pays.

3. The admissions department adores you.

4. It’s best to crowd your application with a volume of extracurriculars.

5. It’s better to have a high GPA than to take difficult classes.

6. Essays don’t really matter much in the end because grades and test scores are so dominant in admissions decisions.

7. Recommendations from famous people can give an applicant a huge boost.

8. Take all the AP and double-triple Honors you can stand
9. Apply to schools that are popular with Asians

Asiamerican Dad's top 10

Don't apply to an expensive school - what you pay depends on who gives you the best financial package. Some college websites take your financial profile and estimate what you will pay. My 1st 2 college kids so far got deals from private schools with cost similar to University of Washington with dorm, including Seattle University and Santa Clara University, but most schools did not offer that much money.

1. You can't afford Harvard. Maybe you can't get into Harvard, but if your family makes $70,000 or less you basically get in for free, and that's true of a lot of the schools that are the hardest to get into.
2. Don't take the SATs in early grades because too many tests count against you. I don't have an inside, but from my standpoint, if you have history of terrible test scores and they only rose because you took it 100 times, then it would make sense. But kids who take the test in 8th or 9th grade (and don't have their heads explode) are actually more impressive, especially if they get even average scores at such a young age. One of my kids got nearly average in verbal and good enough to get into Worcester Polytechnic or most UW engineering tracks in 8th grade.
3. If I don't get into Harvard or Berkeley I'll Die or My Parents Will Disown Me. That's a common Asian attitude, but it's more realistic to see the world that you can succeed at whatever level you are at. If you're Fitchburg State, then be the best Fitchburg State you can be. I'm MIT and there are plenty of top school grads with less than perfect careers, and people without high school diplomas who own small businesses or own several houses. Go to the  best college you can afford, and if you can't afford any college you can still succeed in life.
4. Don't think being an academic star will get you into MIT / Harvard / Stanford. I've heard of kids who had top 1% test scores, perfect grade point average and activities and athletics up the wazoo who didn't make it in to Stanford even after they paid a bunch of money for the summer program. Perfect test scores and grades only improve your chances of getting in from 8% to 10%.
5. Applying to several low-admit-rate schools improves your chances of getting into at least one. All my kids got into the schools they were qualified for, but not much higher, even the one that got a letter from Harvard and invites from other nearly Ivy league schools. Try for one or two, but more than that is a waste of time.
6. I'll never get into Harvard because of my scores are too low Inversely, I knew one student who got into every school she applied for, and even got a free vist to campus at Wellesley even though she was from the west coast and had not even applied yet. Apply to two schools harder than is easy for you to get into, two that aren't hard, and two that are easier. If you are Yo Yo Ma (the #1 cellist right now who graduated from Harvard), you don't need top scores, which won't get you in anyways.
7. Don't just apply to one school, even a public university. Places like Univerity of Washington now admit fewer than 1 in 2, and even less if you are a resident because out of state students pay more. I know one student who only applied to U Washington and ended up having to transfer from a community college. In the 70s, places like this admitted anyone who was remotely qualified, now being qualified is no guarantee of admission.
8. Take all the AP and double-triple honors you can stand  If you actually like being a kamikaze academic and doing way too much reading, AP can be a challenge and help you effectively skip your freshman year. But experience with my kids is that things like AP history don't matter at engineering schools and do way too much reading and memorization. It can give you an edge in admissions, but fact is most schools where this would make a difference are impossible to get into anyways. Taking 4 AP classes at one time is a sure recipe for a year in academic hell.
9. Apply to schools that are popular with Asians One problem with Asians is that they all apply to same damn top dozen schools, where AvgAmericans will generally apply to schools where they actually have a chance of getting in, and are ok with that. There are great schools with great test scores averages that are relatively easy to get into, and most of them DON'T have piles of Asians. These include Vanderbilt in Tennnesee and Macalester in St. Paul. Macaleseter took in a girl I knew who gave her a full ride including transportation, but she went to Wellesley instead because it is much better known, but neither has much visibility in the OMG my kid has to get in Asian parent game.
10. Leave suggestions in comments

Michael Medved on Harvard and Yale Domination of Presidency

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/MichaelMedved/2010/12/21/yale,_harvard_and_the_leadership_clique


Conservative talk show host Michael Medved notes that every elected president of the past two decades has graduated from either Yale or Harvard, with George W Bush graduating from both. Ten of the twelve nominees of either party and all nine sitting Supreme Court justices hold Yale or Harvard degrees.

When Harvard and Yale were among the only major universities, they only claimed 3 of the first 25 presidents. Since 1900, it was 9 or about half of presidents.

Significant economic returns to attending an elite private institutions

Here's what the New York Times had to say about whether or not you'll make money by going to an elite private institutions. Most of the studies say ... definitely yes. If you correct for the talent of the student, comparable students in cheaper schools did about as well, but low income students (and perhaps affirmative action preferential admits?) do make more even accounting for ability. What this study does NOT look at is the fact that unless you make over $250,000, the most elite schools have the most financial aid, so it' misleading to look at "sticker" prices. A couple of elite private schools my kids are looked at offered a price comparable to the big state school after financial aid and loans were taken into account.


Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost?By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: December 17, 2010

Among the most cited research on the subject — a paper by economists from the RAND Corporation and Brigham Young and Cornell Universities — found that “strong evidence emerges of a significant economic return to attending an elite private institution, and some evidence suggests this premium has increased over time.”

Grouping colleges by the same tiers of selectivity used in a popular college guidebook, Barron’s, the researchers found that alumni of the most selective colleges earned, on average, 40 percent more a year than those who graduated from the least selective public universities, as calculated 10 years after they graduated from high school.

Those same researchers found in a separate paper that “attendance at an elite private college significantly increases the probability of attending graduate school, and more specifically graduate school at a major research university.”

Eric R. Eide, one of the authors of that paper on the earnings of blue-chip college graduates, said he had seen no evidence that would persuade him to revise, in 2010, the conclusion he reached in 1998.

“Education is a long-run investment,” said Professor Eide, chairman of the economics department at Brigham Young, “It may be more painful to finance right now. People may be more hesitant to go into debt because of the recession. In my opinion, they should be looking over the long run of their child’s life.” .... He added, “I don’t think the costs of college are going up faster than the returns on graduating from an elite private college.”

... earnings of studnets [matched for ability] was about the same but .....
(The one exception was that children from “disadvantaged family backgrounds” appeared to earn more over time if they attended more selective colleges. The authors, Stacy Berg Dale and Alan B. Krueger, do not speculate why, but conclude, “These students appear to benefit most from attending a more elite college.”)

TOO MANY LAWYERS PRODUCED BY LAW SCHOOLS

Full article: http://www.slate.com/id/2272621/pagenum/all/#p2

Law schools are manufacturing more lawyers than America needs, and law students aren't happy about it. By Annie Lowrey Posted Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010, at 4:14 PM ET

Excerpt: Between 2007 and 2009, the number of LSAT takers climbed 20.5 percent. Law school applications increased in turn... But now a number of recent or current law students are saying—or screaming—that they made a mistake. They went to law school, they say, and now they're underemployed or jobless, in debt, and three years older. And statistics show that the evidence is more than anecdotal.... One popular medium is the "scam blog," where indebted, unemployed attorneys accuse law schools of being little better than tuition-sucking diploma mills. (Sample blog title: Shilling Me Softly.) The author of one popular, if histrionic, such blog describes his law school as a Ponzi scheme.

U Wash and OSU: Cheap Public State Unversity Vs Posh Private

Before you give up on posh private schools like Villanova, Santa Clara University, Worcester Polytechnic, Seattle University or Stevens Institute of Technology, some of these schools (I won't say exactly who or how much)  charge about the same or not much more than in-state residents with dorms, even if you make far above a working class income. (we're talking $15-25,000/ yr) You never know until you get an offer back. Some of the schools were more generous than what the federal "FAFSA" says they think you should pay. If you feel like sharing what YOUR kid got as an offer, go ahead and leave comments.

The very top schools like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton or MIT will give you a free ride if your parents pull in $60-$70,000 or less, which is what a top engineering graduate might expect to make with a stay-at-home mom after a few years. Or they will charge a percentage up to 10 percent up to $100,000. The trick is getting in when these schools have lottery odds with less than 10 percent of students admitted. But the second-strings schools mentioned above have 45-70 percent admit rates and offer basically similar programs and quality for a less valued nameplate, and it seems they offer a viable alternative for not much more or close to what a state university would cost if you plan to live on campus.

The financial aid flier from Oregon State University in Corvallis OR (we live near Seattle) is about the same deal as what we're paying for a great private university with financial aid,. I know some parents that make much more than us who aren't paying too much more than that for similar 2nd tier schools like Stevens Institute of Technology. Lesson - don't automatically assume the state university for a resident will always be much cheaper than a big sticker-price private university.

Estimated costs 2010-2011:
Oregon resident tuition: $7,218 (not so bad)
Nonresident $20,442
Other expenses $13,505 (room board and everything else)

total resident: $20,723
nonresident $33.947

The University of Washington in Seattle is similar, $22,000 with dorm, $15,000 for commuter (but parents still need to pay for car, insurance, bus pass, food etc) $45,000 full price isn't much different that posh private schools (but Univerity of Washington is more famous than a bunch of posh private schools with higher test scores but without awesome football teams)

2010-2011 Student Budget Nine-Month Living Expenses
Budget Items

Lives with Parents Undergrad Traditional Undergrad Non-Traditional Undergrad


Books $1,035 $1,035 $1,035
Room/Board $3,189 $9,399 $13,578
Personal $2,265 $2,265 $2,265
Transportation $642 $642 $1,524

Resident Tuition $8,701 $8,701 $8,701
Resident Total Costs $15,832 $22,042 $27,103

Non-Resident Tuition $25,329 $25,329 $25,329
Non-Resident Total Costs $32,460 $38,670 $43,731

Non-Traditional: Undergraduates who have children; married undergraduates whose spouses are not also enrolled.

