Top Colleges and Student Debt

November 3, 2017November 4, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Many expensive private non-profit four-year colleges try to keep student borrowing low by giving generous financial aid to undergraduates from lower-income families. Among highly selective private non-profit colleges, Harvard University was the most successful in keeping federal student-loan debt low for its graduates who took out such loans. Six Ivy League schools, including Harvard, were among the top 25 on that measure. The list below shows a school and the median debt for its graduates.

1. Harvard U. – $6,500

2. Duke U. – $7,500 | Princeton U. – $7,500

4. Rice U. – $10,228

5. Pomona College – $11,000

6. Piedmont International U. – $11,326

7. Cornell U. – $12,000

8. Stanford U. – $12,475

9. Amherst College – $12,975

10. Haverford College – $13,000

11. Grinnell College – $13,170

12. Dartmouth College – $13,462

13. Yale U. – $13,500

14. Vanderbilt U. – $14,000

15. California Institute of Technology – $14,350

16. Bates College – $14,450

17. U. of Chicago – $14,500

18. Williams College – $14,583

19. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering – $14,710

20. Claremont McKenna College – $14,968

21. Brown U. – $15,000 | John Hopkins U. – $15,000

23. Georgetown U. – $15,500

24. Hamilton College (NY) – $15,760

25. Middlebury College – $15,889

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Student Loan Data System

Keep this in mind as you make your plans for college admissions!

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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 College Athletic Coaches Are Looking For When Recruiting (Part 2)

October 25, 2017October 28, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Mental Toughness and Sportmanship: Beyond your ability, your academic record and your desire to attend and play, coaches want to know how you carry yourself on the court. Games between evenly matched players often come down to who is mentally the strongest. Coaches want to know how you think during a match and how well you understand the game. They are looking for those with “true grit”. How you respond when you are down in a match or get a bad call is important. Do you lose your temper and focus or are you able to remain calm and adjust your strategy? And while it may be cliche to say so, being able to win and lose with respect for your opponent and the game is very important.
Team Fit: When coaches recruit a player, they are choosing somebody they are going to spend a lot of time with over the next 4 years. They are looking for students who are nice to be with when traveling and eating together as a team.
Reliability: Coaches look for students who are reliable and who are going to do what they are supposed to and someone who is going to show up on time, everyday, where they need to be. Being punctual is essential in all aspects of life and for some coaches this is very important.

Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Ranking 2017

September 27, 2017September 28, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education Ranking 2017 was just released. The rankings emphasize how well a college will prepare students for life after graduation. The overall ranking is based on 15 factors across four areas: Outcomes, Resources, Engagement and Environment. Each school’s overall score is determined by student outcomes (including a measure of graduate salaries), the school’s academic resources, how well it engages students and from the diversity of the students and staff.

THE TOP TEN: Schools that achieved the highest overall scores in the ranking:

1. Harvard

2. Columbia University

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University

5. Duke University

6. Yale University

7. California Institute of Technology

8. University of Pennsylvania

9. Princeton University

10 Cornell University

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7 Huge Mistakes Parents Make in BS/MD Admissions

September 15, 2017September 18, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

“Going it alone” in this vast arena of BS/MD admissions can result in mistakes, as applicants are easily blindsided by obstacles and pitfalls that they don’t even know exist. When parents call our office to provide initial information, as I listen to their children’s BS/MD program profile I can almost predict (using trends, predictive analysis and real-time insider perspective of the BS/MD programs) that their child will be REJECTED based on the sameness of their profile. Yet when I explain to parents that their children sound exactly like other applicants they are in total disbelief. I have concluded that the children are merely following the advice of their parents and the parents are making costly mistakes. Try to avoid these common errors:

Parental Hubris: Many parents assume that their skill sets, professional title or socio-economic status and connections can help their children get accepted in the coveted BS/MD spots. This is a huge mistake! Their professional skills sets are helpful in finance, medicine, business, technology or research, but when it comes to BS/MD admissions they should leave it to experts who are involved and understand the ever-changing BS/MD admissions process. The inability to admit that they don’t know what they don’t know could result in REJECTION!
Group Think: Many parents read the same websites, same books, and talk with the same people in their respective communities, personal and professional circles. Most or all of the members of the in-group share an illusion of invulnerability that provides for them some degree of reassurance despite obvious dangers and leads them to become overly-optimistic. Thinking in a group discourages creativity and non-conformity, resulting in everyone appearing the same on paper. It causes them to fail to respond to obvious and clear admissions mine fields. As a group, faulty (and sometime irrational decisions and admissions strategies) are reinforced. The result: increased probability as a group of REJECTION.
Not understanding or accepting demographics: Many of my clients are of Asian descent (Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino and Japanese). This population, as a group, has been responsible for an increase in applicants by 30% to BS/MD program. Many parents may not be aware of the increased numbers. Colleges and their BS/MD programs desire classes that are diverse and demographically reflective of the general population. No matter which admissions method is used (team approach, character assessment or holistic approach), schools will not accept more of one demographic just because of an increase in the number of applications. The competition becomes hyper-competitive within a particular demographic.
Procrastination: The BS/MD admissions journey begins in high school freshman year, not during the fall of a student’s senior year. (See: BSMD Programs – Getting In!) From time to time parents will call us regarding a high school senior in September or October of their senior year requesting help for BS/MD programs. It may be difficult to undue mistakes that will result in rejection, although not impossible. But generally, these parents assume that they have done everything right and are calling to see if they can obtain free advice. Unfortunately, as they discuss their child’s achievements I can almost predict their student profile. By procrastinating, they have inadvertently increased the probability of REJECTION.
Misunderstanding Investment vs. Cost: What’s your child’s future worth? According to the US Department of Agriculture, the cost of raising a child for a middle-income family born in 2001-2003 through the age of 18, not including college costs is $224,000 to $227,000 for middle income families and $327,000 to $330,000 for higher incomes. This does not include private school tuition, summer athletic or music camps, or specialized college summer camps. When a parent calls us to ask “the price” of our BS/MD admissions advisory services for the purpose of negotiating for the cheapest rate, we can already predict the probability of REJECTION. Consider the worthy investment in your child’s future.
Seeking Advice from the Wrong Advisor: (a) Guidance counselors – public school guidance counselors only spend 26% of their time on college admissions and the average counselor-to-student ratio is 1:250. Guidance counselors don’t have the expertise in BS/MD program admissions. (b) Advisors who are journalist or writers who never attended medical school nor understand the highly selective process – no expertise in BS/MD program admissions. (c) Advisors who advise part-time – self explanatory. There is a major difference between useful knowledge and information. Parents should hire an advisor who is a full-time admissions advisor who actually visits colleges, BS/MD programs and medical schools, understands BS/MD programs of the various schools, and has insightful knowledge of each program. “If you don’t know where you’re going you’ll end up somewhere else” – Yogi Berra
Parents want the best for their children. They read as much as possible, network with others in schools and educational programs, provide extensive extracurricular educational opportunities for their children, research on the web about BS/MD programs…..but somehow when they are just along the last stretch to the finish line they make egregious, irrevocable and calculated mistakes that cause their children to be rejected. Don’t make these mistakes!

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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, BS/MD Admissions Advisors, help high school students get accepted to BS/MD programs.

Does It Matter Where You Attend College? Absolutely!

September 8, 2017September 15, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

I often hear from parents, students, high school guidance counselors and even fellow educational consultants that it doesn’t matter where you attend college, as long as where you attend is a “good fit”. Actually studies show it does matter where you attend college! My recommendation to my U.S. as well as international clients is that one should attend the “best” school possible where you will happy and have a great and memorable college experience.

Obviously, there are many people who are happy, quite successful and have had wonderful college experiences without attending Ivy League or highly competitive colleges. However, in this tight job market, recent college graduates increasingly find that higher paying jobs are very selective. While attending an Ivy League or selective college may not guarantee financial success or happiness, to buyers of talent (HR professionals, employers, personnel departments) it certainly does matter. One of the first questions they consider while perusing a job applicant’s resume: where did you attend school?

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”.
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%.”
Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, stated: “Because of the bitter competition for premium salaries, elite educational credentials are often a precondition for even landing a job interview. Degrees from elite schools clearly open doors.”
In The Economist 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.”
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.

Let’s face it. We live in a competitive, meritocratic and global society where brand, image, prestige and reputation certainly matter. The answer to the question: does it matter where you attend school, then, is rhetorical. Still believe it doesn’t matter? Just ask the record number of students (an estimated 30,000) who apply every year to each Ivy League school where the rejection rates can exceed 90% for these colleges.

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10 Top College Application Essay Mistakes You Must Avoid

College essay mistakes to avoid by Dr Paul Lowe Admissions Expert

September 4, 2017September 15, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

The thought of beginning your senior year with the attendant pressures of maintaining good grades, playing sports, filling out college applications, re-taking SATs and squeezing in college visits is stressful enough without worrying about writing one of the most important essays of your life – The College Application Essay.

