Dropping College Knowledge: The Admission Process

“We regret to inform you…,” the beginning of a message that every college applicant dreads to read.

With so many different types of college applications, it is often difficult to choose which route to take. Lion Tales spoke to three different seniors who chose to take unique paths with regards to their college applications and asked them how they felt about each process. Regardless of the means by which one applies, it is safe to say that one may have to face rejection. However, this is not always the case; one could get into the college of one’s dreams early on, which was the case for one Lincoln senior.

Hannah Michelberg took an unconventional approach to her college applications; she chose to apply to only three schools, one of which was early admission. Purdue University was Michelberg’s dream school, and because she applied early admission, she was lucky enough to learn that she was admitted before a large percentage of her classmates heard back from their schools of choice. “I was so excited to be accepted into Purdue! It made it feel like those long hours of studying really paid off,” said Michelberg.

The College Board recommends that students apply to at least five to eight schools in order to increase the likelihood of gaining admission to a college. When asked why she chose to apply to such a small amount of schools, Michelberg said, “I knew that if I didn’t get into those three [schools], there wouldn’t be anywhere else I would have wanted to go.”

Financially, applying to fewer schools can be a smart decision. Each college has its own application fee in addition to the costs of sending official tests scores, such as the SAT and ACT. Application fees vary based on the type of college. State schools typically charge $55; UCs charge $70, and private schools can charge anywhere between $55-$90. Students who do not qualify for fee waivers need to consider the financial impact of applying to many colleges. Fewer colleges means fewer fees.

However, applying to such a small number of schools comes with risks, especially given the fact that there are currently 20.4 million college students in the U.S. and that number is expected to increase to 23 million by 2020. The amount of competitive college applicants has been steadily on the rise, so rejection is always a looming possibility. Applying to fewer colleges means that one will have fewer chances of getting an acceptance. Fortunately, one can increase their chance of admittance by a small percentage if one applies for early admission to a school.

The Business Insider reported that 57% of students who apply to a school under early admission get accepted, versus 50% who apply under regular decision, but there are drawbacks to early decision applications as well. Early decision applications require the student to commit to attending the college if admitted. While it is possible to get out of a binding early decision acceptance, it is usually very difficult and frowned upon. Students are advised to apply early decision to their first choice school for the aforementioned reason.

One benefit of applying for early decision is priority housing; students who are accepted under early admission often get to choose where they want to live and who they want to live with before those who apply under regular decision. This can prove to be a great advantage, as most colleges require students to live on campus during their freshman year.

Despite its advantages, not everyone chooses to apply for early admission. Lion Tales spoke with Andrew Levitt, who applied regular decision for all eleven of his colleges. Regular decision students like Levitt generally do not start to hear back from their universities until February, meaning that a majority of their time is spent anxiously waiting for a reply. When asked why he chose this route, Levitt said, “I was going to focus on the UCs first, since they were all regular decision…I just didn’t care enough about the other schools to want to go with early decision.” Because the UC system does not offer the early decision option, students whose top choice school is a UC often opt not to apply early decision to state or private universities. While it is in one’s best interest to apply regular decision if one does not know exactly which school one wants to attend, it does mean waiting a bit longer to hear back from any school.

Levitt did not regret his choice to apply regular decision, but he acknowledged the drawbacks of his chosen path: “[It’s frustrating] when people are like they got accepted or when these old people are like ‘So do you know where you’re going yet?’ and I’m like uh I haven’t really been accepted anywhere yet, but I haven’t been denied anywhere either.” This feeling of uncertainty is arguably heightened when the applicant is awaiting responses from nearly twice as many colleges, which was the case for Caitlyn Bardin.

Bardin’s college path is perhaps the most unique of the three. In total, she applied to 32 universities, which included state schools, UCs, and private colleges. Bardin’s application types were also varied; they included early decision, early action, and regular decision. Her private university application process was perhaps the most unique aspect of her path. Rather than applying through the Common Application, which is the platform used by all private colleges for applicants, Bardin applied to the 28 private colleges on her list through Questbridge.

“Questbridge is a national non-profit organization that helps match high achieving, low income students with some of the nation’s top colleges, such as Northwestern University, Grinnell College, and Stanford University, ” said Bardin. While applying through Questbridge lightened the financial burden for Bardin, it meant that she would have to do more work than her fellow college applicants. Not only did she have more work, but she also had to work on with an accelerated timeline.

Typically, regular decision applications for the Common Application are due anywhere between late November and early January. Bardin’s Questbridge application was due much earlier.

“I finished my entire Questbridge private application, which is similar to but more thorough than the Common App, by September 26th. Despite finishing the application so early, many schools required additional essays, and some schools preferred the Common App over the Questbridge application.”

After dealing with the primary application, Bardin had to tackle the monumental task of sending official test scores from the SAT and ACT to all 32 campuses. It normally costs $11.50 per school to send SAT scores and another $12 per school to send ACT scores. Fortunately, Bardin did not have to pay to send scores to all 32 campuses.

“After using my 8 SAT fee waivers, I was able to email a few schools unofficial test scores authorized by my counselor. Ultimately, however, I paid nearly $300 for official test scores. Beyond test scores, most privates use the College Board’s financial aid service called the CSS Aid Profile, which reports assets and part income information, as part of their applications. At $16 per school, I paid another $300 to report this information,” said Bardin.

While Bardin’s application experience is rather unique, it is an excellent example of what one can accomplish when one is determined to reach one’s goals. She covered all of the costs for her applications with her own money. “I was fortunate enough to obtain a job in early November, where I worked roughly 30 hours a week, giving me enough time to save for these costs,” said Bardin.

The college application process is sometimes tiresome and excessive, but it is rewarding when one is able to achieve one’s goals. Now is the time for prospective applicants to learn from these seniors and start preparing for their futures by deciding what is best for them. College is a chance to pursue one’s interests and learn from new experiences. As Michelberg stated,“It was cool to know that I was applying to places that could change the course of my life.”