Mr. K's College Knowledge

With the Holiday Season upon us, so is the early admissions notification season. Students have begun receiving many acceptances, academic scholarships, financial aid packages, and students are finally starting to see themselves at one or two specific colleges…reality is beginning to set in! A percentage of students have even been accepted to their Early Decision (binding) school and now know where they will be attending in the fall of 2018...how exciting!  However, even though there are a ton of good things happening now, many students also received unpleasant decisions from colleges in the early round with either denials or deferrals. From my desk, the trend continues of schools becoming more and more difficult to get into, even for the most accomplished students. With more young men and women applying to college within our country and across the world, many college application numbers continue to go through the roof, meaning more students will be denied or deferred than ever b...

Being on the waitlist at one of your top choice colleges is never a fun time. Students have worked so hard, and have already waited so long for a decision, just to hear that…they have to wait a little longer. However, if you have been put on the waitlist at your dream school, it is not the worse news in the world, as it is better than being straight-up denied. There are a few important things you should know about the waitlist, also known as the purgatory of college admissions… 1) Put a deposit elsewhere! You never quite know when or if you will hear that you have been taken off the waitlist. Often, you will not hear back from the waitlist until after May 1 st , as this is national deposit day. Schools will see what percentage of the students they have accepted will be attending their school. If the number reaches their goal freshmen enrollment, schools will not go to their waitlist. However, if they are low, they will move to their waitlist and start notifying students they have...

It is just about April 1 st , and almost all college decisions have been mailed out. From what I am seeing, it looks as if it has been another super competitive year for students at colleges across the country, especially the highly selective ones. Although we hope all students have some good news to focus on, I know that most students have their share of denials and waitlists. If you were denied from a school, at least you went for it, as the only thing worse than a denial is the regret of never applying to the school in the first place. Also, if you are still in love with the school, you can always apply next year. If you were placed on the waiting list, hang in there…it could be a long time before or if you hear from the school. Here are a few tips if you find yourself on this list: ·          When third quarter grades are available, ask your counselor to send the grades to these schools ·        ...

   As many seniors may still be waiting to hear from their schools where they have been placed on the waitlist, and other underclassmen are researching the competitiveness of various colleges, please take a look at the latest yield and waitlist information presented on THECHOICE BLOG . For those who do not know, the yield is the amount of accepted students who have decided to make that college their home. Yield is a very important figure for college admissions, as it shows the competitiveness and the true desire for students to attend the college. The amount of students who apply is great, but the number of students who actually attend once accepted is a true indicator of the popularity and selectiveness of the college. So basically, the higher percentage of yield the better! There is also information on the waitlist numbers for colleges, which schools will be taking students off of the waitlist, and how many students they plan on taking off. Enjoy the article and continued...