Will UC stop requiring SAT IIs?

San Francisco Chronicle "College Bound" columnist Joanne Levy-Prewitt looks at whether the SAT subject tests are not long for this world (Nov. 25, 2007):

Several weeks ago, a friend sent me a hyperlink to an article in the Daily Bruin, the newspaper published by the students at UCLA. The headline said, "UC Proposes Changes to SAT Subject Tests' Weight."

The journalists at UCLA had unearthed something important: The University of California is considering eliminating its SAT Subject Test requirement for admissions.

This might seem insignificant. But consider that in 2002, at the urging of the University of California, the College Board (the publisher of the SAT) added the previously optional writing test to the SAT Reasoning Test. As a result, every student who takes the SAT Reasoning Test must take the writing test, even if the colleges to which they apply ignore the results (and most do). Clearly, the UC policies set by its governing Board of Regents have affected college-bound students across the country.

UC regents may do so again - by eliminating the requirement that students take two Subject Tests to be eligible for admission. ...

...

Including the nine UC undergraduate campuses, there are only about 50 colleges nationwide that require the SAT Subject Tests. An additional 20 or so recommend them, and 30 more consider them. Still, while there are relatively few colleges that require the Subject Tests, they are among the most selective in the nation and compete with the UC system for the highest-achieving students. You can bet they will be interested to see what UC administrators and regents eventually decide.

Read the rest of the column.

Students love college admissions (not)

The Education Conservancy released a report about "the impact of the college admissions process on students' attitudes and behaviors." They're talking about the high-powered race for the big-name schools; it doesn't really have to be like that.

The report includes some quotes from stressed-out students. I can see they live in a different world than ours from this quote:

"There was an entire quarter when we had to practice for the PSAT, then practice for the ACT and SAT. We took three practice practice PSAT's and three PSAT's. It's kind of insane."

Jeez, how can they send these kids to their doom so unprepared?

More quotes:

"College admissions has just become a confusing industry. There are way too many people making their livings stressing all of us up."

" I think the responsibility [for the messages we get] is with the colleges and with the parents. That you're a perfectly good person - maybe even a better person - if you don't go to one of the top ten colleges. Changing to that perception would be more helpful than anything."

" I just didn't really know how to strike a balance between honesty and what I thought they just wanted to hear."

"The name of a college is what you need to get in the door. People feel like they need to go to a good college to get a good job. That's the bottom line."

"I have never wanted anything in my life as badly as I wanted to get into that college...that is not how it should be."

"You just learn, okay, that coach doesn't want me.....You have things that some people want and some people don't want."

"I think the whole college application process makes us into cheaters because we want to misrepresent ourselves...because we want to get in."

"Cheating in school I think is something different; that actually bothers me. But cheating on a standardized test, I feel almost like if you are smart enough to do it, go ahead."

"There is something terribly wrong with this process...please fix it."

"It's part of the game. It's pretty much a game. It's a game."

"There are definitely a lot of kids who are so qualified, so smart, and just don't really have the resources to help them in the process that we have [in a private school]. It's really unfair."

"It's all about marketing, they are trying to sell to us and we are trying to sell to them."

"I just think colleges' number one priority is themselves."

"One thing that really turned me off about the whole admissions process was just the way colleges advertise themselves. That bothers me. It just bothers me a lot."

"There is so much propaganda. Colleges should try less to sell themselves and more to act interested in students and in education."

"We would not apply to so many colleges if they were honest and told us what they were all about."

"All colleges say they are highly selective and then encourage us all to apply. They are just playing a game for themselves."

"The SAT doesn't test anything except strategy."

"We just want to know what the Admission Deans want."

"I wanted to take a Shakespeare course my Sophomore year but instead had to take a required PSAT prep course. I hated that."

"The whole ED process is so discouraging...it makes you think of it like just solely a competition to get a spot..."

"It is a shame that your SAT score gets put before character. It's just ridiculous the amount of importance that is placed on it."

"I think cheating is very common."

"My sister is twelve, she is taking the SAT."

"College is always on my mind. It has been a horrible experience."