Here are some mistakes you MUST avoid:

Mistake #10: Using the same essay for all of the college you apply to. All colleges have their own identity and mission statement. Pay attention to what their ideology is and think about what you can do to cater to it.
Mistake #9: Plagiarizing other students’ work. Do not copy from other people or download essays! Many students assume that if they copy directly from other people’s work and sources that no one will find out. This assumption is definitely wrong! Often, the essays they copy are littered with errors, and they don’t take time to check. Most importantly, plagiarism violates Common Application rules and it’s dishonest.
Mistake #8: Using a thesaurus for too many words. This mistake can lead to a big awkward tangle of an essay. Many times if you use a thesaurus and extract overly verbose words, they stick out like sore thumbs in your essay, producing an unnatural flow in your essay.
Mistake #7: Not streamlining the essay with the application. Many applicants do not pay attention to the unity of their essay and their actual application. It is jarring to readers (See: Team-based Approach to Read Applications) to portray a different picture of the student than the application. This can also happen when you plagiarize; things do not match, and the reader will quickly discredit you.
Mistake #6: Trying to impress the essay readers. Do not try to impress admissions officers or the admissions committee. They will be able to sense a pretentious, patronizing or even condescending voice beneath descriptions of seemingly philanthropic contributions, grand earth-shaking events and ontological musings. Write about what you know and about yourself in a meaningful way.
Mistake #5: Picking an inappropriate topic. In an attempt to be clever many applicants resort to self-deprecation and end up painting a less flattering image of themselves. You may think it would be witty to write an essay about your less than perfect grades in high school, but this can be interpreted as not taking responsibility for your actions.
Mistake #4: Making an essay into a resume. Many times applicants want to impress readers so much that they completely ignore the essay prompt and make the essay into a list of their accomplishments. Unless this is what they specifically what they asked for, just don’t do it.
Mistake #3: Brownnosing. If you are sending a school an application, they will simply assume that you want to attend. You don’t have to “lay it on thick” by lauding their campus and faculty.
Mistake #2: Proofread! You can not edit your essay too much. Write several drafts and edit each draft thoroughly for syntax, grammar, spelling, general structure, flow, rhythm, color and voice. Admissions officers will immediately discredit you for making petty errors that would be easily fixable.
Mistake #1: Not answering the question. The admissions committee uses certain essay prompts for a specific reason: They want you to answer it! So beware of steering away from the point and running off on tangents and irrelevant topics.

Your college essay is the only part of the college application process you have complete control of. (See: College Application Essay Tips) The essay or essays (short answers included) can capture an admissions committee’s imagination and make it want you on its campus. Missing the opportunity to make this piece of your student profile outstanding is a HUGE mistake.

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Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network. He and his team of admissions advisors through its admissions affiliate: College Essay Tune Up, review, objectively critique, proofread, and constructively edit college application essays.

BS/MD Programs: Getting In!

August 31, 2017September 15, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

As an admissions advisor, I have been successfully helping high school students get accepted to BS/MD programs for over 20 years. Year after year, nervous parents call or e-mail us wanting to know what’s needed for their children to be accepted. The parents have planned ahead since as far back as middle school (and sometimes even elementary school), reading books, visiting websites, and even e-mailing multiple consultants (including yours truly) to see if they can obtain an ounce of free advice to help their children.

Getting in is not just about:

Having a high GPA.
Loading up on many AP classes.
Getting high SAT or ACT scores.
Taking advice from your high school or college counselor.
Reading “How To” books or guides on BS MD programs.
Shadowing doctors.
Starting a philanthropic club or foundation.

There is much more involved in this competitive process.

Firstly, schools want to know, through your essay and recommendations, that you truly desire to be a doctor. After all, these are very competitive programs and coveted spots. From my discussions with admissions officers at several of these programs, they can decipher within the first paragraph of the “Why doctor?” essay who does not belong in their program – REJECTION!

Secondly, they certainly will not accept students who sound just like everyone else. They accept students who stand out and who are unique. That’s easier said than done when the students and their parents are reading the same material and making the same assumptions to “game” the admissions process. If parents are all reading the same material, Goggling the same sites, relying on the same resources, they will certainly all sound the same. When they call our office, parents ( and their children’s profile sound exactly the same. As “contrarian admissions specialist”, through hours of talking with my client, I discover and identify some unusual characteristic that will set my client apart from that sameness and get them accepted into BS/MD programs.

Thirdly, BS/MD program admissions officers read between the lines. After all, they are experts in selectivity! And in many instances, they may use the team-based approach in reviewing applications. Ninety-five percent of the applicants are academically qualified. So the real questions become: Who is the applicant? What makes them different? What’s the applicant’s character? How do they think? How will they contribute to our college and our program? When my team and I work with our clients, we spend hours reviewing their character and answering the above questions so that they are accepted!

So if your child has great SAT/ACT scores, high GPA, lot’s of AP classes, plays violin, piano, flute; was a member of the local and regional youth orchestra, member of the school marching band or jazz band, received science awards, has an art portfolio, plays tennis, lacrosse, soccer, badminton and was on the swim team, volunteers to help the poor, has an EMT certification, shadowed doctor, authored a paper and started a non-profit, they sound just like every other applicant who is applying to BS/MD programs.

