Dear Applicant…

You’ve dedicated yourself and a good chunk of your fortune to seeing that your offspring make it into a solid, respectable college. A college rich in tradition that will forge them into righteous pillars of the community. A college that will stock their minds with everything from Aristotle to Zarathustra and guarantee them a fat salary with a great company the first year out. A college, in short, so prestigious that merely dropping its name over cocktails will drive your buddies mad with jealousy.

And now it’s time. Not time for college. That’s still years away. But this is the year Bud and Suzie step onto the launching pad, as it were. This is the fateful year that will determine whether they matriculate in the Ivy League or wander slack-jawed through some academic wasteland with a name like Upper Kansas Normal Tech, graduating with a certificate in advanced typewriter operation and a senior thesis on the emergence of the pop-top in American culture.

Yes, ninth grade. Time to get serious.

That means you too, mom and dad. The superparenting challenge is not over; in fact, you’ve only begun to fight. What you’ve been hearing from the bloodied veterans returning from the front is true: rejections are up. The “best” schools are just saying no to more hopefuls than before. Even football-playing flautists with a 3.98 GPA, flawless French, and a history of volunteer work in hospitals can’t merely name their ticket like they used to. Even if they’ve got the grades and you’ve got the money to handle outrageous tuitions-scraping $20,000 a year at some schools-you may need more, more, more.

And that’s just what we’ve got. Let’s begin with two handy maxims for the successful applicant:

1. There are ways to get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, the Seven Sisters, Middlebury,St. John’s, and those other hallowed institutions whose names whisper of robed ritual and highculture. You can make it.

2. And if you can’t, the hell with those places. Who said they were the only schools worthy offour years of fevered study and belt-tightening? Let the other lemmings throw themselves againstthe gates of those archaic snob mills. You’re going to think for yourself when making this all-important decision. And if that means Northwestern, Ole Miss, Emory, or U-Cal Irvine, so be it.

Whatever your direction, this compendium of hard facts and educated guesses will help you through the application labyrinth: herewith, the official rules of applying; the hottest, hardest, and most hopeless schools; little-known scholarship funds, and more. Happy hunting.

1 RULE 1: START NOW

For your entire high-pressured life, you have been moving toward the moment of truth; college acceptance time. And now that you’re near, the rules have changed. Forewarned is forearmed.

If you happen to know already that you want. say. pre-med, so much the better. Beginning in the 7th or 8th grade, front-load your courses with heavy math and science. That way, by the time you get to your senior year, you’ll be able to devote those last important semesters to advanced courses like trig and physics II. If medicine is not your bent, and you’re not really sure what is, stack your subjects so that you can work in an extra year of a foreign language or an advanced English course. What? You haven’t been spending your Saturdays doing logarithms at local math competitions? No 5th grade debate team? No time to waste then; decathlons, math teams, honor societies, dead poets societies, and other egghead pursuits are viewed with favor.

And while we’re on the subject of extracurricular activities, don’t forget that the Nineties has already been dubbed The We Decade, the era of the service project. That means scouts, church youth groups, and any one of a thousand other youthful points of light. Perseverance is smiled upon, so pick a cause and stick with it.

Even after-school jobs are viewed favorably by the minions who read college applications. “Fifteen years ago,” says Diane Wilcox, guidance counselor at W.T. White High School, “working after school was viewed as a negative-it took kids away from the books. Now it’s seen as a plus if a kid can juggle work and school.”



2 RULE 2: ODD IS IN

Here’s the bad news: even if you pack your cheeks with Wheaties, immerse yourself in Evelyn Wood’s speed-reading dynamics, and/or bring in Jesse Jackson for the student council assembly, chances are you will not end up the high school quarterback, the valedictorian, or the student body president.

But here’s the good news: colleges aren’t falling for those old tricks anyway.

Frankly, odd is in. Admissions counselors say that it’s better to be individualistic, i.e. weird, than a clone of a thousand other would-be freshmen. Choose the oboe over the piano. The swim team over the pep squad. Hebrew over Spanish. And play your uniqueness to the hilt.

