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International Students are also offered less spots at top universities, which adds to the amount of work they might have to put in rather than the normal person applying.

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This article tells us some of the best ways to help make college admissions fair such as investing more money into the school system, compensating teachers much better, creating a more college prep curriculum, and hiring more school counselors that specialize in college advising.

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On Tuesday, news broke of what should be a wake up call for college admissions. To date, 50 people in six states have been implicated in a large-scale college admissions fraud.

Reactions ranged from ridicule of wealthy parents to shock at the Americans spend each year on educational consulting to blame of our country's "broken" college admissions system .

These headlines are attention-grabbing, but let's not pretend this is really shocking to anyone, especially to those of us who work in education. Wealth does indeed give students a leg up in college admissions-but mostly in ways that are perfectly legal.

The desire to do more for one's children transcends wealth and class. Growing up in New York City as the daughter of immigrant parents, I remember overhearing conversations about borrowing a relative's address so that I could have a shot at attending a better public high school. Gaming the system is not exclusive to the elite.

I'm not an apologist for what is undoubtedly both unethical and illegal behavior. But I don't think it serves anyone to pontificate about what we already know.

Educators and nonprofit leaders like myself do what we do because we have firsthand experience in high schools where the majority of students have little to no opportunity to talk with a college counselor but still want to go to college . Despite their ambition, only , and still fewer receive any formal preparation for the test. Public school counselors-often a student's sole source of information about college-juggle an 60% of high school students in California take the SAT of 470 students and spend only 21% of their time on college advising. This leaves counselors with 38 minutes per student each year to talk about college.

For high school, we didn't borrow an address. We changed addresses altogether. My family moved back to Korea, and I moved to Connecticut to live with my aunt. I took a test that qualified me for a scholarship to attend a private day school-the third-oldest independent secondary school in the United States. It was the perfect place to learn about wealth and privilege.

My first lesson: college prep happens at home, not in school. It was clear to me that my fellow classmates knew more about what to do and had been preparing for college all along.

My second lesson: I was not as smart as I thought I was, and maybe going to Harvard was not going to be as easy as my parents thought.

I did poorly on the SATs and wasn't shining in my classes either. In the words of Felicity Huffman, "Ruh-Ro." It shook my confidence because I had been a straight A student my entire life. I still applied to Harvard and Columbia because those were the only schools my parents ever talked about. Lightweight envelopes arrived quickly.

Luckily my school had a college counselor who taught me about the Common App and had just returned from a college visit out West; she really liked a school called Scripps College and mentioned that it might be a good fit for me. I wasn't getting much guidance elsewhere, so I followed what she suggested. Good thing I did, because I ended up getting a full scholarship to attend Scripps. So I packed my bags and showed up for orientation across the country in Claremont, CA suitcases in hand, sight unseen. I'm fortunate she had more than 38 minutes to advise me about college-and that she had the resources to do college visits on behalf of students.

It's easy to read Tuesday's news and lament that college admissions is rigged or that if a high score can be bought. And I do think many aspects of our current education system are flawed and inequitable. the SAT and ACT are unfair

But what is infinitely more meaningful and harder than vilifying bad actors or "the system" is making the commitment to support solutions. We will never eliminate the advantages of wealth and privilege in education, but there are many practical steps we can take to give all students a fair shot.

First, we could hire more school counselors, particularly ones who specialize in college and career readiness. This is particularly important for schools who serve students who are underrepresented in higher education.

Next, we could build college preparation into the curriculum rather than assuming that excellence in core subjects will automatically translate to a good test score or a good college essay. We must be honest with students about the extra work beyond academics that is required to get into college. Imagine if all students had access to dedicated classes offered during the school day that explicitly covered all portions of the college admissions process, from how to prepare for the SAT and ACT to how to write a personal statement.

Finally, we could invest more money in training and fairly compensating the teachers and staff who spend every day shaping our children's futures.

Perhaps, once we did all of this, we could begin to close the gap between students competing for Ivy League slots and those struggling to access the most basic college preparation resources.

Unfortunately, the shelf life for a story like this is short. I've been racing to write this before the spotlight turns to yet another scandal, restarting the cycle of public outrage, the flurry of think pieces, and the silence that will follow all too soon. But many of us will continue to live this story-both those of us who work in the college access space, and, more importantly, the millions of students who are working hard to get into a college that would open up new opportunities for them. We will continue to do our part to ensure the ongoing, stubborn inequity in college admissions doesn't fade from public view-will you do yours?

