Other College Issues

Question: I know many private colleges recruit minority students and invite them to “diversity weekends” with paid airfare, etc. How do students get on their radar to be invited? How would I find out which colleges might host these?

That’s a good question. You’re wise to realize that these opportunities exist … and, in fact, they abound. In the past decade or so, the number of such programs has exploded, and most selective colleges now offer some sort of on-campus “diversity weekend.”

Some schools also provide free transportation or a partial stipend, but the policies are all over the map. Many colleges, for example, only pay travel costs for ADMITTED students who are visiting for a last look before making a final college commitment. Other schools offer travel $$ only to those who need it the most or to those whom they’re most eagerly recruiting. Some colleges provide transportation via a free chartered bus to prospective students who live in specific geographic areas but don’t offer travel reimbursement for those who make their own way to campus.

So, your best bet is to choose your target colleges based on the usual criteria … academic programs, location, size, campus community, etc. Then contact all the schools on your list and express your interest in attending a campus diversity program (hopefully for free ). The best way to do this is to go to each college’s Web site and then to the “Admissions” or “Prospective Students” (etc.) page. Look for a link for Minority Students, Multicultural Events, Diversity, etc. If you find one, then it may give you access to additional information about on-campus programs and/or about making contact with the admission staff member who oversees diversity recruitment. If you CAN’T find such a link (and most of the time you WON’T) then try to find a “Contact Us” link. Send a message that looks something like this to each college :

I am a [name of minority group] student from [home city/town] who is interested in visiting campus. Could you please provide information about on-campus diversity events and transportation stipends, if available. Thank you very much.

It wouldn’t hurt to add your prospective major and SAT or ACT scores, too. If you truly can’t afford to get to campus without financial assistance, be sure to say so.

If you send this query out to every college that you’re even vaguely considering, you should get some positive results. Note, however, that there’s a new trend among some of the most selective colleges to screen recruitment-program candidates via a preliminary application. In other words, you may have to apply to attend!

If you are a Student of Color from a disadvantaged background, you might also want to check out the Questbridge program that can help you with college selection and financial assistance. Go to:

The Ventures Scholars Program is for high-achieving students from minority or disadvantaged backgrounds who are aiming for careers in math and science.

Happy hunting!

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Question: How should I decide which school to put down for my National Merit first-choice college? Should I name a school where I am guaranteed admission or a more competitive one that may not accept me? I’ve heard that if you put down a school you’ll get into for sure you will increase your scholarship potential. My top choice is UNC Chapel Hill, but I’m not a North Carolina resident, so I may not get in. Should I pick it anyway?

You have until May 31 of your senior year to make final choices, so you can either put down “Undecided” now or choose a first-choice college and submit a change in the spring, if you wish.

You do not increase your scholarship potential based on the school you select right now. However, in order to qualify for National Merit money from the college you attend, you may have to eventually indicate that this college is your first choice.

But, if you wish, you can wait to see where you are admitted before making a final selection. UNC Chapel Hill offers a non-binding Early Notification program. If you apply by November 1, you will have your verdict by January 31st, but you don’t have to commit to UNC until May 1. So you can indicate that UNC is your top choice and then make a change if you aren’t accepted …. OR … you can write “Undecided” for now and then select UNC after Jan. 31, if you do get in.

Keep in mind, however, that the amount of scholarship aid that participating colleges and universities offer to enrolling NMS winners varies dramatically. Some schools give full scholarships while others–including UNC–offer only $1000 (or somewhat more for students with high need).

So if financial aid is important to you and you think you have a good shot at being a NMS winner, you might want to consider one of the institutions that gives a free ride to NMS enrollees. Here’s a list of such places. It was posted on the College Confidential discussion forum by one of our thoughtful readers, so–like other info from Cyberspace–I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy, but it should give you a general idea of where to find big payoffs for National Merit winners. Go to http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html

In addition, the Carleton College Web site has some helpful information on how to pursue a National Merit scholarship. See http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/overview/ntlmerit/

Hope that helps. Good luck with your scholarship hopes and your college verdicts.

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Question: My daughter was a top student at a highly competitive public school. However, she is now in private school, where she is the only sophomore taking Calculus AB (she is also only 14, having skipped a grade in elementary school). She is working hard in this class but only earning a high B. Because she is aiming for Ivy League universities, would we be wise to move her back to public school whereshe can improve her grades and class ranking? We would also be able to save money for her college education. We are just plain middle class parents blessed with an ambitious child. What do you think we should do?

Important decisions about a child’s schooling should not be made by an Internet advisor any more than they should be made by The Psychic Friends Network. :- ) Nonetheless, I will offer some thoughts that you can put into the hopper when you discuss this at home and perhaps with the counseling staff at your daughter’s school or at the public school she might attend.

