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January 10, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR DENISE HARBERT
IN IL
Hi Khandis!
The answer to your question is that EVERY colIege or university
that asks
for applications on-line has different rules about how long
you have to
send in the money and whether that alters your chances of
getting in. I am
certain that you won't be allowed to take classes at the college
if you
don't ever pay the application fee and I am fairly confident
that schools
won't tell you whether or not you got in until they receive
your payment
(imagine if they told a student she didn't get in before they
got her money
- she's not likely to ever pay them). But some schools might
consider your
application before they receive your payment as long as you
pay by the
deadline they establish. The web page that you go to when
you fill out the
application should have a link to a page called "FAQs"
or "Frequently Asked
Questions". Some web pages might have a "deadlines"
or "fees" link. Click
there and read what they wrote. If you still can't find the
answer to your
question, then look for the link that says "contact us"
or call the
college's admissions office directly. Warning: Don't call
because it's
easier to talk than to read. Often the person you talk to
does not know as
much as the experts who were paid to write the web site. The
web site is a
legally binding document that schools have to live up to.
The person
talking on the phone might be a college student making $6/hour
to answer
the phones and read from a script. She might improvise, misread
a
sentence, or tell you something that's not true by accident.
Here's a HUGE
tip: If you have to contact the college, make sure you keep
the emailed
answer you get or WRITE down a) the name of the person you
talk to on the
phone, b) the date, and c) what you were told. That way, you'll
have more
leverage to argue with a supervisor if there is a problem
with the
information you got.
Before those applications become available on-line, College
Admissions
offices spend a lot of time and money paying programmers,
statisticians,
and learning specialists to "alpha" and "beta"
test the process. These are
testing phases that require programmers and non-programmers
to fill out the
application forms and see if they work properly. Once the
programmers
think the on-line application works, a group of "test"
students are usually
asked to complete applications on-line AND on paper. The statisticians
and
learning specialists then check to see that the directions
are clear and
that they get the same quality of application with both processes.
For
example, imagine that 100 students complete their applications
BOTH on-line
and on paper. If the applications look the same for every
student, then
the on-line application and the paper application are probably
equivalent
with equally clear directions. However, if it turns out that
the grade
point average or SAT score or application essay looks different
for 40
students, depending on whether the application was on paper
or on-line,
then something is wrong. Maybe the on-line application form
has a
programming error or one of the methods has unclear or inadequate
directions. The problem is investigated, fixed, and the whole
testing
process starts over. All of this is done BEFORE you ever have
access to
the on-line application. That way, the schools can be sure
that what you
are typing is exactly what they receive AND that students
who fill out
applications one way do not automatically have an advantage
over students
who fill it out another. This is not the same thing as saying
that the
same percentage of students will get accepted on-line vs paper,
because
students really familiar with computers and SET technology
are
simultaneously more likely to complete an on-line application
AND more
likely to get accepted into college. The likelihood of their
getting in is
due to their SET skills and not their application type.
In short, colleges go through a lot of trouble to provide
you with answers
to your college application questions on-line. Use that to
your advantage
and get the information from there! Good luck!
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