"What exactly are you looking for - that would make everything more efficient...it would cut down the application pool by half."

"It feels deceiving when they get you to apply even though you don't have a chance."

UC application deadline Nov. 30. File early!

UC applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Nov. 30. Applicants are STRONGLY advised not to wait till the last minute to file!

UC is offering an extension to applicants impacted by the Southern California fires. Applicants making that claim will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

What happens if you mess up your GPA?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Sunday (I'm a bit late posting), S.F. Chronicle columnist Joanne Levy-Prewitt wrote about what the options are for a kid who has just plain screwed up his grades.

Here's something to be thankful for — he still has college options.

The minimum GPA for University of California freshman admission, by the way, is 3.0 for 10th and 11th grades, in A-G required courses. Read about it here.

COLLEGE BOUND: A weekly guide to higher education

Joanne Levy-Prewitt
Sunday, November 18, 2007

My student reluctantly passed the transcript across the table to me. "I don't know what happened in my sophomore year," he said. "I guess I screwed up."

I tried to reassure him as I calculated his GPA. However, despite my efforts, the numbers were clear: He would not be eligible for the University of California, the state's most selective system.

After my student went home, I pulled out my calculator and crunched the numbers again. He was close to eligibility for UC, but not close enough. He had taken all the right classes and been the captain of his lacrosse team. His test scores were fine, but his GPA just didn't add up. Despite a few scattered A's and B's in his freshman and junior years, his sophomore year sealed his fate.

The University of California doesn't use freshman grades when determining GPA, so with five C's in his sophomore year, my student had closed the door to one of the most prestigious, respected and affordable university systems in the country. He was several tenths of a point away from eligibility.

In its most recent State of College Admission Report, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) says that the four most important factors used by colleges when making admission decisions are, in order of priority, grades in college prep classes, strength of curriculum, admission test scores and overall grades in all courses.

Private colleges have a tendency to also look at factors other than grades, but public colleges seem to care a great deal about grades, and many have minimum GPAs for admission. Nevertheless, the NACAC survey demonstrates that all colleges scrutinize grades in individual classes as well as the overall GPA.

Read the rest of the column.

College info/outreach events

Cal Arts School of Film/Video informational event: Saturday, Dec. 8, 6-9 p.m., Film Arts Foundation, 145 Ninth St. (between Mission/Howard), Suite 104, San Francisco. RSVP by Dc. 1 to 1hux@calarts.edu

**

University of San Francisco: Open house on Saturday, Nov. 17. Info: www.usfca.edu/visit or 415/422-6563.

**
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Fall Event : Saturday, Nov. 17, 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. RSVP online. FIDM campus, 55 Stockton St., San Francisco

A great guide to choosing a major

It's easy to have mixed feelings about the College Board, which comes across as so Big Brother-ish. But it provides some really accessible services.

We get regular College Board e-mails addressed to high school juniors and parents of juniors — we've been on that e-mail list since the junior in question was in eighth grade, and needless to say the student's grade is automatically and accurately updated on the mailing list.

The e-mail that just arrived addressed choosing a major, and sent us to the College Board's guide to majors. As always I tested it with my son's interest, which is a good gauge because it's so distinct and specific. Up pops a very good guide to jazz studies majors (as a field, not a list of specific schools). (Start with Arts, Visual and Performing.) You gotta be impressed.

