A survey conducted by the Annapolis Group of alumni from 130 liberal arts schools, the top 50 public universities and private universities reveals disparities in their assessments of the quality of their undergraduate educational experiences.

According to the study, 77 percent of alumni from liberal arts colleges rated their undergraduate experiences excellent, compared to 59 percent of alumni from private universities and 56 percent from the top 50 public universities. Liberal arts school alumni reported that their college experience made them better prepared for life after college including their first job, career changes, and graduate school than did alumni from other sectors.

The study places much of the credit for these outcomes on the smaller classes, enhanced faculty-student interaction, teaching focus, and greater emphasis on reading and writing of liberal arts college environments. Large public universities have attempted to compensate for their educational shortcomings by starting small honors colleges designed to offer a small college feel. Since a mere three percent of American college students attend liberal arts colleges, it is incumbent upon our private and public universities to improve the quality of the class-room experience for their students.

How Families and Student Applicants Can Identify Strong College Learning Environments
Families and students can find the best academic environments by paying attention to student selectivity, class size, attrition and four year graduation levels, and student and faculty resource figures found in US News and World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” issue. Additional inquiries can be made with the departments of possible majors on class size, the percentage of professors in the class-room who are tenured or tenure-track, and placements in strong graduate programs and good jobs.

***
David Dickson wrote this article to help guide people as they choose between Liberal Arts colleges and traditional public/private Universities. For more information on Top Test Prep’s admissions experts and private tutors, call (800) 501-Prep.

Tags: College Rankings, Colleges, Education Expert // View Comments

The Five Elite Small Liberal Arts Colleges; also, info on Liberal Arts Colleges’ Financial Aid Packages

As college sticker prices seemingly climb into the stratosphere, there are elite small liberal arts colleges which offer a better deal more than They place students in the best jobs and graduate programs while offering generous financial aid packages. Who are they?

Williams College, Williamstown, MA
US News and World Report “Best Colleges” Ranking: #1
Tuition (both instate and out-of-state) $43,000
Average Financial Aid Package: $10,440
Average Percent of Need Met: 100%
Williams College meets 100 percent of the demonstrated financial need of all students eligible for aid including all out of pocket expenses. Required books as well as lab or art supplies are part of the package.

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
US News and World Report “Best Colleges” Ranking: #12
Tuition (both instate and out-of-state) $45,000
Average Financial Aid Package: $10,263
Average Percent of Need Met: 100%
Vassar focuses on providing need based aid to its admitted students.

Amherst College, Amherst, MA
US News and World Report “Best Colleges” Ranking: #2
Tuition (both instate and out-of-state) $43,000
Average Financial Aid Package: $10,110
Average Percent of Need Met: 100%
Financial aid awards at Amherst College range from a few thousand dollars to the entire cost of attendance. Transportation costs are covered including airfare for one round trip.

Pomona College, Claremont, CA
US News and World Report “Best Colleges” Ranking: Tied for #6
Tuition (both instate and out-of-state) $40,000
Average Financial Aid Package: $9,259
Average Percent of Need Met: 100%
Pomona offers a work-study program, need-based awards, and merit scholarships to its students.

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
US News and World Report “Best Colleges” ranking: Tied for #6
Tuition (both in-state and out-of-state): $43,000
Average Financial Aid Package: $8,867
Average Percent of Need Met: 100%
Bowdoin attempts to avoid loans, when possible, and provide awards that don’t have to be paid back.

***
David Dickson wrote this article on liberal arts colleges; he serves within the admissions team for Top Test Prep.

You can gain admission to the small liberal arts colleges, and thus attend some of the best colleges in the country. Call (800) 501-7737 or visit our private tutoring program and test prep instructors.

Tags: Admissions Counselor, Admissions Experts, College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

The following is an article on the Ten Most Environmentally Conscious Universities…

Here’s the college ranking:

1. University of Washington, Seattle
The hydro-powered campus runs three farms, an extensive recycling program, and the conservation-research hotbed Pack Forest.

2. Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT
The school’s agricultural projects are an experiment in fossil-free farming. Instead of tractors, draft animals do much of the work.

3. University of California, San Diego
The institution’s cogeneration plant provides up to 85 percent of the school’s electricity, and heats more than 6 million square feet of building interiors.

4. Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC
Students grow trees, alfalfa, and corn and raise cows, pigs, and chickens on the school’s 250-acre farm.

5. Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Almost two-thirds of Stanford’s 8, 180-acre campus is undeveloped open space, including the 1,200 acre Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, where students and faculty learn how climate change affects local biodiversity.

6. University of California, Irvine
One of America’s most energy efficient campuses has a cogeneration facility that produces heat and electricity that meets most of its power needs.

7. University of California, Santa Cruz
The fight against trash includes eschewing dining trays and bottled water, contributing to a water diversion rate of 84 percent.

8. University of California, San Diego
The university excels in nurturing sustainable methods of food production and has a new Brewery, Winery, and Food Science Laboratory.

9. Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
With a goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2020, students pay a self-imposed fee of $1 each academic quarter to buy renewable-energy credits to offset the college’s electricity consumption.

10. Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
As part of its plan to be carbon neutral by 2016, the school installed a woodchip-powered cogeneration system that halved its oil consumption.

