Getting Into College Is No Longer A Numbers Game
Sending your kids to college has never been more difficult or more expensive, and outstanding grades no longer guarantee admission. With student competition at an all-time high, students are facing the toughest admissions committees in history, and parents are reeling at soaring tuition costs, and a financial aid system designed to eliminate all but the most knowledgeable and persistent applicants.
America's unsung higher education crisis affects families from all walks of life. Most parents are not skilled in college admissions, and the vast majority braving the financial aid process without professional help fall victim to a system plagued by complication and confusion. According to the Dept. of Education, nine out of ten applying for financial aid are initially rejected for errors and inconsistencies. Misinformation is rampant, and from so-called reliable sources which adds to the problem.
Yet, despite these obstacles, and contrary to what most college-bound families believe, paying for college is not your main concern! Getting accepted to college is the number one priority! All the financial in the world aid is useless without that coveted admission ticket.
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To ensure a student's college education, planning must begin early - no later than the 9th grade. This may seem premature, but starting any later could be higher education suicide. The student must be made presentable to the schools, and that takes time, because planning, patience, and most importantly, the student must be motivated to succeed.
Year after year, far more qualified applicants apply than all of our colleges and universities have room for. For school year 2001-2002, Princeton University received approximately 19,000 applications, for only 1,200 freshmen and rejected 18,000! The University of Florida for 2002-2003, received approximately 24,000 applications, but only had room for 6,500. They turned away over 17,000 students. In both cases, the majority of the rejected students were qualified applicants. For this coming school year, the Ivy League schools only accepted 12.4% of all applicants.
In order to throw an application in the waste basket, the schools look for any reason to reject. Qualified applicants are deemed unacceptable for even the slightest error.
For example, a student with a 3.5 GPA, 1875 SAT, 28 ACT and 200 community service hours, would be unacceptable to Harvard, but qualified at the University of Miami or Ohio State - but not necessarily acceptable to either school. There is a huge difference between qualified and acceptable, and knowing the difference makes the difference.
The days when college admissions were simply a numbers game are long gone. Knowing how to present a student significantly increases their chances of being accepted to the college of their choice. This all-important edge becomes an integral part in today's highly competitive college admissions process.
Reecy Aresty, a financial advisor since 1977, is the author of Getting Into College And Paying For It, an indispensable parent/student manual, the only book of its kind available in Spanish. For the past 25 years he's helped thousands of families send their kids to the college of their choice for less than they ever dreamed possible. His book is guaranteed to give students that all-important edge in admissions, and for parents there are numerous legal strategies to drastically cut the cost of college. Go to www.paylessforcollege.com for a free report, The College Funding Timeline, and learn what parents, students, and the media are saying about Reecy and his book for all seasons.
