NYU - College Admission Counseling

New York University- Are You Thinking of Going to College in a Big City?

Jared Hobson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:48:43 +0000

Summary:
During a recent visit to New York City, Cara stopped by New York University to talk a little bit about what it means to go to college in a big city.
Hear from Courtney, a graduate student at New York University, about some of the ways she feels that going to school in New York City enhances her educational experience and prepares her well for a career in the future. As a student studying fundraising and grantmaking it is a perfect place for her field.
Cara explains that there are many benefits to going to school in a big city like New York. It is an exciting place filled with opportunities for research, internships, museums, theater, and much more. However, it is important to consider what kind of student, and learner, you are because for some students it may feel a bit overwhelming and easy to feel lost in the crowd. New York, and NYU, are big places so while it can be easy to get caught up in the thrill of going to school in an exciting environment make sure that you will feel comfortable there, will know how to seek out the opportunities that will be at your fingertips, and also how to ask for help when it is needed.

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It May be January, But It's Not Too Late to Apply to College!

Jared Hobson — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:55:42 +0000

Sure the January 1^st application deadlines for many colleges have passed, but fear not, there are still many, many colleges to which you can still apply. In fact, there are a surprising number of colleges that have March 1^st deadlines.

In this first of a series of three blogs, we’ll look at colleges which all have January 15^th deadlines.

American University
Babson
Bard
Beloit (note: early action is 3 days earlier- Jan 12)
Bentley
Brandeis
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Case Western
Chapman
Clark University
Clarkson University
Colgate
UC Boulder
Colorado College
University of Dallas
Denison University
University of Denver
DePaul (Chicago)
Dickinson College
Emory
Fordham
Franklin & Marshall
Furman
Georgia Tech
Hampshire College
Haverford
McGill
Kenyon College
Loyola Marymount University
Mt. Holyoke
UNH Chapel Hill
Oberlin
Rensselaer Polytechnic (RPI)
Rhodes College
University of Richmond
University of San Diego (USD)
University of San Francisco (USF)
Seattle University
Skidmore College
Texas A & M
Tulane University
Union College
University of Vermont
Virginia Tech
Wellesley
Whitman
Wittenberg

And if you’re feeling ambitious, you might even make the January 10th deadline for USC or the January 11^th deadline for NYU!
Juliet Giglio
Educational Consultant in Syracuse, New York

The post It May be January, But It's Not Too Late to Apply to College! first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Student Loans–Too Much of A Good Thing

Jared Hobson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:09:28 +0000

Student loans can help you pay for college. But too many student loans can ruin your life.
An article today in the New York Times reports that student loans have now outstripped credit card debt in the US, and that the amount of loans will surpass $1 trillion next year.
That’s a lot of debt.
To those undergraduates thinking about taking out student loans, please hear me and hear me good: don’t take out any more than the Federal loan limit, which is $5500 your first year, $6500 your second year, and $7500 in each of your third and fourth years.
So your maximum for undergraduate loans: $27,000. And if you can do it for less than that, you should.
If your college of choice asks you to borrow more, tell them “no thanks” and walk away.
A loan of $27,000 paid out over 10 years at an interest rate of 6.8% (the current rate) without any loan fees (and there will be fees) will mean that you will pay $310.72 per month for 10 years. Your total amount paid will be $37,285.87.
So think about it. For a slightly higher monthly payment, you could lease at brand new, 2011 Mercedes C300 4Matic Sport coupe (okay, so you have to come up with a down payment of $5000). But hey, you can easily get a Hyundai for that sort of payment. And you can lease a new one every three years!
If you’d prefer to pay your loan over a longer period (say, 20 years) you can reduce your monthly payment to $206.10, which would mean that you would have to pay a total of $49,464 for the right to borrow your $27,000. This payment might not seem like a lot. But let’s put it in perspective. According to the article, the average salary of a college grad in America–of all ages–is about $55,000. This is higher than the average for people without a college diploma. Remember, however, that this is only an average. About half of Americans with college degrees make LESS than $55,000, and some (especially younger grads) make a lot less. So paying back nearly $50k to The Man At The Bank is like losing a whole year of salary (on average) over your lifetime.
And don’t forget, twenty years after you graduate, your own kids will likely be in high school…so then it will be time to take out loans to pay for college for THEM!
This may be manageable for many students. But when you think about borrowing more than the Federal Stafford loans, look out.
If you borrow $50,000, your monthly payment will be $575 if you pay in 10 years and $382 if you pay in 20 years (assume no loan fees and a 6.8% interest rate, which is lower than the market rate for non-Federal loans.
If you borrow $75,000, your monthly payment will be $863 if you pay in 10 years and $572 if you pay in 20 years, based on the same assumptions. (Note to students: you can rent a nice two bedroom apartment in Denver for $850/month).
Want to borrow $100,000? Why not. Your your monthly payment will be $1,150 if you pay in 10 years and $763 if you pay in 20 years. My colleague, Katherine Price, heard about a student today who decided to attend NYU to get a degree in dance, and who will take out over $100,000 in loans to pay for it. In order to pay off her debt, she will have to make $14,800 per year after taxes for 10 years just to pay off her debt. As a dancer. Sure, college is an “investment.” But does that investment make any sense to you?
Don’t do it, folks. No college is worth tying an anvil around your neck.
Borrow no more than the Federal limits.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

