Summer will be winding down in the next few weeks, and as high school seniors begin their college applications, there are a few things to keep in mind.

More colleges, including Columbia University and University of Michigan, will be using the Common Application this year, making it easier to apply to those schools. This means they are likely to see increases in applications.

A number of colleges received more enrollment deposits than they expected and are likely to to exceed their enrollment goals. It may sound like a good problem for colleges, but not having enough space in classrooms and residence halls is a major headache for everyone, so those schools may be more conservative with admission offers in the next admission cycle. That always makes me more cautious and conservative in assessing a student’s prospects for admission. Check out the latest statistics for your colleges, and make sure to include at least one or two schools that are attainable and affordable.

The 2010-2011 Common Application is now available, so students who want to complete a college application before going back to school can go to www.commonapp.org and get started. Some schools already have their supplements online and others should post them in the next few weeks. Applications for schools that don’t use Common App will be available by early September. 

Make sure you register with all your colleges, so you will be notified of admission events this fall. If you won’t be able to visit a college, attending a local information session is an opportunity to learn more about the school and demonstrate your interest, which is a factor in admission decisions at many colleges.

If you are applying to more than four or five colleges with supplemental essays, it’s especially important to pace yourself. Senior year grades are used for admission decisions at many colleges, and if you are taking the kind of rigorous curriculum that admissions officers like to see, the work will pile up quickly. Once school starts, you will be very glad to have some of your college application work out of the way.

I recently sat down with the admissions dean at a liberal arts college who told me that she and many of her colleagues at other schools are worried about the possibility of serious summer melt this year. Summer melt occurs when students who submitted enrollment deposits decide over the summer not to attend the college. This happens because students who are admitted to another college from a waitlist cancel their enrollment at the school where they submitted a deposit. Also contributing to summer melt is the  practice of sending enrollment deposits to more than one college. Despite the fact that double depositing is not allowed and can result in both colleges withdrawing an offer of admission, more families may be doing it, which means colleges will lose additional students who have promised to enroll.

Summer melt lowers a school’s yield (the number of accepted students who enroll) and adds to the challenge of meeting enrollment goals. Too many students result in overcrowded residence halls and classrooms, and too few students mean not enough tuition dollars to meet the college’s expenses. While the most elite schools will easily fill in any gaps by admitting students from their waitlists, less selective schools may have a more difficult time meeting enrollment goals.

Applications were up at many schools this year, but the number of high school students graduating high school and applying to college was not expected to be higher this year. The increase in applications was more likely a result of students worried about the competition for admission and about their ability to pay for college. These students applied to more schools so that they would be sure to have choices and could compare financial aid and scholarship offers.

When students submit more applications, they will need to turn down a lot of admission offers, so that even though a college saw an increase in applications, it can end up with fewer incoming students. The pressure to maintain or improve their yield has led admissions staff to reach out to newly admitted students early and often to get students to make a commitment, and concern about summer melt may lead some schools to look for more ways to keep students emotionally invested in attending the school. At least one college is considering assigning roommates earlier in the summer, probably because getting incoming freshmen feeling more connected would make them less likely to change their minds about attending the college.

A number of colleges are still accepting applications. Admissions deans at these schools hope to fill their remaining slots over the coming weeks with additional freshman and transfer students. For students who were not admitted to any colleges, or who are not happy with their college choices, being able to submit additional applications means they still have options if they want to attend a four-year college this year. As of May 4^th, there were 240 four-year colleges still accepting applications for the fall 2010 term. While you won’t see any Ivies on the list, there are many fine schools that have openings. Choices range from small liberal arts colleges like Lewis and Clark to huge public universities such as University of Arizona. While financial aid may be limited at some schools, 239 colleges indicated they do still have financial aid available to students. Housing is available at 236 of the colleges. Some of the schools are open to transfer but not freshman students. The initial deadline for the Space Availability Survey was May 4^th, but waitlist activity has started, and as students shift from one college to another, some schools will be added to the list and others will disappear over the summer, so if you are looking for a college to attend this fall, be sure to check the list regularly at http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/SpaceAvailabiltySurvey/Pages/SpaceSurveyResults.aspx. Students who are interested in applying should contact colleges directly, as admissions offices will have the most up-to-date information about space availability and application procedures.

