(Annotate for relevant information and ideas)ON a freezing Saturday in February, my wife and I sat through a full-

day introduction to college admissions for the parents of 11th graders. This was our first little step on the high-anxiety journey thousands of families trod each year. As parents of twins, we were double-booked. There wasn’t a vacation day in the next eight months that one of us didn’t spend on a college campus, somewhere.

That day, at a workshop called “Behind Closed Doors: the Life of the Application,” an admissions dean from a prestigious small college in Connecticut described carrying home a teetering armload of folders every night during her decision season. She told of examining a student’s high school transcript, the SAT or ACT scores, the letters of recommendation.“And then,” she said, her manner growing brighter, almost big-sisterly and confidential, “I turn to the personal essay, my favorite part.”

She recalled one student who had used her essay to compare herself to tofu because she was imbued with the personalities and flavors of the many people she had mixed with in life. The dean seemed to glow with the recollection. There was no need to add that the young lady had been accepted. We knew.

It was a theme I was to hear many, many times in more than a dozen campus visits. The personal essay, they all said, growing soft and fuzzy, is the one element where a student’s own voice can be heard through the fog of quantitative data.

But what if it can’t? What if, like most 17-year-olds, a high school senior sounds wooden or pretentious or thunderously trite when trying to express himself in the first person? Prose in which an author’s voice emerges through layers of perfectly correct sentences is the hardest kind of writing there is. Plenty of professional authors can’t manage it. How reasonable is it to expect of teenagers?

Nevertheless, college gatekeepers have made a fetish of the personal essay. Twenty-six percent of admissions offices deemed it of “considerable importance” in deciding who gets in, according to a 2009 survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.It has become more important over time: only 14 percent said so in 1993.

Name________________________________________________________________________________Period_____AP Literature_____/10 Name________________________________________________________________________________Period_____AP Literature_____/10 pts.pts.

The Almighty EssayThe Almighty EssayBy TRIP GABRIEL (By TRIP GABRIEL (The New York TimesThe New York Times))

The more exclusive the college, the more weight the essay is given. Among the most selective colleges — defined by the counseling group as those accepting fewer than 50 percent — nearly half said the essay was of considerable importance. In fact, these colleges give more weight to the essay than grade-point average. Let me restate that: one writing assignment is more critical to a high school senior’s chances of getting into many top colleges than his or her average grades from four years of high school. To be sure, the essay is not the single weightiest factor. Grades in college prep classes (as distinct from overall G.P.A.) and strength of a high school’s curriculum count for more. Scores on the SAT or ACT outranked the essay in the latest survey, but just barely.Factors like recommendations from teachers and guidance counselors and extracurricular activities trail far behind. Admissions experts say the personal essay has gained this mighty weight because elite colleges are flooded with qualified applicants. When so many of them have A averages and test scores in the 98th percentile, colleges tend to throw up their hands. “Admissions officers are running out of calibration devices,” says Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “All else being the same or similar, the essay suddenly becomes meaningful because it becomes a tie breaker.” Is this really fair? Certainly some students will succeed in writing wonderful essays. But mostly this will be because of natural talent or dubious outside help. First-person writing is rarely taught in high school English. This is even truer for the brightest students, those who take A.P. English courses, which stress, in the words of the College Board that guides their curriculum, “expository, analytical and argumentative essays.” But rather than ask applicants to send the most muscular, impressive example of the writing they have spent four years honing — a class assignment on “Romeo and Juliet” or the origins of the Civil War — colleges ask for a genre of prose they have almost no experience with.

Is it any surprise that one admissions dean at the University of Virginia reveals on the college’s Web site, in the guise of offering tips to applicants, that 90 percent of the essays he receives are bad? What did he expect, “Running With Scissors”?

No one will be surprised that the industry that exploits families’ insecurities by selling admissions advice offers to massage students’ essays. Prices range from $150 for a quickie online critique to $2,500 for five hours of consultation with a Princeton graduate who, through the independent college adviser Michelle Hernandez, offers an Application Boot Camp Essay Package.

As I toured campuses with my sons, another refrain we heard was that students shouldn’t worry if they hadn’t had enough life experience to write about the great themes of literature. Small, everyday subjects were just as good, and more likely to produce revealing portraits.

And so an admissions official from a prestigious private college fondly recalled the essay by a young man who had been a fat child, and by great willpower had lost weight, but now had to be hyper-vigilant when thin friends gorged on junk food without thinking.

And there was the Ivy League official who recounted the essay by an A-plus student and standout athlete, who wrote about the one time he had failed spectacularly at something. In the last paragraph, he described showing the essay to his father, who had advised against submitting it because it revealed a weakness.