First of all, please realize that a “B” in AP Calculus earned by a 14-year-old sophomore will not torpedo her Ivy chances. When making admission decisions, college officials at the Ivies and other elite institutions take a “holistic” approach to the process and will thus view your daughter in the context of her school environment. In other words, they will note that she is taking a very advanced class at a young age, and they will see also that she attends a private school that may not be known for “the easy A.”

However, keep in mind, too, that the Ivies and their equivalents turn away thousands of applicants each year who have tip-top grades and test scores. In order for a candidate to make it through the vaunted Ivy gates, he or she must offer not only strong “numbers” but also other achievements that are outstanding and, often, uncommon.

Thus, in making plans for your daughter’s next two years, you need to ask yourself:

1) Where will she be happiest? Since she’s been in both public and private school, she must have her own opinion of where she will best thrive, not just academically but also socially and emotionally.

2) Which school will give her the most opportunity to stand out in the crowd BEYOND the classroom? What are her true passions? How can she explore them? Note that elite-college admission officials tend to be most impressed by applicants whose successes go beyond the typical school clubs and activities. (An exception is athletics, which is a whole other story.)

In addition, you don’t say whether or not your daughter’s private school ranks its students. Most private schools do not but some do. If your daughter’s current school DOES rank, where does she fit in the pecking order? If she is not at the top of the heap but WOULD be at the public school, that might be a factor when you debate the transfer. But, on the other hand, if her current school does NOT rank or if it does, and she is at or near the top of the class there (and at many private schools, students with B’s can often lead the class), then you should not worry so much about her B’s.

In any case, I urge you to ask your daughter where she feels she best fits. Like most teenagers, she may have a strong opinion. However, if the cost of the private school is becoming a burden to your family, you should certainly explain that to your daughter because she is old enough to understand and appreciate it. Don’t feel that colleges “prefer” private school applicants because that is not at all the case. When it comes to getting an admissions “edge,” there are pros and cons to both public and private schools.

Good luck to you, whatever you decide.

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Question: I’m thinking about becoming a social worker. What sort of classes do I need to take in college?

Social work is a very versatile career. Some social workers assist patients during hospital stays, others serve as counselors in high schools or colleges, many work with disadvantaged families to help them with their child-rearing, housing or employment needs, some have “private practices,” just like doctors do, to advise patients who are experiencing personal problems. The list of duties that social workers perform is seemingly endless.

This site, below, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, will give you a good overview of the profession and the many types of social work you can do.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm

There are a couple different routes to becoming a professional social worker.

1) Enroll in a college that offers the Bachelor of Social Work degree (BSW) that you can complete as an undergraduate (i.e, usually within four years). Not all colleges have a BSW major. However, most will offer a related field like sociology or psychology. These are good majors for you if you expect to go on to graduate school and earn an MSW (More on that in a minute). However, if you think you want to go to work in your field after only four years, then you should look for a college with a BSW program. But note that BSW positions are usually low paying and often don’t offer a lot of options for promotion. If you seek a career in social work, I highly recommend that you continue your schooling and earn a Master’s degree. (See below.)

2) Earn a Master’s of Social Work (MSW). This is a degree that usually requires that you attend college for four years to earn your Bachelors degree and then continue for one or two more years afterwards to earn the MSW. That may sound like a lot of schooling, but once you have your MSW, you’ll find that you will have MANY more job options than social workers do who hold only a Bachelor’s degree.

If you plan to study for an MSW, you can choose a wide range of undergraduate majors in college, even those that don’t seem related to the social work field. Regardless of the major you choose–and depending on the type of social work that interests you–undergraduate courses in psychology, sociology, law, criminal justice, biology (for medical social workers), foreign language (especially Spanish), women’s studies or gender studies, etc. will also prove useful.

Once you have completed your education, you will find different licensing requirements, depending on the state in which you live and the type of social work you wish to do.

Here are some links to social work programs (undergraduate and graduate) at some miscellaneous colleges. Read through them to see if the types of courses offered sound interesting to you:

http://www.csufresno.edu/socwork/

http://www.ncsu.edu/chass/SocialWork/

http://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/

http://www.southernct.edu/departments/swk/bsw.html

Hope that helps. Good luck as you plan your education and career.

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Question-My daughter was a straight-student in public school. She is now a sophomore in a private high school, where her course load includes AP US History and AP Calculus. She is getting B+’s and A-’s. She works hard, doesn’t spend time watching TV and is very focused. But I feel her time-management and study skills aren’t good. I can’t talk to her school counselor because she might use this aginst her during college admission process. Are there counselors available outside school or camps where my daughter can improve her organizational skills? I am pretty sure this will help her grades. She is aiming for the top colleges.

