What to Do with the Waitlist

Waiting on the Wait List? While doing so, be sure to place your deposit with a college where you have already been accepted. Waitlists can be unpredictable, and you will likely not hear back until after the May 1st deposit deadline. It can't hurt to give yourself and your family peace of mind by reserving your place at a school where you can attend in the fall if the waitlist doesn't work out!

FREE Amazon Kindle Version of "Brand U"

Follow the link below to download a FREE copy of David's book, “Brand U: 4 Steps to the College of Your Dreams,” this weekend, August 16th and 17th!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KUI1QBE

This Year's Admit Rates

...according to the Washington Post

The grand totals for this year’s Ivy League admissions are in. Of 253,472 applications for the Class of 2018, the eight private, prestigious and pricey schools known for a climbing vine gave a green light to 22,624.

Quick, get the calculator. The admission rate is 8.925641 percent, rounding to the nearest millionth of a percentage point.

Many of the nation’s college-bound students obsess over these numbers, with reason. Something about the Ivy League compels fascination even among students who haven’t applied to these venerable schools and never will. Collectively, the eight play an outsize role in shaping the image of American higher education around the world.

Do people pay too much attention to Ivy admission rates?

“Absolutely,” said Janet Lavin Rapelye, dean of admission at Princeton University. “It takes the focus off of what everybody should be focusing on, which is finding the right fit and finding the right match. The admit rate is just one of many, many measures that can happen in a year. But it doesn’t begin to explain or identify the best matches.”

For what it’s worth, Princeton put a news release headline on this year’s rate calculated to a hundredth of a point: 7.28 percent.

It’s worth noting that this super-low rate and others at ultra-selective schools are a function of a huge surge in applications. Princeton’s pool has nearly doubled in the past decade. Many applicants no doubt apply to more than one Ivy; some, to all eight.

“It is unfortunate that we contribute to this frenzy by the numbers we publish,” said an admissions veteran at a prestigious, non-Ivy League college who did not wish to be identified because he did not want to add to the hubbub.

Here is the skinny on Ivy numbers as the eight schools released admission decisions Thursday at 5 p.m. for the incoming freshman class.

To go easy on the eyes, we will round to the nearest tenth of a percentage point.

Brown University: 2,619 offers of admission out of 30,432 applications. Admission rate: 8.6 percent, down modestly.

Columbia University: 2,291 offers out of 32,967 apps. Rate: 6.9 percent, about the same as last year.

Cornell University: 6,014 offers out of 43,041 apps. Rate: 14.0 percent. The rate is down more than one percentage point because applications rose.

Dartmouth College: 2,220 offers out of 19,296 apps. Rate: 11.5 percent. Dartmouth’s admit rate edged up about a point because its total application pool shrank significantly — 14 percent — for reasons the college is still analyzing. It was described as the largest application drop for Dartmouth in 21 years.

Harvard University: 2,023 offers out of 34,295 apps. Rate: 5.9 percent, little changed.

Princeton University: 1,939 offers out of 26,641 apps. Rate: 7.3 percent, nearly the same as 2013.

University of Pennsylvania: 3,583 offers out of 35,868 apps. Rate: 10.0 percent. No, Penn’s rounded rate is not 9.9 percent, contrary to its news release. But the admit rate has fallen about two points because applications are on the rise.

Yale University: 1,935 offers out of 30,932 apps. Rate: 6.3 percent, a slight decline.

For the thousands who didn’t get in but were placed on waiting lists, here are a couple of statistics: Last year, 168 students made it into Cornell via the waiting list, out of more than 3,100 offered positions on the list. Dartmouth admitted 87, out of about 1,700 initial wait-list offers, and Princeton admitted 33 out of an initial 1,400.

By Nick Anderson, Published: March 28

College Board Announces Changes to SAT

"The SAT will modernize the vocabulary and math sections to reflect what a majority of students actually use. For students with low-income and first generation backgrounds, the new SAT should be a fairer test." - David Montesano

So what exactly will be changed? Find out here.