****
David Dickson is a writer and admissions counselor for Top Test Prep; Top Test Prep offers exclusive private tutoring programs that helps students gain admission to top schools through private admissions counseling.

(credit also to: The Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group, has released its list of the ten most environmentally conscious universities)

Tags: College Counseling, College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

College freshman retention can arguably be treated as an indicator of how happy freshman are. It is a factor that should be assigned importance when considering colleges. According to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, an education think tank, the colleges with the best freshmen retention rates are as follows.

Top Colleges for Freshmen Retention

1. Yale University (CT)
2. Swarthmore College (PA)
3. Princeton University (NJ)
4. Stanford University (CA)
5. Williams College (MA)
6. California Institute of Technology
7. University of Chicago (IL)
8. Harvard University (MA)
9. Columbia University (NY)
10. Dartmouth College (NH)
11. University of Pennsylvania
12. Notre Dame University (IN)
13. US Naval Academy (MD)
14. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
15. University of Virginia
16. Hillsdale College (MI)
17. Washington University, St Louis (MO)
18. Rice University (TX)
19. Middlebury College (VT)
20. Brown University (RI)
21. Duke University (NC)
22. Haverford University (PA)
23. Carleton College (MN)
24. Pomona College (CA)
25. Davidson College (NC)

Conclusion
While the economic profile of a student body plays a role in freshman retention, colleges with high rates also tend to have strong advising and student support services. A retention method successfully employed at some colleges is to break the freshman class into student learning sub-communities with activities and close peer support.

David Dickson is a counselor with Top Test Prep which offers tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools. Find out more about Top Test Prep’s private tutoring programs by calling 1-800-501-7737.

Tags: College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

This article discusses the best liberal arts colleges and topics like costs, admissions, and other topics like tuition.

The Challenge:
This is seemingly the best of times for the most competitive small liberal arts colleges such as Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Smith as applications soar and acceptance rates descend to the low double digits. Endowments have also bounced back since the onset of the recession. Presidents and financial officers at these institutions, however, are sounding the alarm on the longer-term repercussions of escalating costs. Tuition at four-year colleges and universities rose 28 percent over the past decade. At Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin and Smith total costs including tuition, room, board, and student fees are significantly more than $50,000 a year.

Moreover, with high levels of financial aid and per-student spending, the elite colleges face the prospect of dramatically increased costs placing financial strain on even the best managed institutions. For instance, Smith College spent $61,655 per student in 2009, $47,113 of which went to education-related expenses. By comparison, the nearby University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a public research university, spent $31,762 per student in 2009, $18,048 of which went to education-related expenses. As the sticker price of competitive small liberal arts colleges continues to grow, admitted students may increasingly be scared away and qualified students discouraged from even applying. Short of becoming an exclusive preserve of the wealthy at home and abroad, how can America’s elite liberal arts schools address this dilemma? Achieving financial solvency, maintaining diverse student bodies, and not abandoning their mission of a broad interdisciplinary liberal arts education is a tall order.

Solutions
In the short-term, tuition adjustments are an option at some schools. The president of Middlebury College announced last year that the college would cap tuition increases at 1 percent more than the rate of inflation. The vice-chancellor at the University of the South recently announced that the university would cut tuition by 10 percent and focus on need based aid as opposed to merit aid. In the longer-term new revenue sources must be found, however. In 2010, Middlebury college acquired the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Smith College, according to an internal report, is considering the establishment of a task force to explore post-baccalaureate educational offerings and other programs that enhance the college’s “reputation and revenue structure.” Colleges are expanding partnerships and consortiums with other institutions to expand course offerings to enhance their appeal to prospective students, without a commensurate increase in overall costs. The most wrenching change, however, would be an alteration of the liberal arts curricular model to incorporate more explicitly professional and vocational programs for students focused on the bottom line once they leave school. Non-elite liberal arts colleges have already begun to move in this direction.

Conclusion
America’s most prestigious small liberal arts schools will be with us for the foreseeable future. The manner in which they adjust to an increasingly cost conscious and vocationally oriented public, however, will determine what a liberal arts education will mean for future generations.

David Dickson wrote this article as an admissions counselor and expert for Top Test Prep.

Top Test Prep offers admissions experts and private tutoring programs to help students get into the best private schools, colleges and grad schools. Call 1-800-501-7737 to learn more.

Tags: Admissions Data, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

Skepticism about the value of a college degree has peaked recently in many media outlets as a seemingly temporary recession turns into a prolonged period of economic stagnation or worse. While economic challenges remain for even the best educated, unemployment and weekly earnings figures paint a vivid picture of the advantages of achieving college and advanced degrees. The following figures bear this out.

Degree , Unemployment Rate in 2009, Median Weekly Earnings in 2009
Doctoral, 2.5%, $1,532
Professional, 2.3%, $1,529
Master’s, 3.9%, $1,257
Bachelor’s, 5.2%, $1,025
Associate, 6.8% , $761
Some College, No Degree, 8.6%, $699
High School Grad, 9.7%, $626
Less than High School Diploma, 14.6%, $454
Average All Workers, 7.9%, $774

Conclusion about the value of school/education:

Degree attainment clearly correlates to job stability and earnings. Gaining access to the best schools is highly competitive.
David Dickson is an admissions counselor with Top Test Prep. Get in touch with Top Test Prep’s private tutoring programs today, to learn more about how you can gain admission to the best schools or call (800) 501-7737.

