College Admissions Updates

The fall is a critical time for college applications and so I have been busy with lots of meetings with college representatives to learn more about their admissions office updates for the year.

Last week I attended a meeting with all of the colleges in the state of Ohio and I wanted to share a few updates that I think might be helpful for my students to know.

Probably the biggest one is regarding Miami University... Miami wants a recommendation letter from someone!  They don't care if it is from a counselor or a teacher, but they do want a letter.  This is VERY confusing on Common App because both the counselor and teacher rec letter areas are listed as optional.  This makes sense in that neither a teacher or counselor recommendation letter is required, but the way Common App is set up it doesn't show that they do want 1 letter and it can be from anyone.

That is also a key reminder that if you are applying to any out of state colleges, it is beneficial to go to the college admissions office websites as well as looking at what is posted on Common App to make sure that other schools are not in the same situation as Miami where they require a letter, but all choices are listed as optional because they don't care who you send the letter from.

University of Cincinnati is test optional, but their nursing program is not.  So if you are applying to nursing at UC then you must submit your test scores for consideration.

Much like UC, Akron and Shawnee State also require test scores to be submitted for students applying to nursing.  And Toledo requires test scores for those students looking to apply for the medical school interview guarantee program and the 3+3 pre-dental program that is offered in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University.

Toledo and Miami both superscore the ACT scores submitted for admissions decisions.

For those students who are undocumented, the Ohio colleges do have application options for you even without permanent residency status.  For many, you will have to begin the application as an international student, but as you progress through the process the colleges can then qualify you for in state tuition rates.  You will want to check out the college's websites for detailed information and/or talk to the admissions advisors to help you with this process.

For the private colleges, I'll repeat again, that the sticker prices are NOT the end price that students typically have to pay!  They gave the data that the average tuition is 33,307 and the average aid offered is 21,200.  The other big thing to keep in mind when looking at private colleges is their rates of students who are able to graduate in 4 years compared to those at public colleges.  (Significantly higher at private colleges than public colleges.)  The reason this is important is that if it takes you an extra year to graduate at a public college, but not at a private college, then that will also play into the total amount of money you have to pay to attend the colleges.

This is just a small glimpse of all the information we have gained over the last month from colleges.  Hopefully you are also getting new insights and updates from individual colleges as they visit WKHS.  (Don't forget to be taking advantage of these rep visits - see the whole calendar on the Counselor Website and sign up for the colleges you want to meet with on the website as well.)  But if you have any specific questions, feel free to see me or to reach out to an admissions officer at the college.