UC May Adopt a Waitlist for Undergrad Admissions as early as this year

http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/the-university-of-california-to-play-the-waiting-list-game/

http://www.dailycal.org/article/107897/uc_may_adopt_waitlist_for_incoming_freshmen

“For the first time in history of the University of California, incoming freshmen may be waitlisted, said UC officials after Wednesday’s meeting of the UC Board of Regents.”

Advanced Math Help

From Al Roth’s Market Design blog:

Mathoverflow.net is an internet site on which people can ask and answer math questions. It elicits a good deal of effort for free, in an Open Science, reputation-mediated way.

It has a reputation system, based on the votes “up” your questions and answers get. Other users can alsoreduce your reputation by 2 points, at a cost of 1 point to themselves, if they don’t like your posts.

There’s also a set of distinctions that users can earn, called badges.

Awesome Nerd Alert

You’ve heard of Fantasy Football, Baseball, etc. … Well, get ready nerds: now there’s Fantasy SUPREME COURT!  (Fantasy SCOTUS, for those in the know.)

Annual membership is FREE for full-time students and up to $10 for others.  It’s really fun (and educational, too)!

www.fantasyscotus.net

My league is entitled “DVY and Friends!”

CSU Freshman Admissions: Update

If you are applying to a Cal State, please make sure you get in your application by November 30!

Unfortunately, the CSU faces a 20% reduction in funding this year, which means it cannot service as many students as in prior years.  In fact, the system anticipates cutting 40,000 (yes, that’s the correct number of zeros) enrollments starting this past fall.

When you couple these budget cuts with this year’s 32% increase in freshman applications, it is clear that CSU admissions are much more competitive than ever before.  Make sure to get in your app by the deadline if you want a shot at your choice school!

Press release: http://www.calstate.edu/PA/News/2009/enrollment-budget.shtml

At Public Universities: Less for More (New York Times pingback)

Trends in flagship public universities: higher tuition, more out-of-state students, higher admissions standards, and larger classes

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/education/edlife/01public-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

October SAT Scores are Out!

The College Board posted students’ October SAT results online yesterday (?) morning.  Bon chance!

Free SAT and ACT Prep!

If you want to study on your own, aren’t sure where to start, and are on the computer all day anyway, you should check out Kaplan’s free SAT and/or ACT Quiz Banks!  These are completely customizable quizzes — you get to choose the length, difficulty, and content.  Good luck!

ACT: http://www.kaptest.com/College/Learn-and-Discuss/Tools/act-quizbank.html

SAT: http://www.kaptest.com/College/Learn-and-Discuss/Tools/sat-quizbank.html

Get your Cal State apps in soon!

The California State University (CSU) system has received 111,140 applications since it began accepting them on October 1.  This is a 77% increase over the same time last year (62,520 applications), which means you should get your application in sooner rather than later!

Last year, thousands of students were taken surprise when some of the most popular CSU closed their admissions cycle earlier than anticipated.  This year, all 23 campuses say they will take applications until November 30, but at least 12, and probably more, will close their applications after this date.

Remember, most CSU schools have rolling-ish application cycles, meaning the earlier you get your application in, the better chance you have to get into that school!  Don’t get shut out!  Get your apps in soon!

Good luck!

Cracks in the Future: Bob Herbert on UC Berkeley (Linkback)

Berkeley is aggressively pursuing alternative funding sources. The danger is that as public support for the school declines, it will lose more and more of its public character. Substantially higher fees for incoming students would be the norm, and more and more students from out of state and out of the country (who can afford to pay the full freight of their education) would be recruited.

This would most likely hurt students from middle-class families more than poorer ones. Those kids are caught between the less well-off, who are helped by a variety of financial aid programs, and the wealthy students, whose families have no problem paying for a first-class college education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/opinion/03herbert.html

Score Choice and the Common Application: Inside Higher Ed Linkback

The Common Application has had to adopt a temporary policy to deal with the dispute over “score choice,” the controversial rules change by the College Board that allows applicants to college to decide which of their SAT scores they want to report. The change allows students who take the test repeatedly to hide that fact, while the old policy would have required all scores to be reported. Some colleges are going along with the change, but others are insisting that all SAT scores be reported. While colleges’evaluate students based on official scores received from testing agencies, some application forms ask students to self-report, so admissions offices can have that information while awaiting the official scores. Parts of the Common Application allow applicants to send different information to different colleges, but the test score question is part of the completely shared application. The Common Application’s board has adopted a policy for this year that allows applicants to skip the testing question — without penalty — so they can submit some scores to colleges that permit score choice and all scores to those that do not. Rob Killion, executive director of the Common Application, said that its board plans to spend time over the next year developing a long term solution.