Tags: Colleges, Educational Financial Planning, private tutoring // View Comments

Recommendations for a Successful College Fair Visit
As we transition into the fall, the college fair season is also upon us. How can you make the most of this opportunity? The following recommendations should be of assistance in this area.

1. Organize Before You Go
Review a list of the participating schools, usually available online or at your high school guidance office. A reasonable approach would be to target two to three schools in each of three categories: stretch schools, reasonable schools, and back-ups.

2. Prepare Questions for College Representatives Ahead of Time
Examine college web-sites to help you formulate questions on a variety of topics including your major, financial aid, internships, and graduate school and job placement rates.

3. Print Pre-Addressed Labels to Bring With You
Save time filling out interest cards by using pre-printed address labels with your name, address, e-mail address, high school, possible majors, and when you will start college.

4. Collect Business Cards from College Representatives
This will give you the opportunity for follow-up questions and a personal contact as you consider the institution.

5. Strategize With a Map of the College Tables
Pick up your map as you enter the fair so that you can use your time productively.

6. Arrive Early
If you get there early, before it gets crowded, you will have more time with the college representatives.

7. Review College Materials Carefully
Highlight what you like about schools, and write down questions to e-mail to college representatives.

8. Place Schools You Are Still Considering in a File
Add additional information to your files as it becomes available.

Conclusion
The college fair is only one stage in your college search, but an important one. Take advantage of this opportunity. Top Test Prep offers tutoring and test preparations with admissions experts who will help you gain admission to your top schools.

David Dickson is an admissions counselor with Top Test Prep. Call Top Test Prep at (800) 501-Prep or contact our team today.

Tags: Admissions Experts, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

America’s higher education system is an intriguing one as illustrated by the following revelations from the Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual almanac;

here are some interesting facts about American colleges today:

1. Less than one-third of Americans hold at least a bachelor’s degree, but at least 30 percent of adults in 16 states-mostly on the coasts- have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. The three interior states are Utah, Illinois, and Minnesota.

2. During a 10 year span ending in 2009, undergraduate enrollment jumped 38 percent, with some of the highest growth occurring in Arizona (149 percent), Georgia (77 percent), West Virginia (56 percent), and Florida (54 percent).

3. Between 1999 and 2009, undergrad enrollment at for-profit schools soared 539 percent compared with 32 percent for public institutions.

4. The largest state university in the country is Arizona State University in Tempe with 46,994 full-time and 9, 568 part-time undergraduates. The largest non-profit private university is New York University with 20,815 full-time and 1,282 part-time undergraduates.

5. While 347, 985 students earned undergraduate business degrees in 2009, only 15,496 walked away with a degree in mathematics.

6. One of the fastest growing degrees is in park, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. During a 10-year period, the number of students earning degrees in this major (31,667) jumped 92 percent.

7. Among common majors, education experienced the biggest drop in interest among undergrads. In a 10 year period, the number of students earning an education degree declined five percent.

8. Twenty-three percent of full-time undergrads, who are 24 or younger, work 20 hours or more a week.

9. About 9 percent of students attend flagship universities and other state institutions that conduct intensive research.

10. Seventy-three percent of all students attend all types of public colleges and universities.

11. Just 16 percent of students attend private non-profit colleges and universities.

12. Nineteen percent of college freshman hope to earn a Ph.D., and 10.2 percent would like to become a medical doctor.

13. Between 1999 and 2009, undergraduate enrollment at for-profit schools soared 539 percent compared with 32 percent for public institutions.

14. About 3 percent of undergrads are veterans and 1 percent are on active military duty or reserves.

15. Twenty percent of all first-time undergraduates take at least one remedial course.

*****

David Dickson is a counselor for Top Test Prep’s program. Top Test Prep = private tutoring and expert test prep with admissions counselors who help you gain admission to your top private schools, colleges and graduate schools. Call (800) 501-Prep or visit Top Test Prep’s contact page and enter your information to learn more.

Tags: Colleges, Education Expert // View Comments

Families are bombarded these days with fancy brochures, slick web-sites, and savvy college representatives singing the praises of their institutions. How do you separate hype from reality and focus on what is really important in a college education? Seven recommendations for choosing colleges the right way follow.

1. Avoid Official Campus Tours and Class-room Visits, and Take Student Comments with a Grain of Salt
You want to be in charge of your own college investigation so there are common approaches to college visits to be avoided or placed in context. The official campus tour is just that, and is designed to manipulate your perception of the college. Skip it, and while you’re at it don’t bother to visit classes since colleges will steer you to those which shed the best light on them. Talk to students, faculty, and staff but keep in mind that they may be unrepresentative of the college as a whole.

2. Find out About Availability of Faculty Members
Look into the number of weekly faculty office hours set aside for students, and survey students on whether they have a faculty mentor. If you can’t meet with professors with regularity outside of the class-room, you are being robbed of the intimacy which is vital to an effective education.

