| Frequently
Asked Questions
For
the College Search and Application Process
College
Search | Application & Admission Process
| Standardized Testing | Financial
Aid
THE
COLLEGE SEARCH
Is
it important to visit colleges before applying?
Absolutely. For most juniors, a college is just an abstract idea,
an image in their minds that over time has become associated with
a name. Even if a student has been going to Green Wave or Tiger football
games from the time they were small, they probably have only a very
limited perspective of campus life. When students (and parents) formally
visit a campus, however, they experience a concrete reality that goes
far beyond pretty pictures on the website, Saturday afternoon games,
or what friends may have said about it. Each campus has its own personality,
its own ethos, and if a student is to find the college that best fits
him or her, a campus visit is crucial.
Will
visiting or not visiting have an impact on whether my son or daughter
is admitted?
At some schools, yes. As colleges face increasingly unpredictable
applicant pools (see “What is ‘yield’?” below),
many of them are seeking ways to gauge the extent of a student’s
“demonstrated interest” in attending. Hence they have
begun tracking the number of “contacts” a student has
with their particular institution—through campus visits, meetings
with admissions representatives here at Lusher, attending local admission
functions, etc. While most large state universities have too many
applicants to track contacts, many private colleges and universities
keep careful records of the number of contacts a student has with
their institution. As decision time draws near, students who have
not visited campus can be at a distinct disadvantage.
Where
do I find information about visiting?
The admissions or prospective student pages of college websites provide
a wealth of information about visiting. There you will find times
of campus tours and information sessions, directions to the admissions
office, and even names of nearby lodging.
How
much credence should I give to college rankings?
Very little. Consider this: Several years ago the editors of U.S.
News decided to alter their formula to something that they believed
offered a better reflection of educational quality. When a number
of Ivy League colleges did not appear at the top of the list, they
reverted to their old formula. The moral of this story is not that
the Ivies and other highly selective colleges are “better”
or “worse”; it’s that we must understand that the
rankings are carefully designed to sell magazines, not evaluate educational
experiences. The bottom line is this: your child’s college choice
should be based upon the best fit for him or her, and very often the
best fit and the most highly ranked college are not the same.
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THE
APPLICATION AND ADMISSION PROCESS
How
many colleges should my son or daughter apply to?
The number of applications will vary by individual, but the average
Lusher student applies to between 4 and 6 colleges. We recommend
that each student apply to anywhere from 2 or 3 to no more than 6
or 8 carefully chosen colleges.
What’s
the difference between Early Action (EA) and Early Decision (ED)?
Early Action programs are non-binding and enable
the student to learn of an admission decision relatively early in
the senior year (December) without committing to a particular college
or university. Early Action applications are typically due in November.
A handful of schools have recently implemented Single-Choice Early
Action (SCEA) programs. Under such a plan, the student agrees
to submit only one Early Action application to that school and no
other, yet without committing to attend the college if accepted. Other
applications can be submitted for Regular Decision.
Early
Decision is a program in which a student makes a binding
commitment to attend the college or university if accepted. Early
Decision applications are generally due in November of the senior
year, and the student will receive one of three decisions (admit,
defer, deny) in December. Since the deadlines are so early, it is
vital that a student applying under Early Decision have done
a great deal of research and be absolutely convinced that the college
is an ideal match. While an applicant gains a statistical advantage
by applying under an Early Decision plan, he or she risks committing
to a college in October when, six months later, a very different choice
might be made. For precisely this reason, in recent years a number
of colleges have replaced their Early Decision programs with Early
Action plans.
What
is “Rolling Admission”?
Most large state universities, and many private colleges and universities,
notify their applicants of the admission decision on a “rolling”
basis. This means that, a few weeks after the application has been
submitted, a student will receive a decision in the mail. However,
the student does not have to commit to attending the college until
May 1.
What
is “Early Admission”?
Not to be confused with either Early Action or Early Decision, Early
Admission is for a student who believes that he or she is fully
prepared for the rigors of college academic and social life by the
end of his or her junior year, and so would seek to skip the senior
year of high school and enter college after the 11th grade. Very few
students are ready for this step; indeed, most colleges and universities
discourage it. Any junior considering applying for Early Admission
should begin discussing it with his or her Advisor immediately.