Answers to your college admissions questions

Admissions expert Jon Reider, college counselor at San Francisco's University High School, generously offered to answer some questions for blog readers. The first two are both about students who intend to pursue the arts in college. Q: Is there a single source of information or "ranking" for performing arts programs? Does U.S. News and World Reports rank programs within colleges like that? I haven't been able to find it. If not, who does? We are having a really hard time finding information about the quality of musical theatre programs. A: Trying to find information is one thing; trying to find rankings is another. To me, this is just looking in the wrong place. By looking for a shortcut, it runs the risk of substituting someone's else usually unreliable opinion for your own research and judgment. You don't need the "best" program, as if there were such a thing; you need one he can enjoy and thrive at. Did you pick the "best" husband out of 40 million available American men? My point, exactly. I think all ranking systems are inevitably flawed and nearly useless. I would be even more dubious about a ranking of fine arts programs. Suppose they have a good piano teacher, but not a good oboe teacher? Who is to judge? There are directories of fine arts programs, like Peterson's Guide, but I don't see how anyone can rank them. It would just be the nebulous area of "reputation", which doesn't get us beyond the worst features of US News. UC Irvine is supposed to have a good program, for what that is worth. Q: My teen is a passionate musician (instrumentalist) whose test scores are high but whose grades aren't perfect. She'll probably graduate with a 3.0-3.5 GPA. With selective colleges that audition music applicants (such as NYU, UCLA, Oberlin etc.), would the audition and other musical experience potentially carry enough weight to offset an imperfect GPA? Or should we just not set our sights on those schools?

A: Yes, the audition can make a difference if the other numbers are not stunning. This can vary by the culture of the school, the degree of autonomy of the music program (Tisch [School of the Arts at NYU] has a lot of autonomy, and UCLA clearly has some wiggle room for talented musicians and actors.), and, as always, the competition in any given year. It doesn't mean you can't "set your sights" on them, you just have to have a plan for what you will do if they don't come through. You don't buy insurance planning to have an accident, but you like having it when you get into one.

And another online college search tool

This one is www.embark.com:

About Embark.com

Embark.com was originally launched in 1997 to help students prepare for, apply to, and finance their college educations. By 2001, Embark was the second most visited educational website, behind only College Board's site. By this time, Embark.com was considered the best resource for students pursuing their educational dreams.

Embark is proud to have re-launched Embark.com, and will continue to provide the best content, tools, and services to students looking to expand their education.

I spent a few minutes testing it with the specific college focus that's happening in my own house: not a conservatory but a jazz major in a school with strong programs in other areas as well. Probably UC or CSU, but not 100% absolutely. Embark.com doesn't seem to start from that direction, though. The questions are about how school size, class size, rural vs. urban, and such. So maybe it's not for the obsessive or "angular."

Levy-Prewitt: When parents won't pay for college

Joanne Levy-Prewitt's "College Bound" column in today's Chronicle: When parents could afford to pay for college but refuse, the student doesn't get much sympathy -- or financial aid.

Q: I am a sophomore in high school. I get mostly B's, and I play soccer. I have no idea what I want to study in college or where I'd like to go.

My problem is that my parents are refusing to pay for college. They say they can afford to pay but, since they paid for their own college education, they think I should pay for mine. They will fill out financial aid forms, but doubt we will get any money. I am not a strong enough student or athlete to get a scholarship. I work in the summer and can save some money, but soccer takes up too much time for me to work during the school year. How can I pay for college?

A: While it has become an accepted practice for parents to pay, or help pay, for a child's college education, some do not wish to do so, for many reasons.

Students who do not have parents or have other dire circumstances can often prove their financial independence to colleges, and can apply for financial aid without having their parents' income considered. However, colleges won't give you money simply because your parents refuse.
Click to read the rest.

Why a blog and not a book

Two summers ago, with my oldest going into 10th grade, I woke up to a barrage of media messages about college. They all said the same thing: Getting a kid into any college that's not an embarrassment requires a frenzied campaign to strategically package and market the applicant, driving the student to insane heights of superachievement.

This started with Alexandra Robbins' riveting "The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids," which my son spotted in a Borders and to which he solicitously insisted I should treat myself. (It was only coincidental that he wanted to read it.)

Robbins follows the lives of ambitious high-school superstars as they scramble desperately to the college-acceptance pinnacle. They rack up the toughest courses (one boy's nickname is AP), run for school president as they edit the newspaper, captain the lacrosse team and prepare for the debating club championship, then save the world as their community-service project, all before breakfast. SAT prep courses and four hours of nightly homework help fill their spare time. In return, their parents get really impressive college logos to stick on their car windows.

As I was digesting that, both Time and Newsweek arrived the same week with cover features on the same topic. And then the Chronicle Sunday magazine weighed in with a great story by eloquent Bay Area journalist Tia O'Brien on the local situation.

