college process

[Anonymous]

CNN Producer: This is not the place to post your request. Your request has nothing to do with "college process".

[Anonymous]

Are there any statistics as to how the college admissions process played out in VA? Applied/Accepted/Enrolled students who are from VA applying to VA state schools? Is enrollment still down at some schools?

Also, any information on transfer rates?

THANKS!

[Anonymous]

Did anyone see Andrew Flagle on the news tonight? What a bold face liar. Does he eat with that mouth? He claims George Mason University takes into consideration the different grading scales. The focus of the segment was how different counties in virginia have different grading scales. There is NO WAY he can be telling the truth. They do not take different schools grading systems into consideration AT ALL. I was told my child did not get into Mason "because of the school they came from".

[Anonymous]

The algorithm that colleges use is incredibly complicated. It's not just about grades and SATs. It also definitely does encompass all those other intangibles -- extracurriculars, gender, race, part of the city/state/country, whether parents are alumni, teacher recommendation letters, etc...

I can guess that maybe what the PP was told about it being because of the school their child attended, has some truth to it. Colleges want diversity. They don't want to accept 1500 kids from the same high school, for example. Therefore, if you are at a school where a high % of the kids apply to the same college, in addition to competing against all other applicants, they are also likely competing specifically against each other.

Your child's HS likely has records to track its college admissions statistics. When my stepson was applying to college, his counselor showed us a list the school kept. It had four columns: GPA, SAT score, name of college applied to, and whether student was accepted/rejected/waitlisted. No other identifying data. Based on that raw data it was fascinating to see the combinations that did and did not gain acceptance, especially at in-state schools like UVa or JMU. You very quickly realized that there are a lot of things at play besides those two anonymous numbers.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP. There is a great deal of bias and prejudice in the Virginia state system. Especially in regards to applicants who come from assumed wealth or priviledge who reside in the Commonwealth. The west coast has a numeric value that they assign to traits that the applicant has (i.e leadership, sports, grades, etc.) It might be a good idea for schools (especially George Mason in Fairfax) to look into a system such as this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP. There is a great deal of bias and prejudice in the Virginia state system. Especially in regards to applicants who come from assumed wealth or priviledge who reside in the Commonwealth. The west coast has a numeric value that they assign to traits that the applicant has (i.e leadership, sports, grades, etc.) It might be a good idea for schools (especially George Mason in Fairfax) to look into a system such as this.

I'm new to the area. What does the above statement mean? That the wealthy get in easily, or that NoVA applicants are assumed to be wealthy and held to a higher standard? When I left Texas, they instituted a new standard for the in-state universities that all in-state applicants had to be in the top 10% of their school. Grossly unfair if the school is outstanding, and your child's GPA didn't rank in the top ten of an elite echelon, yet his SAT reflects his IQ. Does that exist in VA too? Almost makes it worth a move to a smaller school district and supplement with online college courses to fill in the gaps.

[Anonymous]

Oh more question, how do in-state kids rate for getting financial assistance? Do they get more or less on academic scholarships? I read somewhere that only applying to state schools because of cost is a common mistake, that the private colleges offer more financial aid, equalizing the field. Is that true?

[Anonymous]

Just a general comment about the college search process--my daughter and I have been using a college guide called "Colleges that Change Lives." It is very helpful and reminds us that college is "a match to be made not a prize to be won."

[Anonymous]

To add to the PP: College is a relationship that goes both ways. What are these schools doing for our kids? There is so much talk about ratings. GPA and SAT statistics are crunched. In our experience, the schools that spend more time and effort analysing statistics are acutely aware of what they are getting. But, what are our kids getting? I would argue we get from these institutions an education void of attention to the age and stage of an undergraduate. Our experience also showed that private schools that are better endowed share the wealth. There are many financial incentives to be had. We were pleasantly surprised!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi. I am a producer with CNN. I am doing a story on Howard County pregnancy notification policy change. According to the reversed policy, school officials are obliged to notify parents if they learn that the student is pregnant. (Even if the student does not want to tell the parent). People who oppose the policy say it limits students' privacy rights and it will actually discourage students from coming forward about their pregnancies. People who support the policy say parents have a right to know. School board says it is a liability issue for them. They don't want to be hold liable if something goes wrong. I would love to interview a parent on camera who lives in Howard County and has been or will be affected by the policy. Please email me at [e-mail]

Many thanks

How the heck did you pick this posting? Did you even read the subject?

[Anonymous]

14:56 poster, I am sorry to hear about the system in Texas. Your experience does sound biased. We have found the in VA there is another form of bias. Since many of the kids with higher SAT scores and higher GPA come from the more densly populated Norther VA region, it is harder for them to get accepted into the VA state college system. In the recent past, the number of kids apply to state colleges is the highest it has been. Colleges have gotten greedy. And Admissions Departments have gotten arrogant. I agree with the posts about GMU. Admissions at GMU is highly disfunctional. They are in a great position to improve their ranking but they tend to shoot themselves in the foot. I think the comment about wealth is due to the fact that NOVA families have more money and resources (statistics prove this). It remains consistenly true that kids from outside the NOVA area are held to different standards in terms of SAT scores and GPA than the rest of the state. Also, I don't believe the schools in VA even provide a rank in class.

[Anonymous]

Is there a forum like this one where parents chat about various college application/ scholarship processes? It slays me that there are scads of chat sites with Disney planning advice, and I can't find any chat boards dispensing national college application and scholarship stories and tips.

[Anonymous]

My thanks for the many shout outs in the discussion. Mason, in fact, does not discriminate against northern Virginia students, as any review of the data (and there have been many) will readily show you. We do, however, offer a score optional admissions program, and are the largest institution in the nation to do have one, so perhaps there is some truth to not using SAT scores heavily.

Enrollment at Mason has grown every year, so no idea where the idea would come from that our enrollment is down. It is true, however, that we have gotten far more competitive. In the past seven years applications have more than doubled, mostly from outside Virginia. While we have maintained the same number of slots for Virginia students, our freshman growth has largely been out of state, and that growth has been needed to maintain the space for Virginia students while the state has been eroding funding.

I appreciate, however, that we have denied far more students than ever before, and at the same time that more students than ever wish they could be here, and am very glad to hear that students found good spots at other state institutions. The reality that we have to deny a larger number of students as more students want to come to Mason, however, is not bias. I truly wish we could accommodate all qualified students, but in the end we must make the best determinations possible based on the applications, and some students ultimately will be denied...even some from Northern Virginia.

Finally, rest assured I do eat with this mouth, and am quite comfortable at my assessment of grading scales in Fairfax, both as an admissions officer and as a parent and PTA president. If you want to read the details, feel free to rant away at my blog at www.notjustadmissions.com. Be seeing you.

Dr. Andrew Flagel
Dean of Admissions
George Mason University
www.notjustadmissions.com

[Anonymous]

"The Prisoner"?

[Anonymous]

There are wonderful schools in North Carolina and West Virginia that cost only a fraction more than in-state tuition in Virginia. Shepherd University is worth a look and is a great one to visit in West Virginia (about an hour away and the drive is to die for - so beautiful). East Carolina University in Greenville NC is another great school to visit and attend. (Also have a kick ass football team this year!) Screw Virginia and their snotty ways!