MIT Director of Admissions on Test Scores, AP & more

I found two interesting posts on the MIT admissions blog by Ben Jones, Director of Communications, making the case that 'the most', 'the highest' or 'the best' isn't what gets you into MIT. In Many Ways To Define 'The Best', he makes the point that what's important is the complete package of the student's skills and experiences. Since 70-75% of MIT's applicants are qualified to get in based on grades, test scores, etc., and since MIT admits 14% of those that apply, they have a lot of flexibility to create a well-rounded class by focusing on students that are "the right match" (see Ben's post above for what he means by this).

In Answers To Your Questions Dec 2006 Ben answers a bunch of applicants' questions that have piled up. Here are a few of his answers that reinforce "the right match" philosopy from above.

I'd recommend trying to get that score up (580 on SAT Math 1) if you can, but one score will not keep you out of MIT if the rest of your application is stellar.

A couple of B's will never be a deal-breaker.

Having said that, a 2100 (combined SAT) is definitely not going to keep you out of MIT if the rest of your application is competitive!

720 is a perfectly competitive score. DON'T RETAKE IT. :-)

We take great pride in the level at which we read applications holistically. Take a look in some of the recent threads for admitted students and you'll find lots of proof.

We just consider the best one, no worries. (student took SAT II Math twice and did poorly the second time due to illness)

From my recent research, Ben's attitude seems representative of at least some of the other hyper-selective schools, since they have similar large applicant pools from which to choose. I know I've read similar things from Stanford's Dean of Admissions and Fred Hargadon, former Dean of Admissions at Stanford and Princeton.

As a parent this is somewhat reassuring. Granted, my son still needs to make good grades, test scores and to stand out somehow. But there appears to be no rigid formula that he needs to meet. It's OK if he takes 'only' 5 or 6 AP classes. Or if he gets a B or a few, all is not lost. To a certain extent this frees him to follow his passions and to stand out in his own special way.

Nine Admissions Myths and Tips

This general admissions piece from Forbes covers many of the themes found in other recent articles on college admissions.

It's main points are familiar: that it's tougher than ever to get into selective schools and that there are no magic formulas. Every college, and every admissions director, is looking for something a little different and trying to create a balanced, well-rounded class. Judgements about applicants are made using fuzzy logic across all parts of the application, rather than some specific set of criteria (assuming 'good' grades and test scores, of course).

Particularly interesting are 9 myths it debunks:

1) The earlier you send in your application, the better
2) Less than a 5 on an AP exam--throw in the towel
3) An A is always better than a B
4) Admissions essays are crucial
5) Volunteer work helps
6) Legacies increase chances of admission
7) All minorities are shoo-ins
8) ACTs are a cop-out
9) The more extra-curricular activities, the better

In my next post I'll talk specifically about #9 since it's going to be a topic of discussion with my Sophomore son over the upcoming Christmas break.

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Technorati Tags: college admission, college admissions, college, admissions, admission, extracurricular activities, GPA, ACT

ePrep: Another blog to check out

Shortly after my recent post on helpful college admissions blogs, I discovered one I missed (... one of many I bet. I'm looking forward to hearing from those bloggers so I can add them to my list). ePrep is another good resource and a blog you should check out.

ePrep tilts toward SAT and test prep advice, though they've recently added two distinguised experts and have expanded into general admissions and financial aid advice. Karl Schellscheidt, the founder of ePrep and main contributor, is an SAT prep consultant in real life and has posted a bunch of SAT-related tips and advice over the months. I haven't gotten to the SAT phase of my son's admission process yet so I can't speak to how Karl's advice stacks up. After reading a number of his posts it looks pretty helpful and I'm looking forwad to coming back to it next year when my son takes his first test.

Something that's pretty cool about ePrep is that Karl gives much of his advice via video or audio broadcasts. I found that this made the information more engaging and compelling. It's like you're actually sitting in a tutoring session with Karl (without the paying part). Check out this segment: Habeus Answer, or Show Yourself the Answer! and watch the video version by clicking on the 'video mp4' button.

What initially attracted me to ePrep is Dean Fred Hargadon, one of ePrep's two distinguished guest experts. Dean Hargadon, or 'Dean Fred' as his students know him, is the former Dean of Admissions at Swarthmore, Stanford and Princeton. [Full disclosure: Dean Fred admitted me to Stanford so I owe him a great debt of gratitude -- at least.] Dean Fred has great perspective and insight that comes from admitting hundreds of thousands of the brightest high school students over almost 40 years. I know from my days at Stanford everyone loved Dean Fred and had the deepest respect for him. By reading ePrep you too can share some some of his wisdom. Read College McRankings, and Admissions Advice: Part 1 as good examples.

