In - Your Guide to College Admissions from The Princeton Review

New Test-Optional School: Ithaca College

Students who are anxious about taking the ACT or SAT may find comfort in the fact that many selective schools are now “test optional”—they don’t require students to submit standardized test scores with their applications. As such, disappointing test scores won’t exclude applicants from the world of selective-college admissions.

Earlier this week, Ithaca College in New York joined the growing ranks of test-optional schools. According to Ithaca’s press release on the move . . .

. . . research on our past applicant pools and the performance of [Ithaca] students demonstrates that a student’s standardized test score adds little predictive accuracy in understanding his or her subsequent success at Ithaca College, beyond the information contained in high school GPA, class rank, and curricular strength. In this respect, our own research confirms findings from studies conducted at many other colleges and universities.

Click here to check out the full release.

Study Encourages Students to Bring Water on Exam Day

A recent study found that test-takers who brought a bottle of water on exam day performed better, on average, than those who brought other beverages—or no beverage at all.

The study, conducted at the University of East London and the University of Westminster, included over 400 undergraduates. Its researchers theorize that water improves test performance by keeping students hydrated and reducing anxiety.

Both ACT- and SAT-takers may bring beverages to consume during test breaks. It seems water would be the savvy student’s beverage of choice.

Click here to read more on PsychCentral.

A Student’s View: Admissions Predictions

Jennifer Angelo is a high school senior and a contributor to The Princeton Review’s IN blog.

It feels great to be finished with the college admissions process. While I still have to decide where I'm going, I no longer need to worry whether I’m doing “enough” to get into a good college. And that’s a relief.

Anyone applying to college today knows that the top schools accept a ridiculously low percentage of applicants. Admit rates only sink further each year as the number of applications per student grows.

After awhile, the tough odds can get into your head. While I chose extracurricular activities that were of interest to me, I was always thinking about how everything would look on my college application, which was stressful.

Against my better judgment, I tried to predict the schools I would get into. I thought I would get into Lehigh and the University of Richmond, and I was actually right. However, I also thought I would get into Georgetown over Northwestern and the opposite happened. Among friends and classmates, there were many puzzling results, like getting into an Ivy League school but not Duke or Lehigh.

I guess there are too many variables to say with any certainty what colleges will do. However, you don’t have to try to predict the future. If you have a smart list of schools, you can be confident you will get in somewhere. If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t get so stressed out.

Survey Says: Admissions Stress Is Up

Stress levels are up this year among college applicants and their parents.

Among the over 10,000 students and parents who took our 2012 “College Hopes and Worries” survey, 71 percent gauged their stress level as "High" or "Very High," a 2 percent increase from last year and a 15 percent increase from 2003, the survey's initial year.

What are they stressed about? Students and parents said their biggest worry was that they "will get into [their] first-choice college, but won’t have sufficient funds to attend."

Findings for our 2012 survey were based on 10,650 respondents. Seventy percent were high school students applying to colleges and 30 percent were parents of college applicants.

We also asked respondents about their “dream college,” the main benefit of a degree, and other issues. Click here to check out the full results.

The Week Before Decisions

If you’re a college-bound senior, you’re well aware that most admissions decisions will arrive next week.

What you might not know is how you’ll get through the next nine days without totally freaking out.

Montgomery Educational Consulting recently offered several tips for the stressed-out applicant, including the following:

• Get outside.
• Read a book for fun.
• Do schoolwork.
• Laugh and smile.
• Relax.

Click here to learn more about these and other tips.

Forced to Retake the SAT

Instead of a score report, a group of Maryland high school students have received a “do over” from the company that administers the SAT.

Earlier this week, College Board informed the 19 students that, due to an “administrative irregularity,” their results from the March 10 exam are invalid. The students will have to retake the SAT to receive a score.

What was the “administrative irregularity”? According to WBALTV.com, the proctor who oversaw the students accidentally gave them extra time on two sections of the exam.

Click here to find out more from WBALTV.com.

A Student’s View: Still Stressing

Jennifer Angelo is a high school senior and a contributor to The Princeton Review’s IN blog.

It's almost the end of March. In the next two weeks I will finally know which colleges I did and didn't get into. It's been a stressful ride these past few months, so I'll be grateful when it comes to a stop.

A few schools to which I’ve applied have provided a “notification date.” One is March 23 and two others are March 29. However, the other six have repeatedly posted on their blogs and applicant portals that I can expect to hear by April 1. This means I could hear today, I could hear tomorrow, or I could hear on April 1.

As you might imagine, this ambiguity has made me a little obsessive. I check the applicant portals daily. I check my mailbox, too, as some schools will send their decisions via snail mail rather than post them online.

The hardest thing for me recently has been watching some of my peers get their notifications. While some colleges release their decisions in early or mid March (MIT and the University of Delaware are two such examples), none of my schools do.

I’m not exactly jealous that others have already heard back from schools; rather, I'm stressed because I don't know anything yet. Both my early apps were waitlisted, so, at this point, I cannot rule out or count on any schools. If I could go back and do things again, I would apply to at least one school with rolling admissions. If I had done so, chances are I’d already have an acceptance letter by now and that much pressure would be removed.

I cannot wait until these next two weeks are over. I am hoping for the best, and I hope to have many choices in the end. However, I have to trust that whichever colleges accept me will be best for me.

More than Ever, Students View College as Gateway to Grad School

Students’ views on higher education have substantially changed the 1970s.

A clear majority of incoming freshmen now view graduate school—rather than college—as their ultimate academic goal.

According to UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, 42 percent of today’s freshmen plan to get a master's degree and about a third plan to get a doctoral degree. Both figures represent significant increases since UCLA began surveying college students four decades ago.

The Institute’s additional findings include:

• A greater number of students seeking entry into STEM fields.
• Fewer students reporting alcohol use in high school.
• A greater number of students reporting mental health issues, such as stress and depression.

Click here to learn more on the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Many Benefits of Dual Enrollment

Like AP classes, dual enrollment classes allow students to earn college credits while in high school.

Unlike APs, which are targeted to overachievers, most “dual” classes are accessible to a variety of students.

A recent U.S. News article discusses some additional benefits of dual enrollment. For example, taking a “dual” class on a college campus can give a high school student the confidence that he or she can succeed in college.

To learn more, check out the full article on U.S. News.

Seniors: Fight the March Doldrums

The month of March typically represents a lull for college-bound seniors; their applications have been submitted, and they’re waiting to hear back from schools.

What can seniors do to make the most of this in-between time? The Choice recently posted a list of activities to help savvy students stay on track. Click here to check it out.