This left me assuming that the norm is what Tia describes, focusing on Marin County and high-end San Francisco private schools like University: "Stressed teenagers scramble to achieve what too often is virtually impossible. Education becomes an incidental byproduct of a teenager's high school years."

I wondered if there was a book about what happens when a student refuses to plunge into the madness and insists on being himself. Does he have a future? Maybe a how-to with details: Here are the options you cut off when you shun Advanced Placement courses. Here's what happens if you play the sport you love rather than the one that catches the admissions officer's eye.

I couldn't find such a book, so I pondered creating one and did some interviews for a possible book proposal. I viewed the prospective book as a community service, part of the effort to restore sanity ( knowing full well it was not my ticket to riches and fame as an author).

Right now I need to thank some professionals who generously shared their time with me after I contacted them out of the blue: Bay Area college admissions advisor and columnist Joanne Levy-Prewitt; University High School (San Francisco) college counselor Jonathan Reider, a prominent voice in the field; and New Yorker Elizabeth Wissner-Gross, author of the intense and strangely fascinating "What Colleges Don't Tell You (and Other Parents Don't Want You to Know"): 272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools." (An aside: Much of this book clashes with my personal philosophy, but I snagged some great advice from it.)

And thanks to my friend and sometime editing client, San Francisco author Maria Goodavage of the classic "Dog Lover's Companion" guidebooks for her advice and support.

I conceived a collection of chapters by different talented journalists with their own expertise, starting with Margo Freistadt on daringly playing the sport you want rather than the one that "sells," Tanya Schevitz on the perils of ignoring rankings and SAT prep courses, and Janice Wright Sugerman on giving the cold shoulder to status colleges. (My gratitude to all of them.)

But then I started noticing something. The people in my own world — smart, creative and very busy urban public school families — were not playing those games and almost didn't seem to know they existed. Going about their lives, some of my friends wondered what year their kid was supposed to take the SAT — the same SAT that the "Overachievers" students had been preparing and strategizing for since sixth grade.

Pondering the discrepancy between what I saw around me and what I was reading, I realized that the "Overachievers" families really don't need any help. But a resource that provided basic information, augmented with links to some carefully selected samplings of useful media coverage of college admissions issues, would benefit kids in the rest of the world — my world — especially, I hope, "First in the Family" college applicants, who really embody the American Dream.

There are many books on the basics of getting into college. But a book is a creature of its moment, and the world of college admissions is ever-changing. Clearly, a blog is a more effective if less glamorous delivery system for updated information. It doesn't do everything a book does (there's no advance — or compensation at all — but then, no need to sell publishers either). So the book proposal never got done, and here we are in the blogosphere instead.

The blog couldn't happen without the expertise of parent and tech god KC Jones, who is also responsible for the San Francisco Schools blog and the 1,000-plus member San Francisco Schools listserve, which has become an influential force in the San Francisco Unified School District. KC himself, without ever raising his voice, has become a power in our school district and in the world of public education.

We hope the blog reaches the people who need these resources and makes a difference to kids' futures.

10 ways to ruin your college application

It's aimed largely at kids applying to high-end selective private schools, but good advice for all. Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews presents...

Ten Stupid Ways to Ruin Your College Application
Washington Post, Oct. 16, 2007

Here's a snippet of Jay's advice.

With just two weeks before the deadline for early action and early decision applications to many colleges, I offer these examples of wrong-headedness in the admissions process. Many were sent to me by Joseph M. Connolly, a guidance counselor at New Oxford High School in New Oxford, Pa. , who has seen much on the job and in postings from counselors and admissions officers to the National Association for College Admission Counseling Web site. Members of my washingtonpost.com discussion group "Admissions 101" also contributed.

Remember, these are things you should NOT do.

