And now for something really different...

A spiffy brochure landed on my desk from Deep Springs College, "nestled in an isolated valley in Eastern California's high desert," probably the most unusual college in the country.

The website has the same info as the brochure:

Deep Springs is an all-male liberal arts college located on a cattle-ranch and alfalfa farm in California's High Desert. Electrical pioneer L.L. Nunn founded the school in 1917 on the three pillars of academics, labor, and self-governance in order to help young men prepare themselves for lives of service to humanity. The school's 26 students, along with its staff and faculty, form a close community engaged in this intense project.

Deep Springs operates on the belief that manual labor and political deliberation are integral parts of a comprehensive liberal arts education.

Each student attends for two years and receives a full scholarship valued at over $50,000 per year. Afterwards, most complete their degrees at the world's most prestigious four year institutions.

Deep Springs isn't for the faint of heart. A line from the brochure:

The students at Deep Springs College in California must excel academically, but they also have to learn to lasso cows and slaughter pigs.

I was trying to remember whether my son has ever been on a horse. I think this one is a long shot in any case. But if you're interested, sent a post by owl — oops, wrong fantasy world.

Oh, and note that Deep Springs is free, as intended by its founder, Lucien Lucius Nunn. If there isn't a movie about that guy, I don't know why not.

Unconventional guys and their parents, check it out — you never know!

Reed, Oberlin visits to SF Oct. 26

Reps from Reed College and Oberlin College will be in San Francisco on Sunday, Oct. 26, 1-3 p.m., at the Jewish Community High school, 1835 Ellis St. RSVP by Oct. 23 to http://www.oberlin.edu/admissions. To schedule an interview with the Reed rep, call 800/547-4750.

The new world: elite colleges and financial aid

Elite colleges like Harvard (pictured), Yale and Stanford have made big news in the past couple of years for their new policies of generous financial aid to the middle class -- with "middle class" defined as incomes below $180,000/year or even $200,000. An article in the 2009 Newsweek "How to Get Into College" guide explains:

Harvard "announced a range of new financial-aid policies aimed at easing the strain on middle- and upper-middle- income families. ...

"Within months, a score of other Ivies and well-endowed schools publicized their own aid overhauls aimed at the same target: middle- and upper-middle-income families overwhelmed by the spiraling cost of higher education."

Read the Newsweek article.

Economic crisis upsets college plans

Today's San Francisco Chronicle looks at the impact of the economic crash on families' college choices:

Economic crisis upsets students' college plans
By Tanya Schevitz

An increasing number of college-bound students who had favored private colleges are applying to public institutions in California and across the nation this fall as the faltering economy shrinks family savings and makes loans harder to find, experts say.

Many parents and children who might not have considered state schools, where tuition is typically a fraction of private schools, are re-evaluating their college options, college counselors say.

And some prospective college students are finding they cannot afford a higher education and are putting plans on hold.

Read the rest of the article.

Families looking at college for next year are reminded that you need to fill out the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. File it no matter what colleges you're applying to -- California public, out-of-state public, private. It can't be submitted until Jan. 1, 2009, but it's a big project and you should be starting early. In California, the deadline is March 2, 2009, to qualify for state assistance.

Check out the FAFSA4caster, too: You can use FAFSA4caster to learn about the financial aid process and get an early estimate of your eligibility for federal student aid.

Blow a class? High test scores may compensate

This is an alert for students who excel on tests and for whatever reason have a grade lapse or missing course. It applies to the University of California and California State University admissions requirements.

In some situations, a student who blew a high school class that was required for UC and/or CSU admissions can compensate with high SAT, ACT or AP test scores. Of course doing that doesn't guarantee admission to any UC or CSU campus — and it would be rather surprising to see an applicant gain admission to the most sought-after UC campuses (such as UCLA or Berkeley) that way — but this is still an option for some students.

Here's UC's information on "Eligibility by Examination Alone":

You may qualify for admission to the University by earning high scores on the ACT Assessment plus Writing or SAT Reasoning Test, and two SAT Subject Tests.

Click for details.

CSU's equivalent is under "How to Make Up Missing Courses" on the High School Subject Requirements page:

If you didn't take all the required high school courses or earned D grades in some of them, you have several options to make up these courses and qualify for CSU admission. You can complete appropriate high school courses with a grade of C or better either in summer school or in adult school. Courses in this category must be those found on the high school or adult school UC "a-g" course lists. Some adult schools may not have a-g course lists.

You may also complete college courses with a grade of C or better in the missing subject areas. Finally, you can earn an acceptable score on examinations such as the SAT subject examinations, Advanced Placement examinations, or International Baccalaureate examinations.

PSAT for SFUSD students next Wednesday

The PSAT will be given in San Francisco Unified School District high schools next Wednesday, Oct. 15, during the school day. It's free to sophomores and $13-$15 (I've seen varied reports) for freshmen and juniors.

The PSAT can qualify students for National Merit Scholarship money, based on the junior year score (and the student's academic record). Taking it previously can make a big difference. Plus in the past it was given on a Saturday, which does not thrill a lot of kids, so the school-day scheduling will make lots of them happy. (And don't happy kids do better on tests? We'll see.)

Mayor Gavin Newsom's SF Promise project is funding the free tests for sophomores, plus some SAT prep too.

UC admissions period: Nov. 1-30

California State University admissions opened for Fall '09 on Oct. 1. In response to a question, the University of California's admissions period is Nov. 1-30. More information on UC admissions is here.

What about the CSU admissions deadline? It's a little vague and apparently varies campus by campus, major by major. Here's what the CSU website's admission page says:

Campuses Still Open for Admissions
CSU campuses begin receiving Fall applications on October 1 of the year preceding enrollment, e.g. October 1, 2006 for Fall 2007. Some campuses begin to close their application cycle on November 30. Information about which campuses and programs are still open for applications is available on CSU Mentor.

To personalize, that tells me that the initial filing period for the campus in which my son is most interested, CSU Northridge (because of its jazz program), is Oct. 1-Nov. 30.

PSAT for all SFUSD 10th & 11th-graders Oct. 15

The San Francisco Unified School District will give the PSAT to all sophomores and juniors this year on Wednesday, Oct. 15, during the school day. It's free to sophomores and $15 for juniors (fee waivers are available; please see your school counselor).

This seems like a boon to me, for several reasons.