Expert Admissions in the News

By KRIS WERNOWSKY

Amy Yuen went to her computer Thursday night to see if she made it into one of several colleges she applied to late last year. She typed in her login name and password but she couldn’t sign in to the Web site designed by Yale University to give admission results.

“I was at it all night and every time I typed in my password and ID and it was telling me I was getting an error,” the Wyoming Seminary senior said. “What was really annoying was I called them and got through to the admissions office but they refused to tell me the decision over the phone even though they were probably staring at it right on the screen.”

Yuen learned Friday she was accepted at Yale in what the Boston Globe touted as the most difficult year for admissions at the Ivy League school, at which only 1,823 of the 21,099 were accepted as undergrads. Yale and Columbia University are Yuen’s safety schools though. She really wants to get into Princeton and, as of Friday afternoon, she hadn’t heard from her first choice.

In the coming days, college hopefuls wait for final word of their acceptance or rejection to the college of their choice. For many students the end of a high school represents a whole new bundle of stress. Getting into the right college and the delay between application and acceptance can drive students batty.

Bari Meltzer Norman, the administrator of mycollegecounselor.com, is a former admissions officer at Barnard College in New York City who advises students and parents during the college application process as a consultant.

Much of the anxiety that comes with applying for schools is because the standards from admission differ from school to school and student to student, she said.

“Even after you’ve gone through it, you were admitted to your top, top choice school, you still don’t know exactly why you were admitted,” she said. “People believe what they want to believe and they rationalize in different ways but it’s an unusual process in that way. The process is essentially a mystery.”

In an Internet world where everything is nearly instantaneous, Norman said it’s good to teach these young adults that some things take time. That way, she said, they learn that everything doesn’t always work out as quick or as timely as they want it to, even if it means a touch of stress.

“As we all know, that waiting can be the hardest part of the process,” she said. “But it makes us stronger and we’re all going to have to go through it at some point.”

The University of Scranton received more than 6,800 applications for admissions in the fall semester of this year. Only 950 will become students. About 500 potential students are placed on a waiting list and usually about 50 are given spots at the school, Joe Roback, director of undergraduate admissions for the University of Scranton said.

“I receive phone calls on a daily basis from nervous parents and some students,” Roback said. “There is a level of stress that’s involved in that.”

Roback received a large package in his office more than a week ago from a high school student from New Jersey who was placed on the waiting list. Inside was a cheap plastic lawn chair painted purple, one of the University of Scranton’s colors.

“He said to me in the letter, ‘I know you’re only admitting 950 students, so here’s an extra seat so you can bring in 951,’” Roback said. “That’s a classic moment in my 19 years of admissions. It’s one of the extremes.”

Many of the area’s smaller private institutions like Wilkes University, King’s College and College Misericordia use a rolling application system so potential students receive the good or bad news much sooner.

“There’s a really short window. We give to ourselves a limited amount of time to make a decision,” said Jane Dessoye, director of admissions and financial aid at College Misericordia in Dallas Township. “We don’t keep them hanging. We feel their pain and we know what they’re going through.”

The college receives about 1,100 applications for freshman admissions and a committee of five whittles that list to about 850 students. The admissions committee has 10 days from when they receive a student’s application to make the decision. Only 340 will gain admission to College Misericordia.

Katelyn Fritzges put her application into Boston University more than seven months ago. To keep her mind from becoming consumed with the stress of getting accepted to her college of choice, Fritzges focused on keeping her grades up in her remaining months of high school.

The 17-year-old senior at Dallas High School waited for months until Monday when she signed on to the university’s Web site and learned she was in.

“I’ve been checking it for the past few weeks,” said Fritzges, who plans to major in biology. “The Web site was running kind of slow, but after 20 minutes of waiting it said that I was in.”

She received her admissions packet in the mail Friday.

“It’s a big relief to finally have the decision made.”