1. Rack up as many extra points as you can for "expressed interest" in your favorite colleges.
   This particular obsession was new to me. Connolly has encountered applicants who have inundated admissions offices with voicemails, e-mails and snail mail because they have heard that colleges want concrete indications of interest and don't think you can overdo it. Believe me, you can. "There is a fine line between showing adequate interest in the school and stalking," Connolly said. "Unsolicited cakes, pies, cookies, sneakers (the old 'one foot in the door' trick), a life-sized statue of you holding an acceptance letter, or a painstakingly detailed scale model of the campus clock tower will not make up for a lackluster academic record." When colleges look for "expressed interest," that means they hope that you will show up when their college reps visit your school, that you will visit their campuses and sign the visitor logs in their admissions offices and that you will get your application in on time with no loose ends. If you have a legitimate question, they are happy to receive your e-mail or telephone call. Doing more than that just makes you look desperate, and a little scary.
   
   
2. Don't worry about your postings on social networking sites -- college admissions officers understand your need for individual expression and will probably never look at them.
   I know, I know. What you put on Facebook or Myspace is your private business. College officials appear to share that view. They say they do not make a habit of looking up their applicants. But there are enough exceptions to make me think care should be taken when posting photos from your last rollicking beach party. Not everybody loves you. Those who don't could send anonymous notes to your first-choice school suggesting it inspect a certain Web site. There are no rules that say they can't.

Click for the 8 other deadly sins...

Explain bad grades or hope they won't notice?

Peter Van Buskirk addresses some points relevant to kids I know, in a Q&A with U.S. News & World Report. Van Buskirk is a college admissions officer turned author/lecturer who spoke at my son's school, SOTA, last year. I blogged about his talk at the time.

Some excerpts from the U.S. News interview:

If students get a bad grade, or a bad test score, or some other problem, should they explain it in their application essay?
You don't want the admissions officer to just guess about what was behind a poor grade, because we tend to be cynical and think that the student was lazy or disinterested, not that something horrible happened in your life. This [grade or test score] is something that can be addressed in an interview as well as a note that is attached to your application. In addition, you need to make sure the teachers and counselors who write on your behalf are prepared to speak to these circumstances as well. As you tell your story, though, make sure you provide explanations and insight, not excuses.

You talk about résumé-building and how you can tell if it is phony. What extracurricular activities should students be involved in?
Kids need to follow their passions. I worry that there are a lot of young people right now who are being remade into the images of what somebody thinks a dean of admission wants to see, at the expense of lives well lived. The reality is that deans of admission are constantly looking for that something different in a young person that is genuine.

How can they tell if it is genuine?
Admission officers look to see if you have been involved with a particular activity over time, and if you've grown with that activity. If you've been in the choir for three or four years, well, clearly you like to sing if you've become a soloist , if you've become section leader, if you've become a student director, if you've become an officer in the choir, that suggests you are invested at another level.

College admissions 1A: Where to start

Some basics on college admissions:

Don't know the first thing about getting into college?
Where to start in five steps: a guide for students and parents.


When do I start? A high-schooler's timeline for college preparation

These are items that I wrote for the great new website www.sfkids.org, run by the City of San Francisco's Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and www.gokid.org. To keep tabs on college admissions info going up on that site, click on Education and Beyond High School.

In search of integrity in admissions

It's kind of a mystery why this is, but in some families and communities, words like "frenzy," "obsession" and "panic" come naturally after "college admissions..." Others just expect to choose some options, fill out applications and wait to see which acceptances arrive — and those include intellectual, tuned-in families with college-educated parents.

Those latter families might not really grasp why there even needs to be a backlash to the frenzy/panic/obsession mode. But the backlash does exist, and it has a leader. This New York Times Magazine interview with Lloyd Thacker of the Education Conservancy is a few weeks old.

Questions for Lloyd Thacker
Head of the Class

Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON

Published: September 30, 2007

A few years ago, you left your job as a guidance counselor in Portland, Ore., to start the Education Conservancy and take on the college-admissions process. What’s wrong with it, exactly? College admissions has come under the control of commercial interests, at the expense of studenthood.

What kind of word is studenthood? I doubt any English professor would approve. It came to me at 3 a.m., to describe the spirit of educational integrity I am trying to preserve.

