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College Match

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Why Investing in College [Still] Makes Sense

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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” – Ben Franklin

A Princeton Review poll indicates nearly half of all students’ greatest worry is finding the best match for college. Recent college admission rates show both parents and students more than a little concerned over getting into the right college. These are valid concerns. The right college affects:

  • A student’s choices and path in life
  • The quality of their social network, career connections and graduate school placement

Along with college choice, paying for college and making sure students find meaningful work are also concerns that parents share. And while attending college secures opportunities for maintaining a family’s legacy including jobs and graduate school placement networks, not to mention friendship networks, about one third of students transfer and only about 60% finish in four years.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that high school students lack the personal coaching they require to make the right personal choices:

  • Decisions about where to go are not always wise: 1 in 3 students transfer, only half finish in 4 years
  • College counselor/student ratios are 300:1 at public schools and 200:1 at private schools
  • Among the roughly 1.7 million students applying to four-year colleges the top 20% tend to apply the same 50 colleges, overcrowding these admission pools while other colleges’ application pools shrink—leaving many great college options and merit awards untapped.

For many parents and students “super-reach” Ivy League colleges are the way to go. And, yet Ivies, U Chicago, Stanford, MIT and Caltech turn away 90% of applicants, making it difficult to base a sound admission strategy around applying to “super-reach” schools and leaving much room for improvement in the way students choose their dream colleges.

A new way of choosing colleges is beginning to emerge. College Match is leading the way asking its students and parents to look at earnings and graduate school placement. PayScale’s employer pay rankings and Wall Street Journal’s top 50 feeder colleges to professional graduate medical, law and business schools are great tools to highlight top colleges in a range of admission difficulties.

Better undergraduate matching can produce better job and graduate school outcomes that last a lifetime. By starting to plan now, you can improve your student’s chances of finding, getting in to and paying for the right school for them.

If all of this sounds complicated, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some key steps:

Start early– Begin planning sophomore and junior year with your student to develop their talents and interests. Colleges want to see leadership and depth in a student’s out-of-class involvement. This doesn’t mean that they have to do a lot of different activities. The best is to focus and start at the beginning of high school. By starting early your student can develop leadership and depth, rather than breadth. Colleges form a well-rounded class by choosing individuals with depth in their activities and interests. For more information on how to develop and scale extra-curriculars, download Brand U chapter “Scaling Upwards”.

Identify key strengths—is your student a community-builder? An inventor? An entertainer? Nurturing and developing special talents takes insight and understanding about what colleges are looking for. Some want poets; others want dancers or musicians.

Working with your student to develop their unique talents should be an organic and natural process. By reviewing the credentials of accepted students you can gain insights into what different colleges are looking for. USA Today sponsors a yearly high school competition that shows the backgrounds of those students who are accepted to top colleges. Keep in mind that for some competitive colleges this may include national and state competitions and prizes, such as the Intel Science Competition or playing an instrument in the local junior symphony.

Become knowledgeable about college admissions trends—dance for example.  Among the usual performing arts that students take part in outside of class, dance is now one of the most sought after with college admission offices around the country. For the first time, a number of colleges are reporting dance statistics among accepted students.  Pomona and Occidental Colleges in Los Angeles now record the number of accepted students involved in dance among their freshman class profiles (5% to 8% of freshman classes). Echoing this trend, construction is underway on new dance studios at Vassar College –one that seats 244 people and new facilities have been built at Emory, University of New Mexico and Tufts University.

Seek advice from an expert—By working with an admission strategist to plan smartly, you can not only improve your student’s chances of getting into the college of their dreams, but of paying for it as well. Families who start sophomore or junior year and work with a college consultant, improve their chances of finding merit money. Getting a merit award may come down to something as simple as the fact that a college needs a cellist or soccer player. In 2020, College Match’s families averaged $87,000 in non-need-based merit awards. View a list of College Match’s admission wins and merit awards. 

For families that you represent, important decisions about college admission loom on the horizon.  The good news is that with a little upfront planning their students can find a customized college fit.

Interested in help from College Match consultants? We can’t wait to work with you in individual consulting or our online Ultimate College Admission Prep Course (subject to availability).

COLLEGE ADMISSION: 5 TIPS FOR COLLEGE APPLICANTS

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1. When considering a US undergraduate program for your student, look beyond college rankings.

US News and World Report ranks colleges and universities based on factors like alumni giving, graduation rates, and the percent of students in the top 10% of their classes– not on the success of graduates. Better rankings include, graduate school placement, graduate earnings, opportunities for undergraduates to do their own research, prizes won by students. It is wise to supplement these rankings with more undergraduate-focused criteria. PayScale rankings and Ph.D. production on a per-capita basis are all good measures of undergraduate quality. For a better source of rankings that looks at outcomes, visit Forbes Magazine’s college rankings.

