In - Your Guide to College Admissions from The Princeton Review

College Students Model Solar-Powered Homes in DC

Some students marry their interests in architecture and “green” living within a unique project.

Every other year, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon invites teams of college students to design and build solar-powered homes. Each one must be “cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive.”

Features of homes in this year’s competition included a liquid desiccant waterfall, an in-kitchen garden, a solar awning, and a “biowall.”

Click here to view photos of this year’s entrants and here to learn more about the event.

College-Student Entrepreneurs

College can be a great time to start a small business. Your schedule will be flexible and you’ll have easy access to a great “market”: your fellow students.

A recent article on the U.S. News website profiles several current college students who run their own businesses in-between their courses. Check it out here.

Think you might like to combine entrepreneurship with academics in college? Check out The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine’s top 25 undergraduate programs for entrepreneurship.

Finding College Matches Through Technology

College “fit” can be elusive. Many students do not thrive at the college they choose to attend. And an alarming number of students fail to graduate.

An article in The Atlantic suggests that it’s now time for technology to take over the college admissions process.

The article calls for an online tool that would take much of the guesswork out of choosing schools. A kind of “Match.com” for students and colleges, the tool would identify best-fit colleges based on a student's personal and academic characteristics. It would also help students to avoid schools with poor completion rates and low student satisfaction.

The basic idea: students would have a better chance of finishing college if they were matched with the schools that would serve them best.

What do you think? Would you trust an online tool to get your list of colleges? Email me at INblog@review.com and let me know!

Fast-Track College Applications

Many students will receive a special invitation to apply to a college or university with one of the following application types:

• Advantage
• Candidate’s Choice
• Distinctive Candidate
• Priority
• VIP

While the names differ, the premise of each one is the same: it will allow you to apply more quickly and easily to a school—often without an essay requirement or application fee. To sweeten the pot even more, some schools promise early notification of your admissions decision and priority access to scholarship money. These apps often come with earlier deadlines, but you won’t be committed to enroll if accepted as you would with an early decision application (check with the school to be sure of this).

Why might you receive such a gift from a college’s admissions office? For the same reason you might receive flattering mail from a school: it likes your grades and standardized test scores.

Fast-track apps serve the same basic purpose that all college mail does—to encourage qualified students to apply and boost the school’s application numbers and selectivity.

My take? It is okay to apply to a school via its fast-track application, but you should only do so if it is already on your list—not simply because it is convenient to do so.

You should also know that these applications do not offer any “edge” in the admissions process. The grades and test scores that qualified you for the application will help you, but you will be evaluated on the same terms as other applicants.

Click here to read more on the College Solution blog.

The President’s Back-to-School Speech to High School Students

Earlier this week, President Obama spoke with the students of Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC. He encouraged them—and all high school students—to work hard and “try out new interests.”

Check out a clip of the president’s speech below. For more info on the event, check out this story on the Washington Post.

Report: Part-Time Students Struggle to Graduate

The longer you are in college, the less likely you are to graduate.

This is the main message of a new report by the organization Complete College America.

Part-time college students have a particularly tough time graduating—less than 25 percent of these students earn degrees.

Click here to read more about college completion among part-time students on the College Solution blog.

A Private University with a Public Price Tag

Seton Hall, a private university in New Jersey, recently announced that it will match the in-state tuition of the state’s flagship public university for students with strong grades and test scores.

The discount will drop Seton Hall’s tuition from $31,440 to $10,104—the exact amount of tuition at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

To be eligible, students must graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Additionally, they must receive either a composite score of 27 on the ACT or a combined score of 1200 on the Math and Reading sections of the SAT.

Both in-state and out-of-state students may receive the tuition discount, but students must apply by the Dec. 15 early action deadline in order to be eligible.

According to the New York Times, merit-based financial aid has long been a popular strategy among colleges and universities who wish to attract higher-quality applicants. However, the idea of announcing ahead of time that certain academic credentials will lead to a specific discount is a recent one. And Seton Hall may be the first school to size a tuition discount to compete directly with a public “state” university.

Click here to read more on the New York Times.

Arrests Made in SAT Cheating Case

Earlier this year I wrote about an investigation into SAT fraud among students at a Long Island high school. According to students at the school, you could pay someone to take the standardized test for you.

But who was this person, and who were the students who had hired him?

According to CBS News, a New York prosecutor now has some answers to these questions.

Seven current and former students of Great Neck North High School were arrested Tuesday in connection with the investigation. Sam Eshaghoff, a current college student, is the alleged test-taker. The names of the other students have been withheld because they are minors.

According to the prosecutor, Eshaghoff used fake IDs with his picture and the names of the other students—one of whom is female—to take the SAT for them. He received payments of up to $2,500 for his services.

Seems like a steep price to pay when there are great SAT prep options that cost much less . . . and keep you on the right side of the law.

To Write a Strong Essay, Loosen Up

Admissions officers say that you need to get comfortable writing in the first person in order to craft a compelling application essay.

Other essay tips given at the annual NACAC Conference last week include the following:

• Read other applicants' essays.
• Write a résumé.
• Make a list of personal traits.
• Write shorter essays first.
• Look for inspiration in the everyday.
• Keep it short and specific.
• Have an editor.

Click here to read more about these and other essay tips given at the NACAC Conference.

Two Tips for Strong Teacher Recommendations

How do admissions officers use teacher recommendations? Students who can answer this question can guide their recommenders to write really effective recommendations.

According to CollegeAdmissionsPartners.com, admissions officers use recommendations primarily to gain two things:

• “a perspective on a student’s academic abilities, intellectually curiosity and potential for academic growth”; and
• “information about the student’s personal qualities and accomplishments.”

You should make sure your recommenders know to address these topics. You should also be sure to give them any background information (e.g., extracurricular activities, awards won) that will help them to do so.