As a Broader Group Seeks Early Admission, Rejections Rise in the East

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA and JENNY ANDERSON

Published: January 13, 2012        

Early admission to top colleges, once the almost exclusive preserve of the East Coast elite, is now being pursued by a much broader and more diverse group of students, including foreigners and minorities.

 

The democratization of the process — and the overall explosion in applicants — made the early-admissions game much tougher this year for the group that has long dominated it: students in prep schools in New York and beyond where the vast majority of seniors apply to their top choices in November in hopes of avoiding the springtime scrum.

“Their odds have definitely decreased,” said Christoph Guttentag, dean of admissions at Duke University. “You can sort of envision the appeal of early decision radiating outward, from the most affluent to the middle class, and westward from the East Coast and then across the Pacific.”
Duke, for example, received 400 early applications this year from California or overseas; in 2005, it was fewer than 100. Haverford College, outside Philadelphia, saw early applications from abroad double this year from last. And at the University of Chicago, there were double-digit rises in the percentage of early applications from black and Hispanic students.

You do not need a perfect score on the math SAT to know that if more people are applying — many top-tier colleges say the number has doubled or tripled over the last five years — competition is stiffer. So in certain precincts of Manhattan, parents of those who were deferred or rejected in December have been swapping stories ever since about the seemingly perfect senior at the Spence School who did not make the cut (“If not her, who?” lamented one parent) and the six Brearley School girls who were deferred from Yale (“I thought Yale loved Brearley,” cried another, pointing out that 20 Brearley graduates have gone to Yale in the last five years, more than any other university).

FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)

(Link:) Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, ensures that all eligible individuals can benefit from federally funded financial assistance for education beyond high school. We consistently champion the promise of postsecondary education to all Americans —and its value to our society.
Federal Student Aid plays a central and essential role in supporting postsecondary education by providing money for college to eligible students and families. We partner with postsecondary schools, financial institutions and others to deliver services that help students and families who are paying for college.
Today, Federal Student Aid performs a range of critical functions that include, among others:

• Educating students and families on the process of obtaining aid;
• Processing millions of student financial aid applications each year;
• Disbursing billions of dollars in aid funds to students through schools;
• Enforcing financial aid rules and regulations;
• Servicing millions of student loan accounts, and securing repayment from borrowers who have defaulted on their loans; and
• Operating information technology systems and tools that manage billions in student aid dollars.

This is a complex, multifaceted mission that calls on a range of staff skills and demands coordination by all levels of management. Consequently, Federal Student Aid, a Performance-Based Organization (PBO), emphasizes tangible results and efficient performance, as well as the continuous improvement of the processes and systems that support our mission.

Scholarships for Scholars

Scholarships for Scholars, Inc., is a nonprofit organization formed to reward scholastic excellence.  The scholarships are awarded to graduating students who attend Anne Arundel County Public Schools, other Anne Arundel County educational institutions that are in compliance with all requirements of the Maryland State Department of Education, and home schooled students registered with the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.  The applicant must physically reside in Anne Arundel County.  The awards are to be used by students toward tuition, fees, and books at the institutions of higher education (community colleges, four-year colleges or universities, and private trade and technical institutions) of their choice. 

Since the specific qualifications differ for each of the available scholarships, it is important that you read the attached directions very carefully and provide all of the information requested in your application packet. (See Mrs Rudder in College Counseling for an application packet.) The application, checklist, and scholarship requirements are also available for downloading and printing online here. 

**You may submit separate applications for a total of two (2) scholarships offered in Sections I and II of this packet. Applications which are not complete or do not meet all the minimum criteria as outlined in the attached packet will not be accepted or reviewed. 

By law, the results of CEEB Advanced Placement exams can not appear on high school transcripts.  Therefore, if you wish the results of your exams to be considered, you will have to provide that information as part of your Scholarships for Scholars, Inc. application(s).

Your completed application packet(s) must be given to the appropriate school official by the close of the school day on February 3, 2012.  Applications may not be submitted online.

We look forward to your participation in this scholarship program.  Successful scholarship recipients will be our guests at the annual Scholarships for Scholars, Inc., Awards Presentation on April 30, 2012  We wish you the very best.  Please contact Debra Hardie at 410-626-7013 or scholarshipsforscholars@yahoo.com should you have any questions.