Category: For High School Seniors

Top Colleges Enhance Efforts To Enroll Low-Income Students

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

As the cost of college continues to rise, college enrollment is becoming out of reach for low-income students.   According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2017–2018 school year was $34,740 at private colleges, $9,970 for state residents at public colleges, and $25,620 for out-of-state residents attending public universities.

Launched in December 2016, the American Talent Initiative (ATI), funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 additional high-achieving, lower-income students at the 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025.

Based on the most recent federal data available, there are approximately 430,000 lower-income students enrolled at these 270 institutions.  ATI aims to increase and sustain the total number of lower-income students attending these top-performing colleges to about 480,000 by 2025. To reach this ambitious goal, ATI will work to support its members’ work while adding more top-performing colleges to its membership in the coming months and years. 

ATI now has 97 member colleges that are taking the steps toward socio-economic diversity in colleges. Each ATI member institution has started to enhance its own efforts to recruit, enroll, and support lower-income students, learn from each other, and contribute to research that will help other colleges and universities effectively serve lower-income students

Educators, college administrators and legislature recognize that America’s top-performing colleges have an important role to play in this effort.  Research shows that when high-achieving, lower-income students attend high-performing institutions, they graduate at higher rates, and have a greater chance of attaining leadership positions and other opportunities throughout their lives.  Yet in each graduating high school class, there are at least 12,500 lower-income young people with outstanding academic credentials who do not enroll at institutions where they have the greatest likelihood of graduating…

ATI currently represents many of the country’s most elite colleges and universities.  To date, all the Ivy League schools are ATI members.   Here is a direct effect of ATI:  After 28 years without transfer students, Princeton University will begin accepting students from community colleges in fall 2018.

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs; graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs.   The admissions affiliate: Ivy League Admissions Advisors specializes in admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges,  Dr. Lowe also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college:  College Transfer Admissions Advisors.

Why Your Child Should Apply to an Ivy League College or University?

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

I often hear from some parents in my college admissions seminars or who call my firm inquiring about our service: “It doesn’t really matter if you attend an Ivy League school” or “it doesn’t  make a difference if you attend an Ivy League school” and finally, “its all about the fit; it doesn’t matter where you go to college”.  I even hear from many of my peer independent educational consultants, public high school guidance counselors and private school college counselors (who are not Ivy League undergraduate alumni) that it really doesn’t matter if that a student should applies to the Ivies or attends the Ivies.  I even hear from parents whose children have applied to the Ivies (after they have taken 9 AP courses, received tutoring in order to achieve near-perfect SAT scores and written that perceived awesome essay) that it does really matter.  Really?

As an Ivy-trained physician-scientist, prior to entering the admissions advisory field 22 years ago, I like to corroborate and validate my professional recommendations and advice with meaningful studies and reports, and real data that have linear correlations.

Year after year, thousands of students apply for coveted spots and are rejected (see my blog on rejection rates).  There must be a reason or reasons why each year one reads the following statistic 30,000 students applying for 2,000 spots, or why there is an uptick in the number of international applicants to Ivy Leagues schools.

So let’s review the reasons why your child should apply to the Ivies:

  1. A study in the journal, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, confirms parental suspicions that the best route to a top job is to attend an Ivy League school.  According to Dr. Lauren Rivera, the author of the study, “Elite professional service employers rely more on academic pedigree more than any other factor.  Where you went to school rather than what you did there makes the difference”.
  2. PayScale Inc., an online provider of global compensation data, in a survey demonstrated that an Ivy League diploma is still worth its price of admission and tuition.   An Ivy League education makes a job candidate stand out, even before a recruiter talks to them!   The median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college graduates and at 10 or more years into graduates’ working lives, the spread is 34%.
  3. “Because of the bitter competition for premium salaries, elite educational credentials are often a precondition for even landing a job interview. With so many applicants for every vacancy, many consulting firms and investment banks, for example, now consider only candidates from a short list of top-ranked schools. Degrees from elite schools clearly open doors. For example, more than 40 percent of the 2007 graduating class at Princeton landed one of the most highly sought prizes: a position in the lucrative financial services industry.”  Dr. Robert H. Frank
  4. According to a U.S. Department of Education report, the median annual earnings for an Ivy League graduate 10 years after starting amount to well over $70,000 a year. For graduates of all other schools, the median is around $34,000. But things get really interesting at the top end of the income spectrum. The top 10 percent of Ivy League grads are earning $200,000 or more ten years after starting school. The top earners of other schools, on the other hand, earn $70,000.
  5. Top 20 universities producing billionaires is dominated by blue-chip, elite U.S. institutions.  Billionaires are likely to have attended some of the traditionally most prestigious universities.  Top universities have become the place where “global players gather”.  (Educational insights from an annual profile of the uber-rich – Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census.)
  6. Business Insider’s “The 48 best colleges in the Northeast” – 2015:  Of the top 10 colleges, the 8 Ivy League colleges/universities were on the list.
  7. Wall Street Journal article: “In Producing Presidents, Ivies Still Have It”. Ivy League colleges are the top U.S. President-producing schools.
  8. Globally, extreme wealth is closely connected to elite education. “The economic sectors where the very wealthy are most closely connected to elite education are hedge funds, venture capital, the internet, law and finance. Those fields may require greater smarts, better training and stronger elite social connections.”  – Wealth X Study
  9. “Elite firms hire from elite universities” from “Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs” by Lauren A. Rivera.
  10. The Economist has established that there is a direct correlation between education, the inheritance of privilege and class. According to an extensive report in The Economist: “For those at the top of the pile, moving straight from the best universities into the best jobs, the potential rewards are greater.”

The next time you are out and about and you see decals that have an Ivy League university, or a parent with sweatshirt that states: ” Ivy League school Mom” ask yourself does it really matter?

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs; graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs.   The admissions affiliate: Ivy League Admissions Advisors specializes in admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges,  Dr. Lowe also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college:  College Transfer Admissions Advisors.

Top Colleges Speed Read College Applications

Top College Speed Read Applications Dr Paul Lowe
~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

How long do you think it takes a top college to review your application?   24 hours, five hours or one hour?  Try less than 8 minutes!!!

Due to the ease of applying to multiple schools, the number of domestic and international students applying to elite schools, the number of applications to these schools continues to grow.  Additionally, top colleges have also increased recruitment from rural areas in  the U.S.  Last year, the number of applicants using the Common Application was 902,000 and as of Jan 15, 2018, 898,000 used the Common Application.  Expect that number to increase after transfer admissions totals are determined!

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, admissions officers at top colleges do not have the time to read an applicant’s entire file.    As a result, many top colleges are using a team/committee-based approach to review applications .

In this new model, rather than work alone as an individual admissions officer assigned to a recruitment territory, admissions officers are now reading applications in pairs.  One reader is tasked with assessing and presenting the applicant’s academic credentials, reviewing transcripts, test scores, recommendations and course load and the other reader focuses on the “student’s voice”: essays, interviews and talents. The two-member team discusses and rates each applicant according to specific criteria based on the mission of the college and recommends a decision (reject or accept), typing notes into a system as they simultaneously discuss the applicant and concurrently reviewing each application on separate screens.

This new evaluation approach, initially developed by University of Pennsylvania, allows the admissions officer pairs to have an in-depth conversation about the applicant and render efficient decisions. It also allows them to read applications faster.  During team meetings there is a discussion on whether a candidate qualifies or not.

What does this mean for applicants who are applying to top colleges?