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How Can We Make College Admissions More Fair? | CollegeSpring

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On Tuesday, news broke of what should be a wake up call for college admissions. To date, 50 people in six states have been implicated in a large-scale college admissions fraud. Reactions ranged from ridicule of wealthy parents to shock at the Americans spend each year on educational consulting to blame of our country's "broken" college admissions system .

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In this article we learn that International students might find it difficult to take on more work or accommodate the new academic format when they immigrate. It might take them some time to get feasible with what must be done and when it must be done. Consequently, it may affect their academic and learning ability.

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Being an international student is an incredible experience, both in schools and colleges. Many students travel from all over the world to attend universities in the United States. While many of the students do well in this new environment, most still face struggles at one point or another.

Moving to a completely different area of the world at a young age is undoubtedly an exhilarating experience, it is indubitably overwhelming and may result in difficulties.

Many think that the problems are related to social interactions. However, the academic challenge faced by international students can be much greater than that of their peers or social status. They are confronted with academic change, culture shock, and homesickness. Which can ultimately result in an incessant struggle for these students to adjust to their new surroundings, and fitting in which thus aids strain to an otherwise difficult life transition. While the transition from school to college is difficult for all students, the academic challenge faced by international students is far more complicated and hard than that of an average student. Furthermore, the cultural and social challenges both can also put a strain on both their academic and personal lives.
The Academic Challenge:
Perhaps the most substantial challenge that international students face is adjusting to the new academic ways and expectations. Schools overseas have different expectations for homework, deadlines, citations, workload, paper format, and communication in general. International students may or do find it difficult to take on more work or accommodate the new academic format. It might take them some time to get feasible with what must be done and when it must be done. Consequently, it may affect their academic and learning ability. Furthermore, in some cases, there are some language issues that may hinder their ability to understand things efficiently. This will also obstruct their potential to collaborate information with their instructors, peers, and teachers.
The Financial Challenge:
Apart from academic challenge one of the most colossal challenges faced by international students is that of finance. International students face a plethora of financial issues. Why?

International students are not legally permitted to work off campus:

This is a major financial and social issue that international students have to face. These students are not legally permitted to work off campus. It increases their difficulties because they neither have proper connections or resources nor the permission to work abroad. So, there are very limited mediums for an international student to fulfill their financial needs. This ultimately affects their process of learning due to added stress and anxiety.

However, it is permitted for them to work on campus, but this also has drawbacks as it affects time management and academics both.
Money problems:
The exchange rate between US and international currencies is high. This gives aid to another financial problem. As when comparing marketing values, it most certainly leaves them anxious and stressed, and therefore adds to their social and academic issues as well.
International students don't necessarily get loans:
Another prodigious problem and issue that is faced by international students is that of loans. Resident students are permitted to get loans if they have a great credit score and a credit card and can pay those loans. However, an international student neither has a social security or credit cards, to hold and pay for the loan. Social security is a necessity to get loans as it is the proof of your identity, and it defines a person as a resident of the United States.

Many international students who choose to study in the United States will consider obtaining student loans to help fund their studies, and for this to occur lenders ask for a Social Security Number as it is a requirement as mentioned before.

When speaking of social security; only those international students who have enrolled and registered for classes are able to apply for a Social Security Number or an SSN. One may not be able to apply for a SSN before one has begun their classes in a college in the US.

Apart from the whole social security ordeal; almost all international students must have a United States cosigner to apply for a loan. So, when looking into the statistics of all of this, foreign or international students have fewer opportunities for financial aid and loans as that of a resident or a student that is a United States citizen. The resident students also have a credit line which can be evaluated by the financial institutions to provide educational loans. However; a foreign student needs a cosigner that is a US resident or citizen with no credit risk. So, this ultimately adds to the financial problems faced by international students.

However, to support oneself financially an international student can pursue Curricular Practical Training (CPT). CPT is defined as employment which is an integral part of an established curriculum, including: "alternate work/study, internship, cooperative education, or any other type of required internship or practicum which is offered by sponsoring employers through cooperative agreements with the school." This is only offered to F-1 students.

Then there is Optical Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 students.