If individuality works in your favor, connections, unfortunately for those of you who have them, may not. It used to be that children of alums {especially rich alums) were virtual shoo-ins to the ol’ alma mater. No more. If you’re not qualified (and maybe even if you are), no amount of string-pulling will do the trick. In a recent article in Money magazine, a former admissions dean at Princeton owned up to routinely rejecting alumni offspring. “I denied admission to two sons of a trustee who was in the midst of raising $420 million for the school.”



3 RULE 3: JUNK THE JUNK MAIL

By the time you get to your junior year, you’ll be bombarded with hundreds of recruiting materials courtesy of friendly Marketing U. The pitch for applicants is intense, especially among private schools. In fact, colleges are the second-largest users of the U.S. Postal Service, right behind the U.S. government.

And we’re not just talking four-color brochures. The new marketing tool is, no surprise, the video. Vanderbilt’s are personalized, and Drake University uses a film technique modeled after MTV. Mood and glitz are so dominant in today’s marketing materials that Andy Bryant, director of admissions for SMU and the architect of a stunning new campus “viewbook,” says he had to fight to get in a photograph of the school.

So how do you get inside one of these come-hithers and size up the school? Toss the promo and pick up the phone. What is the computer capability in the school’s research facilities? How much help do the students receive in devising academic plans, and how much flexibility is there in planning course loads? Are values and ethics viewed as intrinsic to learning? Does the school encourage interdisciplinary studies? What sort of interaction does the college have with the surrounding community? What are its long-range goals? (Aren’t you glad you’re not a civil engineering freshman at SMU?)



4 RULE 4: LIMIT YOUR APPLICATIONS

Since the Applicant Crunch has been several years in the making, Fearless Superkids who have tread before you have figured some tricky new angles to beat the odds. And one of the more obvious ones is applying to as many schools as they can think of. Some kids apparently think nothing of applying to seven, ten, even fifteen colleges.

That’s not smart.

Counselors stress that five applications are all a busy high school kid can handle. And here’s the breakdown: apply to one “reach” school, your wildly optimistic first choice. Then pick two or three middle-of-the-road colleges where your chances are reasonable. For insurance, tack on one sure bet, where the acceptance letter is practically in your hand.

A word here about costs: the application maze will prepare you well for your four upcoming years in hock. In other words, it’s expensive. Application fees range from S25 to $100. Add college source books, college testing materials, travel expenses to look at campuses, postage, et al., and you’re looking at big bucks.



5 RULE 5: KNOW YOUR COUNSELOR

By the time you get to high school, one member of the staff there will become your link to the future, a power with dominion over the course of your entire adult life. We’re talking about your high school counselor.

You had better make sure that he likes you. If that isn’t possible, make sure that she knows you.

The counselor is your link to scholarship advice and financial aid. To application filing deadlines and testing dates. Most importantly, this is the person who will write your letter of recommendation. And college admissions people say that it carries a lot of weight. Other than the personal essay, the rec letter provides the only opportunity the college has to get a personal glimpse of you. If it’s a form letter, you’re dead.



6 RULE 6: NO HIRED GUNS

It will come as no surprise that a number of enterprising men and women lay waiting to capitalize on your insecurities about the whole college admissions mess. They are known as private college consultants. Our advice is, don’t spend the money, which can run you $500 and up.

But let us add a great big unless. Unless your high school counselor is brain dead or grossly overburdened, you don’t need hired guns.

7 RULE 7: ENTRANCE TESTS COUNT You will read that colleges don’t really pay that much attention to them. But trust us, the SAT and the ACT tests-the universal barometers in college admissions-do count.

Basically, they are your foot in the door. Those magic numbers provide colleges with a starting point in the application evaluation process. According to Augustine Garza, deputy director of admissions at The University of Texas at Austin, there would be no way to get the job done without some accepted standard of passing judgment. “If a kid’s SAT or ACT score hits the average mark [800 on the SAT and 18 on the ACT] and he doesn’t rank near the top of his class, his application is subject for review.” That’s a polite way of saying he’s history.