What’s
a “hook,” and why is it important?
In admissions parlance, a hook is a student attribute that
meets a college’s institutional need at a particular time. The
hook could be anything from athletics to development (a family’s
ability to add a new wing to a building) to an under-represented ethnic
group to the arts (playing an oboe, for instance, when the college
orchestra needs an oboist). When admissions officers at the most highly
selective colleges and universities say “We could replace our
entire admitted group with students from the Wait List and no one
could tell the difference,” what they mean is that there are
so many outstanding candidates that they must make hair-splitting
(and seemingly arbitrary) distinctions among them. When that is the
case, a “hooked” student has a significant advantage.
What’s
“yield,” and why is it important?
After “size of entering class,” yield is the
most important term in an Admission Director’s vocabulary. Yield
is the rate at which students who have been offered admission at a
particular college actually decide to enroll there. For example, if
there are 1,000 offers of admission, and 400 students decide to enroll,
then the yield for that year is 40%. While Harvard maintains the highest
yield (around 80%), most highly selective colleges anticipate a yield
in the 35-45% range. However, since more students are filing more
applications, it becomes increasingly difficult for Admission Directors
to accurately predict their yields. For this reason admission offices
often look for signs of “demonstrated interest” (see “Will
visiting or not visiting have an impact on whether my son or daughter
is admitted?”).
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STANDARDIZED
TESTING
We’ve
heard a lot about the “New” SAT. What’s new about
it, and how is it being used?
It’s now officially called the SAT Reasoning Test, and over
the years there have been some significant changes to the exam. The
old “Verbal” section is now called the Critical Reading
section; analogies have been dropped, and the test places greater
emphasis on reading comprehension. The Math portion is largely unchanged,
although there are more Algebra II-related questions on the test.
The most significant change is the new Writing section, which assesses
both knowledge of grammar and usage, and includes an essay that comprises
30% of the overall Writing score. Each section is scored on a 200-
to 800-point scale, so the high score is now 2400.
As always,
the SAT plays an important role in admission at colleges that require
it; very often, it is among the top two or three items in importance.
(Some colleges do not require standardized testing for admission;
see “Are there colleges that do not require standardized testing?”)
At present, the Writing score is required by a great number of colleges,
but the vast majority do not use the Writing score as part of the
admission process. Notable exceptions include West Coast colleges,
especially the UCs, and Ivy League and other colleges that required
the old SAT II Writing test. Thus you will still hear many admissions
officers referring to scores on the 1600 scale. So far, the evidence
indicates that the new Writing test has little predictive validity,
so the extent to which admissions offices will use the score remains
to be seen.
What
is the ACT, and should my child take it?
The ACT is another standardized test used in the admission process,
usually interchangeably with the SAT, and we highly recommend
that students take both tests. The ACT has four categories and
a variety of subscores and lasts 175 minutes. There is an optional
Writing Test that lasts an additional 30 minutes. The four categories
are Reading (including both social studies and science), English (with
emphasis on writing style in addition to traditional grammar), Mathematics,
and Science Reasoning (combining all the physical sciences). The test
is scored on a scale of 1-36.
Since
the ACT and SAT are structured differently, some students will perform
better on the ACT than the SAT (and vice versa). Thus it makes a great
deal of sense to take both tests; many students have qualified for
TOPS, for instance, on the ACT but not on the SAT.
What
are the SAT Subject Tests and should my child take them?
Once known as the Achievement (ACH) Tests and more recently called
the SAT IIs, SAT Subject Tests are one-hour examinations that measure
a student’s knowledge of specific subject areas (e.g., Chemistry,
French, U. S. History, etc.). Only about 30 colleges nationally require
one or more Subject Tests for admission, so unless your child
is seriously considering applying to the one of the UCs, the Ivies,
or a handful of other very highly selective colleges, they will not
need to take SAT Subject Tests. If your son or daughter does
need to take Subject Tests, please consult the College Counseling
Office to determine the most appropriate time to take the test(s).