  • It’s getting even harder to be admitted to top colleges!
  • Every portion of a student’s application must now be able to highlight the student as well as somehow interconnected and interrelated with all other parts of the application.
  • Applying to top colleges is no longer just simply about top grades, AP courses, SAT scores and “jack-of-trades” and/or “drive by” extracirricular activities, and Expensive Summer Experiences (ESE) helping the poor in foreign countries and Expensive Summer Camps (ESC) – Summer camps/programs at elite colleges.
  • Students must assume and understand admissions etiquette and cultural as well as emotional intelligence, as you never know who will be reading your application.
  • Retain the services of an admissions advisor who visits colleges at least one or even twice annually.
  • Retain the services of an admissions advisor who understands the codes, language, complex metrics, unforeseen challenges and uncertainty in admissions.
  • Retain the services of an admissions advisor who understands and has the experience in preparing students whose applications are evaluated by the team/committee approach.

After four challenging years of college admissions preparation, your college decisions will be determined in 8 minutes or less!  Like competitive sports, getting into top schools is about have a competitive edge!

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs; graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs.   The admissions affiliate: Ivy League Admissions Advisors specializes in admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges,  Dr. Lowe also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college:  College Transfer Admissions Advisors.

2018 Hardest Colleges To Get Into In America

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

College admissions decisions will be released in late March through early April.  Many top high schools seniors will be disappointed when they check their emails to discover that they will be rejected from the Ivies and highly-selective colleges.  Even with having a high GPA, top SAT scores, high grades and a “manufactured” application and personal statement will be rejected from these schools.  Year after year, I hear the horror stories from parents whose kids got in nowhere because they thought the college admissions race was just about grades, SAT scores, their perceived  ‘unique’ applications, generic essays and perfect connections.

Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on educational institutions released its latest list of the hardest colleges to get into in America.  The hardest colleges ranking is based on acceptance (rejection) rates and SAT/ACT test scores using data from the U.S. Department of Education.  The rejection rates of these colleges range from 85% to 95%.

Here is a list of the top 25:

  1. Harvard University:  95%
  2. Stanford University:  95%
  3. Yale University:  94%
  4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology:  92%
  5. California Institute of Technology:  92%
  6. Princeton University:  93%
  7. University of Chicago:  92%
  8. Columbia University:  93%
  9. Vanderbilt University:  89%
  10. Brown University:  91%
  11. University of Pennsylvania:  91%
  12. Duke University:  88%
  13. Dartmouth College:  88%
  14. Harvey Mudd College:  87%
  15. Pomona College:  91%
  16. Northwestern University:  88%
  17. Rice University:  89%
  18. Johns Hopkins University:  87%
  19. Swarthmore College:  87%
  20. Claremont McKenna College
  21. Washington University in St. Louis:  83%
  22. Cornell University:  87%
  23. Amherst College:  86%
  24. Bowdoin College:  85%
  25. Tufts University:  86%

Ivy League and highly selective colleges use holistic, committee-based and team-based approaches and review processes when evaluating applicants for admission.  That means admission to these colleges is not based on a simple formula of grades and test scores.  Instead, these colleges consider a variety of factors including but not limited to:  the student’s academic record, extracurricular interests, intellectual achievements, character, emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence and personal background to decide who will be rejected or accepted.

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs;  graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs.  He also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college:  College Transfer Admissions Advisors.

Do Admissions Officers Consider Diversity In College Admissions?

Diversity in college admissions
~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Diversity in college admissions:  Colleges are looking for cultural, intellectual and meta-cognitive diversity in their classes as well as students who can relate to diverse populations.  Colleges accept classes not just great students.  They are seeking students who understand and appreciate other races cultures and ethnicities.  With regard to diversity, admissions committees ask the following questions: Can the applicant co-exist in our diverse community of different students who are global thinkers?  Does the applicant profile demonstrate a lack of a diversity experience?  Has the applicant meaningfully interacted with people outside of their socio-economic, cultural and ethnic norms?  It has been my observation that college admissions officers and deans of admissions behave like forensic investigators; they analyze and assess how, why and when dots are connected.

