The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA recently published The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2014, a survey of 150,000+ first-time, full-time students at over 200 four-year U.S colleges and universities.

The study covers a broad range of topics, including college admissions.  What's clear is that students are applying to more schools than ever, they're getting into their top choice schools less frequently, and that early admission is becoming a very important consideration in choosing colleges.  

Click on the Continue Reading link below details.

This article from Allan Schwarz of the New York Times highlights one of the downside impacts of modern day college admissions.  

In a survey conducted by UCLA of over 150,000 college freshmen, 9.5 percent of respondents reported having "frequently felt depressed" during the past year, up from 6.1 percent just five years ago.  A significant factor: being overwhelmed by schoolwork and other commitments.

Click here for the article.

Several top colleges and universities—including the University of Chicago, Duke, Columbia, Bates, Washington University in St. Louis, UPenn, Vanderbilt and Yale—took the unusual step of extending deadlines to college applicants this past January.  This article from Janet Lorin of Bloomberg questions whether this was for the benefit of the applicants or out of self-interest to juice up their application submissions and fees.

At the heart of the matter is whether colleges have become too sales-driven in their quest for lower admit rates and higher prestige. One can't help but feel that we're in an arms race that's creating too much collateral damage in the form of frazzled college applicants and families. 

Click here for the article.

Common sense prevails!  The Obama Administration is relenting on their recent proposal to tax 529 savings plan withdrawals.  

Check out the latest New York Times article for the details.

The Obama Administration is proposing a significant change to 529 college savings plans—to make withdrawals taxable.  

Of course, this would apply only to new contributions, but regardless this feels like a terrible policy move for advocates of affordable education.

Check out this New York Times article for more insight and perspective.

Here's an article from Daniel Goldstein at Marketwatch entitled, "10 things the college admission office won't tell you."  It attempts to shed insight on topics such as grade inflation, essay authenticity, perceived exclusivity and need-aware admissions.

Click here to read the article

Several colleges are now attempting to cast a wider net with respect to financial aid.  The beneficiary: the middle class.  

This article from the Wall Street Journal outlines some of the initiatives being taken by public and private schools throughout the nation to earmark more grant aid to families earning between $65,000 and $150,000 per year.

Click here to read the article.

The title of this Bloomberg/BusinessWeek article leaves a lot to be desired, but it does correctly point out that affordability issues can often prevent applicants from applying to binding early decision programs because they won't be able to shop around for the best financial package.  

More importantly, the article does reinforce our strong belief that every rising senior needs to consider the possibility of applying early given how favorable the admission rates can be.  It may not always be appropriate—tools like College Kickstart can help you figure this out—but it should never be ignored. 

Click here for the article.

Rising seniors and parents—here's a great video from Forbes Magazine featuring Christophe Guttentag, Duke's Undergraduate Dean of Admissions.  It's entitled, "Who Gets Into Top Colleges and What Makes The Difference" and you'll find it chock full of interesting insights from the inside.

Click here to watch the video.

The U.S. Department of Education outlined its framework for rating colleges in a report issued earlier today, as reported by the New York Times.  It plans to group schools into one of three categories: high-performing, low-performing and those in-between.

The article is interesting for two reasons: first, it provides a preview for how the government plans to assess college performance, and second, it's an instructive example of guarding against "false precision."

Click here for the Department of Education College Ratings Framework release.

Click here for the New York Times article.

Here's an excellent posting from Johns Hopkins University on essays that worked.  Unlike the previous posts that focus on tips, this article provides seven actual essay examples submitted by applicants and commentary from the admissions committee on why they worked.

Here's a student's perspective on the college admissions process, courtesy of Katherine Varga for hercampus.com.  Bottom line: don't panic, you're going to be fine.

Here's a video segment from the Today Show featuring Jacques Steinberg, former New York Times senior editor and author of The Gatekeepers.  It's about the art of writing college essays and he provides some examples of what works and doesn't and why.  Though the segment is from 2010, it should be of help to those of you trying to figure out how to best convey your thoughts on paper. 

Here's another useful set of tips for writing an effective application essay, this time from Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University, courtesy of the College Board.

You've used Naviance to come up with a list of colleges you're thinking about.  Excellent!   

Now what? 

In this age of single digit admission rates and $75 application fees, it's no longer as simple as "just apply to them all."  

College Kickstart helps you make the leap from "colleges I'm thinking about" to "colleges I'm applying to." Read on to find out how we turn the data you've collected into a sensible and actionable plan.