2. Don’t fret over going pre-professional with your major—it is less important than you think.

Unlike other parts of the world, students in the United States do not specialize as quickly. Increasingly, students in the US attend post-graduate programs like business, law and medical schools to get the specialization they will need for their jobs. Unless a student is very sure of their focus, it is fine to pursue a wide range of interests. There will be plenty of time later to specialize in graduate school, through internships and on-the-job experiences.

3. Undergraduate admission is difficult at top schools (Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, etc).

If a family is considering undergraduate admission at one of these “names”, it is good to be aware that admission is uber-competitive and costs may be high. Since 40% of spaces are assigned to recruited athletes, legacies, and under-represented minorities, the number of available spaces is actually more limited than the admit rates show; in fact, most students stand a less than 5% chance of admission at Ivy-level colleges like Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford.

4. Look beyond the Ivy League. Please don’t overlook the bumper crop of small, prestigious colleges.

Instead of focusing on Ivy League, MIT and Stanford, look to choose high quality colleges that feed into top graduate schools. The Wall St. Journal published a study of the top 50 “feeder” colleges.

5. Look for the right college match.

Base your decisions about where your student will attend not based solely on location, prestige or cost. It is a good idea to check to see if the college’s values are the same as your student’s. A good source of information is StudentsReview.com Colleges, like people, have values; it’s like joining a family. The network that you inherit by attending a particular college is for life!

College Match can help you find your college fit with in-person and virtual offerings.

Comparing UCSD and Whitman College in WA State from Real World Outcomes Perspectives

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Dear Parents,

Today we are comparing University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Whitman College (Whitman) in Washington State from real world outcomes perspectives – looking at medical and science graduate school placement as well as starting salary and mid-career earnings.

There are some big differences between the two schools and the edge for earnings by a slim margin goes to UCSD while the edge for graduate school by much larger margin goes to Whitman. The biggest trade-offs are that UCSD offers a name that is recognizable because of its link to UC system and its graduate school while Whitman focuses on undergraduate education and roughly doubles the chances of admission to graduate schools. Whitman offers much better options for undergraduates to do their own research as well. The cost of Whitman is double the cost of UCSD. UCSD is a German model research university and Whitman is an English model “West Coast Little Ivy” having formal ties to Columbia University Law School as well as 3/2 program in engineering with Fu School of Engineering.

First, the most important things to know:

1) US News rankings of colleges are deeply flawed because they do not consider “real world” outcomes such as earnings after college, graduate school placement, happiness with the institution, and quality of the social networks. Focus on real world outcomes and you may find that you have a better college fit—see notes below about earnings and graduate school placement (MD, JD, MBA, PhD).

2) Double-check to see if liberal arts colleges (Whitman) or research universities (UCSD) are the right types for your particular journey
through life including your career and/or graduate school goals. For descriptions of the six college types, you can read page 75 of my book Brand U: 4 Steps to the College of Your Dreams

3) The trade-off between liberal arts and research is significant. What you are essentially giving up when you attend a liberal arts college is social prestige—the graduate research at UCSD means that everyone has heard of the school; UCSD is famous for its graduate research. Whitman, by contrast, is focused on teaching undergraduates and helping them do their own research resulting in per-capita PhD productivity that exceeds any UC except for UC Berkeley. Source NSF Bac Origins Study; see Table 4: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13323/

4) Rankings that matter more to parents and students should include career earnings and graduate school placement. Families should consider “real world” outcomes like employer earnings, PhD science and engineering productivity and medical, law and business school placement and the people or social network that you get by attending either type of college.

COSTS OF ATTENDANCE

UCSD is almost half the price of Whitman for California State residents – Whitman is $65,000 per year and UCSD runs about $35,000.

CAREER EARNINGS
If you got just one degree, either from UCSD or Whitman, here is how each school stacks up in terms of producing earnings for graduates:

49th – University of California – San Diego – $52,400 starting salary and
$103,000 mid-career

59th – Whitman College – $42,400 starting salary and $101,000 mid-career
salary

There is a negligible difference in salary at mid-career. One thing to point out: many more employers will come to UCSD. If ___ attends Whitman and looks for a job she must “pound the pavement” on her own rather than expect an employer to come to her. (source: Payscale rankings: http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors)

GRADUATE SCHOOL ADMISSION
Let’s compare UCSD to Whitman for PHD sciences productivity and placement in medical school:

Medical school admission rates:

Whitman: tends to be at least 60%. Schools like Whitman typically have the very highest admission rates for MD admission; for example,
Bates College is 70% – 100% and Davidson’s is 60%

Sources:
http://www.bates.edu/career/students/advanced-studies-graduate-and-professional-school-advising/health-professions-advising/pre-health-basics/faqs-about-pre-med-at-bates/#link1
https://www.davidson.edu/offices/institutional-research/goals-for-student-achievement (page no longer available)

UCSD: 33% accepted to MD programs. Note: among the University of California campuses, UC Berkeley has the highest admission rate to medical school – 50%.

