Whether or not you have a child applying to college, it’s hard to ignore today’s frenzy about college admissions. In hopes of helping parents and students keep their heads and make wise choices, Sally Springer, associate chancellor at UC Davis, and Marion Franck, who usually pens this page, have teamed up to write Admission Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know about Getting into College (September 2005, Jossey-Bass, $14.95, paper). UC Davis Magazine talked with Springer and Franck about their new book.

Q: I remember the days when seniors applied to two or three colleges and were done with it. Why have things changed so dramatically?

A: This may surprise you, but a student could still follow that plan today, if he or she wants to attend one of the many colleges that accept over 75 percent of their applicants. The problem is that out of 2,100 four-year institutions, students and parents tend to focus on about 125 colleges that accept fewer than 50 percent of applicants.

These are the schools whose names are familiar and that get a lot of press. Just pick up a copy of the U.S. News and World Report Annual Guide to Colleges, and you will find them all listed and ranked. Students compete mightily for acceptance at these colleges, leading one wise counselor to remark, “It’s hard for kids to get into colleges because they only want to get into colleges that are hard to get into.”

Competition also increases because a greater percentage of students seek a college degree, and there are more students, period. The numbers won’t peak until 2010.

Q: Why do you think college rankings are a poor tool to use when selecting colleges? How important is prestige in selecting a college?

A: We don’t know of any college or university administrator who likes magazine rankings, including administrators at the top-ranked colleges. The reason is simple. Colleges and universities are complex, multifaceted and constantly changing. To think that a magazine can put a few numbers into a formula and come up with a ranking that reflects the overall quality of colleges is fantasy. Itcan’t be done.

We also don’t like seeing students caught up in the vicious cycle fueled by these rankings. When a college ranks high, more teens apply and more are rejected. Nervous about rejection, the next year’s seniors apply to a larger number of schools, leading to even more rejections. All this, when rankings simply cannot measure the true worth of a college.

Prestige is another matter. Some students and parents feel it is important to go to a college that has a lot of prestige (that is, one that is hard to get into). Each person has to decide how much he or she values prestige. In Admission Matters we argue that “goodness of fit” should be the first criterion in college selection, with prestige a much less important factor, if it is a factor at all.

Q: How can students tell if a college is right for them?

A: The more teens know about themselves, the better. Which academic fields interest them? Which extracurricular activities? Do they want a campus that is liberal or conservative? Preppy or edgy? Do they want to live in a city? A small town? One young woman we interviewed wanted to bring her horse.

Parents should get one of the “big books” that describe many colleges, including the SAT scores and GPAs of accepted students. If a college crosses your teen’s radar screen, encourage him or her to look it up. Does it have the right majors? Is the student—based on scores—a viable candidate? Look at the school’s Web site. You’ll find not only what the college says to applicants but also what it says to its own students and their parents.

But published data won’t help if the college doesn’t feel right to your student. Teens want to peek in the dorms, tour the recreation hall and see if the students look like potential friends. If they can’t tour campuses before applying, help them visit the top contenders after acceptances come in.

Q: Is the student with an uneven high school record doomed to disappointment?

A: No, not even in this competitive climate.

It is true, however, that a spate of low grades magnifies the challenge that every student faces, which is to find schools that are a good fit and where acceptance is a realistic possibility.
Most colleges state up front that the student’s transcript counts a lot in admission, but they also seek a diverse and interesting freshman class. Is the student an outstanding saxophonist, football player or debater? Is the student a leader at his or her workplace? Does he or she come from an economically disadvantaged family? Factors like these can play a role, sometimes an important one. The student may be accepted to a school that seemed unattainable, but no one should count on that.

All students need to do extensive research, choose colleges with a range of selectivity and remember that a lesser-known college can be a jewel. This is especially true for those students with uneven records.

Q: How can parents help their students through the college admissions process? What shouldn’t they do?

A: Be supportive but not intrusive. High school seniors are on the threshold of adulthood; they need to own the admissions process and ultimately be responsible for it. Parents can offer to help in ways that respect this—they can make suggestions, provide minor clerical help, comment on and proofread essays, and go along on college visits.

They can also help their teen by putting college admissions into context as a life event—important, sure, but much less so than choosing a life partner or a career. Parents shouldn’t take over the application process as if it were their own, place undue pressure on the student or view the outcome as a validation of their success as a parent.

Q: What role should cost play in college admissions?

A: This can be tricky. Colleges use a formula to calculate how much a family can contribute to their child’s education, and they try hard to make up the difference between the actual cost and the family contribution with financial aid. The catch is that a family may not be able, or willing, to contribute what the formula says it can. And you won’t know for sure how much aid you will receive from different colleges, and in what form, until the acceptances arrive.

Parents can use an online calculator to get a rough idea of their expected contribution. Be honest with your child about what you will be able to contribute, and be sure that his or her list contains at least one college where chances of admission are high and where the price will be affordable, even if the student receives less aid than you hoped.

Sometimes acceptances bring tough questions, such as, “How much should the family stretch to pay for a particular school?” There are no easy answers.

Q: If you could give parents and students just one piece of advice about college admissions, what would it be?

A: We’ve got a 320-page book full of advice—it’s hard to boil it down to just one piece! We’re going to “cheat” a little and offer two.

From Sally: I’d tell parents and students to focus on what they can control about the admissions process and not to dwell on what they can’t control or on what they deem to be unfair or random. Understanding the difference between the two and then taking appropriate, constructive action are key to a good outcome.

From Marion: I interviewed many students at campuses that didn’t top their list and found them to be happy young adults, engaged in their classes and excited about living on their own. The period of college application coincides with the parents’ and children’s last year of living together. Don’t let obsession with college admissions spoil that precious time.