I am happy for all of them — for Mr. Humility, for Slimmed-Down Boy and for Tofu Girl. I’m sure they are having great college careers. I’m pretty certain that has little to do with their personal essays.

Group Discussion Questions

1.) PURPOSE: What is the writer’s purpose in this article? Is it clear or ambiguous?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2.) TONE: How would you characterize this writer’s tone in the article? Does your perception of his tone change the validity of his arguments in any way? Why or why not?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3.) THEME: What is the overall theme of this article? What is this writer’s message about the college application essay?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4.) RELEVANCE: Does this article have relevance for high school seniors applying to colleges? How could the writer make it more relevant?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5.) YOUR TAKE AWAY: What are at least two things you can take away from this article that will help you with your college essay?_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION: What stands out to you about their introduction? What “hook” do they use and is it effective? Explain.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

College Essay Example AnalysisANSWERING THE PROMPT: Do they

directly respond to the chosen promptin the essay or is it unclear what prompt

they are responding to? Explain.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ORGANIZATION: Is the essay structurally organized in a way

that is easy to read and tells the story seamlessly? Explain.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONCLUSION: Does the writer end their essay with a creative and engaging take away about who they are and

what you should remember about them?Explain.

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TITLE & PROMPT:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________

TITLE & PROMPT:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________

SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS: Did you enjoy reading the essay? Did the writer reveal something about

themselves that would otherwise not be in their application?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS: Did you enjoy reading the essay? Did the writer reveal something about

themselves that would otherwise not be in their application?

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The New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof’s son Gregory wrote a post on his father’s blog about his experience deferring his college entrance for a year to pursue personal interests. Would you like to take a gap year? If so, what would you do with that time, and why? If not, why not?In his post on Nicholas D. Kristof’s blog On the Ground, Gregory Kristof describes his gap year and talks about deciding to take one:

My decision to defer college for a year wasn’t easy. In my New York high school, nearly every kid treads the usual path from graduation to college. Upon hearing that I would hop off the traditional academic bandwagon, some teachers, friends and other parents would respond with “That sounds great!” while murmuring comforting remarks that I would probably turn out O.K.

I was extremely excited about college, so it was tough to say “not this time” to the bounty of friends and general awesomeness that my freshman year would most assuredly bring me.

But I remember thinking how most of my great high school memories were localized capsules, like dots on paper waiting to be connected. A great weekend here, a good report card there. It was only when I extracted myself from each individual moment that I would realize that the damn picture still wouldn’t come into focus. Where was I going? Where did I want to go?

I wanted more. I wanted to see how the other half lived, to learn the things that weren’t found in books, to live a phantasmagoria of unforgettable experiences. I wanted to experience a life in which images glided by like kangaroos on Rollerblades.

So I went to China. So far, I’ve rock-climbed above Buddhist grottoes, showered in underground waterfalls, squeaked my way across 13th-century temples hanging halfway up cliffs, and stayed in earthquake-ravaged villages where everyone still dwells in tents. In a one-street town whose sole cabdriver appeared to be blind, Rick and I went deep inside one of the world’s most dazzling monasteries to party with monks (the scene was about as bangin’ as what you’d expect from a group of pacifists). I’ve motorcycled across a frozen holy lake in the Himalayas, and I’ve stared into giant volcano pits on the North Korean border.

What Would You Do With a Gap Year?By HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO (The New York Times)

YOUR REFLECTION: What you would do with a gap year and why? Would you travel, volunteer, work, write, reflect? How could you use a year’s time to both celebrate your youth and gain life experience? If you had the chance to take a gap year, would you do it? Why or why not? Could a gap year be, in some ways, even more valuable than a year of college? Would your parents or guardians support or oppose your wanting to take a gap year? Explain your thoughts.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONTENT: At least three main points fromthe article with explanation.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name___________________________________________________________________________________________Period_____AP LiteratureName___________________________________________________________________________________________Period_____AP Literature

College Article AnalysisRELEVANCE: Does this article haverelevance for high school students

preparing for college? Why or why not?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TAKE AWAY: What is your take away from this article? Did you learn anything that you didn’t know before or made you think differently about the topic? Explain.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Write a class discussion question based on the information in this article.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TITLE & AUTHOR:_______________________________________________________________________________________

TITLE & AUTHOR:_______________________________________________________________________________________

Things others said that I found interesting or had questions about:

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College Article Analysis: Class Discussion NotesMy response to topics brought up and things I want to

remember for my own college preparation:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Interviewing with a college is a signal of an applicant’s interest in actually attending, said Karen Richardson, associate director of admissions at Tufts University, on Friday.

But unless a student fails to show up or speak, the meetings certainly do not “make or break” a decision, she noted while speaking on a National Association of College Admissions Counselors conference panel entitled “Those Darn College Interviews: A Firm Handshake, A Feeble Purpose?”