Efforts to increase yield and avoid summer melt are likely to continue next year. Some colleges are paying more attention to demonstrated interest as a way to gauge the likelihood that a student will enroll if admitted. If you haven’t visited a college or attended a local information session, and don’t put the effort into preparing an application that communicates a real understanding of what the school has to offer and why you would be a good match, you could find yourself waitlisted at colleges that will accept students who may have less impressive grades and test scores but who seem more likely to enroll.

That doesn’t mean you should feign interest in schools you really don’t care about. Instead, take time to research and choose your colleges carefully, so that you can prepare an authentic application for each school. Rather than applying to 15 or more colleges, limit your applications to those that you really know and are excited about. You will have a less stressful and more satisfying college application process.

At the end of spring break, many high school juniors and their families come home exhausted after visiting colleges. In addition to an often punishing schedule of two or even three college tours a day, the reality that they are beginning the high-stakes college admission process can put students and parents on edge.

Then there are the reports of this year’s admission decisions, which only add to the stress. Applications were up at many selective colleges, pushing acceptance rates at some schools to record lows.

Applications increased at all UC campuses. UCLA received 57, 578 freshman applications, and Berkeley had a record 50,312 freshman applications this year.  Harvard and Stanford saw applications increase by roughly five percent.  Both Princeton and University of Pennsylvania received over 4,000 additional applications this year, close to a 20 percent increase at each school.  Brown and University of Chicago each had increases of more than 5,000 applications.  Even a relatively modest 3 percent increase at Columbia means 750 additional students competing for admission.

You can blame California for some of the increases. The state’s ongoing budget crisis and severe funding cuts at California’s public universities have led more California students to apply to out of state schools. Anxiety about the competition for admission and the desire to compare financial aid packages and scholarship offers may also be leading students around the country to apply to more colleges.

When applications increase, acceptance rates decrease. At Penn, the admit rate dropped from 17.1 percent last year to 14.2 percent this year. Stanford admitted 7.2 percent of applicants, while Harvard’s acceptance rate dropped just under 7 percent, a record low for the school.  Georgetown had a 19 percent admit rate. University of Virginia admitted 24 percent of out-of-state applicants. Duke’s admit rate dropped from last year’s 17 percent to a new low of 15 percent.  One of the most dramatic decreases in acceptances was at University of Chicago, where 27 percent of students were admitted last year and only 18 percent this year.

The cycle seems poised to continue, as this year’s low acceptance rates will raise anxiety to even higher levels, and students will think they need to apply to more schools next year. While colleges may be able to boast of increasing selectivity, this situation really is not good for anyone. Families are more stressed, and when students apply to more colleges each year, admissions officers have a harder time predicting which students will accept an offer of admission.

Admissions officers at schools that are just below the super-selective level can find it especially difficult to distinguish serious applicants from the students who just want a “safety” school. This can lead some colleges to waitlist “stealth” applicants, those who have not had any contact with the school other than submitting an application. Admissions officers want to protect their yield, which is the number of students accepting an offer of admission. Stronger students may be waitlisted, while others with lower grades or test scores are admitted. The seeming arbitrariness of admission decisions raises anxiety for the next year’s applicants, who then think they need to apply to more colleges because they have heard stories of students with stellar academic records not being admitted to colleges they thought were safe bets.

So we have admissions officers and families worrying about numbers and taking actions that can raise anxiety levels on both sides. For students, one of the problems with applying to too many schools is that you are more likely to submit the kind of generic application that will get you waitlisted. Even if you are applying to schools that use the Common Application, you will need to write additional essays for many of the colleges. Preparing a strong application requires research, so that you can write very specifically about why you and that college are a match. Students who apply to 15 colleges rarely put that kind of effort into each application. You might believe you can do a really great job on all your applications, but most students start to feel burned out by the time they are working on their eighth or ninth application.  

