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IvyWise in the News
In April, it's colleges' turn to woo students By Bonnie Miller Rubin and Jodi S. Cohen
April 15, 2011
After years of striving to impress admissions directors at some of the nation's top-tier colleges, Sophie Schloen was surprised to find the tables had turned and now she is the one being courted.
"You work so hard for so long…and then, suddenly, you're the customer," said the Homewood-Flossmoor High School senior, who is juggling four offers. "It's a huge relief…and kind of fun."
For a select group of overachievers, April is the sweetest month of all. The grueling marathon of transcripts, SATs, essays and recommendations — followed by a daily dose of mailbox anxiety — is over, and acceptances are in hand. Now the Class of 2015 has until May 1 to decide which of those they want to turn into a commitment.
So, for the next two weeks, colleges will be pulling out the stops, wooing the undecided as if they were 7-foot centers. Even some of the most selective institutions are going the extra mile, hosting dorm overnights, while alumni are hitting the phones and holding online chats. One college even sent its mascot to a local high school, hoping to capture the attention of on-the-fence seniors.
"The post-admission lobbying is more intense than it's ever been," said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "It's at a level we haven't seen before."
The whirl can be largely attributed to a decade-long groundswell in applications. More apps mean plummeting acceptance rates — less than 10 percent at many elite institutions. Those odds only encourage teens to hedge their bets by applying to more schools. When they get into several, it's then the colleges' turn to do the lobbying.
"This is a predictable consequence of application volume," Nassirian said. "Are 20 percent of those applicants serious? Thirty percent? No one knows for sure."
As a cushion, more institutions are countering by "wait-listing" almost as many students as they accept. Northwestern University, for example, accepted about 5,500 students and put another 3,000 on the waiting list, even though only about 20 students were plucked off the list last year.
The result? More uncertainty everywhere, experts say.
For students like Schloen — whose still-evolving list includes the University of Virginia, New York University, the University of California at Berkeley and Pomona College — it means endless "pros and cons," more consulting with parents, counselors and current students. This weekend, the future history major will fly to California to help make up her mind.
"Ultimately it will end up coming down to wherever I get the best vibe," Schloen said.
As the new admissions director at the University of Wisconsin, Adele Brumfield is striving to create those warm, fuzzy feelings. Her office sifted through 29,000 applications — a 12 percent increase over a year ago — before offering bids to 14,404 freshmen for summer and fall terms. More than a third of those are from Illinois.
"With students applying to more schools, everyone is working harder," said Brumfield, who has logged 18 years in admissions. "It's more difficult for us to know who is really going to come. … Eventually, though, the models will work themselves out."
Until then, it's time to roll out the red carpet. Boston University is inviting some students for breakfast with a dean. Columbia is dangling a night tour of New York City, and Wilkes University, a private institution in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., put its mascot, "the Colonel," and 30 of its students on a bus to dazzle prospects, said college consultant Katherine Cohen, founder of IvyWise.com.
The University of Chicago, which has seen applications more than double in the past five years to 21,669 this year, sent all prospective students a maroon scarf following their acceptance letters.
"It gives them the idea that we are thinking of them, wherever they are," said Evan Cudworth, assistant director of admissions.
The admitted students began posting photos of themselves with the scarves on a "Class of 2015" Facebook page, which has more than 1,100 members. The site can get 200 posts an hour, allowing future classmates to connect before ever stepping on campus. Some students join several schools' pages to test where they might find the best fit.
"It is not just the University of Chicago sending them brochures about what things are like. In some ways — I argue in good ways — it is not all in the admission office's hands," Cudworth said.
Basia Wilczek joined the U. of C. Facebook page after an admissions officer sent her an email with the link, and in a post this week, she wrote: "I'm so confused about schools. Someone convince me why I should go to UofC." Within an hour, there were 45 comments.
The Elmwood Park High School senior was accepted to more than a half-dozen schools, including the U. of C., Boston College and DePaul, and wait-listed at Brown, Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania. She spent a night in a dorm at the U. of C. last week, when her host took her to a fraternity party. She's been most heavily recruited by DePaul — which has offered her the biggest financial aid package — with an admissions officer or student calling her every other week, she said.
Northwestern University will host about 700 prospects and their parents on campus at each of three two-day sessions this month. There are academic open houses, information panels and a student variety show. They also "pray for sunshine a lot more," said Chris Watson, dean of undergraduate admissions.
"There are some programs out there that have incredible bells and whistles, but at the end of the day, I don't know that gimmicks necessarily matter," Watson said. "You never know the day somebody visits who they will meet or … if they will enjoy a class. There's quite a bit out of your control. Generally the university sells itself."
Still, admissions officers understand the importance of getting a high yield — the percentage of accepted students who then accept them. Their schools' budgets and rankings depend on it.
Martha Merrill of Connecticut College knows that a verdict can turn on the human touch. The admissions director sent handwritten notes — 1,502 in all — to every accepted student, mentioning their goals and interests. "Even those who turn us down say our approach is the most personal."
It is all slightly overwhelming, said Allison Perlin, a senior at Stevenson High School, who was greenlighted at Connecticut College, just one of 11 institutions where she applied. It's a fairly typical number, although some peers have hit 20.
That may sound like a lot — but she was also bombarded with 1,500 catalogs, letters and other marketing tools. "It's crazy. … I thought I'd get maybe 100."
Separating all those bucolic images from reality is not easy. Perlin is weighing the University of Wisconsin and Connecticut against another liberal-arts campus — Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. While it may seem like she's comparing apples and oranges, all three had strong dance and international-relations programs — her twin passions.
"People lied to me when they said senior year was easy," she said dryly. "This is a very scary part of high school."
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