Colleges want talented, intellectually engaged students who will be meaningful contributing members of a diverse incoming class and future alumni who will be their global ambassadors.  They do not seek students who are “unique just like everyone else” in their respective communities.  In my experience, applicants who are accepted are those who can standout and lucidly articulate their achievements, goals and personalities and project themselves in a positive light to a committee of six to ten diverse people!

In my firm, which consists of a culturally, ethnically and racially diverse team, we truly appreciate and understand this emphasis, and we innately embrace the meaning and value of standing out and apply it to the competitive admissions process.  Our “Diversity Competitive Advantage” translates to successful admissions results for our clients!

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs;  graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs.  He also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected.

College Admissions Tips for Art Students

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

High school students who are interested in arts programs or majoring in art in college must prepare for the college admissions process in the same manner as other college-bound students.  However, in addition to grades, GPA, extracirricular activities and college applications, they must develop a professional art portfolio.  The art portfolio requirements vary at each college so it is essential to contact each college Art department for these specifications.

Here are several useful tips for college-bound art students:

  1. Have your artwork photographed, videotaped, scanned or graphically converted to display in a professional manner.
  2. Show a range of techniques and mastery in the works you choose.
  3. Choose works that show creative thinking and a unique perspective.
  4. Begin developing your portfolio during your junior year so that you may evaluate what works you already have and plan to create works in areas that you are lacking.
  5. Take your works to a professional for critiquing!  An art teacher, local artist, art professor or a current art student may be good sources to give your portfolio a trial run.
  6. Since your art portfolio is a part of your college admissions process, you should consider retaining the services of an admissions advisor who has experience in working with art students and understands the philosophy and academic mission of each of your target colleges.

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network.  He and his team of admissions advisors, through the admissions affiliate, Ivy League Admissions Advisors help students gain admissions to Ivy League and high selective colleges and universities.

What If You Are Rejected or Deferred Early Action/Decision?

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

As the early decision results come flooding in there is a mixture of feelings in the air. While some happy students settle in for the holidays with their acceptance letters in hand, others will be disappointed and stressed in discovering that they have been deferred to regular decision or, worse-case scenario, rejected. For those who are deferred, their applications will be re-considered along with the thousands of Regular Decision applicants. In the Regular Decision pool, the selection process becomes even more competitive and selective. The likelihood of acceptance is even lower.

Many students try the strategy of applying to what they perceived to be safety schools because they think the school will likely accept them early, only to discover that they are deferred or rejected. In either case, deferral or rejection, SOMETHING WENT WRONG. The problem is that the application errors that caused the rejection or deferral, if not discovered, will continue without rectification to the regular decision pool and result in multiple rejections.

With only a few weeks left in the application season, I recommend that students scrupulously reevaluate their deferred or rejected early/action application and carefully plan a workable strategy in this crunch-time.  (1) Prepare more applications.  (2) In the case of deferral, see what else the college might need.  (3) In the case of rejection, especially if this was your safety (non-reach school), you seriously need to review your application.  (4) In all cases, you may need to hire an educational consultant who is an expert in post-decision admissions advising.

For parents who engage our services after the disheartening news of deferral or rejection, I use our post-decision strategies.  I discover what the student did to be rejected or deferred, build upon their current student profile and accomplishments and re-energize their application so that they are removed from the deferred list and placed on to the accepted list.  Additionally, I assess the student’s Regular Decision applications (due by January 1) to identify mistakes on their Early Decision application so that their mistakes do not become viral and affect the student’s Regular Decision applications.

The worst thing a student can do is to settle for a safety school after all their hard work and find themselves (and their parents) in this unhappy situation of being rejected from their dream schools and reach schools.

 

Dr. Paul Lowe is the manager director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network.  He and his team of admissions advisors, through the admissions affiliate, Ivy League Admissions Advisors, help students gain admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities.  Through his admissions affiliate:  College Application Rejected, he specializes in helping students who have been rejected, deferred or waitlisted.