3. Make Inquiries about the Advising System
Ask how often and comprehensively academic advisors discuss course options and academic concerns with their advisees. You don’t want to flounder as you search for the right major or combination of courses.

4. Scrutinize Student and Alumni Satisfaction Levels with Academics and the College Climate
Most institutions survey students and alumni about the quality of education and college life. Request this data including the NSSE(National Survey of Student Engagement:nsse.iub.edu/html/annual_results.cfm) or similar surveys. Moreover, ask about the CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment: facwww.collegiatelearningassessment.org), which measures whether students’ analytical reasoning skills improve between their freshman and senior years.

5. Look into Campus Health Facilities
We all get sick so make inquiries about health facilities, including those addressing mental health issues. Ask how long it takes to get a routine medical appointment?

6. Examine How Satisfied Faculty Are
How collegial are faculty members and how committed are they to the institution’s missions and values? You can tap into this data through the HERI (Higher Education Research Institute: www.heri.ucla.edu) survey of faculty attitudes. A satisfied faculty will often bring positive energy into the classroom. Morever, scrutinize whether the college has a “learning and teaching center” to help young and seasoned faculty improve their teaching.

7. Request Graduate School and Job Placement Data
You’ll be amazed at how fast four years of college fly. The college should have data for post graduation placement in graduate and professional programs and jobs. Also examine how alumni are faring five, ten, and even twenty years beyond graduation.

Conclusion
If you are stonewalled on any of the inquiries just delineated, then the institution is overlooking a crucial component of the undergraduate experience or the well-being of its alumni. This is a bad sign and it’s time to move on. With strong teaching, advising, health support facilities, and job and graduate school placement, an institution is meeting its student obligations. Without them, your school experience may prove to be an unsatisfying one. Top Test Prep offers tutoring and expert test prep with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools.

David Dickson is a counselor with Top Test Prep; visit Top Test Prep’s contact page and request more information today or call (800) 501-Prep.

Tags: Admissions Advice, Admissions Counselor, Admissions Experts, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

US News and World Report has just released its widely distributed annual listing of the top national universities and liberal arts colleges in the country. Its evaluative criteria include academic reputation, retention rates, faculty resources, selectivity, financial resources, graduation rates, and alumni giving rates. The top ten lists of colleges ranked is below:

The Top Ten National Universities
1. Harvard
1. Princeton
3. Yale
4. Columbia
5. California Institute of Technology
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Stanford
5. University of Chicago
5. University of Pennsylvania
10. Duke

The Top Ten National Liberal Arts Colleges
1. Williams
2. Amherst
3. Swarthmore
4. Pomona
5. Middlebury
6. Bowdoin
6. Carleton
6. Wellesley
9. Claremont McKenna
10. Haverford

Conclusion
Students from around the world now compete for admission to America’s best national institutions of learning. Top Test Prep offers private tutors and expert test preparation with admissions experts who help you improve your exam scores.
David Dickson is an admissions counselor with Top Test Prep; Contact Top Test Prep today to learn more at (800) 501-7737.

Tags: Admissions Experts, College Applications, College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

Game-Like College Micro-Sites for Recruiting and Alumni Outreach At the Cutting Edge

In the highly competitive world of college recruiting and fund-raising, a few colleges have pioneered new off-beat web-sites to solicit information from prospective students and alumni.

Here are ways a couple colleges are reaching students and college alumni…

The College of St Mary in Omaha’s watchmebloom.com site introduces users to an interactive, animated landscape resembling a video-game app. You take a diagnostic test that offers a series of hypothetical scenarios and recommends a course of study contingent on your response. You mouse over different buildings on the cartoon depiction of campus and watch films of St Mary’s students talking about these places. Visitors can create a profile that includes their name and contact information. The micro-site was created by Phenomblue, a firm that develops game-oriented promotional sites such as “McNuggets Olympic Village.” According to St Mary’s vice-president for enrollment services, web inquiries and phone calls increased exponentially in the aftermath of the micro-site’s debut.

Visitors to Nazareth College’s flightoftheflyers.com site are exposed to cartoon animation and birds swooping to Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” The site urges Nazareth alumni to order stuffed-animals of the college’s winged mascot, the Golden Flyer, take pictures of the bird, and submit them via the web-site along with their locations and personal updates. They are then sent to former class-mates with requests to do the same. Different class years are pitted against one another to see which can achieve the most aggregate miles for their birds.
The micro-sites, which are separate from the college’s official web-site, can be confusing to users and complicate a college’s marketing strategy. Usability can also be diminished if the sites are not properly designed. Nonetheless, the micro-sites with their creativity pose a challenge to the less imaginative mainstream college web-sites. A face-lift may be in order!

David Dickson is a counselor with Top Test Prep which offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools. Call Top Test Prep today to learn about SSAT, ISEE, HSPT, SAT, ACT and more private tutoring and test prep – (800) 501-Prep.

Tags: College Rankings, Colleges, private tutoring // View Comments

A just released Pew Research Center Survey highlights a growing gender gap on how female and male college graduates view their college experience. Selective survey results follow.

