BellaOnline Forums Education Gifted Education student rejected by Ivies, despite stellar record

> I think that the application fees are really a drop in the bucket compared to tuition though

Definitely, especially for private our out-of-state schools.

However, it seems like applying to too many schools is a poor use of money. That may be your future textbooks.

I didn't even realize there were application fees. I remember on the SAT's that you could write down three (I'm pretty sure just 3) schools that they'd send your test results to, no charge.

Many colleges and universities have implemented application fees, partially because the process of either data entering applications or maintaining web-based applications is increasing and they need the funding to support these efforts.

I see fees ranging from $15 to $250 for undergraduate applications; and up to $500 for graduate school applications. Some, not all, institutions will offer waivers for students if the student has financial need or meets other requirements.

Yikes! I'll have to let my brother know, his eldest daughter has just a couple of years before she has to worry about that!

I am surprised to hear any school recommend applying to ten schools-- mostly because of the work load added to the school. Most colleges require a note written by the guidance department and recommendations from teachers. Our high school limits the number of applications because of this reason.

However, our school recommends applying to six schools. The suggest applying to two "reach" schools, two target schools, and two safety schools. This system helps if you shoot too high or too low; at least you should get accepted somewhere.

We sent out about five applications, and then somewhere in the middle of my son's senior year, he changed his mind about what he wanted to major in, and that changed everything. We had to do an about face and start applying all over. Thank goodness there was no real limit of schools.

It's interesting to read about the application process in the States - it sounds strenuous, not to mention expensive. Here in the UK, applications are handled by a centralised agency, which makes the process quite a bit easier - on the whole, a single application form is all that is required (though some universities do ask for extra paperwork). The number of applications a student can make is restricted to 5 (or 3 for subjects such as medicine or dentistry, if I remember correctly). And the application fee is a whopping �15 (or �5 if applying to a single university).

Sorry, I realise none of this is relevant to you but thought that you might be interested to hear how the process works elsewhere.

Six is fine, I would say.

Manatee-

So the UK government runs the whole application process?

What about tuition once a student is accepted? How does that compare to colleges in the US?

just curious-

Yes, it's all run by a central organisation, UCAS. Tuition fees are set by the government (with the exception of private universities, which are quite rare, though). The current rate of tuition fees is c.�3,000 a year for undergraduate studies and some post-graduate courses (I plan to a history master's next year, for which fees are around �3,000; others, like dentistry, are much higher - anything up to �15,000 I think.) So, from what I know about US fees, it really is a lot cheaper here. Overseas students pay fees at a considerably higher rate but I think that it still tends to work out cheaper than studying in the US.

I applied to three colleges and was accepted to all three. I never went to any of them, though, since I decided to work for a couple of years first. However, once I finally did go to college, I ended up beginning at an entirely different school and it was a junior college.

Then I had one university I wanted to attend so I only applied to that one. In my first attempt, I was basically told to hold off on graduation from the JC and raise a couple of grades from my Freshman year. I did, I was accepted, then got married and didn't go because I was helping my husband graduate as soon as possible.

I think applying to more than 5 or 6 schools is overkill and actually adds to the problem--as has been eloquently stated by those of you who already posted above.

Manatee--that is very interesting information. I'm always interested in how other countries handle college admissions and tuition.