So what can you do if you’ve got terrible scores or you’re a miserable test taker? First there’s the old try. try again. You can take the standardized tests as many times as you like, but there’s a catch. Some schools use your most recent score only. So if you end up doing better the first time around, you’ve screwed yourself.

Most hard-driving parents will insist on some type of prep class, and there are a number of such courses around. Though there are no absolute promises, they claim to boost scores anywhere from 50 to 250 points. But don’t expect miracles, even at prices of $495 to $595.



8 RULE 8: START TOURING EARLY

No doubt you’ve been visiting college campuses for years now (haven’t you?), so you’ve gone far beyond elementary criteria: ivy-covered, near the beach, etc.

Good. By the time you actually have to say yes (during the spring of your senior year), a quick jaunt will practically be out of the question. For one thing, you won’t be able to make your air reservations far enough in advance to take advantage of the cheap fares. For another, high schools don’t look kindly on your skipping classes,-. even if it is for the sake of your future.



9 RULE 9: LOOK FOR A HANDOUT

The National Committee on Student Financial Assistance estimates that $6 billion in scholarship money goes unclaimed each year. Six billion dollars! Much of that money, donated by corporations, trade or fraternal organizations, and individuals, just rolls over year after year if no one comes calling with hands outstretched.



10 RULE 10: DON’T BLOW THE ESSAY

Whew, you’re tired. But it’s finally time to fill out the applications. Spend at least a weekend on each one. This is the final bell.

Despite the temptation, resist making yourself sound like Mother Teresa. Put your best self forward, of course, but don’t gush. One admissions officer admits that she tires quickly of gooey essays on the joys of serving the less fortunate. In fact, we know of a boy who wrote his essay on his desire to become very, very wealthy by age thirty. His parents and his counselor begged him to conceal such naked ambition. He refused and was accepted at Stanford, his first choice. Perhaps raw greed is appealing in a stack of phony philanthropists.

JON CARRO

BACKGROUND: Highland Park High School grad; “blew off”his first two years of high school and ranked 113th out of a class of323; rallied during his junior and senior years and scored 1290 onthe SAT; active in his neighborhood Boy Scouts program.

WHERE HE APPLIED: University of the South (Sewanee),Davidson, University of Richmond, Tulane

WHERE HE’S GOING: Sewanee

WHY: He liked the fact that it’s a small school steeped intradition-the honor students still wear flowing black gowns to class,and all other boys are required to wear coats and ties.

ADVICE: “Start preparing for college right from the start. Don’tdo what I did. My first two years of fooling around [in high school]became dead weight toward the end. It was hard to pull off a goodGPA with two years already wasted.”

REBECCA MEYERCORD

BACKGROUND: Hillcrest grad; co-captain of the cheeerleading squad and student council president; ranked eighth in a class of 236; scored 1150 on the SAT.

WHERE SHE APPLIED: Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Univershy of North Carolina, Duke, and Dartmouth

WERE SHE’S GOING: Dartmouth

WHY: Says that “My dad, granddad, and uncles were all Dartmouth grads, but they really didn’t push me in that direction. Whatever you do, the decision has to be your own.” One school that turned here off:”Vanderbilt started flooding me with junk mail at the end of my junior year-they even sent me a bumper sticker and had an alum call me at home. It was a little too much.”

ADVICE:” Colleges are really looking for kids who’ve continuously performed community service while in high school. Be a candy striper for four years at Parkland. Read books to old folks in nursing homes; be innovative. That really shows what kind of person you are.”

SCOTT WILSON

BACKGROUND: Highland Park High School grad; scored 13 on the SAT; ranked third in a class of 323; started looking for schools during his freshman year.

WHERE HE APPLIED: Pomona, The University of Texas Austin, Stanford, Dartmouth, Yale, Duke, Williams.

