Even more colleges extend early deadlines

Fordham University finally noted the extension on its website.

Students who couldn’t quite get paperwork together for early deadlines were rewarded with a few more days by colleges that may have seen fewer applications than they originally anticipated for the early round.

BUT not all of these extensions were posted on websites and not all applicants were alerted to the extra time.

In fact, there’s no indication on the Common Application that several of their members decided to extend deadlines.  

It appears that only students on a college’s radar received notification of early extensions.

And how do you get to be among the select group to receive these kinds of notices?  Making sure you are on the mailing list helps.  

It also appears that students who had listed schools as “My Colleges” on the Common Application and who may or may not have started an early application were rewarded with invitations to submit after deadline. 

And what’s the lesson to be learned?  Be sure to “demonstrate interest” to all the colleges to which there is even the vaguest of possibility you may apply—and do it by getting on mailing lists, entering colleges on the Common Application or opening an application "account" for colleges not using the Common App.

Don’t assume that because you’re receiving mail from a college that you are on the “A-list” of applicants—they could have purchased your name from the College Board.  Instead, make sure you reach out to the college by signing up to receive information and then be sure to open email.

Colleges are following what you do through the use of enrollment management software—even if they swear they don’t pay the slightest attention to demonstrated interest.   If you don’t believe it, just ask my cat.

Here is a list of colleges that notified students of extensions to early deadlines:

• College of William and Mary ED to November 9 (questions to ppcruz@wm.edu)
• Fordham University EA to November 11
• George Mason University EA to November 10
• Johns Hopkins University ED to November 10
• Loyola Marymount University EA to November 15 (supplemental essay only)
• Southern Methodist University (SMU) EA and ED 1 to November 9
• University of Chicago EA to November 15
• Villanova University EA to November 7

The nation’s top public university honors programs

University of Michigan

Public University Press recently announced publication of the second edition of A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs.  

And if you’re considering honors programs housed within top public universities, this 342-page guide (also available in digital format) is an invaluable resource for evaluating different aspects of the “honors” experience.

The original idea for the project grew out of a series of articles comparing public university honors programs.  In fact, an earlier edition of the guide attempted to “rank” programs.  

The ranking has been dropped in favor of a “mortarboard” rating system (similar to five-star rating systems) and is based on data obtained on honors graduation rates, class sizes, course range and type, honors dorms, and other honors benefits, including merit scholarships.

Of the 50 programs under review, 44, or 86 percent returned questionnaires and/or provided the data needed to complete the research.  For the remaining six programs, an extra effort was made to research and analyze class sizes, the range of offerings across departments, the number of seminars, and many of the more important elements of the reviews.

The resulting guide, together with a very useful website, provides a very comprehensive picture of what resources and benefits may be available through the various honors programs.

In addition to the ratings, the second edition of A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs offers lengthy narrative profiles of all fifty honors programs.  Each profile also contains ratings of program components assigning 3 to 5 “mortarboards” in eight separate categories.

The review also has data bout SAT and ACT averages for each program as well as high school rank and GPA’s typically necessary for admission.  

Out of the fifty universities, only 7 earned an overall 5-mortarboard rating.  These are (in alphabetical order):

• Arizona State University, Barrett Honors College
• University of Kansas Honors Program
• University of Michigan LSA Honors Program
• Pennsylvania State University, Schreyer Honors College
• University of South Carolina Honors College
• University of Texas Austin, Plan II Honors Program
• University of Virginia, Echols Scholars Program

A number of other honors programs received 4.5 overall mortarboard ratings.  These are (in alphabetical order), the University of Arkansas Honors College; Clemson University, Calhoun Honors College; University of Georgia Honors Program; University of Minnesota Honors Program; University of Mississippi, Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College; University of North Carolina, Honors Carolina; Ohio University Honors Tutorial College;  University of Oklahoma Honors College; University of Oregon, Clark Honors College; Oregon State Honors College; Purdue University Honors College; Temple University Honors Program; Texas Tech University Honors College; UC Irvine Campuswide Honors Program; and the University of Washington Honors Program.

For more information on these and other honors programs, visit the Public University Honors website.

Colleges extend early deadlines

University of Chicago extends early action deadline

In recent days, the University of Chicago, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University and SMU have quietly alerted students of plans to extend their early deadlines.

Although a little surprising for this year, these kinds of extensions are hardly new.

Last year, the problem was the Common Application and all of the technical difficulties associated with getting new software off the ground.  By the time the dust had settled, nearly 70 colleges and universities in every corner of the country had announced plans to extend both early action and early decision deadlines.

