Class of 2012

Hello juniors.  You are in the final stretch of this very important junior year of high school.  How are you doing?  Are you confident that you're headed in the right direction?

By now, college bound juniors should have either taken a SAT/ACT or have registered for an upcoming one.  DO NOT WAIT FOR SENIOR YEAR TO TAKE A SAT/ACT.  By June of junior year you should be finished with your testing and only considering a fall test if you are not happy with your scores.

Make sure you have a running list of the colleges/univeristies you are considering applying to.  By this summer, you should narrow your list to no more than 10 schools.  If you are not sure what schools to apply to, speak to your school counselor.  Make sure that he/she is an expert in the college application process.  If you are not comfortable with the counselor's expertise, considering working with someone in the growing field of college admissions counselors who work one-on-one with students applying to universities.

With public schools slashing budgets across the USA, the school counselor is, unfortunately, the first to go.  In California the ratio of students to counselor is over 1000/1.  How much time can your counselor spend with you on the college review and application process?  A private counselor spends 20 - 50 hours per year working with you and your family.  The money invested here, may be the best money spent toward college.

Waiting for the Envelope

The high school class of 2011 is sitting on pins and needles waiting for the infamous "envelope" that decides their fate for the next four years.  So, what are you doing in the interim.  This is not the time to sit back and relax.  My hope is that a great number of seniors are enrolled in community college classes.  What an inexpensive way to get through those general education requirements and a "bargain price".  If you haven't enrolled in a course for this spring semester, consider taking a summer course.  Schools are registering soon.  Do not miss out.

If you are not going to take a community college class, you should be working in a job that not only gives you spending money for senior activities or college tuition, but that lets you explore a career you are considering.  If you want to be a lawyer, you should be working in a law office.  If you want to be a nurse/physician you should be working somewhere in the medical field.  If you want to be an architect, work in the construction trades.  Even if you intern, and are  not receiving a paycheck; the skills, knowledge, experience and connections could prove to be priceless. 

So stop sitting around waiting for the envelope.  Study so you can get your best grades ever, and get out there and explore the world of work.

Application Increases at Universities

Colleges and Universities across the USA are noting marked increases in numbers of applicantions for the Fall 2011 Freshman Class.  What is the cause of this trend?  Many university admissions' officers believe that the increase in the use of the "COMMON APPLICATION" is a key reason why individual universities are seeing application increases.  Instead of plowing through ten different applications, it is very easy to fill out one application and send it to a multitude of schools.  Is this really insuring that students get into the school of their choice?   Not necessarily.  It is still important for students and their families to carefully choose the schools they are applying to.  With increasing applicant pools, schools can afford to be very choosy.  This means it will be harder and harder to get into a university if you do not apply strategically.

At Los Angeles' Loyola Marymount University, Director of Admissions Matthew Fissinger reports a 10.9% increase in applications over last year, with 11,202 applications received by the January 15, 2011 deadline.  This is the largest increase in the past five years.  However, he noted that since 2007 there has been an applicant pool increase each year.  Fissinger reported in the Loyalan, LMU's student newspaper, that he attributes the increase to a number of factors including:  the rise in LMU's reputation, the quality of LMU students' experiences and the small class sizes at LMU.  Word of mouth is quickly spreading from current LMU students to other potential students.  Fishinger also notes that in the last five years, LMU has had a number of significant national rankings, including:  US News & World:  ranking #3 in Best Regional (West) University; Business Week 2009: ranking #13 for their part-time MBA; and Princeton Review (2007): ranking #9th for Most Beautiful Campus.

In 2009 LMU admitted 59.2% of applicants; in 2010 only 54% were admitted.  The admission rate for this years pool of applicants has not been determined.  Letters of acceptance will be going out shortly.