WHERE HE’S GOING: Stanfo

WHY: He liked what the alums had to say about the school, the environment seemed a little less competitive than other schools, and he loved the weekly weather reports he’d been receiving from kids who were already there.

ADVICE: “Carefully weigh each of your college choices. Look what you’ve heard about the school, what you perceive to be its level of prestige, it geographical location, and lastly what kind of student is applying to that school. If any of these don’t fall into line, cross off the list.”

ERICKA EDWARDS

BACKGROUND: Wilmer-Hutchins grad; all-state volleyball and basketball player; class president; scored 780 on the SAT; graduated sixth in a class of 279; maintained a 3.6 GPA.

WHERE SHE APPLIED: Evangel University in Missouri, Baylor

WHERE SHE’S GOING: Bayl

WHY: She was awarded a full academic scholarship through the Masters program ($15,000-$16,000 per year

ADVICE: “Know yourself. I chose Baylor because it was close home. The others I looked into were out of state. I think you need period of adjustment, at least during that first semester, which may mean frequent trips back home.”

FINDING THE FINANCING



If you want financial assistance (Pell grants, supplemental educational opportunity grants, work-study, Perkins loans, and guaranteed student loans), we’ve found someone who can help you through the maze. Students Targeting Adult Responsibility is a nonprofit organization offering students from all over the DISD financial assistance counseling free of charge. Donations from corporate good guys like Dr Pepper, AT&T, Pro-line, and American Airlines as well as individuals like Wendy Reves, Pettis Norman, and Hugh Robinson cover the costs. They can assist up to 250 kids. To contact S.T.A.R., call 520-7827.

WHO’S HOT, WHO’S NOT

What makes one college hot and another one not? Some kids cite the locale, some a prestigious name (a Nineties kinda status symbol), while others arc drawn to a school because of a nationally known sports team.

HOT SPOTS:

Pepperdine University (Malibu, California): Surrounded by Pacific blue on one side and Malibu’s lush green hills on the other, Pepperdine’s ties to the Church of Christ are tight-no drinking or dancing allowed on campus.

Vanderbitt University (Nashville. Tennessee): Dallas has been high on Vandy for years, now the country is catching up. The university is spending millions on renovations-including marble baths in freshman dorms.

Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont): “Club Midd” is probably the only college in the country with a golf course and a cross-country ski trail, but they pride themselves on their foreign language department.

University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia): UVA’s founder, Thomas Jefferson, would be proud. In deference to his belief that education is a lifelong process, there are no such class labels as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors here.

University of Nerth Carelina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina): Beer is (he blood of Chapel Hill, they say. Add to that the much-adored Tar Heels basketball team, and you’ve just gotten to the heart of what’s hot here. Journalism and business are the strongest departments.

University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee): More commonly referred to as Sewanee, ties with England’s Oxford University date back to just after the Civil War when the school was all but destroyed, then rebuilt by the Brits. Almost 2.000 volumes from the collection at Oxford and Cambridge gave Sewanee’s library its start.

Washington and Lee University (Lexington, Virginia): Social hit’s big here-you’re dead if you don’t land an invite to frat parties like Kappa Alpha’s old South Ball and the annual Fancy Dress Ball (thrown at a modest cost of $85,000). Getting a date shouldn’t be hard-the school is 70 percent male.

Stanferd University (Stanford, California): Last year, Time magazine called Stanford “the finest American university” and almost put the school on the cover of the magazine, but at the last minute it’ was bumped when the news about the Reagans’ astrologer broke. Priorities, you know.

Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire): The inspiration for Animal House and for Daniel Webster, who once said. “It is, sir. a small college, and yet there are those who love it.”

The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas): Its Plan II study track is one of the finest liberal arts programs in the country. The small, selective honors program (500 kids are chosen each year) offers kids the chance to spend lour years with the university’s top professors.

HOPELESS SPOTS:

Lamar University (Beaumont, Texas): This college is located in a very polluted area known for its high incidence of brain cancer. That ought to tell you something.

Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey): Also known as “Comatose U” because of the number of alcohol-related deaths. In the first week of Rush one year there were three deaths.

University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida): Known for its suntanning department and football factory, but that’s about all.

University of Rhode Island (Kingston, Rhode Island): Would you send your scholar to a place the kids have fondly pegged “You Are High U”?

University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, Arkansas): The best class they offer here is -The Evolution of the Pick Up Truck 101.”

Flaming Rainbow University (Stillwell, Oklahoma): With a name like that you’d never be able to live it down.

LOOKING FOR MONEY IN ALL THE WEIRD PLACES

Feeling us if you’ve exhausted all the usual routes to finding free money to finance [he next four years’.’ We’ve uncovered some peculiar pots of gold out there just for the asking. But you may want to check out our scholarship source books, Bear’s Guide To Finding Money For College by John Bear. Ph.D., and The Scholarship Book by Daniel J. Cassidy and Michael J. Alves, because there’s plenty of money to be had.

■People with last names of Anderson. Baxendale, Borden, Bright, Downer, Murphy, and Pennoyer can apply for full scholarships (we’re talking more than $17,000 a year) at Harvard and Radcliffe that are set aside just tor people with those last names.

■Abstainers-that is,kids who don’t usealcohol, drugs,cigarettes, or (get this)engage in strenuoussports-can look for$3,000 a year if theychoose Pennsylvania’sBucknell University.

■Aspiring femalehelicopter pilots, holdout your hands for$4,000 from theWhirly-Girls ofWashington, D.C.

Scholarship money varies from case to case, but the Dog Writers’ Educational Trust fund doles out ten to fifteen of these little puppies every year.

■Children of glassblowers are eligiblefor $2,000 awardsfrom the Glass BottleBlowers Association.

■Calf-roping scholarget $500 a yearfrom theUniversity Of Arizona if they have good grades and calf-roping experience.

■Folks interested ingolf course turf are alsoentitled to a littlesomething. Twenty-five$500 awards are giveneach year courtesy ofthe Golf CourseSuperintendentsAssociation.

■Have parents orgrandparents who’vebeen involved in theworld of dogs asexhibitors, breeders,handlers, judges, ordog club officers?

■ If you were bom onJune 17, 1979, Urn’syour lucky day: 150scholarships worth $1,500 apiece are available from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

■ If you have authenticNorwegian roots anddemonstrate “a keenand sincere interest inpreserving Norwegianheritage,” you canapply for $250 to$3,000 grants from theKing Olaf VNorwegian-AmericanHeritage Fund.

REQUIRED READING

When asked to give us their picks on the most informative college guidebooks published, high school counselors from five schools-the Talented & Gifted Magnet, W.T. White, Jesuit, Skyline, and Hockaday-rolled these recommendations right off their tongues:



■Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, $14.95 at Taylors andBookstop. An overview of 1,500 colleges plus a six-part rating systemgrouping schools according to current entrance standards.

■How to Get an Ivy League Education at a State University byMartin Nemko, $9.85 at Bookstop. Offers fan lists that group state-supported colleges according to the brightest teachers, the bestenvironment for minorities, the best party schools, etc

■The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges 1989, compiled and editedby the staff of The Yale Daily Hews, $10.75 at Bookstop. Studentsfrom coast to coast tell what their colleges are really like.

■Lovejoy’s College Guiide, eighteenth edition, by Charles T.Straughn and Barbarasue Lovejoy Straughn, $15.25 atBookstop. The granddaddy of college resources, Lovejoy’sguides have been published for the last forty years. Alltwo- and four-year schools are profiled, highlighting specialinterests, housing, enrollment, the social scene,standardized test scores, course requirements, etc.

And for those of you with computers:

■ Appli-Kit by Times Books, a computer software programdevoted to filling out college applications. It’s divided intothree sections: Getting Started, Getting Organized, andGetting In. $24.95 at WaldenbooKs.