This process doesn’t need to be so stressful. Juniors who have visited colleges in recent weeks should think about what they liked at each school. Beyond prestige, what is it that appealed to you at the school? If you identify the characteristics you want in a college, you can find schools of varying selectivity that have those features. Then you are ready to create a balanced list, with several highly likely, match and reach schools. The exact distribution may depend on your tolerance for rejection. Some students want to have a lot of acceptances, in part because their preferences may change by next year and they want to have options. It may also be important to compare financial aid and scholarship offers from different schools. Others only need one or two schools where they know they’ll be accepted and then they want to try for a lot of reach schools. If you choose carefully and plan on applying to somewhere between six and ten schools, you should be able to put your best effort into each application and have a successful college admission process.

Columbia University has just become the last Ivy League school to join the Common Application. Columbia is one of 25 new members, including two popular public universities, the University of Michigan and University of Connecticut. These additions mean that 414 colleges will be using the Common Application this fall. A few prominent universities, including Georgetown, MIT and USC are resisting the trend and keeping their own applications.  In addition to saving students a lot of unnecessary work, the Common Application is easier for teachers and counselors, who only need to submit a recommendation one time.

While the number of students graduating high school and going to college has peaked in many parts of the country, California is expected to see a 16 percent increase in the number of high school graduates heading for college by 2019. That means an additional 387,000 students. With the University of California and California State University suffering drastic funding cuts that have forced them to reduce enrollment, increase class sizes and cut programs, it’s not surprising that colleges around the country are successfully recruiting California students. As families worry about the increasing competition for admission as well as the decreasing educational quality at California’s public institutions, students are applying to out of state schools in record numbers.

Applications from California students are up 22 percent this year at University of Washington and 24 percent at Arizona State University. University of Virginia is reporting a 24 percent increase. My alma mater, University of Pennsylvania, saw a 22 percent increase in applications from California students. Nearby Swathmore received 16 percent more California applications this year, and at Colgate, applications from California students are up 15 percent.

I’m seeing this trend with my students, who have applied to more schools around the country than in previous years. Tuition may be higher than you would pay at UC or CSU, but some schools are offering generous scholarship and financial aid to lure students, and if you can be assured of graduating in four years, attending college outside of California can be a smart move.

The number of students graduating from high school and applying to college was supposed to peak last year, but you wouldn’t know it from the reports of record-breaking numbers of college applications at schools around the country.

While Yale’s applications are down (by less than one percent), applications are up 20 percent at Brown, 19 percent at Princeton, 17 percent at University of Pennsylvania, five percent at Harvard and Cornell, and four percent at Dartmouth. Stanford reports a four to five percent increase in applications. Applications are up a whopping 42 percent at University of Chicago, probably the result of more intensive recruiting as well as Chicago’s switch to the Common Application. Applications are up 15 percent at Middlebury, 10 percent at Connecticut College, six percent at Wesleyan and three percent at Williams College and George Washington University. Many public universities, including Penn State, University of Virginia and the University of California system are also seeing increases in applications.

More applications will mean lower acceptance rates. Duke’s applications are up 11 percent this year, and its acceptance rate will likely fall from 18 percent last year to 15 percent this year. Johns Hopkins has received 13 percent more applications and since the University was overenrolled last year and will be more cautious this year, the acceptance rate will probably fall from last year’s 27 percent to 17 or 18 percent. George Washington University also had a higher than expected yield last year, and with a three percent increase in applications this year, the acceptance rate is likely to fall there as well.

There are a number of explanations for the increases in applications. Students who are anxious about admission prospects or want to compare financial aid and scholarship offers are applying to more colleges. Concern about the budget cuts at California’s public universities is contributing to the rise in applications around the country. UC is currently overenrolled by 15,000 students, meaning the system gets no funding for those students. Last year, UC reduced freshman admission by 2,300 across all campuses and another 1,500 slots will be cut this year. The CSU system is reducing enrollment by 40,000 over two years. Private colleges and many public universities in other states have received more applications from California students this year.

Some of the increase in applications can be attributed to more aggressive recruiting, as college enrollment managers worry about filling seats in a still struggling economy. Public universities that are getting less state funding are seeking more out of state students, who pay much higher tuition. All schools are recruiting more international students, who do not qualify for federal financial aid and generally pay full fare.

