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Getting into college fraught with angst for seniors
Petaluma High School student Shelby Parks, 17, was accepted to USC but was not accepted at UC Berkeley or UCLA.
CRISTA JEREMIASON/ PDPublished: Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 3:29 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 3:29 p.m.
Arturro Nuñez thought he had done what it takes.
He earned a 3.79 grade point average at Healdsburg High School, played soccer for the Hounds and works every weekend at a local market.
But Nuñez has been rocked with more college rejection letters than he ever imagined.
While UC Santa Cruz, Sonoma State University, Santa Clara University and San Jose State offered him spots in their freshman classes, he was turned down by UC Berkeley, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine.
His so-called “safety schools” suddenly became his only choices.
“I'm not going to lie, it's been a horrible week,” he said moments after finding out he had been rejected by Cal. “It just proves how competitive it has gotten.”
Nuñez is far from alone. In fact, he's in the company of some of Sonoma County's brightest high school students as a record number of applicants seek a shrinking number of freshman slots.
“For public schools, it's the worst I have ever seen,” said Technology High counselor Laura Triantafyllos. “I have kids crying, parents crying. They have worked so hard.”
Counselors across Sonoma County are hearing from top-notch students this month as state colleges and universities send word to those who are in and those who are out. Private schools are expected to begin sending out letters this Thursday.
“It's the most challenging time for students who have worked hard to achieve their dream school and are finding that dream requires readjustment. They are taking a look at backup plans like they never thought they would need to,” said Joan Walsh, a counselor at Petaluma High School.
“I would say this is the most challenging year yet.”
More than 609,000 undergraduate applications were submitted to the CSU system this year, and another 100,320 to UC campuses.
At the same time, shrinking budgets have caused the UC system to cut freshman enrollment by 1,500 students this fall, and the CSU system to cut 40,000 over two years.
And those who are admitted will pay significantly more to attend. CSU and UC fees will go up 30 and 32 percent respectively.
For the first time, some UC campuses are using waiting lists as an enrollment management tool, but if CSU's experience is any indication, few will ever make the jump. Of 1,368 students who accepted San Diego State's offer to be wait-listed last year, for example, none were offered spots.
Enduring that kind of limbo “takes a very unique student,” said Laurie Nimmo, a scholarship coordinator at Healdsburg High School who also runs an independent college counseling business.
The uncertainty also has pushed some Sonoma County students to look out of state.
Bob Pawlan's son Drew was turned down by San Diego State University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, was wait-listed at Long Beach State and earned admission at Oregon State University and Arizona State University.
He also was accepted at Syracuse University in New York with a financial aid package that would pay $43,000 of the private school's $51,000 annual price tag.
Bob Pawlan said his son is thinking about making the leap, even though he has never set foot on the campus.
“I would love for him to go to Oregon State, if financially we could, but how can we turn down a package like that?” he said.
Schools around the country are keeping a keen eye on California's finances and are tweaking their sales pitches, according to Triantafyllos.
“Kids are telling me they are worried about not getting classes and graduating in four years,” she said. “They might pay more, but they'll get the classes and they'll graduate in four years. Private schools are pitching that, too.”
Shelby Parks, a senior at Petaluma High, would like to stay in California to be closer to her family, but she's also keeping her fingers crossed for Columbia University in New York. She was rejected by UCLA and Berkeley, where her sister goes, and accepted by USC, UC Davis, UC Irvine and University of San Diego.
“I can see myself at any of the schools that I applied to or I wouldn't have wasted my time,” Parks said.
In this ultra-competitive market, Christie Sweeney is ready to barter with financial aid officers as her son Nicholas, a senior at Healdsburg High, fields acceptance and rejection notices.
“Say Tulane offers us even more money,” she said. “I could call up Western New England (College) and say, ‘Tulane is going to give me this much money for my kid to go there. Can you match it?'
“If that's the way I'm going to get him into school, I'm putting myself out there.”
It's not a bad strategy, advisors say.
Colleges want the best candidates and in some cases will work hard to get them, said Vic Berliant, owner of Tuition Funding Solutions, a college financial aid consulting service based in San Rafael.
Just as students are competing for spots, colleges and universities are competing for top students, Berliant said. Sometimes they will reach deeper into their financial aid coffers to nab them.
“Stanford will see Harvard and Yale and Berkeley (on a student's application), and they certainly don't want to lose a kid to Berkeley,” he said. “They'll say, ‘We need to come up with money for this kid.'”
In this economic climate, many private schools have deeper pockets than their public school counterparts, Berliant said.
“Without hesitation, students should apply to private universities because the private schools still have more money than schools like Cal State and the UCs,” he said.
But for this year's crop of seniors and their parents, disappointment and frustration are common themes.
Students who have worked diligently only to be told “No thanks” will learn many lessons, but the sting is real.
“How do you explain how they picked someone else?” said Candace Parks, mother of Petaluma High senior, Shelby. “You have to learn how to handle rejection. That's life.”
Nuñez also remains philosophical.
“There is nothing I can do to fix it, so life goes on, I guess,” Nuñez said. “I will get over it.”
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