Is A College Education Money Well Spent?
50% of women say yes versus 37% of men

Did College Help You Mature and Grow As a Person?
74% of women say yes versus 64% of men

Did College Increase Your Knowledge and Help You Grow Intellectually?
81% of women said it was very useful in this regard versus 67% of men

Conclusion
Disparate gender attitudes on higher education are manifested in a growing disparity in college completion rates. As of 2010, 36 percent of women 25 to 29 years of age had achieved a bachelor’s degree whereas 28 percent of men in this age bracket had done so, a gap which has increased since 1992. In an era in which a college education is increasingly a precondition for a middle class life-style, the repercussions of this discrepancy are far-reaching for family stability and national prosperity.

David Dickson is a counselor at Top Test Prep which offers tutoring and test preparation with admission experts who help you gain admission to your top schools. Call 800-501-7737 or visit TopTestPrep.com today to learn more.

Tags: Admissions Experts, College Board, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

Here’s some information on rankings of engineering undergrad programs…

Lists of majors offering the most opportunities and the best pay in the job market invariably include engineering. For students who are strong in the sciences and math, what are the best engineering programs in the country? US News and World Report’s peer assessment survey using deans and senior faculty at institutions with accredited engineering programs provides an answer. Schools were ranked on a scale of marginal (1) to distinguished (5). Rankings for undergraduate engineering programs where the doctorate is the highest degree and where a bachelor or master is the highest degree follow. Schools with a doctorate often include a wider range of undergraduate engineering courses.

Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs Where Doctorate Degree is Highest Degree
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 4.8
2. Stanford, Stanford, CA 4.7
2. University of California/Berkeley, CA 4.7
4. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 4.5
4. Georgia Institute of Technology, Athens 4.5
4. University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign 4.5
7. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 4.4
8. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 4.3
8. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 4.2

Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs Where Doctorate Is Not Offered
1. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, IN 4.5
2. Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 4.4
3. Cooper Union, New York, NY 4.1
4. California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA 4.0
5. US Military Academy, West Point, NY 3.9
6. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA 3.8
6. US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 3.8
8. Bucknell University, Lewiston, PA 3.7
8. US Air Force Academy, CO 3.7
10. Villanova University, Villanova, PA 3.6

Conclusion
The payoffs of an engineering degree are high, but competition for the strongest programs is stiff. Top Test Prep offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who will help you gain admission to these programs.

David Dickson is a counselor with Top Test Prep; for information on Top Test Prep’s programs call (800) 501-Prep today.

Tags: College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

Researchers Kevin Carey and Eric Dillon from the think tank Education Sector have come up with a new way of measuring college success using a “borrowing to credential ratio” which sheds light on the dual problems of dropouts and debt. For each college they take US Department of Education data showing the total amount of money borrowed by undergraduates and divide that by the total number of degrees awarded.

The Problem with College Debt
The American education system is plagued by high levels of dropouts and debt. Only half of the students who start college get a degree within six years, and graduation levels at less-selective colleges often hover at 25 percent of less. In addition, student loan debt is at an all-time high with rapidly rising loan default rates. America is falling behind its international competitors in educating its populace and creating productive citizens.

Results
-Nationwide, the overall borrowing to credential ratio has increased sharply in recent years
-Certain sectors of the higher education industry-in particular, for-profit colleges- are racking up far more student debt per degree than others. For profit universities generated $43,383 in debt for every degree.
-State policies matter a great deal, with different public university systems achieving disparate results for students. The ratio of debt to degrees at public four year universities was $16,247.
-Among elite colleges and universities, some are faring well on their pledge to help low and middle-income students graduate without major financial burdens while others are riding a wave of student debt to fame and fortune. Private non-profit colleges and universities produced $21,827 in debt for every degree. Princeton was at the low end among elite private institutions with a borrowing to credential ratio of $2,385. In contrast, New York University’s ratio of borrowing to debt was $25,886.

Solutions to College Debt
States and colleges can direct their financial aid policies toward the neediest students. More attention to counseling and support for students who are at risk of dropping out is imperative. States who have managed student debt poorly like Iowa can learn from more successful states as Florida. Moreover, regulations like the “gainful employment” rules implemented by the Department of Education can curb the excesses of for-profit colleges that place students in financial jeopardy.

***
David Dickson is an admissions expert with Top Test Prep, which offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions counselors who help you gain admission to your top schools. Call Top Test Prep today at (800) 501-Prep to learn more.

Tags: admissions consultants, Admissions Counselor, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

According to a new study of freshman, students who include SAT scores in their applications have higher GPA’s their first year than those who don’t do so. The study tracked students at Bowdoin College where both SAT and ACT scores are optional for applicants, and Barnard College, Colby College, Carnegie Mellon University, and Georgia Institute of Technology where students may submit one or the other.

At Bowdoin, students who did not submit standardized scores received grades in the first year which were .2 lower than those students who submitted scores. This pattern carried over to Barnard, Colby, Carnegie Mellon, and Georgia Institute of Technology for students who submitted ACT as opposed to SAT scores.

The study suggests that the SAT may predict academic performance in a meaningful fashion, though it must be expanded to additional schools to produce a more definitive conclusion. It also takes place against the backdrop of an increasing number of colleges who have decided to make the submission of selective standardized test scores optional.

