NEW YORK, March 28 LawFuel – Law News– Some call it “the other March
madness.” It’s nail-biting season now through April as college
acceptance/rejection letters and financial aid offers land in family
mailboxes. According to a Princeton Review survey of 4,594 college
applicants and 1,260 parents of applicants (5,854 people overall), the
“dream college” students most wish they could attend is New York
University. Parents most wish their kids were headed to Stanford.
The Princeton Review, a New York-based education services company, has conducted its “College Hopes & Worries Survey” since 2003. Findings this year are based on surveys completed on paper or online from September
through March by respondents from all 50 states and DC. The 12-question
survey ran in Princeton Review’s “Best 361 Colleges” book and on
http://www.PrincetonReview.com, at which a report on the findings is
posted.
Top 10 Dream Colleges
In tallies of the survey’s only fill-in-the-blank question, “What
‘dream college’ do you wish you could attend (or see your child attend) if acceptance or cost weren’t issues?” the schools students most named were:
1) New York Univ.(for the third consecutive year)
2) Harvard
3) Stanford
4) Princeton
5) Columbia
6) Yale
7) UCLA
8) Brown
9) Georgetown
10) Univ. of Pennsylvania
The schools parents most named were:
1) Stanford
2) Princeton
3) Harvard
4) Brown
5) Notre Dame
6) Boston College
7) MIT
8) Northwestern
9) Yale
10) Georgetown
Other findings show (among student and parent respondents combined):
— 65% report high levels of stress about college applications (up 6%
from last year)
— 70% expect the cost of the degree to exceed $75,000
— 51% say getting financial aid will be “extremely necessary” to pay for college: 27% say “very necessary”
— 32% say their biggest worry about applying to college is that
they/their child “will get into their first choice college, but won’t have sufficient funds/financial aid to attend it.” The plurality of respondents selected that answer from four choices. In last year’s
survey, the plurality (34%) selected the answer “won’t get into first-
choice college” as their biggest concern.
— Only 9% said the key factor in deciding which college they/their child will attend will be the one “with the best academics.” Only 8 % said “the most affordable” college. While 30% will choose the college
“best for career interests,” 53% said they’ll pick the school that’s
“the best overall fit.”
The Princeton Review is known for its test-prep courses, college and
grad school admission services, books and education programs. It is not
affiliated with Princeton University or ETS.
