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NEWS ABOUT: college admissions

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Vassar Accidentally Accepts 76 Students It Rejected

'System error' gave false hope to rejected applicants

(Newser) - This weekend, for a few hours, 76 students thought they had been accepted to Vassar College—though, in reality, they had been rejected. The early-decision applicants saw the erroneous acceptance letter when checking their application statuses online; a placeholder "test letter" was mistakenly not replaced and was seen by... More »

We Need a Match.com for College Admissions

Our current system is badly outdated: Kevin Carey

(Newser) - It's time to bring the college admissions process into the modern age, writes Kevin Carey at the Atlantic . He doesn't mean the process by which elite students get into Ivy League schools—he means the real world, where the vast majority of students end up picking a school... More »

Racially Charged Bake Sale Sparks Student Outrage

UC Berkeley Republicans get snarky about student admissions

(Newser) - "White/Caucasian" pastries: $2. "Black/African American" pastries: 75 cents. "Native American" pastries: only a quarter. Such is the pricing scheme for a sarcastic "Increase Diversity Bake Sale" posted on Facebook by a Republican group at UC Berkeley, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . Planned for Tuesday, the sale... More »

Court Rejects Michigan's Affirmative Action Ban

Colleges can't ignore race in admissions, say judges

(AP) - A federal appeals court today struck down Michigan's ban on the consideration of race and gender in college admissions, saying it burdens minorities and violates the Constitution. The 2-1 decision upends a sweeping law that forced the University of Michigan and other public schools to change admission policies. The... More »

Ivy League Offers False Hope to Kids It Won't Accept

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... More »

Students Blast 'Unfair' SAT Reality Show Question

'I guess the kids who watch crap TV did well'

(Newser) - High school students who studied instead of watching Jersey Shore say they've been left at a disadvantage by a question on the SAT college entrance exam. The students complain that the essay question, which deals with the nature of reality shows, assumes that all students have a television and watch... More »

Harvard Applications Up 50% in 4 Years

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... More »

College Waiting Lists Bigger Than Ever

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... More »

9 Successes Who Were Rejected by Colleges

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 “
... More »

High School Seniors: Skip College

Taking a year off makes sense for most

(Newser) - A private consultant who makes a living helping high school seniors get into college has some unexpected advice for them: Don't do it. Take at least a year off instead, writes Gwyeth T. Smith. Yes, the idea of the "gap year" has been around a while, but the lousy... More »

NY College Offers Freshmen $10K to Wait a Year

Ithaca finds novel solution to over-enrollment

(Newser) - Ithaca College faced flagging enrollment last year, so it loosened admissions criteria. But that backfired: The New York school admitted 250 students more than it can accommodate this year. Even after building a temporary dorm, the college still doesn’t have room for 31 of them, so it’s making... More »

Colleges Use Student Blogs as Free PR

Warts-and-all posts by undergrads can lure savvy prospects

(Newser) - Colleges are loosening the reins on student bloggers in hopes that a dose of candid commentary will lure prospective applicants. At MIT, for instance, bloggers paid by the admissions office go about their work with no fear of censorship. That policy has caused some friction—including a spat between the... More »

Record 40% of SAT Takers Now Minorities

(Newser) - Minority participation in the SAT is up to 40% in 2009, the highest level ever, the Washington Post reports. That's up 2 points since last year and a whopping 10 points since 1999. “More than ever, the SAT reflects the diversity of students in our nation's classrooms," says... More »

'Snake Oil' College Advisers Can Run $40K

Counselors often embellish record, don't need licenses

(Newser) - Independent college counselors promise to use their admissions know-how to get students into the best schools. But there’s no way to evaluate their sometimes extravagant claims, and some charge more than a year’s tuition at many colleges, the New York Times reports. Still, business is booming in the... More »

Fall Enrollment Defies Economy

Freshman commitments hold steady, but at a cost of increased financial aid

(Newser) - Despite the recession, colleges aren't seeing the dip in freshman commitments they anticipated, reports the New York Times. The percentage of accepted students who have confirmed their enrollment at places like Yale, Harvard, and the University of Virginia and Wisconsin is about the same as last year. But it hasn't... More »

One College Snags Students With Free Tuition

(Newser) - While many schools struggle to entice new students in hard times, one is receiving more applications and higher-caliber resumes. How does Berea College in Kentucky do it? By offering free tuition, Time reports. Founded in 1855, Berea demands that all 1,530 students work 10 hours a week or more... More »

Chinese Flock to US Colleges

Growing middle class attracted by American system's reputation

(Newser) - The population of Chinese students in the US has soared in recent years, the Washington Post reports, driven by a US reputation for top-notch education and an expanding Chinese middle class. For years, Chinese undergrads in the US numbered about 9,000; in 2007, that figure surged to some 16,... More »

Colleges Snoop on Applicants' Online Lives

Admissions, financial aid officers 'fess up to checking social networking pages

(Newser) - A quarter of colleges check applicants' social networking pages or run their names through search engines, according to a new report. The colleges didn't say whether their online findings could make or break an application, but the study's authors believe overly candid online postings have the potential to sink one's... More »

Students Can Hide Low Scores With New SAT Policy

(Newser) - “What did you get on your SATs?” is now a multiple-choice question. A policy enacted last month allows students who take the test several times to pick which score they send to colleges, the Washington Post reports. But many schools aren’t thrilled with the change, and a quarter... More »

Now NYU Goofs on Acceptance Notices

Congrats, you've been accepted —not!

(Newser) - Just to make college admission a tad more excruciating, New York University has become the latest school to screw up on college acceptance notices, reports the Los Angeles Times. Some 500 rejected applicants were erroneously emailed last week that they had been accepted into an NYU graduate program. Officials blamed... More »

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