Princeton Shows Typical Financial Aid 2010

from http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S28/50/00O59/index.xml?section=topstories

Here's a table of what different income levels will get IF they can get into Princeton, followed by article on how they've decided to expand the size of incoming classes, and move to a no-loan system.  If your family makes $60,000 (about what a graduate of Princeton engineering school might make, or maybe two liberal arts grads of an average college might start out with) you will get in for essentially free. Even if you pull in $200,000, if you have two kids going to college, you'll still get a discount the size of a new Honda civic.

===================================================

The University’s comprehensive financial aid plan helps moderate-, middle- and upper-middle-income families afford the cost of a Princeton education. The figures below show the average grant, by yearly income, for students at various family income levels in the freshman class of 2014.
Tuition, room and board is $48,580 for 2010-11.


Yearly income:

Up to $60,000

Average grant: $48,600

What it covers: Full tuition, room and board, and some expenses


Yearly income:

$60,000 to $80,000

Average grant: $45,100

What it covers: Full tuition, 71 percent of room and board


Yearly income:

$80,000 to $100,000

Average grant: $42,250

What it covers: Full tuition, 47 percent of room and board


Yearly income:

$100,000 to $120,000

Average grant: $38,750

What it covers: Full tuition, 18 percent of room and board


Yearly income:

$120,000 to $140,000

Average grant: $34,700

What it covers: 95 percent of tuition


Yearly income:

$140,000 to $160,000

Average grant: $30,400

What it covers: 83 percent of tuition


Yearly income:

$160,000 to $180,000

Average grant: $26,450

What it covers: 72 percent of tuition


Yearly income:


$180,000 to $200,000

Average grant: $22,700

What it covers: 62 percent of tuition


Yearly income:
$200,000 and above*

Average grant: $17,000

What it covers: 46 percent of tuition
*Most who qualify at this income level have two children in college.
Source: Office of Financial Aid

Freshman class reflects commitment to access and affordability


Posted September 20, 2010; 06:00 p.m. share
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printby Karin DienstThe Princeton class of 2014, selected from a record number of applicants, reflects continued success in the University's efforts to attract a diverse student body and to make a Princeton education affordable to all students who enroll.



"At Princeton, access and affordability are core values, and we are extraordinarily fortunate to be able to hold firm to our commitment to the strongest possible undergraduate financial aid program in a period of significant fiscal stringency," Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel said in her report on class of 2014 admissions at the Sept. 20 faculty meeting. "As the data ... make plain, we continue to be tremendously successful in attaining our goal of making Princeton affordable for any student regardless of family financial circumstances."



The class of 2014 is Princeton’s largest, in keeping with a planned gradual expansion of the size of the undergraduate student body as the University moves toward reaching its "steady state" of enrolling 5,200 students by the 2012-13 academic year. The incoming 1,313 freshmen were selected from a record 26,247 applicants. The number of applicants increased 19.5 percent from the previous record of 21,963 for the class of 2013. Overall, Princeton offered admission to 2,311 applicants, or 8.8 percent -- the lowest ever -- of those who applied to the class of 2014. This compares to 10.1 percent in 2009-10.



The 11 percent expansion of the undergraduate student body began in 2005; 2014 is the second class to have reached the new norm of roughly 1,300 entering students.



This year, 768 freshmen, or 58 percent of the class, are receiving financial aid, with a total of $27 million in scholarships. The average grant is $35,157. The incoming class includes 208 students from low-income backgrounds, or nearly 16 percent of freshmen.



The class of 2014 is the 13th to matriculate since the University initiated significant policy changes in undergraduate financial aid -- including a pioneering "no-loan" policy -- to make a Princeton education more affordable to a broader range of students. In the class of 2001, the last class to enter before the aid improvements, 38 percent of the students were on financial aid with an average grant of $15,064, and students from low-income backgrounds made up 8 percent of the class.



The class of 2014 includes the largest number of students from minority backgrounds in Princeton’s history, with a total of 490 students from American minorities representing 37.3 percent of the class.



The class of 2014 also includes 141 international students, constituting 10.7 percent of the class. The international students represent 47 countries.



The class of 2014 is the third freshman class to be evenly balanced in terms of gender.



The figures for the incoming freshman class do not include the 20 students admitted to the class of 2014 who are participating in the second year of Princeton’s Bridge Year Program, in which they spend a year abroad on service projects. Those students will enroll with the class of 2015. The figures for the class of 2014 do include the 20 students admitted with the class of 2013 who participated in the Bridge Year Program in 2009-10.



According to the Office of the Registrar, Princeton currently enrolls 5,103 undergraduates. (Official opening enrollment numbers will be available in October.)

Don't you hate looking up mailing addresses?

The problem with sending in recommendations by mail is that you have to look up the mailing address, but it's always a different place on each website, and sometimes it's not even on the website.

So here are some of the college addresses I had to look up:

Office of Admissions and Financial Aid
Harvard College
86 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Boston University Admissions
121 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215

Tufts University
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Bendetson Hall
Medford, MA 02155

Santa Clara University
Admissions office
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara 95053

Stanford University
Office of Undergraduate Admission.
Montag Hall,
355 Galvez Street
Stanford, California 94305-6106

Office of Admissions
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room 3-108
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
617-253-3400