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment that is directly related to an F-1 student's major area of study. Eligible students can apply to receive up to 12 months of OPT employment authorization before completing their academic studies (pre-completion) and/or after completing their academic studies (post-completion).
Social and Cultural Challenge:
As stated multiple times before, living in a new cultural and social environment can be a very exhilarating yet isolating experience. Homesickness, isolation, and culture shock are the most common problems faced by international students. It is evident that adapting to a completely new culture and social structure is difficult. Cultural differences, language problems, and such other issues makes it hard to interact with the people and make new friends. This results in isolation, emotional issues, and anxiety that thus affects their academic performance and capability.

Even with these challenges; why do people want to or come study abroad? The United States is consistently the top study abroad destination for students all over the world. Again why?

1. The excellent academic programs- in the US there are numerous world-renowned universities and colleges like Harvard University, Yale, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia, NYU, University of Notre Dame, and many more. The number is unlimited. Perhaps the sole reason they travel to study here is because of their extraordinary capabilities, having a good education, limited platforms in their home countries, and to settle in. This is their priority, no matter what hardships they must face to walk on the path of success.

2. Furthermore, studying abroad, and in a renowned university might enhance their resume, and might promise them a better job in the future.

3. The main purpose for them to study abroad is to settle in, be respected, and successful which are the basic motives of what every soul on Earth aims for.

4. Moreover, it is not only an honor for them to be accepted into colleges overseas, but for their families, friends and the people they care about. It is their patience and abilities that count, and perhaps they are the most important.

There is no doubt that international students face tremendous difficulties while studying abroad but the benefits outweigh the challenges and the issues. It is a great honor to study abroad and to be an international student, but this does come with eventual issues that must be faced time and time again. They say that patience is a conquering virtue, and maybe being patient is the key to facing most of these difficulties as people endure these things to promise themselves a better future.

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Problems Faced by International Students

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Being an international student is an incredible experience, both in schools and colleges. Many students travel from all over the world to attend universities in the United States. While many of the students do well in this new environment, most still face struggles at one point or another.

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What is the tuition International Students might pay?

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What is the tuition International Students might pay?

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International Students face a lot more problems when trying to study in other countries especially in the US. The graph that we provided below shows Canadian Universities and the amount domestic students pay compared to international students.

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We found that throughout our research students of higher economic status typically do better as they access more resources such as tutoring, money for books, etc.

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Transcript of "How can we level the playing field of life? | Lee Elliot Major | TEDxExeter"

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TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: Social mobility is getting worse, leading to extremes of inequality and a disconnected, dysfunctional elite. So what can we do to create a more level playing field? Lee Elliot Major explores how middle-class privilege is increasingly ingrained by our education system, arguing that radical reforms are needed to tackle a massive waste of talent.

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CNBC collaborated with Inside Higher ed to learn more about differences in SAT scores and related them with family income. They found large on the reading section, in which students with family incomes below $20,000 earned average scores of 433, while students with family incomes above $200,000 earned average scores of 570.

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Rich students get better SAT scores—here’s why

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Researchers have repeatedly found that wealthy students enjoy significant advantages throughout the college application process, and that income greatly impacts a student’s performance on standardized tests.

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In that Netflix video we saw how the ultra rich can get into college. What about people in higher economic status in general?

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LA Times reported described how Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, got into Harvard soon after his dad, Charles Kushner — who attended New York University — pledged $2.5 million to the school in 1998.

Colleges are more dependent than ever on big donations due to declines in federal research aid, state funding and grass-roots alumni giving and it opens doors for bribes

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The legal way the rich get their kids into elite colleges: Huge donations for years

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For the children of the well-off and well-educated, cultivating the hallmarks of an outstanding college application starts early.

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In this article by the Washington Post we learn how children of alumni are given preferential treatment in being admitted, because many of their parents had been admitted previously. Many of these families are extremely well connected and already wealthy.

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Ayana Smith, 17, was deferred early decision at her first-choice school, Tulane University in New Orleans, and is not a fan of legacy admissions. (Tony Sibley/Hechinger Report)

Liz Willen is the editor of the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. She also writes for the publication, often about higher education, sometimes penning what she calls rants. Take the beginning of this 2019 column about the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal in which wealthy parents bought their children admissions into elite schools:

Whenever I see another person charged or sentenced in the latest college admissions scandal, I'm transported a few years back to a tortured college application season, when a testing snafu invalidated the SAT scores of my then-16-year-old son and the nearly 200 others who took the exam at the same site.