Ms. Richardson emphasized in earnest that the interview is every bit as much for the student to learn more about an institution as it is for the institution to learn more about a student.

She and her fellow panelists stressed that, while admissions interviews are powerful informational tools, they can be deeply flawed.Kelly Sortino, director of college counseling at Crystal Springs Uplands School in California and a former admissions officer at Princeton University, pointed to the potential inadequacy of interviews conducted by graduates. “Just because someone got a degree from an institution doesn’t mean they have the best things to say or know the most about it,” she said.

Ms. Sortino shared an anecdote of a high school senior she encountered who, asked to meet at the home of an interviewer who was a graduate — “which was weird to begin with” — was asked to sing a Miley Cyrus song. The student reported the incident to the institution to which she was applying but, Ms. Sortino said, that alumnus could well have continued interviewing applicants due to how understaffed many admissions offices are in times of rising application numbers. “They need bodies on the ground,” she said.

As a former interviewer herself, Ms. Sortino encountered underprepared applicants and warned against walking into a conversation without research and practice. In an extreme case, one student she interviewed, speaking on his interest in Princeton proclaimed his love of Boston: “He was wasting my time, and I was wasting his time.”

Do Admissions Interviews Matter?By REBECCA R. RUIZ ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

But, she said, citing the often inefficient nature of the interview process, “he was not going to be admitted regardless.”Interviews are, Ms. Sortino said, more indicators of what an admissions result might be than they are an influence on it. “Admissions officers are already halfway through the application reading process by the time interview reports come in — they already have opinions as to whether a student is a likely or a swing or an outright deny.” At Princeton, she said of applicant interviews, “they didn’t matter that much.” (She posited a suggestion that undergraduate schools adopt interview habits like those of business schools, in which only promising applicants are granted interviews, heightening the value of the meeting, and giving those students not admitted an earlier, less personalized let-down.) Nonetheless, both Ms. Richardson and Ms. Sortino advised proper preparation in the form of mock interviews to practice handshake, eye contact, voice inflection and knowledge of a particular institution. Jennifer Carleton, also a counselor at Crystal Springs, advised that students who will be interviewed via Skype, increasingly an option for applicants, prepare specifically for that medium. “On Skype, presence is more important,” Ms. Richardson of Tufts agreed, “because there’s not the benefit of body language and other in-person cues.” (Ms. Carleton noted that Wake Forest University recently adopted Skype as an interview option.) On the subject of curveball questions, Ms. Sortino spoke of how an applicant should respond when asked if an institution is his or her top choice. She advised that students be prepared with stock lines, in that particular scenario deflecting the question of preference and saying of the school, “It’s a top choice, but I haven’t had the opportunity to, for example, go out and visit yet.” “Have those go-to sentences that are safe,” she concluded. “It’s hard when you’re 17, but interviews in general – for jobs, etcetera — aren’t going away.”

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Here’s an excerpt from a letter that an indignant father sent to his son after hearing that he had opted for an impractical major:

I am appalled, even horrified, that you have adopted Classics as a major. As a matter of fact, I almost puked on my way home today. … I am a practical man, and for the life of me I cannot possibly understand why you should wish to speak Greek. With whom will you communicate in Greek? …

I suppose you will feel that you are distinguishing yourself from the herd by becoming a Classical snob. … I think you are rapidly becoming a jackass, and the sooner you get out of that filthy atmosphere, the better it will suit me.

The reaction of Ted Turner’s father, who wrote that letter to his son, years before he founded CNN, is pretty typical. Many students encounter tremendous pressure from their parents to adopt “practical” majors, and I’ve talked to a handful of students whose parents flatly refused to provide for their educational expenses unless they majored in something career-oriented.

With less than half of recent college graduates landing jobs that require a college degree, this concern is understandable. But it’s misguided. In recent years, research into the importance of choice of major has led to a surprising conclusion: it’s really not all that important.

To wit: A University of Texas at Austin professor, Daniel Hamermesh, researched career earnings data sorted by choice of major and concluded that:

Perceptions of the variations in economic success among graduates in different majors are exaggerated. Our results imply that given a student’s ability, achievement and effort, his or her earnings do not vary all that greatly with the choice of undergraduate major.

A study conducted by PayScale Inc. found that history majors who pursued careers in business ended up earning, on average, just as much as business majors.

Ramit Sethi, a blogger and the author of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” is also a fan of “impractical majors.” He studied in the Sciences, Technology, and Society Program at Stanford.

