In - Your Guide to College Admissions from The Princeton Review

President Obama Hears Student Concerns on Budget Crisis

Yesterday, President Obama participated in a conference call with student leaders from colleges across the U.S.

According to the Huffington Post, the call was a follow-up to a letter sent by 120 student-body presidents to the President and other key legislators.

The topic of the letter and yesterday’s conversation was the possibility the federal government won’t have a 2012 budget in place by August 2 and will default on its debt. If the latter happens, the economy is expected to take a big hit, and young persons are expected to absorb much of it.

The students also voiced concerns about possible reductions in student aid programs (such as the Pell Grant), which have been suggested in budget discussions.

The group of students is continuing to request a conversation with the second-biggest player in the debate—House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)—but they have not received a reply as of yet.

Click here to read more on the Huffington Post.

Qualify for Reduced Tuition at Out-of-State Schools

You know that public colleges and universities are good, inexpensive options for in-state students. You might not know, however, that many out-of-state students receive reduced tuition at public schools.

Students in nearly every state (apologies to those in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and D.C.) are eligible for tuition breaks at public schools in their geographic region.

Public institutions in the Midwest, New England, the South, and the West offer tuition “deals” that encourage students to stay within their region. Students who attend an out-of-state school in one of these regions are often eligible to pay considerably less than the regular out-of-state tuition.

There are a few caveats, however, to these tuition discounts. A couple of the regions have guidelines regarding your choice of major—i.e., in certain regions, you are only eligible for reduced out-of-state tuition if no public school in your state offers your desired field of study. Additionally, certain regions either have academic requirements or limits on the number of out-of-state students that may receive reduced tuition each year.

To learn more, check out this article on the U.S. News & World Report website.

University Plan: Bring Ultra-Fast Internet to Local Communities

How fast is a one-gigabit Internet connection? It’s several-hundred times faster than broadband. If you had a connection that fast, you’d be able to download an HD movie in less than a minute.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, a group of 28 universities now plan to set up such connections in their local communities. The goal is to attract high tech start-ups in fields such as health care, energy, and telecommunications to their neighborhoods.

The project—called GigU—is currently looking for private investors. Participating colleges include Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Howard University, Duke University, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, and the University of Chicago.

Click here to read more on the New York Times.

Online Tools Predict Your Odds of Getting In

A recent article on U.S. News & World Report examines online tools that tell applicants their admissions chances at particular colleges.

You may have already seen some these tools. Websites such as MyChances.net and Cappex.com—as well as Facebook apps like AdmissionSplash—tell applicants their chances of admission at specific schools. The Princeton Review’s very own Counselor-O-Matic tool matches applicants with colleges and estimates their odds of admission.

While these tools are helpful—busy guidance counselors often prescribe such tools for their students—the U.S. News article cautions against relying solely on them when creating your college list.

For a really accurate estimate of your chances, you’re better off waiting to talk to your guidance counselor. And nothing beats a campus visit when determining whether you should apply to a given school.

Click here to read more.

Beware of Misleading Bills from Your College

If you’ll be a college freshman this fall, you’re probably getting quite a bit of mail from your future school. Chances are, you’ve already received a bill (or two, or three) for the cost of attendance.

Try to stay calm if these bills do not reflect all of your financial aid awards. According to MyCollegeCalendar.org, colleges typically send students many bills throughout the summer. You’ll receive a new one when each of your aid awards has been processed.

You should expect to receive your final semester bill—reflecting all aid awards—shortly before the first day of classes. This will probably be labeled as your “final invoice.”

For more information, check out this post on MyCollegeCalendar.org.

Number of Homeless College Students Grows

It’s becoming more and more common for homeless students to get into—and succeed—in college.

According to a recent article on Inside Higher Ed, two main factors are contributing to this phenomenon. One is recent legislation that makes it easier for colleges to help applicants who are homeless. (Homeless students now automatically qualify for independent status on the FAFSA; this enables them to receive substantial amounts of need-based financial aid.)

Additionally, the young homeless population is growing. The number of homeless young persons in the U.S. has jumped by 69 percent over the last two years, and there are now 1.6 million such individuals.

Who qualifies as a homeless young person? The definition might be wider than you would think. According to Inside Higher Ed, some of these individuals are runaways and throwaways, while “others are from chaotic family situations, maintaining contact with parents and siblings but spending the majority of nights on friends’ couches or in cars or mobile homes.”