The reasons for this headache were never fully explained; we were told something about desks being too close together. Rescheduling became such a nightmare that my son refused to take the exam again. Who knew I could have simply paid someone extraordinary amounts of money to take it for him, or correct any wrong answers?

Here is her newest piece on college admissions, this one about "legacy admissions" - and, yes, she is still annoyed. A version of this appeared on the report's website, and she gave me permission to publish this.

Few elite colleges in the midst of choosing their freshman classes like to admit how often they give preference to legacy applicants, a practice that largely benefits higher-income students and by some estimates can double or even quadruple an applicant's chances of getting in.

That's why I should not have been surprised that most colleges I asked about this wouldn't talk about it or release their data. They have reasons: Giving preferential treatment to the children of alumni who can most afford to pay clearly benefits colleges, and is not something they want to broadcast when the pandemic is complicating budgets and enrollment predictions.

And let's face it: Exclusive colleges and universities with annual costs as high as $80,000 have already endured an awful lot of bad publicity. Weren't the lies and cheating of the Varsity Blues admissions scandal supposed to usher in a new era of transparency, with all those promises of an overhaul to follow?

Was I wrong in thinking that these colleges should have plenty of reasons to revisit legacy preferences, amid new diversity and inclusion efforts?

That they'd want to counter fears about the pandemic widening the class and race divides that deny low-income and minority students entrance into the very schools that boost social mobility?

That they'd want to address high-profile calls to end the practice, including student-led petition drives like the one at Georgetown University last summer, signed by hundreds of faculty, students and administrators? Or the pushback from students at Brown and Harvard universities, and the proposal that colleges practicing legacy admission lose their eligibility for federal student aid?

Hard as I tried, I could not find out how many legacy applicants were accepted early decision this year at some of the most sought-after colleges in the country, even though decisions were made by December.

Most claimed they did not have this information available, including Yale University, Harvard University, Duke University, Stanford University, Hamilton College, Amherst College and Cornell University, among others.

"Colleges are kind of in a bind about this," Richard Kahlenberg, author of " Affirmative Action for the Rich: Legacy Preferences for College Admissions " and a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, told me. "I'm not surprised that they don't want to talk about it."

Neither is Natasha Warikoo, a sociology professor at Tufts University and the author of " The Diversity Bargain." "I really don't understand why it hasn't ended already, because it is so absurd," Warikoo told me. "It kind of destroys the legitimacy of admissions. We say it's a meritocracy and fair, but clearly it is not."

There are arguments on the other side, too. While legacy admission policies overwhelmingly benefit White, wealthy students whose parents can afford full tuition or can give donations, the practice can also build the kind of loyalty and enduring connections that help colleges over the long run.

And admitting legacy students also helps fund scholarships, said Angel Pérez, chief executive of NACAC, the National Association for College Admission Counseling, which just formed a commission on redesigning admission and financial aid through a racial equity lens.

"If I am sitting in the [admissions] chair, I would not be doing away with legacy, because all of my goals to admit more low-income kids would be in jeopardy," said Pérez, who previously oversaw admissions at Trinity College in Connecticut and Pitzer College in California. Legacy admissions foster lifelong loyalties and are a direct result of the way colleges are financed, with so much dependence on tuition revenue, he added.

The pandemic has dealt additional economic blows to colleges during a time when they were already worried about declining enrollment and the fiscal health of their institutions.

Following years of building booms, spending sprees and tuition discounting to attract students, most colleges need full-pay students now more than ever, something the Hechinger Report's financial tracker tool makes clear. (Just plug in the name of a college to see how it is faring.)

But not elite schools. They have seen a boom in applications this year, at a time when the number of applicants to less-selective colleges and universities is dropping. And there are worrisome signs of more trouble ahead, including a 9.1 percent decrease in the number of students who filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and a drop of 2 percent in the number of early-decision applicants whose family incomes were low enough for them to request fee waivers.

Selective schools like Tulane University in New Orleans are touting record numbers of applicants - more than 45,000 at Tulane, some 4,000 of them early decision, for what will ultimately be a freshman class of about 1,820. Tulane President Michael Fitts called them "the best and the brightest young scholars from around the country."

Tulane would not answer how many admitted students in the early applicant pool were legacies; a spokesman said it was "just one of many factors considered in our holistic review process."

