University Business - December 2007 - (Page 27)

ADMISSIONS Admissions Trends to Watch, 2007-2008 How today’s admissions policies, procedures, and developments are impacting students, parents, and schools By Howard and Matthew Greene DMISSIONS OFFICERS ARE well aware of many changes afoot in the admissions landscape these days—from increasing costs to online applications. We thought it would be helpful to oﬀer some perspective on key changes and trends. From our vantage point, working with families and high schools, we also oﬀer some suggestions to higher ed institutions related to the implications of policies, procedures, and developments that impact students, parents, and schools. First, we ﬁnd ourselves repeating our longstanding mantra: if you think you know everything about admissions, just wait. Change will continue to make things more complex and uncertain for the average family, school counseling oﬃce, or, for that matter, college admissions oﬃce. In the midst of rising numbers of high school grads and college applicants, we are digesting the new Common Application and the launch of the competing Universal College Application. There are also new instructions from The College Board and college websites. Students and parents are extremely frustrated as they attempt to decipher requirements, deadlines, and options. “READ THE FINE PRINT!” This is our encouragement to families. It’s highly challenging to make generalizations when answering questions about ﬁlling out applications, whether online or in print. Despite the trend toward adoption of common applications, many colleges continue to require supplements and to implement particular requirements on deadlines, various parts of applications, and standardized tests, for example. There has been ample discussion of these issues among members of the National Asuniversitybusiness.com A Many IHEs connect the substance of their applications to their institutional identity. sociation for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), but the trend toward easing the application process is accompanied by a continued reverence for the individuality and independence of IHEs, many of which connect the substance of the application to their institutional identity (take the University of Chicago, for example) or the timing of the admissions cycle to particular institutional needs or priorities. Private selective colleges and public universities, from the University of Southern California to the University of Illinois, continue to change requirements, take their own path, and come up with new deadlines and application options. Counselors and students must look beyond standardized applications and seek out individual application instructions to ensure students aren’t missing “priority deadlines,” specialized requirements for particular programs, or other curveballs. Clearly IHEs must protect their institutional identity and mission and work within their own admissions and enrollment framework, but we encourage institutional leaders to consider the perspective of the parent, student, and overtaxed guidance counselor attempting to navigate at least several, if not a dozen, applications during a hectic senior year or before. Why so many applications? The admissions process is so uncertain that families must protect themselves by trying to open up multiple options over the course of the admissions cycle. Just as IHEs are using deferrals (a rising strategy among large public universities that historically did not defer students during the rolling admissions cycle) and waiting lists (some as large as or larger than the total of the enrolling class of freshmen) to protect their interests, families are reacting rationally, if haphazardly, to the admissions situation with which they are presented today. More students continue to desire and need to apply to a diverse group of colleges and universities. In doing so, these students are often mixing Rolling, Early Action, Early Notiﬁcation, and Early Decision application plans. One college might allow multiple Early Action applications, while another (e.g., Yale) might not. It’s essential that students examine the ﬁne print for every college of interest, yet in doing so they often come up with unclear responses. Many colleges fail to clearly explain their application plans online. Providing a link to NACAC’s website is a minimal way to help educate families about standardized policies. Sticking to those policies is a starting point. We encourage Howard and Matthew Greene are independent education consultants and the authors of Greenes’ Guides to Educational Planning. To contact them, visit www.greenesguides.com. December 2007 | 27 http://www.greenesguides.com http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of University Business - December 2007

University Business - December 2007 Contents College Index Company Index Advisory Board Editor's Note Behind the News Viewpoint Admissions On The Hill Marketing Future Stock Independent Outlook Technology Spending Survey '08 Conference Call A Working Education 30 Smart Business Ideas Educause in Emerald City What's New Calendar of Events End Note

University Business - December 2007

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