by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Yesterday afternoon the IECA Summer Training Institute turned the process around as the 94 attendees got to hear what life is like for those involved in recruiting and evaluating potential clients in a session titled, Inside the Admissions Office.

In the college session, three leaders came to share insights: Erin Finn, vice president for admissions at Drexel University, who explained the changing nature of admissions as offices look for ways to balance the entering class while filling campus needs. She noted the possibility of hearing from a band director that the harpist is graduating and admissions should be on the lookout for a new harpist. Conversely, she noted the school is not going to admit six amazing, accomplished harpists when space exists for only one. Likewise, she noted the role of admissions is to ensure that each department has interested students among those incoming.

Richard Floyd, director of admission at Ursinus College (one of the Colleges That Change Lives), returned for the second year as a panelist. Richard noted the outsize role U.S. News & World Report plays in their annual rankings in influencing students and parents. He shared that colleges, while being dismayed at the criteria used, often actively promote themselves to colleagues in an effort to raise their profile. Erin, from Drexel, added that colleges crow about better standings (Drexel named one of five colleges to watch) and downplay when the rankings or attention invariably declines.

Suzi Nam, director of admission at Swarthmore College also participated. She noted the importance of a student’s application demonstrating a match to the university’s mission. A school like Swarthmore, where they seek students that value the pursuit of knowledge above all else (even grades), admission reps should be able to tell in the application why a candidate suits that mission.

All three endorsed the role of educational consultants in general, with one noting that good advising is as necessary to the college search and application process as a realtor is to the home search/sale. The group also noted the admiration they have for IECA members as being particularly professional, ethical, and knowledgeable. Each indicated their willingness to take calls and in queries from IECA members, when the goal is gathering general information and not advocating on behalf of an applicant.

It was a great session and was duplicated for school and therapeutic specialists separately. More details will follow in a future blog.

by Emily Snyder, IECA (Virginia)

Yesterday’s edition of Inside Higher Ed has a very interesting question and answer session with Margaret K. Nelson, A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Sociology at Middlebury College, and the author of a new book, Parenting Out of Control: Anxious Parents in Uncertain Times (New York University Press). Nelson takes the philosophy behind the late Bill Strauss’s and Nathaniel Howe’s defining ‘helicopter parent’ trend one step further; she discusses the impact of a number of factors, including U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings, the changing communication styles between parents and their children, and differing socio-economic factors, on the heightened sense of competition in the college admissions process. Specific to our work as consultants, Nelson discusses and responds to questions on whether parents have become too involved in the process of selecting and applying to colleges, addresses the difficulties in defining one ‘appropriate’ level of involvement, and of most interest to me, responds to the question: “How does the (perceived) increased in the difficulty of getting into college (particularly at an elite institution) impact parenting styles?”

For anyone looking to understand the psychology behind the ‘helicopter parent’ phenomenon, I suspect her book will be well read. As a consultant who helps students and families navigate the college admissions process, this book has just moved to the top of my summer reading list.

by Emily Snyder, IECA Member (Virginia) and Chair, IECA College Committee

In “Inside the College Rankings” in Friday’s US News and World Report, Bob Morse (of the Morse Code), cites the recently released “UCLA Freshman Survey: Fall 2009″ as evidence that students are using a variety of factors—not just national rankings—when making a decision about where to go to college.

The survey asked 219,864 incoming freshman at 297 colleges to rate as many as 22 factors that they considered to be “very important” in influencing their decision to attend a particular college.

The survey results show that financial aid (#3) and cost of attendance (#4) are very important considerations—no surprise given the current economic climate. With other factors, such as campus visits (#5); size (#6); social climate (#7); and location (#9) receiving a higher rating than national rankings (#12—down from #11 last year), it is clear that the groundwork that IECA has laid for educating students and families on making a decision that is right for them has taken hold. Hopefully we won’t have to work as hard to dispel the myth that a university’s national ranking determines it worthiness.

In the data driven age of the 21st century, where statistical comparisons are used for making all kinds of decisions, national education rankings will continue to play a role in most families’ decision-making process. For what it’s worth, in my opinion, to assume otherwise would be shortsighted.

However, as the importance of national rankings shifts, so does our responsibility. Do we even need to continue to debate whether rankings are worthwhile? Can we use this survey as a conversation changer in how we counsel families?

When the conversation surfaces, why not say that rankings are out there, that each one represents one source’s results (and in some cases opinion), and that we would all be better served to focus on the factors that are the most important to each particular student’s situation; let’s be the ones to shift the conversation. The fact that US News is giving coverage to a survey that some could construe as “devaluing” the importance of the national rankings speaks for itself—the timing is right.

The results of the UCLA survey prove that students and families are heeding the advice we provide; something we should all be proud of. It also renews my faith in what we do for students—guide them as they utilize available resources to evaluate their options and make decisions that are right for them.