Before applying to Tulane, Ayana Smith, a 17-year-old from Oregon, spent time on several online discussion boards with students and other applicants trying to figure out her chances (she has been deferred until April).

"The main thing I kept coming across was the only way to get in was to apply early decision, and I kept hearing that if I had parents or family members who went there it would be a lot easier," Smith said. "It's really frustrating that you can get a leg up just because your parents went there."

Tiffani Torres, a first-generation freshman at Georgetown University, also opposes legacy preference in admissions. "It just perpetuates the cycle of inequity and continues to put students of color and low-income students at a disadvantage," said Torres, who grew up in New York City and is attending Georgetown on a full scholarship.

Torres lives on campus but takes most classes online because of the pandemic, and she's in a cohort with other full-scholarship students who, she said, are acutely aware of the privileged students around them, along with the sacrifices it takes many others to get to and through college and catch up.

Georgetown said it did not have legacy numbers available for its early admits but said 9 percent of the class of 2024 has legacy connections. That's low compared with places like Cornell, where legacies have made up as much as 22 percent of early admits in recent years.

One of the few schools that publicly released its number of early-admission legacy admits was Dartmouth in New Hampshire: 15 percent.

While they did not want to talk about legacies, the country's most exclusive colleges did release plenty of data on the vast increases they've had in the number of early admission applicants from last year to this: 38 percent more at Yale, 45 percent at Amherst - and a stunning 57 percent more at Harvard.

Many of the top flagship public universities also saw big jumps in early-admission applicants: 38 percent at the University of Virginia and 28 percent at UCLA, for example.

The elite schools are also reporting big jumps in the number of low-income applicants from underrepresented groups, which they credit largely to test-optional policies for admission adopted during the pandemic, along with virtual recruiting events. Another reason is the generous financial aid packages these wealthier schools can afford to offer.

Overall, though, binding early admission still disproportionately benefits wealthier applicants, who are three times as likely to be white as applicants who vie for whatever seats are left in the regular pool. Also, early applicants allow colleges to lock in some full-paying students who don't have to wait and compare financial aid offers.

For the record, there are some elite colleges that don't consider legacy, including MIT and Cal Tech. The University of California system hasn't given legacy preferences since the 1990s.

I heard a lot of calls to join these institutions and end legacy admissions as a way of making the process more equitable last year during a seminar run by Jerome Lucido, executive director of the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice at the University of Southern California.

Progress has been slow. "The pandemic has really hurt finances, so it's understandable they will lock in more of their class [early] and have them pay in full," said Lucido, who now believes it will take federal policy to end legacy admissions.

The hypocrisy of colleges' silence about the policy angers John Branam, who helps students navigate the college admissions process as executive director of Get Schooled and who sees firsthand how many low-income and minority students find themselves at a disadvantage accessing top schools.

"It's just a stunning situation, that here we are knee deep in a powerful Black Lives Matter moment and it doesn't feel like our most prestigious universities across the country are taking a hard look at it," said Branam, who is also a member of the advisory committee at the Hechinger Report.

Torres could not agree more. She is one of eight siblings, the first in her family to attend a four-year-college, and acutely aware of how different the backgrounds of her and those in her cohort are from many other students at Georgetown - especially from those whose family ties to the institution go back decades.

"There are students who can't afford to go to a place like Georgetown who are taking out loans and have multiple jobs just to receive a prestigious education, when their peers already have the added advantage of parents that attended college and understand the [admission] process," Torres said.

So, while there are many good reasons to talk about eliminating legacy admissions, Pérez of NACAC admits that colleges really have little incentive to do so. After all, who wants to face the wrath of generous alumni and watch their dollars go elsewhere?

"It's extremely complicated,'' Pérez said. "There is a secret handshake between institutions and alums: You be faithful to us, and we will be faithful to you."

A serious rant about education jargon and how it hurts efforts to improve schools

Today's Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

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Elite colleges still giving wealthy and connected students a 'legacy admissions' edge during pandemic

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Liz Willen is the editor of the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. She also writes for the publication, often about higher education, sometimes penning what she calls rants.

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So as you can see extremely wealthy families are able to take advantage of resources that many people would not have the chance of using.

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Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal | Official Trailer | Netflix

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Recently we have seen an increase in college tuition and acceptance rates dropping. However this is not the case for everyone.....

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What are the ways economic status/class effects how students get into college?

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What are the ways economic status/class effects how students get into college?

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By Jas, Evan, and Adrian