Senior Reflection #1

Now that May 1st has finally passed I couldn't be happier to have the college admissions process over and done with. I have committed to going to the University of Pittsburgh next year and plan to major in Spanish and have a pre-med concentration. So much of this year has been focused on applying to college, getting in to college, and deciding on a college to attend. I'm so relieved to finally know where I'm headed next year and have somewhere to picture myself when I think about college. Now that the stress of it all has come to an end, I'm just really excited to be headed to a new city and meeting new people!

CE #1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/16/AR2010051602986.html?hpid=dynamiclead

A. This article is about the increasing size of wait lists at colleges in the area. Over the past two years, colleges have become more and more cautious due to the economic downturn. The recession has scared admissions offices into waitlisting more students to prevent an underenrolled freshmen class. In times like these, the loss of tuition dollars cannot be afforded. Even though, increased numbers of people on the waitlist means more students getting the rejection letter at the beginning of June and only a select few receiving the coveted admission phone call. Schools such as Georgetown have reinstated there waitlist due to the need to fill in holes in their class of only 1,580. Some schools say that they don't even keep a specific number in their head, but rather waitlist one student per every two admitted. As wait lists lengths increase, people are beginning to wonder if maybe they are too long.

B. I chose this article because the headline caught my attention after one of my friends was just admitted off the wait list at UVA. She was also waitlisted at a couple other schools, which made us all wonder why waitlisting seemed so much more common this year. This article provided an answer for me. The article was well written and provided statistics from several schools in the area along with statements from deans of admissions which provided insight into the admissions process. I enjoyed reading this article because it provided insight into the admissions and wait listing process and how it's changed since the economic downturn.