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The Thrill of Vctory

Queue the soundtrack (students who are reading may not get this...)

My last post identified MIT as one of the handful of colleges that are blogging as part of their admissions process. Today's post by Jess K (an MIT freshman) on their blog illustrates a couple of other ways MIT is ahead of the game using modern Internet techniques.

For the first time this year MIT's 'early action' decisions were posted online. It's fun and interesting to read the reactions of the applicants that just got admitted -- how excited they were and how almost all of them doubted they'd be accepted (the comments start at the bottom of Jess' post). This is truly the 'thrill of victory', and what we all hope for at the end of the admissions process. It won't be long before all colleges are notifying their applicants online.

The other interesting aspect to the MIT blog is the way they're using it, and the 'freshman admissions portal', to build up the community of incoming freshmen. Jess' post reflects on how she found out about being admitted one year ago. She then asks those that were just admitted to share the stories of how they found out. As of this afternoon almost 40 had left comments. It's not hard to imagine how tightly knit this group will become by the time they arrive on campus next Fall.

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My Favorite College Admissions Blogs

First, let me say -- I haven't found many blogs focused on college admissions, after many hours of focused searching. Here are three that I like and read regularly:

AdmitSpit: See my post from last month, Advice for students, from students for more on AdmitSpit. It's written by a group of college students who are attending select colleges so they provide a great 'applicant' perspective. Here are a couple of their recent posts that I've found interesting or helpful:

Typical SAT scores for specific top schools
How “x” does academics: x = Cornell (a detailed report on Cornell from a student there)


College Admission Guide, College Search Service:
In contrast to AdminSpit, this blog is written by several college admissions professionals. They post articles releated to college admissions, generally without editorial commentary. I've found most of the articles informative and have used a couple of them in my earlier posts. Here are two articles that I haven't used yet:

SAT Wriitng is Coachable
Demoting Advanced Placement


MIT Admissions Department Blog:
This blog is written by twelve MIT students and four admissions department staffers. It will be super-relevant if you're interested in MIT. It contains a mix of MIT-admission specific administrivia, general 'select' college admission information, and a taste of student life at MIT -- from the students' perspective. Even if you're not MIT-bound this is probably pretty representiative of what's going on at other CAF Select 25 schools. MIT appears to be one of the first schools with an admission blog like this.

This post, Admissions process reflections from a crusty Junior, is a retrospective on early admission decision day from one of the students. This one, What should I be doing now? contains tips from one of an Admission Department staff member.


One final thought...I'm surprised that more select college admissions departments aren't blogging. If you're aware of others, please leave a comment and let me know about them. Thanks!

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What Are Admissions Departments Looking For?

Colleges Go Beyond GPA to Cull Applicants (a recent article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer) provides insight into what Admissions departments are looking for in applicants to selective colleges. It makes the point that most applicants to the selective schools are "qualified", yet only a small percentage get in (e.g. at Yale 75% of applicants are academically qualified, 9% are accepted). This leaves the final decision to the judgement of the admissions professionals, largely deciding based on other less intangible factors.

The article cites a recent study by the National Association of Admission Counseling that breaks the factors considered in the admission process into three buckets:

Most Important: Grades, test scores
Mid-Importance: Class rank, writing ability, teachers' recommendations
Least Important: Interviews, work history, extra-curricular activities, applicant's demonstrated interest in the college.

Since many applicants still 'tie' based on these tangible factors, getting accepted comes down to more subjective factors, like 'community-building' and the applicants' 'hooks'. Every college is trying to build or maintain a certain community. Admissions is looking for that mix of traits and experiences among the applicants to help achieve it. They're also looking for 'hooks'. Hooks are those characteristics that make an applicant stand out and help differentiate him or her from the crowd. Does he have some special artistic or athletic skill? Is she from an under-represented part of the country or the world? Is there some special community service or entrepreneurial experience that stands out?

The article finishes with a behind the scenes peek at the Oberlin College admissions process (Oberlin is ranked #40 on the College Admission Forum list of most selective colleges with an acceptance rate of 33.9%).

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Parents' Guide(s) to Helping Your Applicant

What role should the parent play in the application process?