Despite the obstacles faced by homeless young persons, many of them are academically successful. And college—with its dorms, dining halls, and stable schedule—is an environment in which many homeless students thrive.

To learn more, check out the full article on Inside Higher Ed.

New Smartphone App for Your College Experience

Back in the day, a college would give each freshman a binder full of “stuff”: a campus map, a phone directory, the academic calendar, a course catalogue . . . all of the essentials needed to get adjusted to campus life.

The binder, however, may be on its way out. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus blog, a new smartphone app is set to replace it.

Called AT&T Campus Guide, the app will be customized by colleges with school-specific content. In addition to featuring the materials listed above, it will allow students to view course information (e.g., grades, assignments) and receive campus-wide notifications.

To read more about the app, click here.

Save Pell Day

While the Pell Grant was largely spared in the federal government’s 2011 budget, Republicans have put it back on chopping block in 2012 budget discussions.

The Pell currently helps the nation’s poorest students to attend college. Many college presidents and students have already asked President Obama to do everything in his power to preserve it.

For a quick history of the Pell, check out the below infographic from Susie Cagle at CampusProgress.org. If you’d like to show your support for it, be sure to participate in Save Pell Day today!

Advice for the “Undeclared” Freshman

Many students begin college without a specific major in mind. And that’s okay—college is a time of exploration, and about 50 percent of students change majors at least once.

But this doesn’t mean that it’s easy to settle on a major. Many colleges offer dozens of academic options; amid all the choices, it can be tough to zero in on what you really want to study.

Peter Buffett, composer and author of the best-selling book Life Is What You Make It, recently wrote to me about his personal experience choosing a major in college. As his message includes some great advice for the IN readers who expect to be “undeclared” this fall, I’ve included it below. Check it out!

Major Decision

As a freshman at Stanford, I wasn’t passionately interested in anything in particular, but I was at least mildly curious about everything. So I signed on for as many courses as I could carry, as long as they ended in “101” or “ology.”

Call me a dilettante, but only if you keep in mind the origin of the word. It derives from the Italian verb dilettare, which means “to take delight.” And that’s exactly what I was doing—taking delight in the amazing variety and richness of a liberal education. This was the real privilege of being at a school like Stanford, though I probably didn’t appreciate it fully at the time. I could read the great philosophers, study the basic sciences, dabble in literature—all without the immediate pressure of choosing a major whose demands would narrow my focus (and funnel me toward a career whose rigors and competitiveness would limit my choices even further).

When it did come time to choose a career, I—like a lot of young people, I think—was waiting for a vocation to find me. I was waiting for an external event, a lightning bolt. I might have waited a lifetime, because I don’t think it really works that way.

Vocations come from within. Vocations are mysterious. How do we find our own sweet spot, that place where the personal gusto lies? What are the pressures and pitfalls that can prevent us from finding it or recognizing it when it’s right there in front of us?
When I finally found mine—music—it was by filtering out the noise of social fashion and the distractions of other people’s expectations, and listening to my truest self.

About Peter Buffett
Peter Buffett is an Emmy Award-winning composer, musician, author and philanthropist. His work with numerous non-profit organizations—including the NoVo Foundation, of which he is the co-chair—has helped him become a well-known activist for social concerns. Previous human rights-driven music collaborations by Buffett include “Blood Into Gold,” featuring Grammy-nominated recording artist Akon and “A Song for Everyone” featuring Angelique Kidjo. Buffett is currently performing his “Life Is What You Make It: A Concert & Conversation with Peter Buffett” series around the country to support his New York Times best-selling book, Life Is What You Make It (Random House/Harmony Books). More information is available at www.peterbuffett.com.

Unusual College Majors

On a typical college campus, it’s difficult to get too far without bumping into a business or a psych major. These are two of the most popular choices for undergrads, and with good reason—each one has a wide range of potential applications in the post-college world.

Some students, however, choose not to follow the crowd. They opt for the obscure, specific major over the popular, general one.

So, what are some of the least common majors at U.S. colleges? Check out the following majors and the school that offers each one.

• Citrus Studies (Florida Southern University)
• Bagpipes (Carnegie Mellon University)
• Artic Studies (Bowdoin College)
• Bakery Science (Kansas State University)
• Secular Studies (Pitzer College)
• Auctioneering (Harrisburg Area Community College)

To read more about each of these programs, check out this article on the Chronicle of Higher Education.