David Dickson is a counselor at Top Test Prep which offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools. Call Top Test Prep to learn more at (800) 501-Prep.

Tags: Colleges, SAT exam, SAT Prep // View Comments

Change in Question on Test Scores on the Common Application

The Common Application, now accepted by 415 schools, provides students with the opportunity to submit one application as opposed to individual applications for each school. This year’s version of the Common Application went live on the web on July 31 and includes a change in the section in which applicants are asked to self-report their standardized test scores to the colleges to which they are applying.
Applicants will now be given the option on the Common Application to report only their “best scores (so far)” as opposed to being compelled as in the past to report all scores.

The change was made in response to a feature introduced last year by the College Board called “Score Choice.” Through Score Choice, applicants can direct the College Board to withhold some SAT scores from the colleges they are applying to as long as those colleges do not require the submission of all scores. The administrators of the Common Application didn’t create Score Choice, but they have to deal with much of the confusion generated by the policy. One source of confusion is the all-inclusive way the question was phrased in the Common Application, which was seemingly at odds with the philosophy of Score Choice. Colleges use applicant’s answers on test scores to speed the processing of their applications before official scores arrive. Applicants have the right to leave this section of the form blank and the form will still go through.

***
David Dickson is counselor with Top Test Prep which provides Ivy League Admissions Counseling as well as private tutoring and test preparation to help you gain admission to your top schools. Call (800) 501-Prep for more information today.

Tags: Admissions Advice, admissions consulting, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

An article on how college admissions has changed over time.

In an era when America’s most competitive colleges have admissions acceptance rates in the single or low double-digits, a recent article by Alison Cowan resurrects a seemingly simpler time when even elite institutions accepted most applicants. Using classified ads from the late 1800s, the article explains how Harvard and Columbia advertised for students right up to the opening day of the school year. Entrance exams were held the weekend before classes started. In 1870, 210 students took the exam for Harvard and 185 were admitted. Columbia behaved similarly advertising in the New York Times that classes were to resume the following Monday and that students would be received through Saturday. Vassar ran ads offering “posh room assignments” in professor’s houses for those who applied and were accepted.

A look at the fine print, however, reveals that taking entrance exams at these esteemed institutions was not an egalitarian exercise that any aspiring young person could take advantage of. Harvard’s literature for the 1869-1870 academic year observes that freshman were expected to display a command of Latin and Greek “with the accents” and also to demonstrate their understanding of the “whole of Virgil,” Caesar’s Commentaries, and Felton’s Greek Reader. Knowledge of mathematical quadratic equations, ancient and modern geography, English, and history were also pre-conditions for admission. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that in the 19th century few people made it beyond the eighth grade. In short, the applicant pool for America’s most prestigious schools was tiny and for the most part highly privileged economically.

You may be wondering when applicant pools began their climb culminating in a recent figure of 34,950 applicants for Columbia with an admissions figure just under 7 percent compared to Harvard’s 6.1 percent admissions rate? The answer is that competitive admissions at elite schools didn’t begin until the post-World War II period and picked up momentum in the 1960s. Whatever you think of the latter part of the 19th century with its pocket watches and steamship bookings, it was certainly a different world than ours in technology and admissions alike.

****
David Dickson is a college admissions counselor at Top Test Prep which offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools

Tags: Admissions Counselor, Admissions Experts, Colleges // View Comments

A recent American Enterprise Institute study identified the highest and lowest graduation rates for America’s institutions of higher learning. It’s “most competitive college” category consisted of colleges requiring “high school rank in the top 10-20 percent, grade point averages of a B+ to an A, and median test scores between 655-800 on the SAT and 29 on the ACT.” They “typically admitted fewer than one-third of applicants.” The schools, their graduation rates over six years, and useful information follow:

Colleges with Highest Graduation Rates:
1. Harvard University, MA: 97%
T-2 Amherst College, MA: 96%
T-2 Yale University, CT: 96%
T-4 Brown University, RI: 95%
T-4 Princeton University, NJ: 95%
T-4 Stanford University, CA: 95%
T-4 Univ. of Notre Dame, IN: 95%
T-4 Univ. of Penn, PA: 95%
T-10 Duke University, NC: 94%
T-10 Pomona College, CA: 94%
T-10 Swarthmore College, PA: 94%

Ten Colleges with Lowest Graduation Rates
1. Webb Institute, NY: 60%
T-2. Reed College, OR: 76%
T-2. Tulane Univ., LA: 76%
T-2 Univ. of Miami, FL: 76%
5. US Air Force Academy: 77%
6. George Washington Univ., DC: 78%
7. Scripps College, CA: 80%
T-8. Case Western Reserve Univ., OH: 81%
T-8. Occidental College, CA: 81%
T-8. US Military Academy, NY: 81%

Tags: Admissions Advice, College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

According to a national study conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute this past academic year, American college freshman have a favorable view of their academic and social skills. Their confidence falters only in a few select areas.