Based on my research with similar colleges, my estimate is that attending Whitman would double one’s chances of medical school, law school or
business school admission. For example, Whitman is the top feeder college in Washington state, not University of Washington, to University of
Washington Medical School.

Sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UCSD/comments/46z8j6/ucsd_med_school_acceptance/?st=ivrnha88&sh=cefedaf2
https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/MedStats/Annual-Acceptance-Rates-by-Year.pdf

Science PhDs:
Since a PhD is the toughest thing to get in terms of time commitment and cost, it is good to look at which school— UCSD or Whitman — might give
her best chance for a PhD.

Whitman ranks #36, among all US colleges, for graduating students who go on to earn a PhD in the sciences. In contrast, UCSD does not place on the top 50 list.

(See Table 4: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13323/)

 

INTERNATIONAL GRAD SCHOOL FELLOWSHIP RANKING
Looking at Fulbright rankings is also a great way to get a picture of undergraduate quality:

Fulbright Awards won in 2015-16. This is a one-year grant to do research overseas.

Whitman: 7
UCSD: 7

As you know, Whitman is not the same size as UCSD—it is about 10 times smaller so Whitman is about 10 times more successful at getting people a
Fulbright grant to study overseas than UCSD.

Source: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/top-producing-institutions (page no longer available)

Rhodes Scholarships 1904-2016 – this is the toughest scholarship in the US to get — only 32 a year — grants two years at Oxford.

Whitman: 5
UCSD: 0

In fairness, UCSD is a much newer school than Whitman. Whitman was in existence in 1904 but UCSD came much later—in the 1960s.

Source: http://seepdf.net/doc/pdf/download/www__rhodesscholar__org–assets–uploads–RS_Number%20of%20Winners%20by%20Institution_1_15_16.pdf (page no longer available)

HAPPINESS WITH SCHOOL
I added this category and think it is important. Since USCD is a commuter school—more than 70% do not live on campus and Whitman is a residential school with more than 70% living on campus, there are some differences in terms of how students feel about each college:

64% would return to Whitman
48% would return to UCSD

Sources:
http://www.studentsreview.com/WA/WCW.html
http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/UCLJ.html

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A College Admissions Exercise – an excerpt from 4 Steps to College

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Exercise: Third-Party Recognition
(30 minutes)

Goal: To make sure your child’s hard work and achievements get the validation they deserve.

Instructions:
1. Once your child has started developing in areas of leadership, service entrepreneurship, performance, art, writing, research, scholarships, or academic competition or scholarship, discuss ways that achievements can be used to:
• Raise awareness for a worthy cause
• Build community
• Inspire or educate others

2. Explore avenues for achievements to get profiled, reviewed, or published through print, television, online media, or social media.

3. If your child gains recognition at the local level for good work, scale the recognition upwards to the state, regional, national, and even international level.

You can find this exercise on p. 59 in BRAND U: 4 Steps To The College of Your Dreams.

Elite Colleges Review an Application in 8 Minutes (or Less)

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Article by By Melissa Korn – WSJ

8 minute admissions
The Georgia Institute of Technology is among the colleges to adopt two-person committees to review student applications. Applications to Georgia Tech jumped by 13% for the next academic year, to 35,600. PHOTO: DUSTIN CHAMBERS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

With so many applying, fewer schools have one person read a whole application; plowing through 500 files in a day

As application numbers surge, admissions officers at some elite colleges say they don’t have time to read an entire file.

Instead, staffers from more schools—including the Georgia Institute of Technology, Rice University and Bucknell University in Pennsylvania—now divvy up individual applications. One person might review transcripts, test scores and counselor recommendations, while the other handles extracurricular activities and essays.

They read through their portions simultaneously, discuss their impressions about a candidate’s qualifications, flag some for admission or rejection, and move on. While their decision isn’t always final, in many cases theirs are the last eyes to look at the application itself.

The entire process can take less than eight minutes.
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HOT TIP:  HOW TO STAND OUT IN 8 MINUTES                                                                         
Admissions officials and high-school counselors                                                             
give tips on getting a close look during quick application reviews:

Do:

• Keep essays focused and personal

• Highlight extracurricular activities that really mattered to you

• Tell a coherent story across essays, transcript and activities

Don’t: 

• Use acronyms that only people familiar with your school would understand

• Assume the reader knows nothing about where you grew up
____________________________________

The new approach puts students at a disadvantage because an admission officer doesn’t get a comprehensive view of the candidate, some high-school guidance counselors say.