Early Decision and Early Action Notifications: 2017-2018

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

It’s mid-December and the majority of early decision and early action notifications from the Ivies and most of the highly selective colleges and universities are here! Many applicants with high SAT/ACT scores, high grades and seemly perfect applications and personal statements were rejected or deferred to the regular decision pool.  For example, Harvard has offered admission to 964 applicants out of 6,630 students who applied early,  Yale: 842 accepted, 5733 applicants, and Princeton: 799 accepted, 5402 applicants.

Here are several Ivy League and highly selective college and universities that have notified students:

  • Barnard College:  December 12, 2017
  • Brown University:  December 14, 2017
  • Cal Tech:  Mid-December
  • Carnegie Mellon University:  December 10, 2017
  • Columbia University:  Mid-December
  • Cornell University:  December 14, 2017
  • Dartmouth University:  December 14, 2017
  • Duke University:  December 14, 2017
  • Georgetown University:  December 15, 2017
  • Hamilton College:  December 15, 2017
  • Harvard University:  December 12, 2017
  • Johns Hopkins University:  December 15, 2017
  • MIT:  December 14, 2017
  • Northwestern University:  Mid-December
  • Notre Dame University:  Mid-December
  • Princeton University: December 13, 2017
  • Stanford University:  December 8, 2017
  • Swarthmore College: December 15, 2018
  • Tufts University:  Mid-December
  • University of Michigan:  By December 24
  • University of Pennsylvania:  December 13, 2017
  • Yale University:  December 14, 2017

Dr Paul Lowe is the managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network.  He and his team of admissions advisors, through the admissions affiliate, Ivy League Admissions Advisors help students gain admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities.  Through his admissions affliiate:  College Application Rejected, he specializes in helping students who have been rejected, deferred or waitlisted.

The Changing Landscape of College Admissions

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

For years, elite colleges have tried to address a proportional decline of students arriving from areas beyond metropolitan and suburban areas.  These colleges have been implementing additional measures to address diversity issues on college campuses.  Increasingly, private elite colleges are seeking small-town and rural students.

One thing has not changed with regard to college admissions and diversity.  Recent studies by the National Center for Education Statistics have shown that even with Affirmative Action policies, Black and Latino students are more underrepresented at these colleges and the percentages of students in these schools have remained flat over the last 35 years.  The only increase in percentage of students by race are Asian students.

Research studies have shown admissions biases against rural students with financial needs; and found that leadership roles popular in rural communities, such as 4H clubs, Future Farmers of America and ROTC worked against the students who claimed them on applications.  As a result of the decrease in students from low-income and working-class white families from rural areas, colleges are now increasing their admissions effort to recruit these students.

What are some of the elite and selective colleges doing to address these issues?  Swarthmore has a created a program called Small Town Swarthmore.  Princeton has increased their recruitment efforts through transfer programs from community colleges to help students from rural backgrounds.

Colleges want U.S. geographical diversity, not just students predominantly from metropolitan and suburban areas.  As schools implement their plans to increase diversity in their incoming classes based on small town and rural students (as well as Black, Latino and Indigenous students), expect to see a change in demographics on elite college campuses that properly reflects the true diversity throughout the U.S. population.

Dr. Paul Lowe is the managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network.  He and his team of admissions advisors, through the admissions affiliate, Ivy League Admissions Advisors help students gain admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities.  Through his admissions affiliate:  College Application Rejected, he specializes in helping students who have been rejected, deferred or waitlisted.

Early Decision and Early Action Dates for 2017-2018 College Applications

~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

It’s Early Decision and Early Action season!  Applicants have already submitted their applications and are waiting patiently for their decisions.  Competition to Ivy League and highly selective college remain high.  Therefore, expect many applicants with high SAT/ACT scores, high grades and seemly perfect applications and personal statements to be rejected or deferred to the regular decision pool.

Here are some early decision and early action notification dates for Ivy League and high selective colleges and universities:

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