Faq Reference Data Information

It is highly recommended that early in the college selection process, parents and student(s) visit some schools to determine if they’ll be suitable. The criteria that must be considered before any college is applied to include:

• Average GPA, SAT I, class rank for acceptance
• The school should offer enough choices in the event the student changes their major
• Size, location, Greeks, religious affiliation
• Percentage of freshmen that return for year two
• Percentage of freshmen that graduate in four years
• Percentage of financial need met
• Percentage of gift aid/self-help awarded
• On or off campus job opportunities
• Meal plans and dietary situations met
• Name recognition
• Student/teacher ratio
• Average class size, semester or trimester
• Percentage of professors who teach and percentage of teaching assistants
• 2 or 4-year college or university
• Co-ed dorms
• Freshman cars permitted
• Handicap accessibility
• Cost of the sheepskin

It is also recommended that you determine if the school uses a need-blind or need-sensitive admissions policy. Need-blind is a practice where the student is evaluated without any regard to family income or assets. Need-sensitive is a shameful policy used by a host of elite schools such as Duke, Emory and Stanford. These schools will admit a less than qualified rich kid in anticipation of a large contribution to their own endowment funds. In essence, the wealthy family has bought an admission ticket to a school where their student might never have otherwise been accepted!

It’s anyone’s guess how many other schools enrich their coffers in this deceitful, unprincipled manner. Duke has even been brazenly open about this policy, and I find it curious that shortly after reaching their $2 billion fund raising goal in 2003, they reduced their freshman acceptance percentage from 7.5% to 4%. The words of former U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) come to mind here, “When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.”

Parents and student(s) should make the official unofficial visit to potential schools no later than the 10th grade. Colleges are always impressed when a 9th or 10th grader pays a visit. By keeping in touch with officials you’ve met, in essence, you will have added points to both your GPA and SAT I scores by establishing a rapport. When the time comes, administrators will be able to associate a face with your application. This helps a merely qualified student become a far more acceptable one.

However, before packing your bags and filling up the SUV with gas, make a checklist that includes the following:

Confirm that everything you plan to visit will be open and, ideally, that school is in session. Ask plenty of questions and be an attentive listener. Consider bringing a video camera or tape recorder for your notes no matter how good your memory is. Find out who reads applications from your area and, if possible, try to meet with a reader and be sure to keep in touch with them.

Student athletes should meet with a coach or two. Listen to the school radio station and get a copy of the campus newspaper. If the student has Greek intentions, visit some frat or sorority houses. Students should check out the dorm unannounced, introduce themselves to attending students and pick their brains.

Have a snack in the cafeteria. After all, their food is what the student will be eating for the next four years! Students who have decided upon their course of study should make every effort to arrange a meeting with the head of that particular department and audit a class or two. This may require an overnight, giving the student a greater opportunity to check out the dorm.

These are some college selection websites I recommend:

• For alternative criteria go to www.fairtest.org or call 617-864-4810. They have a list of some 300 schools that apply non-traditional guidelines in the Admissions Process.

• Afro-American schools: www.blackhighereducation.com/hbcu.html

• Jesuit schools: www.ajcunet.edu

• Jewish affiliation: www.hillel.org

• Trade and vocational schools: www.overview.com/colleges/

Reecy Aresty has been a financial advisor since 1977, and is founder and president of College Assistance, Inc., located in Boca Raton, Florida. He is the author of “How To Pay For College Without Going Broke,” an invaluable, critically acclaimed, parent/student manual, (updated from its previous edition, “Getting Into College And Paying for It!”). Arguably the most revealing book ever written on college admissions and financial aid, it is also the only book of its kind available in Spanish. For the past 28 years, Reecy has helped thousands of families send their kids to the college of their choice for less than they ever dreamed possible. For more information on admissions & financial aid, and to checkout the best college book on the market today, please visit

Every year the North Central Association evaluates Several St. Louis Schools seeking accreditation. The goal for the organization is to assist St. Louis Public Schools in developing and demonstrating effective curriculums. The process also keeps transient students in the St. Louis Schools up to date with their work. Family relocation is the most common cause of drastically falling grades in the St. Louis Schools. Accredited schools are better able to tackle this problem because they all share a consistent curriculum. So when children move from one school to another, they haven’t lost as much ground.

How important is accreditation to the St. Louis Public Schools? Is it a valid mark of achievement, or just a political rating? While people argue both sides, the truth is that we need consistency in the St. Louis Schools and public education overall. OK- some schools that are improving will complain that they didn’t have enough time, money, or something else. And that may be true. But filtering struggling and failing schools out of the St. Louis Schools is the only way to improve the district.

A uniform curriculum has benefits to almost everyone in the system. Students coming from St. Louis Schools entering colleges will be better apt to succeed from the beginning. Professors will know what to expect from students coming from St. Louis Schools. Knowing the level of work achieved at St. Louis Schools assists these professors in planning their curriculum. This gives college professors the advantage to prepare incoming college students at higher paces and levels. This is more beneficial to everyone rather than having to design a course route that is generally vague and applies to anyone.

To earn accreditation, all St. Louis Schools have to meet high standards. This process is voluntary and optional to all St. Louis Schools. Since the process is voluntary, it ensures the success of St. Louis Schools incorporated into this organization. There are no laws mandating participation so teachers, students, and other faculty members take careful measure to ensure that achieved accreditation is held in a high and honorable regard. Some administrators say that if the process was involuntary, not all St. Louis Schools would see the importance of North Central Associations’ goals as they are meant to be expressed. Hmmm. But wouldn’t making it mandatory require everyone to see them as important?

Overall, the accreditation offered by North Central Association to St. Louis Schools is an improvement. It’s a starting ground for success by students and schools working together relocating children don’t struggle to adjust. The program also helps keep all the students working on similar goals, while setting their own pace. At some point the St. Louis Schools will need to make these policies mandatory. With stricter federal guidelines and pressure from parents and politicians, it’s just a matter of time.

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit schoolsk-12.com/MIssouri/Saint-Louis/index.html St. Louis Public Schools