Nina,
I got deferred by [name of college]. Can you help me understand a LOCI?
Your Student
As I create this post, students are checking in. Some report good news regarding their Early applications, while others are in the waiting game, having been deferred by various colleges. Once deferred, how does an applicant show their love? (LOCI shown above is letter of continued interest.) It's February, a month where we court our suitors but don't want to turn them off! So let's take a look at how and when to display love in college admissions.
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Public Research Universities: Creating High Drama - and Deferrals
Wolverines, Badgers, Tar Heels, Gators . . . In previous posts, I've discussed the popularity of public research universities and the effect on admissions: the greater the interest, the higher the selectivity! Moreover, those universities are subject to restrictions on out-of-state admissions.
As a result, It's not uncommon (pardon the pun) for them to defer great applicants. Either they haven't been able to process the volume, or they're just waiting to see who else applies before deciding which students will receive offers of admission, especially in competitive majors like engineering and business.
So how should students respond to their deferrals? Like everything else in college admissions, they need to follow directions and communicate effectivelywhen given the opportunity. Here's what some popular universities tell deferred applicants:
The University of Michigan, which released Early decisions a week ago, deferred many students, referring to them as postponed students!
Rival University of Wisconsin-Madison, which uses the traditional term deferral, has its own rules that applicants had better adhere to.
(It's affect, not impact, but you get the idea.)
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Then there's University of Virginia, which readily shares data about in-state and out-of-state students for all rounds of admissions.
Let's credit the University of Georgia for its explanation to would-be Dawgs:
“The specific reason that your application has been deferred and will be reviewed again during the Regular Decision round may never be shared with you. And that’s often because there isn’t “just one reason.” Most of the time, there are a variety of micro-reasons – some within your control and presented in your application, some outside of your control and dependent on the overall applicant pool – that have led to the decision you’ve received." - UGA Admissions
By the way, college towns continue to be a focus of the media. The Discoverer, which may frequently appear in your inbox, recently profiled "The 10 Best College Towns in America." Aside from perennial favorites like Madison, WI, and Austin, TX, the post mentions Ithaca (Cornell and Ithaca College), Ames, IA (Iowa State), and Wellesley, MA.
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The New ACT: Will Students Grow to Love it Again?
To regain market share from College Board, owner of the PSAT, SAT and AP, the ACT is changing how its product is delivered. As explained by test-prep expert Anna Gazumyan-Silverman, the ACT changes apply only to the online format starting in April:
Composite scores, traditionally featuring an overall score out of 36 and four subscores (English, Math, Reading, Science) will now exclude the Science section.
Science will now have at least one passage focusing on engineering and design, with students receiving 15 percent more time to do a section that doesn't necessarily count. Go figure (literally)!
Yet students will receive 27 percent more time for Reading, which will provide four rather than five answer choices. (Unfortunately, the concern about reading is real, as discussed in a recent WSJ article.)
Remember, your student may try both tests multiple times, knowing that self-reporting and superscoring are now the norm at most colleges (i.e., not Georgetown).
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Love Stat More Than Calc? Sorry, Applicants!
Unfortunately, there are still those in admissions circles who can't get past calculus as some sort of indicator of success. In a news release about a recent math study, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) stated: "'A New Calculus for College Admissions” explores the Disconnect between Innovations in Math Education and Traditional College Admission Practices."
No kidding! Do we want statistics, which students will use in their post-college careers, or calculus? States NACAC's chief education and policy David Hawkins, "As new math course options flourish at the college level, admission policies and practices need to evolve so high schools can modernize their math offerings without jeopardizing students’ chances of college admission.”
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For Those Loving the Liberal Arts, Is There Hope?
Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education, owner of Chron, its new AI assistant, shared research on the value of a liberal-arts education. Noting declines in reading and, sadly, the study of world languages, we learn that University of Texas at Austin liberal-arts grads "were satisfied with their job positions and incomes, but it’s not clear that the liberal arts had an impact on those life outcomes." Moreover "the authors (of MLA research) were struck that 'liberal-arts skills' apply to work that appears unrelated or distantly related to liberal-arts fields." That's just what this college counselor loves to hear!
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Hoosiers and Career Prep: Parents Will Love It!
Understandably, parents want their students to be gainfully employed after graduation. As reported in Inside Higher Ed, Indiana University is requiring all students in the College of Arts and Sciences at its flagship campus to experience its Pillars Undergraduate Experience program. The pillars are: research experiences (first year); career competencies; life design; and experiential learning. An assistant dean comments, “We’ve pulled in our faculty and our alumni and our employer partners and are really trying to create this environment where this is a completely unavoidable component of the experience.”
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Who Doesn't Love a Winner? Just Ask OSU!
Even though college football is on hiatus, big colleges can't get enough of the impact of the sport on the campus community - and the bottom line. Take the Ohio State Buckeyes, recent winners over Notre Dame in the national championship game. As we learn in the Wall Street Journal, the Buckeyes are worth a whopping $1.96 billion, beating out rivals Texas ($1.9 billion) and Michigan ($1.66 billion). Yes, a professor at Indiana University's Columbus campus loves researching such things, which are now more complicated given a player's ability to be compensated.
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As you and your student search for clarity, don't hesitate to go unCommon. After all, I just love my students!
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