If you're asking this question, here's a good article from The Seattle Times that summarizes the (sometimes conflicting) advice from seven highly rated books.

And if you want to dig deeper, these are the seven books mentioned in the article and their Amazon ratings. Clicking on the titles will take you to their Amazon summary page.

"Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond," Marilee Jones and Kenneth Ginsburg.
Amazon rating - 5 (2 reviews);

"What Colleges Don't Tell You (and Other Parents Don't Want You to Know)," Elizabeth Wissner-Gross.
Amazon rating - 4 (11 reviews);

"Getting In Without Freaking Out," Arlene Matthews.
Amazon rating - 4.5 (10 reviews);

"The Launching Years: Strategies for Parenting from Senior Year to College Life," Laura Kastner and Jennifer Wyatt.
Amazon rating - 4.5 (6 reviews);

"Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions," Sally Rubenstone and Sidonia Dalby.
Amazon rating - 5 (2 reviews);

"Kaplan Parent's Guide to College Admissions," Marjorie Nieuwenhuis.
no Amazon rating;

"Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know about Getting Into College," Sally Springer and Marion Franck.
Amazon rating - 5 (9 reviews).

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Virtual Video Campus Tours - Not Quite Yet

With all the HubBub over YouTube, and Internet video in general, I figured that this could be a pretty slick way to check out a college. That instead of hopping in the car or on a plane for a campus visit, there are probably lots of video tours online -- produced either by students, applicants or the universities themselves.

Wrong.

There is some of this content on YouTube, but it's still pretty hard to find and of marginal value. Maybe it's hidden there somewhere, but in a couple of hours of searching I wasn't able to find much. My prediction: a few years from now this is going to be the way to visually check out a campus or a college -- but we're not quite there yet.

Here's what I did discover:

1) There's a site called theU that features 50 professionally produced, 15 minute video introductions to top colleges. This site was created by a well-connected undergrad at Columbia and the videos are described as:
"...MTV-style college video tour ... Created for students, by students, theU presents college life, uncensored."
If you go to theU site you can watch one free video, one time. Thereafter they cost $4.95 each. Here's the list of the 50 colleges they cover, including 15 of the CollegeAdmissionForum 'Select 25'. I found the video I sampled both entertaining and informative and worth the 5 bucks for a college on your short list.

2) There's not much on YouTube, yet. theU has put a 1-2 minute preview of each of their videos up there but there's not much student, applicant nor university produced material. Here's theU preview for Stanford (so you can see how well-done they are):




Here's a slick university produced piece from Yale. I'm guessing most colleges will post videos like this soon:




And finally, here's the best example I could find of a student-produced video. A series actually. The team of Sarah (the student) and Sheila created and posted 14 separate 30-60 second videos touring the Harvard campus. You can find them on YouTube by searching for 'Harvard Collection' (or clicking this link). Here's the first in the series so you can see what they're like:




(update: RSS subscribers. If you can't see the three embedded videos above, come see them at my blog)

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Video Test

I want to test embedding YouTube videos in the blog. Eventually every selective college will have a variety of student-generated (and maybe even school-generated) videos that will help introduce the school to potential applicants. One of the value-adds that CollegeAdmissionForum blog and (future) community could provide is to surface the best of these. Let me know if you think this would be of value...

For fun here's a video of the (in)famous final play ("The Play") at the 1982 Cal/Stanford Big Game. Back then I was sitting in the endzone, near where the dirty golden bear player mowed over the trombonist.

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Technorati Tags: college admission, college admissions, college, admissions, admission, campus tours, Stanford

Difficulty getting into College, part II

Here's another great article that chronicles the increasing difficulty of getting into selective colleges. "Admissions Anxiety Reaches New Regions" (Washington Post/AP) describes how college admissions stress is expanding beyond the traditional locations of California, the Northeast and MidAtlantic into the South and Mid-west. It cites lots of statistics and anecdotes to vividly paint this picture. For example the Kaplan's college test prep business in the South has grown 7x the national average, and the number of private college counselors (a proxy for admissions anxiety) in Minnesota has grown from one to eleven in the past 5 years. It concludes by citing a statistic that at the same time reflects the basic underlying trend cited in my earlier post -- and is less than encouraging news for families with pre-high schoolers: "Every state in the South except Louisiana will have more high school seniors graduating in 10 years than today."

If you live you live somewhere far from Boston or Palo Alto and have felt extra stressed lately, this article may help explain why.

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