In 2012, at least 45 colleges issued notices that early deadlines would be extended in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, as the storm raced up the east coast and wreaked havoc on applicant plans to get materials in by November 1st.

This year, the problem is not as well defined.  It may or may not have something to do with delays colleges are experiencing receiving test results from the October SAT test date, as a huge number of international students are being caught-up in what appears to be a massive cheating scandal.

But more likely, the postponed deadlines are a result of internal administrative decisions based on external factors or a simple desire to pull in more early applications.

The University of Chicago is pinning the extension of its Early Action deadline to November 15, 2014, on its new No Barriers program, which evidently generated quite a few last-minute questions from students interested in learning more or wanting to take advantage of various benefits and resources offered to students applying with this plan in mind.   

George Mason announced its extension the night before deadline in a “tweet” from Amy Takayama-Perez, GMU’s Dean of Admissions.   Without providing an additional explanation, Dean Takayama-Perez tweeted, “Extending the Early App FR deadline to Nov 10th. Still priority consideration for Honors & scholarships.  You’re welcome seniors.”

And Johns Hopkins simply added an asterisk to its description of the Early Decision program advising students that the ED deadline had been extended from November 3 to November 10, 2014.  No further explanation was added, although the admissions office claims that these extensions are fairly routine and there was a desire to “take stress off of international students” having problems submitting test results.

Colleges, especially those that recruit heavily in Asia, are well aware that the College Board is delaying the delivery of SAT scores for Chinese and South Korean students.  Most are remaining flexible and adopted polices similar to the one announced by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

“We wouldn’t be withdrawing any applications for incomplete test scores for some time,” said Ashley Memory, assistant director of admission, in an interview with the Daily Tar Heel.  “We have let students affected by these delays know that this will not be held against them at all and we will work with them to get those test scores in as soon as possible.”

It’s worth noting that high schools using the Naviance system to submit materials such as transcripts and recommendations have experienced intermittent problems delivering documents to colleges. Again, colleges are aware of these technical difficulties and don’t hold delays on the part of the school against the applicant—as long as the application was received on time.  And so far, the document

problems have not risen to the level of forcing most colleges to officially extend deadlines.

  

Get an early start on federal aid with FAFSA4caster

Families looking for a head start on the financial aid process might consider taking advantage of a handy tool developed by the federal government for just this purpose.  

Thanks to our friends at the Department of Education, you can use FAFSA4caster to get the ball rolling on the federal component of student aid and receive an early estimate of your eligibility for financial support under one or more of the government programs.

And you don’t have to wait until you’re a senior in high school.  Parents of younger students can use the online tool to receive early estimates, create scenarios based on future earnings, and consider various college funding strategies.

Most simply, FAFSA4caster is a free financial aid calculator designed to provide an instant estimate of eligibility for federal aid based on a series of financial and other questions. It's not tied to any particular college, sponsor, or the College Board.

And thanks to the FAFSA4caster you can:

• Receive an early estimate of your eligibility for federal student aid
• Have an experience that’s similar to FAFSA on the Web
• Apply for and receive your Federal PIN, which is required for the real FAFSA
• Learn what kind of information is necessary to have on hand to complete the FAFSA
• Transfer data from the FAFSA4caster to your FAFSA in January when you’re ready
• Calculate an estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) which will help with college planning
• Increase your knowledge of the federal aid process and learn more about other sources of aid

You can find FAFSA4caster at www.fafsa.gov.  Click on the appropriate box under “Thinking About College?”

You will then be asked a series of questions, most of which should be easy to answer.  Some, however, require information based on recent federal tax information or bank statements, so you might want to have personal records nearby.

For each item, use the most current information available.  Be sure to answer all of the questions even if you have to estimate or guess.

When you complete FAFSA4caster, the tool displays a worksheet to help you determine the net cost of attending a particular school—your choice.  A link to College Navigator will provide you with the most up-to-date information on the school’s current cost of attendance and the tool does all of the computations.

FAFSA4caster will show your estimated Federal Pell Grant amount (if any), Federal Work-Study amount (based on the average national), and the maximum Direct Subsidized Loan and Direct Unsubsidized Loan eligibility.

Once you click on “Calculate,” FAFSA4caster summarizes the cost, total aid entered, and the difference or net cost of attending college. An estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) also appears.

You can then compare schools by changing cost of attendance, deleting state aid if you will be an out-of-state student at a particular school, amending the amount of aid available from the school, and so on.

The “real” FAFSA cannot be submitted until January 1, 2015, but you can fill out a FAFSA4caster now. 

And if you question your eligibility for federal aid or if you're just plain curious, there’s no reason not to give it a try.