College Application for Anxious Parents Shih H Wang, DMD drwang123@gmail.com

Advice for Anxious Parents 兒孫自有兒孫福 行行出狀元

Advice for Anxious Parents Should not actually choose a college for your kids. Caring but not controlling. Informative but not demanding. Recognize that it is your child’s college that matters, not yours.

Advice for students It doesn’t matter where you go to school. It matters what you do when you get there, and what you do after you graduate.

Suggested Readings *The Gate-Keepers: Jacques Steinberg, Viking * Less stress, more success: Marilee Jones, Kenneth R. Ginsburg *The Gate-Keepers: Jacques Steinberg, Viking *Acing the college application: Michele A. Hernandez 2007 *The Best 366 Colleges: The Princeton Review 2008 *Fiske Guide to Colleges 2008

A $200,000+ Investment To buy a diploma for $200,000?!

Tim Wang Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin Colby, Colgate, Hamilton Middlebury, Wesleyan, Williams

What is “Liberal Arts” education? . Use and understand the scientific method. Use and understand formal reasoning. Understand and analyze data. Analyze creative works critically.

What is “Liberal Arts” education Successful graduate school admission: (Association of American Medical College 1997-1998) History major 50.7% Biology major 38.1% Philosophy major 53%

Mike Wang Harvard, Brown, Princeton Yale, UPenn, Columbia, NYU

What is “Ivy League” Brown (1764) Columbia (1754) Cornell (1853) Ivy League: a football conference, men Brown (1764) Columbia (1754) Cornell (1853) Dartmouth (1769) Harvard (1636) U Penn (1740) Princeton (1746) Yale(1701)

Little Ivies Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Swarthmore Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech Virginia, Duke, Georgetown

Hidden Ivies Amherst, Barnard (w), Bates, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr (w), Claremont-McKenna, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Davison, Emory, Grinnell, Hamilton, Haverford, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke (w), University of Notre Dame, Oberlin, Pomona, Reed, Rice, Smith(w), Swarthmore, Vanderbilt, Vassar(w) , Wake Forest, Washington and Lee, Washington University, Wellesley (w).

The Public Ivies Miami University of Ohio University of California at Berkeley University of California at Davis University of California at Irvine University of California at Los Angeles University of California at San Diego University of California at Santa Barbara University of California at Santa Cruz University of Michigan at Ann Arbor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Texas at Austin University of Vermont at Burlington University of Virginia at Charlottesville

University usually consists of Colleges School of Arts and Science (Liberal Arts College) Graduate Schools Post Graduate Programs

Research Universities Part-time or nontenure track faculty in 2005 BC: 54.7% BU: 70.9% Brandies: 50.7% Harvard: 56.6% MIT: 45.1% Northeastern: 66.7% Tufts: 66.2% UMass-Ameherst: 35.3%

Research Universities Harvard: 71 modern European histories, only 8 are taught by professors. NYU: Over 200 expository writing courses, none is taught by tenured professors.

What do “good schools” mean? “Good Fit” It is a match-making, two-way street process. Schools try to sell their products and students try to sell themselves. To apply to a college is a “GAME” played by your son or daughter (not you) and the admission office. It is more art than science. It is subjective.

What do “good schools” mean? “Good Fit” 8-10 schools to start: 2-3 dream schools, 4 ideal schools, and 2-3 safety. Private or public, large or small, city or suburban or rural, liberal arts or research, brand name or anyone, scholarship or nothing MA 102, NH 21, VT 15, ME 23, RI 14, CT 41, NY 206, NJ 58 (480)

PSAT, SAT, SATII, ACT *SAT was introduced in 1926 as Scholastic Aptitude Test to measure your intelligence. *Perfect score doesn’t guarantee your first choice of school. *Increasing numbers of university don’t accept SAT or use it as optional. Many colleges ignore SAT writing test. *Kaplan and Princeton Review may boost 150-200 points because they supervise your study.