Student Self-Assessments

Students rated self as “Highest 10%” or “Above Average” as compared with the average person their age in:

Ability to work cooperatively with diverse people 77.7%
Drive to achieve 75.8%
Tolerance of others with different beliefs 72.2%
Cooperativeness 71.8%
Ability to see the world from someone else’s perspective 66.5%
Understanding of others 66.4%
Ability to discuss and negotiate controversial issues 62.4%
Leadership ability 60.4%
Self-confidence (intellectual) 59.3%
Openness to having my own views challenged 57.9%
Self-understanding 57.1%
Computer skills 37.2%
Spirituality 35.7%
Artistic ability 29.2%

Conclusion
Self-confidence that doesn’t evolve into arrogance is a positive trait. Top Test Prep with its test and admissions specialists can enhance your confidence that you will gain admission to your top schools.
David Dickson is an admissions expert with Top Test Prep; Top Test Prep provides private tutoring, test prep and one-on-one admissions counseling for students. Call 800-501-7737 to learn more.

Tags: College Counseling, College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

A just released study by the Center for Education Statistics provides a profile of American college students. Selective results of the study entitled, “2008-09 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study” follow.
Majors Twenty-three percent of 2007-08 first time bachelor’s degree recipients majored in a business-related field; 16 percent in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; 16 percent in a social science; and 12 percent in the humanities.

Education After College
As of the 2009 interview date, 30 percent of 2007-08 first-time bachelor’s degree recipients had enrolled in another education program or had been accepted to a program and would enroll in the 2009-10 academic year following the interview date. Three percent had entered or were entering a program leading to another undergraduate certificate or degree, and the remainder had entered or were entering a graduate or first professional certificate or degree program.

Employment After College and Earnings
When interviewed about a year after completing their degree requirements, 84 percent of 2007-2008 first-time bachelor’s degree recipients were working; 9 percent were unemployed ( i.e. looking for work, but not working); and 7 percent were not in the labor force.
Among 2007-08 first-time bachelor’s degree recipients who were employed full-time, one quarter earned less than $27, 457 while another quarter earned more than $49,200 in 2009. The median earned income was $36,000.

Conclusion
Students who attend nationally competitive institutions of higher learning earn incomes beyond the median, and have the opportunity to enter highly ranked graduate and professional programs with a commensurate increase in opportunity and earning potential. Top Test Prep will assist you in gaining admission to your top schools – call today to learn more – (800) 501-Prep.

David Dickson is a college admissions counselor with Top Test Prep; Top Test Prep provides private tutoring and expert admissions counseling for students applying to the best schools.

Tags: admissions consultants, Admissions Data, College Counseling, Colleges // View Comments

Reasons why students go to college…and other useful information.

What is the impetus behind the decision of American students to go to college and what do they regard as important in life? The most comprehensive national analysis of college freshman conducted in the last academic year by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA provides answers to these questions.

Reasons for Going to College
The following reasons were “Very Important” in deciding to go to college:
To be able to get a better job 84.7%
To learn about things that interest me 82.8%
To get training for a specific career 77.6%
To gain a general education and appreciation of ideas 72.4%
To be able to make more money 71.2%
To prepare myself for graduate or professional school 60.2%
To make me a more cultured person 50.9%

Life Priorities
Objectives considered to be “Essential” or “Very Important”:
Being very well off financially 77.4%
Raising a family 73.4%
Helping others who are in difficulty 69.1%
Becoming an authority in my field 58.0%
Obtaining recognition from my colleagues for contributions to my special field 54.8%
Improving my understanding of other countries and cultures 49.1%
Adopting “green” practices to protect the environment 42.3%

Conclusions
The monetary and career value of a BA alone is well established with college graduates earning more than a million dollars more in a life-time than their counterparts who just completed high school. Unemployment levels of high school graduates are two and a half times greater than college graduates. Relative financial stability then opens up opportunities for the realization of an array of life goals. Top Test Prep will assist you in gaining admission to your top schools.

David Dickson is an admissions counselor with Top Test Prep. For more information, or to interview and education expert, call (800) 501-Prep.

Tags: Admissions Advice, Admissions Counselor, Colleges // View Comments

A newly released federal report, “2008-09 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study,” confirms the wisdom of going straight into a private four year bachelor’s program immediately after completing high school. The report observes that bachelor’s degree recipients in 2007-08 who began their post-secondary studies at a community college took almost 20 percent longer to complete their degrees than those who started out at four year institutions, and those who began at four year private colleges finished faster than those at four-year public and for-profit institutions. Moreover, students who delayed entry into college by more than a year out of high school took almost 60 percent longer to complete their degrees than those who went directly to college.

Data on the median number of months to complete a bachelor’s degree follows.

Type of Student (time in months)
All Bachelor’s Recipients: 52
Delayed Entry into College: 80
Did Not Delay Entry: 51

First Institution (time in months)
Public 2-year: 63
Public 4-year: 52
Private 4-year: 45
For-Profit 4-year: 57

Institution Where Degree Earned
Public 4-year: 55
Private 4-year: 45
For-profit 4-year: 103

Major (time to complete in months)
Computer Sciences: 58
Engineering: 56
Biological/physical sciences, math: 45
General studies: 57
Social sciences: 45
Humanities: 45
Health Care: 57
Business: 53
Education: 54

Conclusion
While attending a four year college right out of high school is clearly in the interests of non-procrastinators, the strategy for finding your ideal institution is not as self-evident. Top Test Prep will assist you in finding that school and maximizing your chances of admission.

