Applications Up! Applications Down! Which is it?

The swirling cross currents of the economy and college applications in 2009 continues.

Last week I reported that four selective colleges that I watch (a couple to which Greg has applied) were reporting record applications this year, including a 20% increase at Stanford. A California mom commented that she had noticed the same thing at other selective colleges.

But Bloomberg reports today that seven of the eight top liberal arts colleges posted application declines this year, including a 20% drop at Williams. The main culprit -- the poor economy and the high tuitions at these schools. Of course later the article reports that all of the Ivy League schools reported increases in (& probably record) applications. I guess their high tuitions are worth more than the small liberal arts schools!

One additional piece of evidence supporting the 'poor economy = frugality in college applications' is this article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution that reports record applications for Georgia state schools. The primary explanation? Kids staying closer to home and taking advantage of Georgia's generous Hope Scholarship.

So it seems to me like the top tier schools are still in high demand, but everywhere else poor economy is having an impact, both up and down. This is a helpful turn of events if you're applying to schools with declining applications -- assuming you can afford them.

Will the Financial Crisis Impact Selective Admissions?

Have you wondered how the current financial crisis is affecting college admissions plans? Here's a poll that About.com took recently that suggests it's having a big impact. The results: 1/3 are staying the course. 2/3 are lowering their sights, including 4% that are now planning to put off college.

Another harbinger of future issues is that many college endowments have declined "steeply". Could this reverse the recent trend of increases in financial aid at the well endowed elite schools?

Over the next year or two the financial crisis could make it easier to get into that selective college, but harder to pay for it.

11/18/08 Update: Accepted Admissions Almanac has just posted about a Yale Daily News article reporting record numbers of early applicants. One of the reasons cited is their strong financial aid program.

UVA Admissions Chatroom Open House

The UVA Admissions blog has announced open sessions in their chat room tonight (Wednesday 11/5) and tomorrow night from 7-9 Eastern time:

We'll have students, faculty, and admission officers on hand to answer questions in a few different chat rooms. You'll have to register a username to participate and you can do that now or just before entering the chat. Hope to see some of you there!

Here's the link to register

This is another interesting way to answer applicants' questions and build connections to a college. I'm going to try and participate and will report back how it was.

[Update] I missed these sessions but was able to attend one a couple of weeks later. Here's the report on my experience.

I'm Back

After a 9 month hiatus I'm back to blogging about college admissions. The admissions process for my (now a rising Senior) son Greg has been ongoing and in upcoming posts I'll recount various aspects of it to bring you up to date.

Since Greg is entering his Senior Year the next 9 months will be intense and exciting. In addition to recounting Greg's experiences I'll also be helping the guidance counselors at his high school with admissions-related activities, and I'll be launching a college admissions oriented web site. All these activities should provide a rich source of material and experiences to fuel this blog, and to provide you with tips and insights into the college admissions process.

With so much to cover, my new goal is to post to CollegeAdmissionForum every day. Along with this I will be working hard to build up a community of college-bound students and their parents so that we can stimulate some interesting discussions and draw on their experiences as well. So please check back regularly (or subscribe to the feed) for more frequent and hopefully helpful, college admissions information and experiences.

Getting Myself Re-focused on College Admissions

After an almost 8 month hiatus I'm back blogging on the College Admissions process. Looking back, my last post was telling. As you can see it, discussed the challenge getting my Sophomore focused on the college admissions process. Well I guess I was never very successful last year.

Now he's a Junior and we're both more engaged.

I'm going to write two kinds of posts on this blog from here on out. Some will be quick reflections on what's going on with my son as he prepares to apply to selective colleges. The others will be brief summaries College Admission-related resources (articles, web sites, tools, consultants, blog posts, forum entries, videos, etc) I've found that have been helpful to me, or seem like they might be helpful to you. If you have a chance to check out these resources please post a comment describing how helpful they were (or weren't). Or if you are aware of other resources that are even more helpful, please share them via a comment.