Dear prospective students, We at Student Life know you’re only reading this because your parent shoved it into your hand. Maybe you were looking for a crossword puzzle. At any rate, you have flipped your way to the Forum (opinions) section, and we have a special public service announcement just for you.

While I was at the University of Oxford, I learned a lot of things. I learned about the best spots to sit in the lower level of the Radcliffe Camera, the joys of strawberries and clotted cream at boat races, the cheapest college bars for a pint of cider, the Latin grace said before formal college dinners.

Dear wait-listed high school students, We at Student Life understand your plight. You want to come to Wash. U. Who wouldn’t? But that tease of a Washington University Office of Admissions acceptance letter is tantalizing you, putting our illustrious institution within smelling distance (the sweat of overachievement is pungent, is it not?) and you in purgatory.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions offered matriculation into the Class of 2015 to fewer prospective freshman than in the past. The move comes in response to an unexpectidely large number of students aceepting admission into the Class of 2014 last year. The current freshman class contains sligtly over 1,600 students.

While admissions officers nationwide have become increasingly dependent on Facebook profiles to attract applicants, Washington University has limited involvement with the social network.
A recent article on the All Facebook blog cited a 2010 survey conducted by Kaplan, in which four out of every five college admissions officers stated that their school used the social network to recruit students.

Legacy is nothing new to college admissions. However, according to a recent study, it might matter more than previously thought, and might even be the deciding factor in the ultra-competitive college admissions world.

Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the Graduate Record Exam, is offering a new personality index tool for graduate applications this fall for a fee of $20 per report, but most schools are waiting to see if it is worthwhile.

Although the economy has forced Washington University to cut costs in multiple areas, prospective students continue to receive a large amount of literature advertising the University.

The College Board has announced changes in their method of reporting SAT scores to colleges in an attempt to offer students greater control over how their applications look to admissions officers. The new policy, called Score Choice, will allow students to choose which of their SAT and SAT Subject Test scores colleges and universities will [...]

Even in the midst of economic uncertainty, it is important to analyze the deeper values and principles of education rather than to make decisions on the basis on finance. When it comes to admissions, Washington University has always faced a dilemma: Should it consider the applicants’ ability to pay for their educations, which would allow [...]