Your College Major May Not Be As Important As You ThinkBy ZAC BISSONNETTE ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

“I never thought of my university education as technical training. If it was, why wouldn’t I just go to ITT Tech?” he said in an e-mail, adding: Where else will you get four years to intellectually challenge yourself and learn subjects in university-level depth? In fact, pair a ‘weird’ major with summer internships and interesting projects and you’ve got a leg up on the typical 3.5-G.P.A., by-the-book student. I majored in an obscure major — S.T..S — and I use my background in social influence, persuasion and behavioral change every day of running my own company. To be sure: if a student wants to be an engineer or an accountant, those are fine majors. But don’t think that you are doomed to a life of poverty if you pick the wrong major. There are at least four great reasons to pick a liberal arts major: Most people will graduate with higher G.P.A.’s if they study something they are passionate about. High G.P..A’s help graduates land jobs, and there is a fairly strong correlation between class rank and career earnings. Great grades also help with graduate school admissions, and the rigors of liberal arts often lead to better performance on the G.M.A.T. and L.S.A.T. than other majors. One study found that economics majors achieve the best scores of anyone on the G.M.A.T., meaning that students interested in M.B.A.’s are probably better pursuing an economics major than a finance major. There is a disconnect between students’ perceptions of what employers want and what employers actually want, according to a survey described in an article in Canadian HR Reporter, which reported: “Most employers cite communication skills as the most important skill for a candidate to possess, while generation Y (aged 18 to 35) believe employers are looking for experience, found the survey by Toronto’s George Brown College.” If your goal is to develop written and verbal communications skills, a finance major may not be the best bet.

Transferability of skills. It’s become a cliché that the best jobs of tomorrow don’t even exist today. Such is life in a rapidly changing, technology-driven global economy. Remember all those television ads for training in VCR repair that suddenly stopped running a few years ago? That’s the potential risk of a major that places job training ahead of mind development.

Most importantly, majoring in something that interests you is just the obvious thing to do. You’ll have more fun, have a richer experience and be less likely to dropout if you are actually passionate about what you’re studying.

Now, here’s my message for parents: Relax about your children’s choice of major, and realize that their abilities, work ethic and passion will ultimately lead them to a fine destination.

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Jacquelyn Nealon is vice president for enrollment, communications and marketing at New York Institute of Technology. She has worked in the admissions offices of Seton Hall, Hofstra, and Adelphi universities.

During 22 years of working in admissions, financial aid and enrollment, I’ve given hundreds of financial aid presentations to parents. As I prepared to send my first child off to college a few months ago, I found myself grappling with the same fears as my audiences. As I went through the process with my family, I kept five financial aid tips in mind:Be in It to Win It

So often, I hear parents and children say, “Why bother applying for financial aid or scholarships? I’m not going to get anything anyway.” Wrong. Every student should file the Fafsa (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Even if the student doesn’t qualify for grant money, colleges often will dig into their budgets to provide financing to woo a talented prospect.

Along the same lines, guidance counselors fret because students fail to apply for the scholarships offered by community groups or their own high schools. That’s unwise. Most times, it’s as simple as submitting a quick application or reusing a letter of recommendation. I also hear this: “I want to go to a college that cost $40,000 a year – why apply for a $750 grant?” I don’t know about you, but if I saw $750 on the ground with my name on it, I’d pick it up. That’s enough money to pay for a semester’s worth of textbooks or a Thanksgiving flight home.Buyer Beware

Show me a vulnerable person, and I’ll show you a scam artist. The most common mistake I’ve seen this year is going to the wrong Web site to file the Fafsa. Make sure you’re on fafsa.GOV. A site with a similar name has the same questions, same colors… but you may be asked to provide a credit card number. Don’t. Remember, that first “F” stands for “free.”

Expert Advice on the Best Ways to Secure Financial AidBy JACQUELYN NEALON ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

In addition, legions of consultants and financial advisers help fill out forms and find free money – for a price. Some are reputable; you can check references. And yes, some will help you invest money and report your assets and income. But usually, you can read directions and do this yourself. Embrace the fact that there is no “secret,” no magic way to maximize your aid chances.I Do! (In a Few Years) The Fafsa asks a seemingly absurd question: “Who is considered a parent?” Yet frequently families react with frustration when I explain how the government defines parents for financial aid purposes. If both parents are alive and married to each other, they check off the “married” box and include their information on the Fafsa. If there has been a divorce or legal separation, you need to determine who the student lived with more than 50 percent of the time the previous year. That’s the custodial parent. Only the custodial parent’s income and assets appear on the Fafsa; the noncustodial parent’s income and asset information don’t (though a child support question and another untaxed income question can reflect household support). This is true even if the divorce arrangement says the noncustodial parent has to pay for the whole expense, or things are split evenly. Here’s the surprise for some stepparents: Let’s say mom, the custodial parent, marries stepdad. Both mom and stepdad’s income and assets appear on the form. Maybe when they married they had a deal: he would pay for his children, she would pay for hers. Not happening. Of course, I don’t recommend holding off on saying, “I do!” (again) until after all the children have their degrees, but be aware of the rules.

