Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Applying to college takes ink, research
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Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
Shanna Flowers
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In the old days -- back in 1980 -- when I applied to college, I naively applied to only one.
Fortunately, I got in -- because I didn't have a fallback.
In the New Millennium age of college admissions, Stephany Hill's No. 1 choice is Howard University in Washington, D.C., my alma mater. But if by some fluke the William Fleming High School honor student doesn't get in, she has 10 fallbacks. In fact, Lynchburg and Mary Baldwin colleges and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., already have sent her acceptance letters.
"Whew, I know I'm going somewhere," the gregarious 18-year-old said, laughing and feigning mock relief as she recalled her first acceptance letter, from Lynchburg College, last fall.
Hill, an aspiring lawyer, and a small contingent of her classmates -- Miaisha Nunnally, Antwan Lawton, Thomas Boddie and Henh Ly -- with whom I spoke last week, are far savvier in the application process than I was 26 years ago.
According to The New York Times, seniors a generation ago applied to three to five colleges. But now students trying to get into the most selective universities frequently apply to as many as a dozen, and the numbers are up for students applying to all types of institutions.
Jeanette Rader, a guidance counselor at Fleming, said students apply to more colleges because schools are "harder to get in now, more competitive and more students are going to school."
A survey conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the University of California Los Angeles found that in 1967, only 1.8 percent of freshmen applied to seven or more colleges. Last year, the number had jumped to 17.4 percent.
The common application -- which allows students to fill out one application but send it to several schools -- also has made applying to more schools easier.
But while the numbers of applications students submit have changed, some rituals are timeless. Seniors' hopes -- or disappointments -- hinge on the postman's mailbag.
"I do watch the mail every day," said Antwan Lawton, 18, who applied to five colleges, received substantial academic-based scholarships from two of them but is waiting to hear from his first choice, George Mason University.
"I get depressed if it's a bill from Cox Cable or something and not that big Manila envelope I'm waiting for," said Lawton, who plans to study pre-medicine.
Rader, who has been a counselor for 13 years, said she noticed an uptick in the number of applications each student was submitting about three years ago. She used to encourage seniors to apply for three to five schools. Now she encourages five to seven.
"I tell them to pick their dream school, their 'top reach' choice," Rader said. "Then several that they really like and then a 'safety pick,' " one in which they know they will be admitted.
By anyone's standards, including Fleming senior Thomas Boddie's, Hampton University is more than a "safety pick" institution. The offensive lineman is in, with a full academic-athletic scholarship.
But he's awaiting word from one of several "dream picks" -- Harvard, Yale and Cornell, all of which first approached him during his junior year. He also has applied to the University of Virginia, Wake Forest, University of Richmond and James Madison University.
Amy Widner, of Virginia Tech's admissions department, said she believes four to six applications are appropriate for students.
Widner encourages students to do their homework about a college through campus visits, research, looking at its programs and paring down the list before sending out applications.
Fleming senior Henh Ly said Tech is probably going to be the best fit for him. Ly, who wants to study computer engineering, knows that Tech has a top-notch program.
Besides, he has family ties there. He has two siblings there now and one who is a Tech graduate. So why would a kid with so much Hokie blood in his lineage include UVa among the four schools he applied to?
"To break away" from family tradition, Ly said, with a sly grin.
For Miaisha Nunnally, 17, applying to 11 colleges also has been an adventure. Miaisha has hit the road with her buddy Stephany Hill more than once as they set out for campus visits and open houses.
Miaisha -- who applied to schools including James Madison, Tech and North Carolina State -- has been accepted to several schools, including her No. 1 pick, Ohio State University.
The Fleming students I spoke with said they applied to various schools on their own, with no pressure from their parents about which colleges they should pursue.
I suspect their parents might think as I do: It's not so much where you go, but what you do when you get there. Congratulations, guys, wherever you land.
Shanna Flowers' column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