“If they’re splitting it up, it’s not holistic. Nobody has a full feeling” of the applicant, said Chris Reeves, a school counselor at Beechwood High School in Fort Mitchell, Ky., and a director at the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

“I put in four years of super hard work. To know that it’s all over in 10 minutes is just mind-blowing,” said Caleb Richmond, an 18-year-old senior at the Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H., who says he wrote about seven drafts of his main college admission essay.

Georgia Tech
Mary Tipton Woolley and Xan Roseberry look over prospective students’ applications in the admissions office at Georgia Tech. PHOTO: DUSTIN CHAMBERS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Committee-based evaluation, which involves a committee of two people, is the admission industry’s answer to ballooning application volume. Admissions directors say it is better for staffers than spending solitary months reading essays, transcripts and recommendation letters. They also say it helps train new readers and minimizes bias by forcing readers to defend why they think a candidate is qualified or not, and as a result they’re more confident in the decisions the new committees are making.

Admissions officers estimate that upward of 30 elite schools have embraced the method, championed early by the University of Pennsylvania. Colorado College, Case Western Reserve University, Swarthmore College and the California Institute of Technology use variations as well.

Schools say they are making the shift in part to stem staff turnover, as many now quit at the end of the reading season. “It’s a more humane way of reviewing applications,” said Marylyn Scott, senior associate dean of admissions at Bucknell. The school adopted the approach during the last admission cycle.

Readers at Bucknell, which gets more than 10,000 applications, used to take 12 to 15 minutes to review each application. Now a team of two is done in six to eight minutes.

Caleb Richmond, an 18-year-old senior in Manchester, N.H
‘I put in four years of super hard work. To know that it’s all over in 10 minutes is just mind-blowing,’ says Caleb Richmond, an 18-year-old senior in Manchester, N.H. PHOTO: ELIZABETH BELLOTT-MICHAUD

Combined, Ms. Scott noted, that is still up to 16 “person minutes.”

Last year, the school admitted about 3,200 students and enrolled just shy of 1,000.

A three-person committee reviews the team’s notes before making a final call.

Efficiency is crucial, since more students are using the Common Application, which allows them to submit material to multiple schools. Nearly 902,000 students used it last year. As of Jan. 15 this year, the number was already 898,000 students submitting to an average of 4.8 schools.

Applications to Georgia Tech jumped by 13% for the coming academic year, to 35,600. The current freshman class has roughly 2,800 students.

“There’s just no way we could have gotten things done” without significant strain, said Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admissions.

That school introduced committee-based reading in the fall, and the staff, in up to 12 teams of two, now plows through about 500 applications a day.

The officer in charge of a particular region, referred to as the driver in the process, opens a file online and describes the applicant’s school to his or her partner, the passenger. The driver looks over an applicant’s academic transcript and test scores, while the passenger takes on counselor recommendations, essays and extracurricular activities.

They make a decision after eight to 10 minutes: admit, deny, waitlist. In about 85% of the cases, the application isn’t reviewed again.

“I’ve legitimately read—not skimmed, but read—more counselor recommendations in the last round than I have in the last three years,” Mr. Clark said. “I have time to read them.”

Critics say a fragmented reading provides little insight into candidates’ nuanced applications, and rather than reducing bias the team-based process can lead readers to reinforce one another’s assumptions.

Jim Conroy, chairman of the post high school counseling department at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill., says he spends years teaching colleges’ territory managers about his high school. Now, though, “There’s no context to their reading.”

Colleges say the committee would likely include the regional representative who knows about a school’s academic rigor and extracurricular offerings.

Still, some schools want to do things even faster.

Yvonne Romero da Silva, formerly at Penn and now vice president for enrollment at Rice, is focused on shaving a few more seconds off the process by reducing the number of text boxes into which readers can add notes and streamlining drop-down menus.

“Little things like that, after 40 files, really add up into concrete minutes,” she said, adding that the main goal is to spend that time on reading more closely.

Mr. Richmond, the senior from New Hampshire, agonized over his essay, about coming to terms with being gay.

“I can’t even tell you how many hours I stared at the page, just thinking about word choice, what I wanted the sentence to sound like,” said Mr. Richmond, who was accepted early to Swarthmore.

Then again, he said, “The process worked for me.”

Corrections & Amplifications
A photo above shows Mary Tipton Woolley and Xan Roseberry in the admissions office at Georgia Tech. An earlier version of the caption incorrectly gave their names as Mary-Tipton Woolley and Xan Rosenberry, and it incorrectly said the office is in the Georgia Tech Admissions Building. Separately, an earlier version of another photo caption incorrectly gave Rick Clark’s first name as Rich. (Jan. 31)

Appeared in the February 1, 2018, print edition as ‘Top Colleges Speed Read Applications How To Stand Out In Eight Minutes.’

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