Are
there colleges that do not require standardized testing for admission?
Yes; in fact, the number keeps growing. Visit the website www.fairtest.org
for an up-to-date list of all the colleges that are test optional.
Should
my son or daughter take a test prep class?
That depends on a host of factors. We can say two things for certain
about preparing for a test: (1) it behooves anyone to be familiar
with the format and content of a test before taking it; and (2) there
is no independently documented evidence that test prep courses deliver
the dramatic results that some in the industry claim. Students (and
families) can make a significant investment in test prep; yet in some
cases their scores go up, in some their scores don’t budge,
and in some their scores actually go down. We have found the same
of students who have not taken test prep courses. With all
that taken into account, here are a few guidelines to consider:
- If
your child decides to enroll in a course, choose the format (size
of class, frequency of meeting, etc.) that works best for him or
her.
- Don’t
let the test prep take up so much time that it lowers your child’s
GPA. GPA (along with quality of curriculum) is still the top factor
in virtually all admission decisions, and anything that lowers GPA
is ultimately counterproductive.
- If
your child is prone to test anxiety, be very careful about enrolling
him or her in test prep. A growing number of educators are coming
to believe that test prep can actually raise test anxiety, and thus
have a negative effect on a child’s scores. Over the years
we have worked with a number of students whose scores went down
during test prep, and then actually went up once they got out; we
speculatively attribute this phenomenon to increased anxiety created
by the test prep.
- Try
to time the test prep so that it occurs shortly before an actual
examination date. However, don’t allow the test prep to force
your child into taking the SAT Reasoning Test earlier than January
of the junior year. The test is designed for spring-semester juniors,
and we have witnessed a number of students who have taken the test
prematurely and then gotten spooked by their scores. In effect,
these students allowed a low test score to become a kind of self-fulfilling
prophecy, and they never earned a score much higher than their initial
results.
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FINANCIAL
AID
We’ve
seen how much college costs today, and we think we might have financial
need. Is there any way we can find out if we qualify?
Yes. There are a number of financial aid calculators on the internet
that provide a ballpark Estimated Family Contribution (EFC). These
web-based calculators include the following:
www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/
www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/401.html
www.finaid.org
It
is important to understand that there are two methods (“methodologies”)
of calculating aid: (1) federal methodology, which is based on the
Free Application for Student Financial Aid (FAFSA); and (2) institutional
methodology, which is based on both the FAFSA and the College Scholarship
Service (CSS) Profile. Generally speaking, public institutions and
most private institutions will require only the FAFSA, but many well-endowed
private colleges that supply millions of dollars of their own institutional
funds to need-based aid will require the CSS Profile as well. The
first website above is for the FAFSA, the second for the CSS Profile,
and the third will calculate both.
Keep
in mind that, even if a student does not qualify for federal need-based
aid, any student is eligible for a low-interest federal Stafford Loan.
However, a FAFSA must be submitted to participate in the Stafford
Loan program.
Will
my son or daughter qualify for a TOPS Scholarship?
For Louisiana residents, the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students
or TOPS offers four levels of scholarship with different sets of criteria,
including the Opportunity Award, Performance Award, Honors Award and
Tech Award. The program pays the tuition for qualified students to
Louisiana public colleges and universities amounting to, and perhaps
greater than, $18,000.00 for four years. For most awards a minimum
ACT composite score of 22 or SAT of 1020 and a 2.50 grade point average
in 17.50 core curriculum Carnegie units is required.
To
apply for all TOPS awards, families must submit the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the academic year following the
year graduated from high school. There is no separate TOPS application
form. The FAFSA form must be filed after January 1st of a student’s
senior year and before April 15th. It must be received by the final
state deadline of July 1st. FAFSA forms become available in late November
or may be completed on line by going to www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Applying on line is faster, easier and timelier as results are known
almost immediately. THE TOPS ACT CODE IS 1595 AND THE SAT CODE IS
9019.
Can
a TOPS award be used at a private college or university?
Yes, if the private college or university is in Louisiana. The cash
value of the average of state university tuition (approximately $3,000
in 2007-2008) is applied to the tuition of the college or university.
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