A Chronicle survey reveals their concerns about college costs, changing demographics, and public perceptions of the job they do in selecting students.
Gilda McGee Parker, an assistant director of admissions, works on applications at Queens U. of Charlotte (N.C.), which heard from 33 percent more applicants this year than last year. (Photograph by John D. Simmons, Charlotte Observer/MCT)

• TABLES: Complete results of The Chronicle Survey of Undergraduate Admissions Officers
• TABLES: Where Senior-Level Admissions Officers Differ:
      Men vs. Women
      Years of Experience
      Type of Institution
      Satisfaction With Current Position

As the last of the baby boomers' children make their way through college, admissions officers are preparing for a shrinking pool of traditional applicants.

As students become more cognizant of costs, financial-aid offices and admissions staffs learn the value of working together more closely.

Despite grueling hours, high turnover, and competing demands on their time, many in the field say they find their work satisfying.

The growing numbers of students who are applying without any prior contact with a college can complicate the admissions equation.

Some colleges, especially wealthy ones, successfully use their former students to help recruit new ones, but other institutions find such programs too difficult to run.

Commentary

Like everything else, attending college has pros and cons. But students don't hear nearly enough about the cons, Marty Nemko writes.
(Illustration by Christophe Vorlet)

Teaching to the test has hammered passion and creativity out of high-school Advanced Placement courses. Schools should drop them and create their own enriched curricula, says Bruce G. Hammond.

Kristin Ruth Tichenor says high schools need to give colleges more information about troubled students.

Leaders in the student-aid debate describe what they would do if they could design a new federal student-loan system from scratch.

The Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president of DePaul University, says colleges should teach students how to borrow wisely.

Profiles of 10 admissions officials who are making a mark in their profession.

When their own children begin to apply to colleges, admissions officers hover just like other parents —and say they learn vital lessons from the experience.

Colleges are adopting new strategies to try to ascertain whether their applicants got too much assistance with their essays.

Meanwhile, fueled by the Internet, more and more hired coaches are offering their services.

A growing number of Americans are enrolling in British institutions.

Some students end up in an admissions nightmare: They're rejected by the colleges they most wanted to attend and sometimes by all of those to which they applied.

A program started at the University of Virginia sends recent graduates into schools across the state to help students from low-income families deal with the admissions process.

Commentary

America needs a portfolio of postsecondary options that truly respond to students' interests and society's needs, writes Rona Wilensky, a high-school principal and former professor.
(Illustration by Linda Holton)

Unlike some of its richer peers, Cornell University cannot meet all financial-aid needs with grants, despite its large endowment. Carolyn (Biddy) Martin, the provost, explains why.

David W. Oxtoby, president of Pomona College, sees dangers in students' rush to take more and more Advanced Placement courses.

Four students talk about the factors that influenced their decisions about which college to attend.

Somehow, Taylor, a high-school student, found the campus strangely enchanting. An excerpt from a new novel by Susan Coll.

Robert A. Bonfiglio says colleges don't realize that teenagers pay little attention to e-mail messages from admissions offices, in part because many are only a step above spam.

Alexander J.G. Schneider, now a college sophomore, reveals what he wishes he had written in his admissions essays.

Rachel Toor provides probing answers to four top essay questions.

and other weird tales from the admissions zone.

How three institutions are working to achieve their enrollment goals.

• DEPAUW U.: Pursuing a 20-year quest for diversity in the heartland.
• EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Untangling the financial-aid process.
• BELLARMINE U.: Looking beyond the bluegrass in recruiting.

Lloyd Thacker and his Education Conservancy have higher education's attention.

Some of them are offering pro bono or discount services to the less-wealthy students who most need help with the admissions process.

• A MUSICIAN GOES TO COLLEGE: A private counselor helped Andrew Quattrociocchi negotiate the admissions process.

A guide to recent changes in federal policies.

Commentary

For blue-collar minority families, college admissions can be an alien world, writes Carolyn Alessio.

We don't just help students sell themselves to colleges, says Katherine Cohen. We help them become the people they want to be.

Institutional partnerships and regional educational alliances can often reduce the cost of tuition when students cross state borders, says Christopher C. Morphew.

Admissions officers discuss the students they really wanted to snag but couldn't.

After her alma mater rejects her daughter, Erika J. Waters considers the nature of alumna allegiance.

The "gap year" is ripe with possibility, says Holly Bull.

THE VIEW FROM THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE: Private counselors prey on parents' anxieties, says one administrator; they prey on parents' illusions, says another. But a third says that a conscientious guide can indeed be helpful.

APPLICANT ESSAYS: Two samples -- one from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the other from Miami Dade College -- from students who were admitted.