“Do or Die” Scenario – it’s time for college admission

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:14:57 +0200

Competition for admission in reputed colleges have increased and admission officers try different ways of choosing from a surplus of talented applicants, colleges began to move away from identifying and admitting the “well-rounded” student and instead began to concentrate on enrolling a “well-rounded class” of students who stood out in specific ways. The ramifications of this increase in the competition for admission and shift in admissions philosophy. Needless to say, if we do not have a strong academic background, sufficient financial resources, and proficiency in the English language, we will be at a disadvantage in the admissions process.

Many parents are struggling to find a way to pay for their children's college education. This is a cost that seems to increase, even when wages don't. Kids who do well in school have many options to consider when entering college, including merit scholarships and grants. One option is the Academic Competitiveness Grant. This grant is added to the other federal grants that your student can get after filing the FAFSA, and it rewards them for their good academic effort.

As the letter indicates, parents tend to be too much preoccupied with, and emotionally invested in the college admission prospects of their progeny. Such a reality daily confounds our work in schools, starting with preschool-parental nervousness about whether a child is reading yet, eventually blossoming into full-fledged, and often counterproductive, parental obsession with college admissions during the secondary-school years.

Competition at the nation's most selective colleges is intense and, some would say, out of control. The frenzy is fueled by a burgeoning population of high-school students competing for a fixed number of seats, compounded by cutbacks in financial aid and a growing belief that the right college is crucial for success. Add in a multibillion-dollar industry of marketers, college consultants and test prep companies, plus rankings in U.S. News and World Report which rates colleges on factors such as applicants' grades and SAT scores, and the percentage of students rejected and you have an admissions scene run amok.

The number of talented high school seniors applying to college in the United States has continued to rise each year. Over the next few years, the total number of high school graduates is projected to rise by ten percent, as is the subsequent number of students applying to college and that means thousands of more applicants.

While there’s enough space for all those additional students in schools across the country, the most desired schools can’t accept everyone. Admission committees must weed through a significant number of applications to determine who gets accepted and who doesn’t.

Colleges take the competition among high school seniors for slots at their schools very seriously. Over the years, many schools have altered their recruiting tactics to fit the market. By turning themselves into brand names and offering incentives such as free airline tickets and college weekends in their efforts to enroll the most desirable students.

The competition to get into college has always tilted in favor of the rich and this is a disturbing scenario to deal with.

Author Biography:

Sutanto Widjaja is Founder of Get-Accepted.com. A graduate of Berkeley and Stanford,he hopes to make College Admissions Counseling available, attainable and affordable to everyone through Get-Accepted.com

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“Dog eat dog” world of college admissions

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:18:06 +0200

In the “dog eat dog” world of college admissions, it is easy for high school students to get caught up in the cutthroat competition that is an inevitable byproduct of the college admissions process. Fortunately, there now exists an avenue that can transform this “dog eat dog” behavior into a more friendly “dog meet dog” environment.
This avenue is Get-Accepted.com, a new service with a simple mission. Get-Accepted’s aim is to provide aspiring high school students with sound resources and concrete guidance in order to alleviate some of the pressures of the college admissions process. There are several facets of Get-Accepted’s mission.
One of the main features that Get-Accepted provides, and perhaps its most valuable asset, is one-on-one interaction with an extremely priceless resource — current college students. High school students benefit from the advice of these college students who act as student advisors for Get-Accepted. Since the student advisors have recently lived through the college admissions process, they can offer legitimate expertise on the matter.
The main responsibility of the student advisors is to conduct a series of live conference calls on a variety of topics such as college application essay writing, balancing high school extra-curricular activities, and advice on transferring from one college to another. High school students can listen to the conference call of their choice, and have the valuable opportunity of asking the student advisor pertinent questions about the college admissions process.
As a supplement to the conference calls, the student advisors also share pieces of advice via blog articles found on Get-Accepted’s website. Featured blogs include “Early Decision”, “Choosing Colleges” and “Financial Aid.”
In addition to the valuable advice offered by the student advisors, the aspiring high school students also have the opportunity to network with each other. High school students with similar academic goals and potential college choices can create their own accounts on the website and become part of Get-Accepted’s online community. Then, they have the ability to communicate with each other in a friendly, accepting environment.
Get-Accepted’s website also contains many resources and articles pertaining to subjects such as Ivy League schools, the common application, and general college admissions preparation. These resources, pooled from all over the internet, have been collected and posted purely for the benefit of the aspiring high school students and their families.
In addition to the aforementioned features, interested parents and college counselors from all over the country can also join Get-Accepted’s website. Allowing the parents to become an integral part of the college admissions process is an important aspect of Get-Accepted’s overall aim. And providing membership to college counselors enables the high school students to tap into yet another important resource.
Through its simple mission of providing aspiring high school students with resources and guidance via blogs, conference calls, and interactions with expert college counselors, Get-Accepted.com can act as a gateway to a high school student’s dreams of attending an elite university. Only one question remains: will you choose to open this door to a brighter future?

Author Biography:

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