35% of colleges revoked at least one offer of admissions in 2007. The most commonly cited reason for revoking an admissions offer was due to low final grades. This is particularly true in the case of schools that employ a holistic approach to admissions.The University of Washington withdrew 23 offers of admission in 2006 after going over students' final transcripts. In some cases, the letters notifying students of the revocation didn't come until late in the summer before they were to start college.
Even in the cases where an admissions offer is not revoked, some students still feel the repercussions of slacking off during senior year. A number of schools, such as the University of Virginia, send out warning letters to students whose grades have dropped

• Keep the Lines of Communication Open: After getting the acceptance letter from a college, it might seem tempting to lose touch with the school until it is time for orientation. However, by keeping the school informed about your academic decisions for the second semester of senior year, you can prevent heartache down the road. For instance, before dropping two of your Advanced Placement courses in favor of getting extra study halls, check in with your university. According to the New York Times, Northwestern University told one student, who dropped one A.P. course and considered dropping another academic subject in favor of photography, that the school would reconsider its offer of admission if she decided to proceed with these changes.
• Keep Challenging Yourself: Even the most motivated senior can find it appealing to drop out of hard courses during second semester. However, this can influence colleges to rethink their decisions and can cause you to see school as something that can easily be skipped. Instead of lightening your course load or blowing off your responsibilities, find new ways of challenging yourself in school. Taking on an internship or volunteer work can help you explore different career opportunities, and some schools will even let you get some credit for approved activities.
• Stay Involved: It is all too easy to blow off an athletic practice or play rehearsal during the spring of your senior year. However, besides letting down your fellow teammates and classmates, checking out too early can lead to apathy about school in general. Staying active in your extracurricular activities can help you retain a connection to your school and thus remain focused academically. More importantly, you are showing your high school, your classmates, and your future college that you honor your previous commitments.
  

College visits are essential to learning which colleges are a good match. However, before students and families spend the time and money to take off on a road trip, spending some time in front of the computer can go a long way toward helping you narrow the list and get a preview of the schools you are considering.

 

Student can preview colleges by visiting www.youniversitytv.com, which offers more than 200 short videos of college campuses.  Hear directly from students at  www.collegeclicktv.com through its collection of interviews with college students. A site called www.unigo.com  has student reviews of their own campus along with  videos. More and more colleges are added each week.

 

Although College Prowler is best know from their "off the record" guidebooks to colleges, the site www.Collegeprowler.com offers in-depth (and occasionally irreverent) ratings for colleges.

 

Some excellent but less well-known colleges can be found on sites for Colleges of Distinction. Citing the importance of engaged students, great teaching, vibrant community, and successful outcomes, Colleges of Distinction can help you find hidden educational treasures.

 

The Colleges that Change Lives site features the 40 colleges recognized in a book by the same name by Loren Pope. When compiling his list, Pope selected colleges that foster collaboration between teachers and students, are committed to undergraduate education, and allow for out-of-classroom learning opportunities.

 

If you are looking for a college with a vibrant Jewish student life, check out www.hillel.org. The site features a guide to Jewish life on campus, which includes information on a college's Jewish population, Jewish studies, and kosher options.

In the December issue, we reviewed how and when a prospective student athlete should approach college coaches.  We continue here by discussing what occurs once coaches begin to express serious interest in student athletes and how that affects their chances of admission.


After months of keeping in contact with coaches and then making official visits, student athletes begin to narrow down their colleges of interest based on how much they like the college overall and their assessment of how interested the coach is in them. If by the fall or senior year, students have a college that is a clear favorite they should inform the coach that they will attend if accepted.
 
Coaches are often able to bring to the admissions office a very short list of prospective athletes in which they are seriously interested. However, the chances of being added to this short list are slim to none if the coach does not have a verbal commitment from the athletes that they will accept the offer of admission if it is forthcoming.  This is one reason why the coach will typically ask students to demonstrate their commitment by applying under a binding early decision program if that option is available.
 
Students must protect themselves during this process by asking specific questions of the coach and insisting (politely) on answers. For instance, if the student is on theborderline academically for admission to the college, he should ask the coach, "Have you presented my academic credentials to the admissions office and did they provide feedback that I would be admissible?" Sometimes a coach really wants an athlete and he will try to convince the admissions office that the student is the right match for the school. However, if the admissions office cannot support the student's application then the student should move on before he squanders his chances at another college that might be a better athletic and academic fit. Remember, an offer of admission cannot come from a coach; it can only come from the admissions office.
 
If the coach tells the student that admissions approved her academic credentials the student can ask her guidance counselor to contact the college admissions office to verify the coach's assessment. This conversation might go something like this:
 
 
This step can go a long way toward heading off any misunderstanding and miscommunication before a student gives up her chances with other coaches and commits to a college that is not ready to commit to her in return.
 
Before committing to a coach, Samantha Neumann, a freshman on the women's swim team at Emory University, advises doing a thorough evaluation to find the right balance of academics and athletics.
 
"Make sure the school fits both academically and athletically because when you get to college the demands of each are much more strenuous than in high school," says Samantha. "If one fits but the other really doesn't, it will become too stressful to manage right from the start and just won't work."

To find out about Division I and II Athletes, Recruiting at the Ivy Leagues, and more, read the full article on our blog.