What I do is help our BS/MD program clients find and express their unique qualities in a positive light to insure that they stand out and get ACCEPTED!

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Colleges Use a Team-based Approach to Read Applications

August 11, 2017September 16, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

As more and more top students apply for coveted spots at Ivy League and highly competitive schools, several of these schools have developed a new team-based approach to efficiently analyze and evaluate each applicant. Rather than work alone, each to a recruitment territory, admissions officers are now reading in pairs. They discuss and rate each applicant according to specific criteria, mission of the college and recommend a decision (reject or accept) and type notes into a system as they simultaneously discuss the applicant simultaneously reviewing each application on separate screens. The new approach, initially developed by University of Pennsylvania.

In this new model, one reader assesses 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. This new evaluative approach allows the admissions officer pairs to have an in depth conversation about each applicant and render efficient decisions and allows the admissions offices to review thousands of applications efficiently.

I have always emphasized to my clients that admissions officers review everything. Now, they are having a conversation about applicants as they read their applications!

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Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group. Dr. Lowe specializes in providing exclusive concierge-type admissions advisory services for U.S. and international families and students who are interested in applying to Ivy League and highly selective colleges and combined BS/MD programs. Dr. Lowe also helps students gain admissions into their top choice private schools and colleges after they have been deferred, wait-listed and rejected.

As an experienced and trusted admissions advisor for over 20 years, Dr. Paul R. Lowe is an active member of the following organizations that uphold the ethical and professional standards and principles of good admission practices in college and independent school counseling: Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling (NJACAC), New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling (NYSACAC) and International Association for College Admissions Counseling (IACAC).

College Admissions: How Will Your Character Be Assessed?

August 6, 2017September 16, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

The work of selecting students for admissions into colleges and universities is becoming more complex. Each year college admissions officers and their committees review thousands of applications and seek to predict the likelihood of those applicants to meaningfully contribute socially, culturally and personally to their specific college communities. Ivy League and highly selective colleges use a team review process to holistically evaluate each applicant when creating a particular class during the admissions process. That means acceptance to these colleges is not based on a simple formula of cognitive measures (grades and test scores). Instead, admissions officers consider a variety of factors, including the student’s academic record, extracurricular interests, intellectual achievements and personal background, to decide who will be rejected or accepted.

Many college admissions offices are now looking to rely less on cognitive-based measures (standardized tests and grades) and more on character attributes when choosing applicants. They are turning to research showing that a student’s potential for long-term success is predicted less by test scores and more by traits such as optimism, curiosity, resilience, metacognition and adaptability.

College admissions professionals have spent several years determining other character traits that are most important to their respective institutions. When admissions officers have chosen the applicants they plan to present to their admissions committee, the applicants have been determined to have traits such as honesty, resilience, curiosity, perseverance, leadership and the capacity for teamwork. Traditionally, these character traits are discovered by admissions officers using personal essays, interviews, lists of extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation to get a holistic view of applicants. Admissions officers now have other tools for character assessment at their disposal.

For college admissions, character traits tied to an interview, essay answers and letters of recommendation, are just as important and impressive, if not more so as, academic credentials.

I have always advised my clients to consider their character attributes and the holistic approach as they prepare for college admissions. It should now be clear that character assessment is the premier focus for college admissions.

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Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group. Dr. Lowe specializes in providing exclusive concierge-type admissions advisory services for U.S. and international families and students who are interested in applying to Ivy League and highly selective colleges and combined BS/MD programs. Dr. Lowe also helps students gain admissions into their top choice private schools and colleges after they have been deferred, wait-listed and rejected.

As an experienced and trusted admissions advisor for over 20 years, Dr. Paul R. Lowe is an active member of the following organizations that uphold the ethical and professional standards and principles of good admission practices in college and independent school counseling: Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling (NJACAC), New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling (NYSACAC) and International Association for College Admissions Counseling (IACAC).

Summer College Planning Checklist for Rising High School Seniors

July 31, 2017 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

For high school seniors applying to colleges this fall, there are a lot of things to do during the summer.

Start working on your Common Application; review the new essay prompts and new features.
Start working on your college essays.
Start visiting or re-visit colleges.
Narrow down the colleges being considered.
Make decisions regarding early action or early decision programs.
Register for the SAT and/or ACT if you didn’t take a college entrance exam as a junior or want to take one again.
For international students, register for the TOEFL or take one again.
Get organized and start creating a checklist and calendar to keep track of standardized test dates, college application due dates, and financial aid deadlines.

College admissions continues to be competitive especially in Ivy League and highly selective college and universities. My recommendation is that rising seniors should use their summers to start the college admissions process sooner than later.

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