UC San Diego to Rejects: You're In!

Panel recommends move away from standardized testing

(NEWSER) - Colleges should make admissions decisions without requiring the SAT or ACT, says a group of deans led by Harvard's admissions chief in a yearlong study that concluded standardized tests distort students' high school experiences, exacerbate class disparities, and enrich only the billion-dollar test prep industry. Instead, say the admissions officers, colleges should place greater emphasis on high school coursework and introduce a new, broader achievement test. More»

Elite universities profit from acting interested in unqualified students

(NEWSER) - Ivy League schools cram high school students' mailboxes full with glossy recruitment packages, only to greet them weeks later with far less appealing rejection letters. Critics say elite universities like Harvard and Columbia set up potential applicants for disappointment by wooing them with pamphlets, posters, and promise, pocketing hefty application fees of up to $90 from students who have little chance of actually getting accepted, Bloomberg reports. More»

School sees 50% jump in applications over 4 years

(NEWSER) - Harvard has drawn 35,000 applications this year—a 15% increase over last year and a whopping 50% increase in four years. That means about 6% of Class of 2014 applicants will be admitted, compared to about 9% of Class of 2010 applicants. About one in 50 high school seniors now applies to Harvard, writes Daniel de Vise in the Washington Post . That’s largely due to students each applying to a greater number of schools, pushing peers to do the same in a “self-perpetuating cycle,” De Vise notes, adding that the "30,000 club is growing"—Northwestern and Penn both entered it this year. More»

Uncertain economy has schools, students hedging bets

(NEWSER) - The odds aren't looking good for the 3,382 high school seniors currently wait-listed by Duke—the college thinks it will probably end up taking only about 60 of them. Duke is far from the only college to dump record numbers of applicants into admissions purgatory this year, as economic uncertainty has both colleges and applicants hedging their bets, the New York Times reports. More»

Don't worry, seniors: Ted Turner, Warren Buffett still made it

(NEWSER) - As high school seniors across the country anxiously wait for college acceptance—or rejection—letters, the Wall Street Journal offers a glimpse at a few success stories who received the dreaded thin envelope:

• Warren Buffett: Though his rejection from Harvard Business School was “crushing” at the time, it “turned out for the better” when it prompted him to go to Columbia, says the investor. “You learn that a temporary defeat is not a permanent one. In the end, it can be an opportunity.”
• Meredith Vieira: She was also turned away from Harvard—but it led her to enter TV journalism when she found a mentor at Tufts.