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Posts Tagged ‘Student financial aid’

The Common App and UCA Revised

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

General college applications like the Common App and the Universal College App are increasing in popularity as a one-size-fits-all college admissions application.

But sometimes one size doesn’t quite fit everybody. For instance, you may not be interested in the same college major across all the schools that you are applying to. Or you may not require the same kind of financial aid at each institution. Or, you may not want to apply for Early Action or Early Decision at every school.

The standardized applications are trying to include these differences without reverting back to the institutions’ individual applications.

Beginning July 1, 2008, when the next admissions cycle starts, the online Common Application will include a handful of questions that may be answered differently for different colleges within the Common Application itself. These questions include academic interest, career interest, decision plan (Early Decision, Early Acceptance, rolling, etc.), entry term (Fall or Spring), and financial aid intent.

The online Common App will also let you hide certain answers for certain schools. For example, if standardized test scores are optional at a particular school, the college may decide to suppress all standardized test scores. The Common App will then prevent that college from seeing your scores. These changes will cut down the number of alternative versions that you need to write - which means less work for you!

The Universal College Application also allows users to tailor your application, but to a lesser extent.

If you realize that you made a mistake (be it grammatical or if you provided wrong information), the Universal College App allows you to make a copy of your submission, make the desired changes, and then submit the desired application to other designated member colleges or universities.

All this to say, standardized application doesn’t mean that you are standard in any way. These tools will only help you stand out from the crowd!

POSTED BY Reisa Resource IN Applications
04.29.08
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Is it too Late for Early Action and Early Decision?

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

Early Decision and Early Action are getting a makeover.

Harvard and Princeton have dropped the Early Decision process last fall. That means, that you can no longer secure your spot in your first-choice college if you are admitted, before hearing from other universities. Harvard has also done away with its Early Action plan, in which you apply early to your college of preference and receive a decision well before other students. Now there is only a single admissions deadline- January 1st.

According to an article in the Harvard Gazette: “Then-interim President Derek C. Bok stated that the change was designed to make the admissions process simpler and fairer. In his words, ‘early admissions programs tend to advantage the advantaged,’ as students from more sophisticated backgrounds often use the system to increase their chances of admission, while first-generation college students and those from high schools with fewer guidance counselors and other resources may miss out.”

In other words, these universities have revamped the EA and ED plans because they say that these programs create an unfair disadvantage for low-income students by forcing them to make decisions about colleges before hearing about all of their financial aid offers. These moves are part of a larger plan to make private Ivy league schools more affordable and bring in a more diverse applications and a broader student population. Many ivies are replacing loans with grants and waving their tuition fees for middle and low income students.

At the same time that these changes are happening, the numbers indicate that students are using EA and ED programs more and more. Many students believe that applying and finding out early takes the stress off the college admissions process by securing them a spot early.

So what do you think?
Do you think that EA and ED provide an unfair advantage to students from high-income families?
Or
Do you think that EA and ED are helpful programs in the admissions process?

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POSTED BY Reisa Resource IN Admissions Process, In the News
04.23.08
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A student’s advice on College Application and Admissions

Friday, February 8th, 2008

My two cents:

I would say, with regards to the admissions process, make sure you cover all your bases. Make sure you fill out all the necessary forms and that all the extra application forms, the financial aid forms, and other miscellaneous objects along the way are all taken care of. This will ensure that nothing is standing in your way for admissions nor any money you have coming to you. Also pay attention, spend time, and edit your essay. Make sure it really is one of your best pieces of writing. And lastly I would say as easy as it is to procrastinate about all of this, because it isn’t the easiest or most fun process, don’t leave it until the last minute. This may lead to doing it in a hurry and you may skip over something or just not fill it out to the best of your abilities. Good luck future students, hope you all get into your #1!

-Blake Sama
-Alumni from Northeastern University

POSTED BY Reisa Resource IN Admissions Process
02.08.08
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