One of your main targets is the U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of colleges, which you see as the source of much misery in the world. My goal is to make the list irrelevant, and so far 65 colleges have signed on and agreed not to cooperate with the ranksters. They’re refusing to fill out U.S. News’s reputation survey. And they have agreed not to advertise their rank in any of their publications.

Click to read the rest.

College info/outreach events

University of California, Berkeley: Berkeley Experience Program. Next event Wednesday, Nov. 21, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; application due Nov. 9. Attend classes, tour dorms, town, and dining commons. Registration $25, meals included. To register and check on other dates, click here.

**

Mills College Student Visit Day: Saturday, Nov. 10, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. RSVP (800)87-MILLS or online

**

University of San Francisco: Open houses on Saturday, Nov. 10, and Saturday, Nov. 17. Info: www.usfca.edu/visit or 415/422-6563.


**


School of the Art Institute of Chicago: College Information Session for prospective students. Sunday, Nov. 11, noon-3 p.m. Serrano Hotel, Vienna Room, 405 Taylor St., San Francisco. Registration required at www.saic.edu/ugadmiss_events or 800-232-7242.

**

Cal Maritime (Vallejo): Preview Day Saturday, Nov. 10, 9 a.m. Click here to RSVP.

**
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Fall Event : Saturday, Nov. 17, 10:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. RSVP online. FIDM campus, 55 Stockton St., San Francisco

Today's news: A good resource; early admissions

Joanne Levy-Prewitt's "College Bound" column in today's San Francisco Chronicle recommends UCAN-Network.org (University and College Accountability Network) , a tool for comparing and assessing private colleges that she views as far preferable to the controversial U.S. News rankings.

Also in today's Chronicle, an Insight section column headlined Early Admissions Policies Give Children of the Rich an Edge really addresses both overlapping issues: the whole notion of the "early admissions" process, and the various ways wealthy students get special access to the selective prestige colleges.

The book The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges -- and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates, by Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Golden, emphasizes the latter in far more detail. It would be depressing, except that I've found that the more I learn, the less beneficial it seems to claw one's way into one of the top prestige colleges when there are so many promising options out there.

A blog critiques the college admissions game

Seth Godin's Blog, which I stumbled across only in searching for college admission info, appears to focus on marketing in general, but this entry about college marketing will raise your eyebrows.

Here's the amazing part: According to The Chosen, an exhaustive study of college admissions, there's no measurable difference between the outcomes of education with the most exclusive schools and the next few tiers. Graduates don't end up happier. They don't end up with better paying jobs. They don't end up richer or even healthier. The whole thing is a sham (which costs a quarter of a million dollars a person at the top end).

There's no question that a Harvard degree helps (or is even required) in a few fields. There's also no doubt that spending four years at Yale is a mind-changing experience. The question isn't, "are they wonderful?" The question is, "Is it worth it?"

It's almost as if every single high school student and her parents insisted on having a $200,000 stereo because it was better than the $1,000 stereo. Sure, it might be a bit better, but is it better enough?

(Full name of that book is The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, by Jerome Karabe.)

UC could cut guaranteed admissions

A proposed change may make a difference to some UC applicants.

San Francisco Chronicle Nov. 1, 2007

UC panel urges eligibility change to cut guaranteed admissions

By Tanya Schevitz

A key faculty committee is recommending that the University of California dramatically reduce the number of high school seniors who are guaranteed admission to its campuses, a cornerstone of the state's landmark 1960 Master Plan for Education.

The committee's proposal stems from concerns that UC's current method of determining student eligibility is too rigid, making it unfair to some students. The proposal would make changes so only the top 4 percent of graduating seniors would be guaranteed a seat - down from the current 12.5 percent.

The state's Master Plan promises that every California student meeting eligibility requirements will get a seat somewhere in the UC system's nine undergraduate campuses.

But members of the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, a systemwide faculty committee, believe the guarantee works to the disadvantage of some students - mainly those in rural and inner-city high schools that do not offer all the college preparatory classes required by UC and that do not have enough counselors to properly guide students to take the required courses and tests.

The proposal also would eliminate the requirement that students take two SAT II subject exams to be eligible for the UC system.

Read the rest of the article...