Most Students Attend the Type of College They Prefer–Despite Economy

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports this morning on a new study that finds that the overwhelming majority of students heading off to college this fall will be attending the sort of college they prefer.

Of the nearly 40,000 respondents, 86% of those who said they preferred a public college will be attending a public college this fall. Among those who said they preferred a private college, 76% will be enrolling in a private college.

Interestingly, the economics of admission cut both ways for students.  Students who preferred private schools but enrolled in a public one cited costs of enrollment as the major factor.  However,  students who switched to attend a private school despite their preference for a public one, also reported economics as a factor:  they received good financial aid packages with both need-based and merit-based awards.

So, clearly, the economic downturn has had an impact, but not always the one we might assume.  That impact is differerent for different students, depending on their preferences and depending on how well they play the college admission and financial aid game.

The game will be no different in the coming year.  Students who take the time to ask themselves what they really want, who find schools who match their criteria very closely, and who are willing to develop a winning strategy for admissions and financial aid, the global economy may not affect their educational future one iota.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant


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New Admissions Test to Complement SAT, ACT, GRE

The education reporter at USA Today, Mary Beth Marklein, reported yesterday on her blog that ETS has developed a new test or tool for gathering more, better, and more consistent information about applicants to college and graduate school.  The idea is to assess more qualitative aspects of an applicant’s preparedness for academic study.  The focus at first is upon graduate school, but the plan at ETS is to roll out the test for use in undergraduate admissions within the next few years.

The basic idea is that students who sign up for the test are asked to name five people (usually professors or supervisors) to evaluate them on six criteria:  1) knowledge and creavity, 2) teamwork, 3) communication skills, 4) resilience, 5) planning and organization, and 6) ethics and integrity.  ETS then generates a report that reflects the opinion of these five reviewers.

I admit to some skepticism about a new admissions test, but I do like the fact that this test is actually a way to bring some rigor and consistency to letters of recommendation, to increase the inputs from two reference to five, and to give evaluators the opportunity to comment on important factors (like resilience and ethics) that may have more to do with a student’s success in academia than sheer brain power.

It will be important to follow the development and implementation of this new test over the next few years.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant


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