You don’t say exactly where you live, so that limits the advice I can provide regarding local outfits that might be able to help your daughter with her study skills. Nonetheless, with a speedy Google search I found this camp that claims to offer exactly what you seek and in a number of attractive locations: http://www.supercamp.com/skills.html

Note, however, that this is your classic Let the Buyer Beware Situation. I don’t know anything about this program beyond what I just read on their Web site so can’t give it an insider’s endorsement, although they do seem to have secured space on several snazzy college campuses.

I also suggest that you do speak with the school counselor. I can’t imagine her using this request against your daughter in any way, especially if it’s properly presented. Explain to the counselor that your daughter is a dedicated student and that she would like to improve her focus even more. The counselor may have some suggestions about local options. Perhaps, too, other parents have expressed concerns like yours, and the school may even be considering offering some sort of after-school study-skills program. But also in the Buyer-Beware department, as a former study-skills teacher myself, I have mixed feelings about the effectiveness of such programs. Sometimes the methods sound good but don’t translate well into real-world situations.

Finally, while you may be right on target in observing that your daughter could stand a bit of study-skills shape-up, you must keep in mind, too, that she is taking a very rigorous course load and is also in a private school where straight A’s are probably uncommon, even for the best pupils. College admission officials realize that the GPAs of applicants from certain high schools–especially demanding private schools–may not be as high as those from public schools—even from the very best public schools.

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Question: My son, a high school senior, was told by one college on his list that he would get credit for the three 3’s he earned on AP tests. Do all schools have this policy? It sounds too good to be true.

Yep, you nailed. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Indeed, some colleges do award credit for 3’s. But many don’t. Some award credit in some subject areas for 4’s and 5’s but in other areas for only 5’s. Likewise, colleges may give varying amount of credit for the same test result, depending on the AP subject. Confused? You should be!

At Yale, for instance, once you’ve successfully navigated a labyrinth of Web pages to get to the chart on this one http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/freshmen/academics/acceleration/table.html you’ll find that a score of 5 on the AP Biology exam is worth 1 credit, but no credit is awarded for the AP Environmental Science test, regardless of score. Those who earn a 4 or a 5 on AP Computer Science AB will also get 1 credit but nothing for AP Comp Sci A. French stand-outs will be happy to know that a 4 or 5 will provide 2 credits at Yale; ditto in German. You get the picture.

In other words, not only does each college or university make its own rules, but often individual departments within an institution get that right, too.

This College Board site http://www.collegeboard.com/ap/creditpolicy/institution/0,4098,1846,00.html allows you to type in a school’s name and, from there, you are supposed to be directed to the place on the college’s own Web site where AP credit policies are spelled out. Sometimes it works well; sometimes it leads to a treasure hunt (with no treasure).

Then, once you’ve figured out how many credits the test scores are worth, it’s a whole other project to decipher what the students are allowed to do with them (”Can be applied only to major-field classes;” “Cannot be applied to courses in the field of concentration;” “Can be used to make up deficiencies but not to accelerate …”)

Good luck and happy hunting!

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Question: I would really like to find a way to show college admission committees my interest in philosophy and history. I know that many students who are interested in medicine or in other scientific fields do internships and research projects in order to show this interest. Are there similar opportunities in my fields of interest?

If you live near a college or university (and almost everyone does), try contacting several professors who teach courses in history or philosophy that sound interesting to you. (Course catalogs can be found online and usually list the name of the instructor. You can then go to the college’s online directory to get the prof’s e-mail address.)

Once you’ll culled some names from the college Web site(s), then write each prof a brief note explaining your interests and aims. If you’re not expecting to be paid, you’ll be a lot more attractive to professors than if you’re looking for a salary. You can volunteer your services for whatever research-assistance or other (even menial) tasks that the professor requires.

Alternatively, many cities and towns–even small ones–have historical societies, and this might be another place to look for opportunities.

One of the best ways to express your passions is to dream up your own project. Is there a particular topic you’d like to research? You don’t need any formal affiliation to do so, but if you think it will look more “official” to have a sponsor, see if a local teacher, college professor, historical society officer, librarian, etc. will oversee your endeavor.

College admission officials are often more impressed when a student pursues a passion independently than when he or she joins an organized program. So don’t be afraid to strike out on your own. Write a research paper, make a film, begin a book …

You’ll have to take initiative but the results could be very fulfilling.

Finally, if you’ve got money to burn, you might want to check out this internship program: http://www.petersons.com/summerop/sites/inc/020372so.asp

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Question: My child is thinking of changing colleges. What additional expenses are involved? How much does it cost to spend extra time in school?

Sometimes there is no cost involved at all when a student switches colleges. Just because a student transfers, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she will need extra time to graduate. Sometimes, too, if additional credits are required, the student can take them over the summer at a local community college so–even though there will be some extra costs involved–these will be low. Transferring may also demand some moving expenses, if your child is shipping furniture or other gear from one part of the country to another, but this isn’t common or usually terribly costly. Transferring will often require extra application fees, too, but this is normally a minimal expense.