Talk to MeThe government takes your information from the Fafsa, plugs it into

a formula and comes up with the E.F.C., or estimated family contribution. The E.F.C. is the maximum you pay, not the minimum. Yet the Fafsa doesn’t ask about your mortgage, car insurance or credit card debt. In short, the E.F.C. might not be an accurate portrayal of what you can afford to pay.

Once your child is accepted, talk honestly to the financial aid office. They understand the information you provide on the Fafsa doesn’t show the whole picture. Colleges are allowed to exercise professional judgment in certain circumstances. What if dad or mom was laid off after last year’s income was reported? Or the parents got a divorce, or one parent died? Or if you had medical or dental expenses that exceeded your insurance?

The key is that the circumstances have to be unusual and documented for a college to override the government’s expectation of what you can pay. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get the answer you want, but it’s best to tell your story.Be Real With Yourself

Everyone knows about applying to “safety,” “good match” and “reach” colleges. Your financial strategy should be the same. Make sure the wish list of colleges includes at least one or two that your child can afford. It might be a two-year community college, a state school or a low-price private institution. The list should include colleges that offer merit or need-based money. Don’t be daunted by those with $50,000 price tags; they often have scholarships, grants and need-based awards.

Most parents make the mistake of putting off these tough conversations until the child is admitted and puts on the college sweatshirt. I tell parents they need to make sure that they’re ready to buy a sweatshirt at every price point.

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On Aug. 31, Portfolio will publish “Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships or Mooching Off My Parents” by Zac Bissonnette.

Mark Kantrowitz, an occasional contributor to The Choice and the publisher of Finaid.org, suggested that this was a book worth bringing to the attention of readers of our blog. In response, I did a brief interview-by-e-mail with Mr. Bissonnette, who has written for AOL’s DailyFinance.com, among other news media outlets. Excerpts of our exchange, which have been edited, are below.Q. You’re entering your senior year at the University of Massachusetts, and the subtitle of your book suggests you paid your own way “without loans, scholarships, or mooching off’’ your mother and father. Roughly how much has your education cost, and how did you manage to pay for it?A. Tuition and fees and room and board at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, run $20,545 per year for a Massachusetts resident (like me) — and less if you live off-campus with roommates (as I did during my junior year).Most families qualify for a $2,500 tax credit on the first $4,000 in college expenses. So that $20,545 becomes $18,045. I worked multiple jobs throughout high school so I personally had about $35,000 in savings entering college because I was obsessive about it. But even if I hadn’t had any savings: $18,045 per year means that you need to come up with $347 per week (assuming you received no financial aid or scholarships and lived on campus), which means that families that qualify for no financial aid can come up with $173.50 from the kid working and the same from mom and dad — which is doable, especially given the savings they’ll have because your kid isn’t at home taking long showers. You can use a monthly payment plan through the college so you don’t need to have this in savings going in. Many families get some financial aid or have some money in savings for college, so this debt-free plan is actually based on very conservative assumptions.Q. Based on the payment plan you sketch above — “$173.50/week from the student working and the same from mom and dad’’ — at what point does a student’s reliance on some financial help from a parent become “mooching”?

Paying for College Without Loans, Scholarships or Looting Your Parents’ RetirementBy JACQUES STEINBERG ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

A. It’s funny. The original title that I had included the phrase “or looting my parents’ retirement,” but we ended up shortening it to mooching. When I say mooching, what I mean is this: Too many parents are making financial sacrifices for their kids’ educational costs that put them at great risk. According to FinAid.org, 13.5 percent of parents are using PLUS loans to pay for college, borrowing an average of $23,298 — and then there are many more parents who are taking out home equity loans or withdrawing money from retirement accounts or depleting their emergency funds.Middle-aged parents of college students are — and there’s no nice way of saying this — simply too old to be accumulating consumer debt. I don’t think parents should ever use PLUS loans and frankly, it’s a product that I wish didn’t exist.So what I want parents to do is help their kids with college expenses by making short-term sacrifices — i.e. driving a car an extra year, selling stuff on eBay, or perhaps eating out less, as trite as that has become. I don’t want them looting retirement funds or taking out loans that will put them in grave danger if they lose jobs or see their assets decline in value.Q. What are some things that high school students — not just seniors, but sophomores and juniors, too — can be doing to put themselves in the best position to help pay for college?A. High school students are really well positioned to save a large percentage of their income: they usually have no dependents and very low overhead. A high school student who works twenty hours per week (more during the summer, less during the school year) and saves $6 per hour of that throughout high school will have $24,960 in savings by the time he starts college. Working while in school can also be an exciting way to explore interests, just like any other extracurricular activity. For me, that meant working at a theater and selling books on eBay. For a student who’s interested in athletics, that might mean studying to become a personal trainer.People worry that working during school will hurt academic performance. But a 1993 study published in The Journal of Student Financial Aid found that college students who were employed actually had a slightly higher average GPA (2.72) than those who weren’t working (2.69). I’m not saying that this is the easiest approach to paying for college. Obviously in the short-term,