David Montesano's quote about choosing a college in NYTimes

David Montesano's quote about choosing a college in NYTimes:

Link to NYTimes.

CONGRATULATIONS. You’ve been accepted to more than one college. Now comes the hard part: deciding which to go to. Make a mistake and you could be repeating the whole application process again next year — to transfer out.

Let’s say the cost is similar. How to choose between two good options?

Look to the Future

Remember this, says David Montesano, founder of the consulting company College Match: “College is just a tool to help you achieve your life goals.”

If your goal is to make money, don’t assume the more prestigious the institution, the more earnings. Equally smart students make about the same whether they attend a top school or not, according to the economists Stacy Dale and Alan B. Krueger. But Hispanic, black and low-income students, they found, can expect to earn more if they graduate from an elite school. Data at Payscale.com can give you a sense of what graduates of individual colleges earn.

If your goal is grad school, investigate which colleges produce healthy numbers of master’s and doctoral students. Some colleges post comparative lists on their sites crunched from federal surveys. The National Science Foundation also lists feeder schools for science and engineering Ph.D.’s. The percentage from Reed College, by the way, is higher than from Princeton or Harvard.

Steer Clear of Colleges in Crisis

Reading student newspapers online will tell you whether students approve of how officials respond to problems, like hazing or sexual assault. Are students protesting against the Keystone XL pipeline or problems with the school itself, like too many adjunct teachers or disappearing services? And pay attention to public funding of state schools. Budget cuts can increase class size and make it harder to get the courses you need to finish your degree in four years.

Reviews on websites like unigo.com, collegeprowler.com and studentsreview.com can give you a sense of what each school’s students complain about ­ — ­at Cornell, for example, students grouse about being graded on a curve, while Rutgers students bemoan feeling like a number. But the best way to determine the weak points of a particular school is to ask students or recent alumni.

Go Where You’ll Shine

“One of the most important things a person can get out of college is confidence based on success,” says Jane K. Klemmer, an educational consultant in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. Look for a place where the learning environment and social scene will give you the most opportunities to succeed, she says. “If there are a lot of fancy cars in the parking lot that are going to make you feel poorer and somehow inferior, that could be a problem.”

Matthew Baker of Riley Baker Educational Consulting suggests that you gauge whether you will fit in by asking, “Would I want to hang out with these people on weekends?”

School traditions might also indicate where you belong. Take Colgate University and Grinnell College, two rural liberal arts colleges on pretty campuses that accept students with similar SAT scores and grades. Colgate students begin and end their college careers with a torchlight procession to a bonfire where they sing the school song. A big tradition at Grinnell is the annual Mary B. James cross-dressing ball. It should be no surprise that Colgate is beloved by preppy scholar-athletes while Grinnell is a haven for hipsters who discuss Derrida into the wee hours.

Some relish a challenge. Daniel Surman, a political science student active in Republican politics, ended up at Macalester College, which had offered him the most financial aid. But Macalester topped the Princeton Review’s list of most liberal colleges in 2011. “I was intrigued by the idea of being the iconoclast in the class,” says Mr. Surman. “Being at Macalester, I’ve definitely gotten better at defending my views.”

And he started a student group. Membership: 5 to 15 Republicans.

College Match Success Story: Shane

Thanks to College Match and the Montesano Methodology, high school senior Shane will be enrolling at Wesleyan University in the fall.

View what he had to say about his experience with David, here.

Congratulations and good luck, Shane!

www.collegematchus.com, www.brandubook.com

Interested in Music?

Music degrees aren't just for musicians, although a love of music does help make the coursework more interesting. Today's music graduates pursue careers in public relations, academia, journalism and even medicine. National statistics show that 66 percent of music students applying to medical schools are accepted, while only 44 percent of bio-chem majors who apply receive acceptance letters.

Whether you plan to pursue a lifelong venture in the music industry or you're looking for a broad, liberal arts education which can be transitioned to a variety of career options, here are 100 of the best music programs and departments offering world-class music education in the U.S.

http://www.nammfoundation.org/research/research-briefs-did-you-know