Applications from out of state students are up at many University of California campuses, so despite the severe budget problems, the perception of a quality education and the allure of warm, sunny weather is still drawing students to the West Coast. Students from New Jersey may have a better chance of being admitted to Berkeley this year, but getting admitted is only the first hurdle. Cuts in course offerings have made it difficult for students at California’s public institutions to get the classes they need, and staff furloughs are impacting student services.

It’s not just public institutions that are suffering a loss of revenue in this economy. Charitable contributions to colleges were down 12 percent in 2009. Alumni giving rates fell to 10 percent. All colleges have been affected, and have had to find ways to cut expenses. Even wealthy institutions have put plans for new buildings on hold, cut programs and laid off staff. Financial aid is the last thing anyone wants to cut, and many schools are increasing their financial aid budgets. But last week, Williams College, one of the elite schools that had implemented a no-loan financial aid policy several years ago, announced it will go back to including loans in financial aid packages beginning with students applying next year. I would not be surprised to hear similar news from other colleges.

But the news isn’t all bad. While public institutions are forced to cut enrollment when they have budget cuts, private colleges that don’t have big endowments depend on tuition, and must maintain their enrollment or add students to ensure sufficient revenue to fund their budgets. At colleges that are not super-selective, enrollment managers are concerned about filling seats, and that means students who would not have been admitted two years ago have much better prospects this year, especially if they don’t qualify for financial aid.

The other good news for students who don’t need financial aid is that merit scholarships are still going strong. Two of my students have already been awarded $25,000 a year, and many others have received awards in the $10,000 to $15,000 a year range. Private schools need to be competitive with public institutions, and by offering scholarships to students who will still pay more tuition than students with huge financial need, they draw students whose families are able to pay a little more for the benefits of a private college experience. In a still shaky economy, merit scholarships are more appealing than ever. Even California parents who attended public institutions and thought their children were headed for UC or CSU are now worried about the quality of education at our public universities, and the ability of students to graduate from these schools in four years, and many of them are now see merit scholarships as a way to make a private college education affordable.

Of course, a scholarship isn’t a reason to choose a school that doesn’t meet your needs, but with careful planning, students can find schools that are both good matches and affordable.

At the recent UC Counselor Conference, it was clear that with an $813 million shortfall this year, times are tough at the University of California.

Every campus is currently overenrolled, and UC is not getting state funding for the extra 14,000 students. The freshman enrollment target is certain to decline this year. UCLA is overenrolled by 1,700 California students. Since resident fees don’t come close to covering the cost to educate a student, when the state doesn’t fund those 1,700 extra students, UCLA’s budget is further strained.

Campuses that were previously not very competitive have become more selective. The admit rate at Santa Cruz went from 74% in 2008 to 64% in 2009. Santa Cruz is expected to be slightly more selective this year, but the difference won’t be as dramatic as we have seen in recent years. Davis, which has become very popular in recent years, admitted 68% of students back in 2006, and just 46% in 2009. Berkeley did not cut enrollment last year, but will do so this year. 

In the past, UC eligible students who were not admitted to more selective campuses would be referred to Riverside and Merced, even if they hadn’t applied to those schools. But this year students who are willing to attend those campuses should apply, because the referral process will be sharply curtailed.

UC Irvine used a waitlist year for the first time in 2009, and there is discussion of a possible systemwide waitlist for 2010.

There is good news for students who are Eligible in Local Context (ELC), meaning they are in the top four percent of their class. They will be again be guaranteed admission to Davis, Irvine, Riverside and Santa Barbara.

While freshman enrollment will decrease, UC will have a modest increase in spaces allotted to for transfer students.

The changes on UC campuses will go well beyond admissions. A hiring freeze on permanent faculty, fewer lecturers and teaching assistants, bigger classes, curtailed library hours, and reduced support services are some of the ways the budget crisis is impacting the UC. 

While admissions directors stressed that every effort is being made to keep the cuts from impacting the classroom experience, there’s no way around it. Students may have to take classes at 8am or 5pm. Some programs and courses will be cut. Freshmen currently graduate from UC in 4.25 years on average, but that could increase if it becomes more difficult to get classes. Students will have a different UC experience than their older siblings might have had a few years ago.