borrowing a lot of money involves less effort. But in light of the mounting evidence of the problems student loans so often cause in the lives of borrowers, it’s worth it.Q. What about those students (and their families) who feel they have no choice to but to borrow? Do you recommend some kinds of loans over others? And what is your general thinking on how much student-loan debt is too much?A. Families should exhaust all means of reducing costs before borrowing. That might mean skipping out on the first choice college and attending a state school or a community college. When borrowing, students should use only federal loans. Private loans should never be used for undergraduate education.When it comes to borrowing, Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid.org, which is the resource for financial aid, recommends borrowing no more than your expected starting salary. So if your expected starting salary is $40,000, you should borrow no more than $10,000 per year for four years. The metrics behind that make sense in that default rates do jump quickly once you get past that level of debt. The problem, I think, is that if you can’t get a job or your starting salary is lower than you thought it would be, that starting salary you expected when you were 18 is meaningless. It’s like booking a vacation four years from now based on the weather today. Debt always adds risk, and unsecured debt that can’t be discharged in bankruptcy adds a ton of risk — and can force students to forgo things like grad school or taking an exciting but low-paying job that might lead to long-term opportunities.Q. You note that you attended UMass as an in-state resident. Is this a strategy — applying to and attending a public university in-state — that you believe will become even more popular in the current economy? Should more students be considering such a route?

A. Tuition and fees for out-of-state undergrads at UMass are $23,628 versus $11,732 for in-state. Attending an in-state public institution is the easiest and most powerful way to reduce the cost of college, and I think it’s one that certainly should become more popular as families stare down depleted 529 plans and shrunken home equity.Another good reason to start out at an affordable public institution is this: We’ve seen something of a devaluation of the bachelor’s degree in the job market: more than half of college grads under age 25 are working at jobs that don’t require a degree. What that means is that a larger percentage of grads will want or need to attend graduate school to achieve their career goals. We’re already starting to see that happen. If you graduate from college debt-free, grad school is a lot easier. A 1998 Nellie Mae study found that 38 percent of student loan borrowers reported that their debt had prevented them from pursuing grad school. Also interesting is a 2004 piece in The Atlantic that reported that “61 percent of new students at Harvard Law School last year had received their bachelor’s degrees outside the Ivy League.”

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College-bound seniors beware: If you slept through your classes this semester and have the failing grades to prove it, your university may soon threaten to rescind your admission this fall.For students admitted to Texas Christian University, a notice informally known as the “fear of God letter” will read something like this:

Dear Joe:We recently received your final high school transcript. While your overall academic background continues to demonstrate the potential for success, we are concerned with your performance during the senior year, particularly in calculus. University studies are rigorous and we need to know that you are prepared to meet T.C.U.’s academic challenges. With this in mind, I ask that you submit to me, as soon as possible but no later than July 31, 2012, a written statement detailing the reasons surrounding your senior year performance.

Joe, please understand that your admission to T.C.U. is in jeopardy. If I do not hear from you by the above date, I will assume you are no longer interested in T.C.U. and will begin the process of rescinding your admission.

Please realize that your personal and academic successes are very important to us. I look forward to hearing from you.Sincerely, Raymond A. Brown

Dean Of the 1,825 incoming freshmen at T.C.U., about 100 students — all of them ailing with senioritis — will soon receive a “F.O.G. letter” in July, Mr. Brown said.“It’s a wake-up call,” he said.

The above example is the tough version, sent to honor-roll students whose grades plummeted to Ds and Fs. The university also sends softer versions of the letter to A and B students who suddenly get Cs in the spring semester, Mr. Brown said.

University Sends ‘Fear of God’ Letter to Students With SenioritisBy TANYA CALDWELL ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

Large public universities may lack the manpower to check thousands of final transcripts, which may give students at large the false impression that they can get away with lackluster final performances, post-admission, Mr. Brown said.

But at smaller, private schools, the final grades not only count, but they’re also called out every summer if they’re not up to par. And if the students’ responses are not convincingly contrite, they may have to enroll elsewhere.

“I can tell you that as we review final high school transcripts (and our admissions counselors read all of them), any student who either failed a class their final semester or fell below a 2.0 G.P.A. is sent on to me for follow-up,” Jefferson R. Blackburn-Smith, the vice president for enrollment management at Otterbein University, wrote in an e-mail.