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Are College and Universities Bankrupting Themselves?

Jared Hobson — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:06:59 +0000

An opinion piece in today’s New York Times from a professor at Columbia University raises some excellent points about the skyrocketing costs of higher education in the US.
He criticizes huge expansion efforts at Columbia and New York University at a time when endowments are down, debt levels are up, and ambitions may be bigger than these institutions’ ability to shoulder new debt obligations.
This question comes at a time when the US government has reported that 149 colleges have failed its “financial responsibility test” (see the article here from the Chronicle of Higher Education–registration required). While the colleges on this list may or may not be able to bounce back from their clear financial difficulties, it seems reasonable to predict that more colleges will start to show up on this list in the coming years. Like so many businesses and individuals who spent the last decade or two living beyond their means, colleges and universities gorged on debt. And some, like Birmingham Southern College, have been in the news recently for making huge mistakes in managing their money. Some colleges are actually closing or merging. Does it really make sense for Columbia and NYU to continue feeding voraciously at the debt trough? Sure, Columbia and NYU are financially stronger than, say, Guilford and Ripon Colleges. Are these big boys “too big to fail?” Is Columbia like AIG, or like Lehman Brothers?
While I’m not ready to run around like Chicken Little quite yet, I do know that the rapidly rising prices in higher education are unsustainable. And I do think that parents–and their kids–need to take a step back and ask themselves whether they want to go into debt to a place like NYU in order to finance NYU’s debt. Like derivatives, higher education services are not anything tangible. If the investment goes south (i.e., if a child’s debt burden ends up being larger than what her future salary can bear), parents and kids will have nothing to show for it than a pile of student loans that cannot be discharged even in bankruptcy. At least if NYU’s or Columbia’s investments turn out not to be so great, they can sell off the buildings they are constructing and at least recoup something. What assets will you sell when your debts come due?
Food for thought.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

The post Are College and Universities Bankrupting Themselves? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

College Admissions Essays: Wacky Prompts

Jared Hobson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:27:02 +0000

High school seniors are now in the final stretch of cranking out their college admissions essays. Pity them.

In an effort to keep students entertained during the admissions process, some colleges ask students to respond to some pretty wacky prompts.

Why? Well, the cynic in me wants to say that these essays are a way to separate those who are really interested in a particular college, and those who are not. Those applicants who spend the time and energy to address these prompts are perceived by the admissions office to have at least “run the gauntlet,” and are therefore more worthy of admission.

Admissions offices that require these crazy essays swear that they glean something interesting about the writer that helps them to determine whether the student is really someone they want to grace their campus. Maybe so.

Either way you look at it, my job is to help students brainstorm ways in which to respond to these kooky prompts. Sometimes the process is fun–hysterical, even. Sometimes, it’s like pulling teeth.

So, readers, how would you respond to the following prompts? I’d love to read your comments!

1. How do you feel about Wednesday? (University of Chicago, 2002)

2. What outrages you? (Wake Forest, 2009)

3. Write a haiku, limerick, or short poem that best represents you. (New York University, 2009)

4. In the year 2050, a movie is being made of your life. Please tell us the name of your movie and briefly summarize the story line. (New York University, 2009)

5. What is college for? (Hampshire College, 2009)

6. Are we alone? (Tufts, 2009)

7. Make a bold prediction about something in the year 2020 that no one else has made a bold prediction about. (University of Virginia, 1999)

8. Write a short story using one of the following titles: a.) House of Cards, b.) The Poor Sport, c.) Drama at the Prom, d.) Election Night, 2044, e.) The Getaway. (Tufts, 2009)

9. How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.) (Chicago, 2009)

10. You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit Page 217. (University of Pennsylvania, 2009)

Thanks to Allen Grove for bringing this list–originally published at CNN.com–to my attention. I’ve worked with students writing nearly all of these this year. Whee!

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

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