David Dickson is a counselor with Top Test Prep which offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain entry to your top choice prep schools, colleges and grad schools.

Tags: Admissions Advice, admissions consultants, Admissions Counselor, Admissions Experts, Colleges // View Comments

Games Pro Media, the publisher of GamePro magazine has identified the top ten undergraduate programs in video game design. Their selections are based on surveys of administrators at 150 colleges that offer video game courses. The results follow…

The Top Ten Programs for Video Game Design / Computer Engineering:

1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles
2. University of Utah, Salt Lake City
3. DigiPen Institute of Technology, Redmond, Wash.
4. The Art Institute of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia
5. Michigan State University, East Lansing
6. Worcester Polytechnic University, Worcester, MA
7. Drexel University, Philadelphia
8. Champlain College, Burlington, VT
9. Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
10. Becker College, Worcester, Mass.

Conclusion
It’s time to get to work or is that to play? While computer engineering is the clearest path to a career in video-game design, there are alternative paths. Consult the undergraduate schools on which you are deliberating on their offerings in this area and keep in mind that a graduate degree is frosting on the cake and will maximize your opportunities.

David Dickson is an admissions counselor with Top Test Prep, which offers private tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools.

Tags: College Rankings, Colleges // View Comments

An article on how to select a college, and factors you should consider…

You worked hard during the academic year and you just want to chill out this summer. You can make that trip to the beach, however, and still get the ball rolling on your college search. What criteria should you use for creating your college list? The guidelines which follow are intended to assist you in that process.

1. Financial Fit and Aid
Discuss college finances with your family. Federal, state, and college scholarships and assistance are worth exploring, though keep in mind that the most competitive colleges nationally often have the most generous financial aid packages.

2. A School’s National Academic Status Relative to Other Schools
Undergraduate schools rankings are often indicative of the quality of undergraduate life from classroom experiences to facilities and support services. Moreover, they count in the real world when you apply for graduate school or explore the job market. US News and World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” issue is worth examining along with alternative ratings produced by Forbes magazine and Kiplingers.

3. College Majors
Find out whether a school offers the academic subjects you are most interested in. As your college search progresses, you can contact academic departments to find out about class size and the percentage of courses taught by full-time tenured and tenure track professors.

4. Placement in Graduate/Professional Schools and Jobs
Pose questions to schools and departments of possible majors about how their students fare in their graduate school applications and in the job market.

5. Academic Environment
The location and size of the campus and surrounding community and the weather should be considered.

6. Your classmates
The composition of the student body including the male/female ratio, and student attitudes on studying, leisure activities, and even politics can be pertinent.

7. Programming and student life
Honors programs, academic advising, internships, health services, and job counseling are worthy of examination.

8. Extracurricular Activities
Clubs, inter-collegiate sports, intra-murals, and community service opportunities are areas of inquiry.

****

Conclusion

As you winnow down your college list, find out if there are alumni in the area that you can talk to. Plan college visits where you can arrange for an interview, meet staff and faculty, and informally talk to students. A college counseling and test preparation service can assist you with the logistics of finding the right schools and tailoring your applications to them.

David Dickson is an academic counselor with Top Test Prep, which offers private tutoring and test prep with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools. Call (800) 501-Prep to learn more.

Tags: Admissions Advice, admissions consulting, Admissions Counselor, Colleges // View Comments

Have you ever wondered how college grades today compare with grading in the past? How much grade inflation is there, and how common is it for professors to mark student’s scores arbitrarily higher? According to a new study published in Teachers College Record by researchers from Duke University and Furman University contemporary students have been the recipients of widespread grade inflation. Historical data was collected from 200 four year colleges and contemporary data from 135 schools. There has been an increase of 28 percent since 1960 and 12 percent since 1988 in the percentage of A’s awarded in higher education.

Grade distribution figures for different higher education sub-categories follow.

University and College Grade Distribution by Sub-Category

-Private Non-Profit Universities: A’s 48.2%; B’s 35.2%; F’s 2.3%

-Private Non-Profit Colleges: A’s 42.7%; B’s 36.6%; F’s 1.9%

-Public Flagship Universities: A’s 42.3%; B’s 34.5%; F’s 3.6%

-Public Satellite Universities: A’s 41.7%; B’s 32.0%; F’s 5.4%

-Public Commuter Universities: A’s 39%; B’s 31.8%; F’s 6.3%

Conclusion
More regulation of grades by universities and departments could alter the decades-long trajectory of grade inflation, but there are few signs that steps are being taken. Students and their families should recognize that even high grades may not distinguish them from many of their peers when they apply to graduate and professional schools. Attending a “brand school” helps, but the importance of standardized graduate and professional school tests including the LSAT’s and GRE’s has increased markedly. Top Test Prep offers tutoring and test preparation with admissions experts who help you gain admission to your top schools.

David Dickson is a counselor with Top Test Prep’s tutoring and admissions programs. Call (800) 501-7737 to learn more.

Tags: Admissions Data, Colleges // View Comments