“We do not automatically rescind the admission decision because of a poor senior year,” Mr. Blackburn-Smith said, “but we do want the student to know that we are concerned and will be watching their performance.”To be clear, admissions officers do not necessarily revel in the idea of rescinding admissions offers.

“It is one of the hardest things to send a letter asking for an explanation,” Lee Ann Afton, dean of admission and financial aid at Sewanee: The University of the South, wrote. “Fortunately we don’t have too many students who just stop studying completely, but if the drop is too extreme, we will rescind our offer of admission. I always remind students that every letter of acceptance has the sentence about the offer of admission is contingent on successful completion of high school work.”

Mr. Brown said he does not know what becomes of those students, but he assumes that their parents are none-too-pleased at the outcome, which could have been avoided.

“Senioritis is just sort of an assumed disorder that’s going to take us all,” Mr. Brown said. “You need to be aware that people are watching and that this is important. We care because your study skills are going to be atrophying.”

Brennan Barnard is the director of college counseling at the Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H.

The end of April is in sight, and this can only mean one thing: the National Candidate Reply Date is approaching.

On May 1, accepted students must notify one college of their intent to enroll by submitting a deposit. As such, high school seniors are jet-setting around the country to attend “yield events” at the colleges to which they were admitted. After months, nay years, of efforts to impress colleges, the tables have turned and students have the opportunity to be courted by my colleagues in admissions.

For many students, the college choice represents the first time that they have had to make a weighty decision. Each individual reacts to this reality in his or her own way. For some, the perceived grandeur of this selection is almost paralyzing. Others set about methodically, determining the pros and cons of each institution as though a single rubric and maybe a bit of calculus will facilitate the task.

No matter what process you select to aid your discernment, the following might be helpful to consider:Look Beyond the Numbers

When it comes to college admissions, rankings abound and data on attrition, graduation rates, graduate school acceptance and student satisfaction are available in a single click.

Stare at the numbers long enough and it will become apparent that every school is in the top ten by some equation. In fact, one could choose a college based on the documented food quality alone.

Fresh sushi in the dining hall, however, only goes so far.While statistics on job placement, campus safety, research opportunities and other factors may contribute to your decision, the most important thing to know is yourself.

An understanding of your needs, values and priorities are paramount. A firm sense of the community, campus culture and opportunities at each college will allow you to best fit yourself to an environment in which you will thrive. In other words, what looks good on paper or online, might not always equate to a wise choice.

Tip Sheet: Making the Final College DecisionBy BRENNAN BARNARD ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

An understanding of your needs, values and priorities are paramount. A firm sense of the community, campus culture and opportunities at each college will allow you to best fit yourself to an environment in which you will thrive. In other words, what looks good on paper or online, might not always equate to a wise choice.After the Facts, Go With Your Gut

The balance between critical analysis and gut instinct is a tricky one. Thoughtful decision-making involves an assessment of the facts and outcomes, while allowing for knowledge of self to guide your final choice.Yes, it may be necessary to consider cost of attendance and distance from home. After these, considerations, however, quiet your mind from overanalyzing and fixating on the external. This will allow you to truly listen to what you know to be the right decision.

Seniors, this advice should not be used as justification to your parents as to why you are following your boyfriend or girlfriend to college. Rather it is an opportunity to be a demonstration of the maturity and insight that you possess as you enter into adulthood.Do Not Jump to Conclusions

It is easy to let one interaction or one rainy day sour your impression of a college. As you weigh the pros and cons of each institution, keep in mind that it rains everywhere and that one individual does not represent the entire school.Also, be aware that your best friend may have a very different reaction to the same college. Just because it is not right for him or her does not mean you should cross it off your final list.Send the Check, Buy the Sweatshirt and Celebrate the Future

Somehow, most students and families will arrive at a decision by May 1 (though colleges will often grant extensions if there is a compelling reason).Once the deposit check is in the mail, own the decision. Be confident in your college choice and accept that the path that has been chosen is just that, a path.

Each college experience is special, and the journey is not always linear. Not everyone graduates in four years from the college in which they enrolled. Some students transfer, take gap years or have their education disrupted for any number of reasons.

Even if it was not your first choice when you applied, invest yourself in your college as though you mean it. Try to remain open and trust that the universe will take care of the rest.

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You’ve filled out the application and added the personal statement, supplemental essay and activity sheet. Finally, it’s time to click “submit.”Freeze!

Take a few minutes to proofread. Applications that are sent electronically don’t permit students to unseal the envelope and take one last look on the way to the post office.

Admissions offices see files littered with misspellings, grammatical mistakes and poor word choice. Students rely too much on programs that purport to check spelling and sentence structure.

A computer failed to catch this slip: “I love to turn on soft music and light scented candles because I love the smell of incest.”