The cost of attending a UC will go up, with a midyear increase and then a substantial increase for fall 2010. The amount will be set in November, but the current $26,400 average total cost could top $28,000 next year. Part of the increase in fees will go to financial aid, to minimize the impact on needy students.

I left the conference thinking I will advise my students who want to attend a UC campus to apply widely this year. Students who would easily have been admitted to their favorite UC campus in the past could be disappointed.

While their transcript is set at this point, seniors can still improve their prospects for admission by improving their standardized test scores and making the most of the personal statement on the UC application.

Freshmen, sophomores and juniors should start planning now if they want to be in a strong position to apply to the UC in the next few years.

Admissions deans at private colleges have been worried that the recession would mean a decrease in enrollment this fall, but according to a new survey by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, it looks like most schools will maintain or even slightly increase enrollment.  Many colleges kept tuition increases to a minimum, and increased financial aid and merit scholarships, in order to remain competitive with public universities.  Some schools also accepted late applications.  Admissions officers at many colleges are trying to minimize “summer melt” by continuing to reach out to students who have submitted enrollment deposits, hoping that regular contact will keep them committed to the school.  These steps probably account for the fact that about 74 percent of responding colleges are not projecting a decline in enrollment.  The problem is that many of these schools will have a tough time continuing the enhanced financial aid/scholarships and minimal tuition increases after this year.  If the recession lingers, the fears about falling enrollment will likely become reality at some colleges. 

When the wealthiest university in the country announces layoffs, it’s clear that no insitution is immune from the effects of the dismal economy.  Due to a projected 30 percent drop in its endowment, Harvard will be laying off 275 staff members, and that’s after freezing salaries and taking other cost-cutting measures during the past year.

There’s been a lot of talk about how the economy has impacted admission this year, but if you’re getting ready to apply to college, it’s even more important to know how financial pressures could affect the quality of the educational experience at a college.  Harvard is still a wealthy institution, but other schools may be forced to make changes that could impact your choices. If a college is increasing the size of the freshman class because it needs more tuition revenue, students could find larger classes and crowded triple dorm rooms.  More classes might be taught by graduate students rather than full professors.  Some courses and even whole departments could be eliminated.  If you are excited about a school’s linguistics major, or the opportunity to receive a stipend for doing summer research on campus, you want to know that those programs will be there when you arrive. Colleges could also make cuts in athletic programs, academic advising or health services.

All of this means that it is more important than ever to do your research. On college visits, you can see if the buildings and grounds are well-maintained. Ask admissions officers how the economy is impacting the school. Talking to students is always a great way to learn what’s really happening on campus. They can tell you if they have trouble getting into classes, the library has started closing earlier and it takes four weeks to get an appointment with a career advisor. As always, the more information you have, the better prepared you are to make decisions about college.

I just returned from the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling (WACAC) conference, where I got the latest information from admissions officers. The good news for seniors planning to apply to the University of California is that the essay prompts will be the same, so you can start working on those essays now. The not so good news is that UCLA and Berkeley are likely to reduce freshmen enrollment next year. Once the state has a budget and UC knows what the funding will be, enrollment goals for next year will be set for each campus. With increasing competition for fewer seats, it’s more important than ever to submit a strong application. Berkeley received 850 appeals this year and only admitted 10 of those students, so the chance of reversing a decision is very low.  It’s tough to get motivated when you’re burned out from an overloaded junior year, and it’s fine to take a couple weeks to rest, but then you need to start working on that personal statement, so that you have plenty of time to prepare your best application. 

The admit rate at many UC campuses will probably drop again for the fall 2012 freshman class, when new eligibility requirements mean that more students will be eligible for admission. Younger students should make sure they’re on track with curriculum choices as well as summer and extracurricular activities that will enhance their UC application. While the 2012 applicants will no longer be required to submit SAT Subject Test scores, students who plan to apply for certain programs, like engineering, will be more competitive if they have strong math and science Subject Test scores.