 For years private colleges have been offering discounted tuition to attract top students, and US News reports in this recent article, click here, that those colleges are now increasing the amount of merit or institutional aid they award. Important for students and parents to realize is that these private colleges can often be just as affordable and sometimes even more affordable than in-state public universities. This is especially crucial for CA students to consider given the selectivity of the University of California schools.
Dropping admissions rates, large percentages of out-of-state/international students paying out of state tuition, and impacted programs have made admission to the UCs and many Cal State campuses challenging for in-state residents, including top-notch students. College counselors all over the state tell stories of students with GPAs over 4.0 and strong ACT or SAT scores getting rejected or waitlisted not just at the predictable UCLA or Cal, but at schools like UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Davis. UC Irvine received nearly 98,000 applications for fall 2016 admission, and I personally heard of a student last year who was accepted at Stanford but waitlisted at UC Irvine! At the UC Counselors Conference last fall, admissions reps from all nine campuses emphasized the importance of encouraging our students to apply broadly. I couldn’t agree more, but I also emphasize to my competitive prospective UC students that they take it one step further by applying broadly outside of the UC system. I encourage them to apply to private universities in which they are a catch, meaning their GPA and test scores are well above the school’s average fifty percent range. No matter how strong their stats are, I emphasize they will never be a catch for the Ivies and most other selective private universities. Those schools are a reach for any student and typically do not offer any merit aid. I want them to target the smaller or less selective colleges that admit more than fifty percent of students. Those are the ones more apt to offer generous merit or institutional awards to their strongest applicants, meaning they often heavily discount that sticker price. These are great schools! They just may not be located near metropolitan cities or in areas with the most desirable weather. College is a time for students to explore something new, live outside their comfort zone, and develop grit. Attending college in an unfamiliar environment is an optimal way to achieve these goals. Creating a balanced apply list must be a crucial step for any student applying to college, and the list should be balanced twofold: both in admissions chances and financially. With the unpredictability of college admissions, students must be cognizant of these types of strategies to give themselves the best chance not only of being admitted to college but also of being able to afford it.  The University of California just announced dramatic changes to the essay prompts for students applying for fall of 2017. Instead of two personal statements totaling no more than 1,000 words, students will now be required to answer four of eight shorter “personal insight” essay questions that are limited to a maximum of 350 words. Below is the official announcement that was published in the UC's Counselors and Advisors Bulletin:
“After almost 10 years, UC is changing the personal statement section of its undergraduate admissions application, replacing the current two personal statement prompts with short-answer questions that students can choose from. The new questions, now called personal insight questions, aim to give applicants a greater say in the kind of information they share with the University. Students can express who they are and what matters to them not only in how they respond to the questions, but also through the questions they choose to answer. The new questions also provide students with better direction and focus on topics that are important to campuses. Each new question aligns to one or more of the14 comprehensive review criteria (nine criteria for transfer students) that campuses consider in their admissions decisions. “We hope this new format will not only provide us with additional insight into applicants, but also allow students to better choose the questions that speak to them most directly,” stated a UC admissions director. Here are some important points about the personal insight questions:
The UCs appear to be following suit with many of the Common App colleges that require additional shorter supplemental essays. In the past, students applying to the UCs could often recycle some, if not all, of one of their UC prompts for their 650-word limit Common App essay. Starting next year, this most likely will no longer be possible with these shorter questions. Also, because of the brevity involved with the 350-word limit, students will need to be meticulous about word choice to truly convey who they are.  Have a Child in Middle or High School and a Trip Planned this Spring Break or Summer?
4 Reasons You Should Work in College Visits on those Trips: 1. Your child will see a greater variety of universities by getting an early start! Ideally, students should not apply to a college they have not visited. Visiting colleges takes time especially when students are open to applying to colleges across the country. If students wait until their junior year, they will most likely be applying to colleges based on what they think a college is like rather than basing that impression on firsthand experience. Starting as early as middle school, I recommend working in college visits while on vacation. It’s an affordable, organic way to get a jumpstart on what can be a time-consuming process. Try to schedule a school tour and admissions session if possible, and ignore the naysayers who question why such a young student is visiting. Many of the current seniors I am working with wish they delved into this process earlier. None of them were able to visit all the schools they applied to and now are scrambling to see the campuses they’ve been accepted to before the May 1 deadline. 2. Visiting an assortment of schools can help your child determine the size/type of college that best suits him or her. There are so many factors that go into choosing a college such as size (large, medium, small) or type (research or liberal arts). When working colleges into an existing trip, try to pick a range of sizes from a large research college to a smaller liberal arts college and everything in between. Exposure to different size campuses will help your child determine what best suits him or her. 3. Seeing colleges in different locales will help your child know where he or she would feel comfortable living. While some students go away to college and the transition is seamless, for many, attending college away from home can be a huge adjustment. Students may be living in an unfamiliar location far from a city and with a dramatic change in weather. Ideally, you should try to work in colleges that cover a variety of locales and conditions, and starting this process early can help you cover more territory so your child can get a feel for areas of the country he or she likes or doesn’t like. 4. Just stepping foot on college campuses can motivate younger students! Many college campuses have that WOW factor, and experiencing being on one can make your child even more determined to do well in school. Also, hearing the admissions requirements and how selective some colleges are can be an additional motivating factor. Final Thought: Visiting is crucial because chemistry is hard to predict. It’s similar to a blind date; someone thinks you are going to love it, but you won’t know until you see it for yourself. 
FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
WHAT YOU NEED TO HAVE:
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Click HERE for the online application.  While students have spent years working tirelessly to earn good grades and the last few months agonizing over their college applications, once those applications are finally submitted, one might argue that an equally difficult part of the process emerges . . . waiting for those admissions decisions!
Although there is little students can do while playing this waiting game, the University of California has suggested several steps students can and should take once they’ve submitted their applications. (This advice is taken directly from the University of California’s Admissions website, which you can view here ) “1. Print a copy of your application. You'll want to keep a record of your application ID and a summary of your application for reference. 2. Order test score reports. If you're a freshman or sophomore applicant, be sure to have your ACT and SAT scores reported by the testing agency. If you have your official score report sent to one campus, it will be available to all campuses to which you applied. 3. Update your application. You can log in to your application to review and, if necessary, change your telephone number, e-mail, mailing address or SAT, ACT, TOEFL, or International Exam Scores. You can also apply to additional campuses if they're still open. If you're a transfer student, about five weeks after the filing period has ended, you are required to update your grades and course records. If there are changes to your academic record... Freshmen: If you change schools, add or drop a course, or fail to earn a C or better in a course after you submit your application, you must notify the UC Application Center by email or postal mail. Your correspondence must include your name, UC Application ID number and your signature (if you mail a letter), and will be available to all the campuses to which you applied. Email: [email protected] Postal mail: UC Application Center P.O. Box 1432 Bakersfield, CA 93302 Transfers: If you add or drop a course, fail to earn a C or better in a course or enroll in a new college after you submit your application, log back in and update your information online. more If there are changes to other sections of your application... Minor changes to your activities, awards, volunteer work, employment or personal statement are unlikely to have an impact on your admission decision. However, if you have significant updates in any of these areas, you may notify the UC Application Center (see contact information above). 4. Await the decision. Each UC campus will notify you of its admission decision, generally by March 31 if you're a fall freshman applicant or in April if you're a transfer student. more 5. Submit transcripts, if admitted. If you are admitted to UC, you must have final transcripts sent to your campus admissions office." |