Mary Karen Vellines, in the international recruitment office of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., cites that example when teaching writing workshops for high school seniors.

An applicant to Oberlin College wrote about her admiration for Julie Taymor, an Oberlin graduate who created the “The Lion King” on Broadway. The admissions dean, Debra Chermonte, remembers the essay for its passion. And for its fatal flaw: The writer kept referring to “The Loin King.”

Sometimes the pressure to impress colleges leads teenagers to over-reach for words. Last year, a student wrote about searching for a campus “where I feel safe, inspired, and apprehended.” Another student urged a life of compassion and “being apathetic toward others.”

Those come from Rich Avitabile, who spent 11 years in New York University’s admissions office and is now a private admissions counselor in Westport, Conn. He tells of the blunders not to mock anyone but to warn about carelessness.

Besides, all these applicants found their way to wonderful colleges – without being apprehended.

Proofread That Application, Unless You Want to be ‘Excepted’By DAVE MARCUS ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

Mr. Avitabile says a few typos or a misspelling won’t be an app-killer. But a pattern of mistakes makes colleges wary. (By the way, Mr. Avitabile, my computer is determined to change your last name to “avoidable.” Don’t take it personally.)Some gaffes simply elicit a laugh. The financial aid office at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y., relished a student’s response on a form asking about her expected graduation date. “Steve,” she wrote.

Later, the woman explained that she was in a relationship with a man named Steve and hoped he’d be her companion — er, date — at graduation.

Then there’s the campus switcheroo. A few years ago, Robert Springall was hunkered in the admissions office when he came across an essay that said, “It’s my dream to go to Boston University.” Nothing wrong with that sentence, except that Mr. Springall was working at Cornell.

The student was rejected for a variety of reasons, including the B.U. essay. “I’m not standing in the way of anyone’s dreams,” Mr. Springall said. (He is now at Bucknell University. His former colleagues can take comfort in the news that Stony Brook University received an essay filled with rapture for – you guessed it – Cornell.)

In short, every word matters. Matthew Whelan, Stony Brook’s assistant provost in charge of admissions, put it this way: “Don’t write an essay about your desire to be ‘excepted,’ or you will be.” And yes, someone did, and was.

Do you have similar anecdotes of your own to relate? Please use the comment box below to let us know.Mr. Marcus is the author of “Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges – and Find Themselves” (Penguin Press), and a former education reporter at Newsday and U.S. News and World Report. At the end of this month, he will take on a new post directing public relations for the New York Institute of Technology.

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“Not to quote Charlie Sheen, but we want to create a culture of winning,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of the financial aid Web sites finaid.org and fastweb.com on Friday morning.

Mr. Kantrowitz was encouraging students to strive for excellence in applying for college scholarships, speaking on a panel entitled, “The Importance of Private Scholarships and How to Succeed in Winning Scholarships,” part of this year’s College Board conference.

His principal tip was volume. “The trick to winning is to apply to lots of scholarships,” he said. All students – including the “very lucky and very skilled” – will get far more rejections than they will get wins, he said.

Jeffrey Cipriano, an undergraduate at Fordham University who recently completed the scholarship application process, agreed. Mr. Cipriano said that he applied to approximately 30 programs and wound up winning four or five awards. He attributed his success to networking, saying that he canvassed his family and friends for scholarship opportunities. His aunt wound up referring him to an Elks Lodge scholarship, which he won.

Mr. Cipriano emphasized the variety of underpublicized scholarship opportunities that research can uncover. “There was even a bowling alley a couple towns over that gave out a scholarship to left-handed bowlers,” he said, incredulously.

In order to find opportunities more formally, both Mr. Kantrowitz and Mr. Cipriano referred scholarship seekers to Web databases, including those of the College Board,Peterson’s College Search and Fast Web.

Additionally, Mr. Kantrowitz suggested, students would be well-served to take a look at the coupon section of the local newspaper for listings.

Once scholarship targets are set, discipline and regimented scheduling are key in meeting deadlines, Mr. Cipriano said.

Mr. Kantrowitz encouraged students to seek out past winners of scholarships that interested them, as a way to solicit advice from successful candidates on writing essays and interviewing.

Tips on Finding and Securing ScholarshipsBy REBECCA R. RUIZ ((The New York TimesThe New York Times))

He also recommended sending a thank-you note following an interview, emphasizing that because so few applicants do so, the action really stands out.Finally, Mr. Kantrowitz said that even if rejected, students are well-positioned to benefit from the feedback on their application. He noted that many programs will send a reviewer’s comments upon request, and he advised students to seek them out.

“Those comments are often quite specific, and if students address them in a subsequent application, they often win,” he said. Beyond winning, Mr. Cipriano mentioned a happy byproduct of the scholarship application process: a first draft of his college application essay.