Which is more important Ranking, GPA, Recommendation, Essay Colleges need indicators such as hard numbers from tests. Test scores are correlated to GPA and Ranking. Recommendation should come from someone who really knows the applicant well and have enough time to write a good piece of letter. Your guiding counselor writes a very important recommendation that outlines your strengths and weakness as well as your academic performance and ability. Essay needs professional assistance.

Which is more important: Talents, Leadership, Community Services, Athletic Performances, Ability to Pay Tuition, Parents’ Donations, Parents’ Connections to School. Play violin and piano are too common, especially in Chinese population. Assemble a band and make a CD demonstrate better talents. Class president, club president, school newsletter editor, national honor society, debate team, math Olympic team are common. Visit nursing home is great. Parent’s contribution and alumni status help. Athletes on the varsity teams and/or posses unique talents such as rowing, fencing, squash, swimming. Harvard in one year rejected 89% of applicants. In the pool: 3,000 class valedictorians, 11,000 of top 10%, 2,100 with perfect 800 on Math Level II, 400 with perfect SAT.

Community service trips to Third World and Exotic summer camps: Which is more important: Talents, Leadership, Community Services, Athletic Performances, Ability to Pay Tuition, Parents’ Donations, Parents’ Connections to School. Community service trips to Third World and Exotic summer camps: -The reason for, result of the program -Student’s genuine ambition and motive

Do “well-rounded” kids get into college easier *Top colleges are looking for two things: you must be able to do the work and you must add something significant to the college community. *Top colleges are looking for students with unique talents and extraordinary skills. * Don’t try to tell a college that you are good at everything; tell them you are great at something.

Why guiding counselors recommend these schools Guiding counselors try to match students and colleges that they know the best. Feeder schools get much better chance to get into certain colleges. Parents should cooperate with counselor by providing your thoughts about your kids.

Tufts Dental School Class of 2010 Applications 2953 Accepted 331 Class size 150 Top Feeder Schools Tufts University, UCLA, UMass-Amherst, Brigham Young, University of Florida, Adelphi University, UC-San Diego

Should I apply “Early” Class 2011 (Admissions Consultants) Brown 22.7%/13.5% Columbia 24.4%/10.4% Cornell 36.6%/20.5% Dartmouth 29.7%/14% Harvard 21.8%/9% MIT 11.17%/12.77% Penn 29%/15.9% Princeton 26.2%/9.5% Stanford 16.13%/8.88% Yale 19.7%/9.6%

Worthless Information College rankings- junk science Research Dollars Shiny New Buildings Special Speakers View Books and Websites Student/Faculty Ratio Size of Library

Case study A SAT I: 730V, 690M (1420) SAT II: 750 Writing, 680 Math IC 710 History, 700 Latin AP: English Lit 5, Latin 4, U.S. History 5,Biology 3 Grades: English: B, A, A, A History: A, A, A, A Latin: B, A, A, A Science: C, A, A, A Math: C, B. B. B Extracurricular: Soccer: 9-12, JV Captain 9, captain 12 Debate team: 10-12, captain 12 Schools newspaper: 9-12, editor 12 Urban Youth Theater: 10-12 founder (650 hours per year) Church Youth group: 9-12 Teach Sunday school, 11-12 (2 hours per week) Essay: Urban Youth Theater

Case study B SAT I: 670V, 800M (1470) SAT II: 650 Writing, 780 Math IC, 760 Math IIC, Spanish 650 AP: Calculus BC 5, Physics 5, Chemistry 5 Grades: English: A, A, B, A History: A, B, A, B Spanish: A, A, B, A Science: A, A, A, B Math: A, A, A, A Extracurricular: Soccer: 9-12 Lacrosse: 9-12 Spanish club: 9-11 Class treasurer: 10-11 Sumer jobs: 10-11 Essay: Broke ankle playing club soccer.