If, however, the transfer means added time in school, then this could, indeed, mean significantly more dough. In most cases, the additional costs will include full tuition charges for however long the student remains in college (e.g., one extra semester, one extra year) plus whatever living and miscellaneous expenses the student racks up during that time. (If he or she lives on campus, that would include room and board; most colleges also impose activity fees that all enrolled students must pay. It could also mean more health-insurance money coming out of your pocket for that semester or year, when you might have hoped there was an employer waiting in the wings to pick up the tab.).

Thus, depending on the cost of the college and whether or not your child lives there, an extra year can run you anywhere from a few thousand dollars up to 45 or 50K, once the dust has settled.

There are a few mitigating factors. For instance, if your child is not taking a full course load (e.g., he or she can’t get into all classes required for the major in a given semester) then the college MAY charge by the number of credits taken–not full freight–and your child could have room in his or her schedule for part-time paid employment while attending school. (Many colleges, however, do charge the full price, even if the student isn’t taking a full course load.)

Also, if your child is transferring in order to pursue a different major field, while it may mean spending more money for the extra time in school, the new field might be one where grads are in high demand in the job market (e.g., nursing) so the extra time and money may be very well spent and parlayed into a good job right after graduation.

Hope that helps. Good luck with whatever decisions lie ahead.

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Question: I am currently trying to decide between two universities. I have checked the rankings of both schools on various lists. Is this a good way to decide which university would be better for me?

General rankings aren’t tremendously helpful when deciding which college is the best fit for YOU. It’s more important to consider your own personal priorities—and these may include everything from climate to location to housing options to whether or not there’s an Ultimate Frisbee team, a backgammon club, or a Kosher kitchen. Obviously, you should look most closely at the academic programs and see if one seems to speak to you more loudly than the other.

If your two universities are ranked quite far apart, then the rankings may play SOME role in your decision. For instance, if one is ranked quite high–suggesting very selective admission and an academically powerful student body–you may prefer to enroll there if you like to be in classes that are competitive and in an environment where studying may take priority over social life. If, on the other hand, you do your best work when you can be at or near the top of your class, then the lower-ranked school MIGHT be a better match. But it’s hard to say without knowing a lot more about you and the specific institutions involved.

If the rankings you’re exploring include those organized by specific topic (e.g., “Schools with the Most Diverse Student Bodies” or “Best Party Schools”) then you may be able to discern a good fit for you from these ratings. But do keep in mind that they’re often subjective, so never take them as gospel truth.

In any case, we’re glad you have a choice–even if it’s a tough one–and we wish you well as you make it.

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Question: I am a high school sophomore from Manhattan, and I am trying to find a good lineup for my upcoming summers. I’m looking into Breadloaf Writing Program and Iowa Writers’ Studio. Do you know of others that will be better? Thank you!

College-campus summer writing offerings for high school students abound, and you can find them from Berkeley to B.U. I can’t recommend specific programs (and quality is likely to vary from year to year, regardless of where you go, depending on the instructors and participants). However, as a college-admissions advisor, what I can tell you is that the two options you’ve cited (Breadloaf and Iowa) are probably among the most renowned and respected by elite-college admissions staff.

Keep in mind, however, as you make your summer plans, that back in my day (and we’re talking 3+ decades ago), college admission committees were duly impressed when an applicant devoted a summer to academics–especially when electing a challenge on a college campus. Today, all that has changed. Many top high school students sign up for a college summer program with the belief that it will be a ticket to affirmative admission verdicts down the road. But–with so many strong applicants opting for this sort of summer experience–admission folks are pretty jaded when they see on-campus programs on an applicant’s resume, especially when the student comes from a privileged (or even fairly privileged) background.

Yet–having said all that–I’ll also point out that the venerable Breadloaf and Iowa writing programs are in something of a class by themselves. So, if you do have a passion for writing, those are excellent choices. You should investigate both and see which one seems to be the best fit for you. Again, from an admissions standpoint, I might push the Iowa option, only because it will be a chance for you–a New Yorker–to broaden your horizons as you spend your summer with Hawkeyes (and it’s also a chance to show the adcoms that you’re not afraid to spread your wings).

However, if your summer schedule permits, try to balance out your on-campus writing program with something very different in the remaining weeks. This could include a paid job, a volunteer position, a creative project you dream up yourself that may–or may not–draw on your writing skills, etc. in order to fend off the growing cynicism I see among admission folks as they wade through piles of applications from candidates whose summer plans include predominantly pricey summer programs. Whether this cynicism is deserved or not, it’s out there. So do go after your passions as you make your plans, but don’t view on-campus programs as any sort of fast track to your college-admission goals. Choose a writing program because you want to, not to boost your admission chances.

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