To Life!

ON THE COVER

College Scramble from page 39

Becky Liner, Allison Shipper and Steven Benson study in the West Bloomfield High
School library. All are 17-year-old seniors and West Bloomfield residents.

Allison Shipper improved her ACT score

Counselor Jane Reiser Williams tells

with the help of tutors.

students, parents: check out options.

"I'm very happy,' Allison said. "Typically, Brittany Karson, 17, of West Bloomfield, a
senior at Walled Lake Central High School.
I'm not very good at taking standardized
Karson is also a firm believer
tests. The ACT was much easier
in the tutoring process.
because I also learned
Last year, she
test-taking skills, and
worked for 9-10
it has also helped
weeks with indi-
/ Admissi on Criteria
with my regular
vidual tutors
school classes!' / According to the University of Michigan
on her math,
Shipper said
Web site, the following criteria are used for
reading,
her ACT score
freshman admissions:
writing and
last year was
• High school grades
sciences.
"in the lower
• Curriculum chbices
She took
range The
• ACT or SAT scores
the
ACT last
additional 3
• Extracurricular achievements and leadership
winter
and
points should
• Special skills and talents
again
in
the
help her get into
• Unique personal background
spring,
and
her college choic-
• Counselor and teacher
her scores went
es. She's applying
recommendations
up. In addition, at
to the Judaic studies
Walled Lake Central,
programs at U-M, MSU,
her B and high-B grades
Indiana University and
have now become As.
Montreal's McGill University.
"My teachers noticed major improve-
A friend of hers from the B'nai B'rith
ments in my writing" after tutoring,
Youth Organization regional board is

Karson said, "both in organization and
structure'
Karson, an advanced placement art
student in design, is applying to Indiana
because of its studio art program; to MSU
"because my sister goes there, and it's a
great place"; and to Western Michigan
University, her "safe choice,' because she's
confident she can get in and is thinking of
becoming a teacher. "I'm .not applying to
schools I would not attend;' Karson said.
Among Karson's tutors was Michael
Mally of Huntington Woods, head of the
science department at Frankel Jewish
Academy of Metropolitan Detroit. Mally
and son Shane, 22, have been tutoring for
several years and Shane opened Mally ACT
this fall with the help of his parents.
In its first two months, Mally ACT's
part-time staff of 16 current and former
teachers, counselors and professional
writers helped more than 100 students.
The majority are from Farmington Hills
and West Bloomfield, Shane Mally said,

but one of his clients drives over from St.
Clair Shores.
"This isn't for kids who are stupid;'
Mally said. "It's for motivated kids who
want to get into that top college'
He spends hours on the telephone each
day with parents "who don't know what's
out there ... who want U-M, or their kid's
a failure!'

Not For Everybody
Mally, who graduated from U-M in April
with a degree in psychology, stresses that
the Ann Arbor campus is not a good fit for
everyone. His brother, Eric, wants to be a
lawyer and is a sophomore at MSU's James
Madison College in East Lansing. "I asked
Eric;' said Shane, "`Do you want to be one
of 40,000 or one of 300?' James Madison
was a perfect fit for him!'
Mally sees a lot of parental pressure
on high school students, but it's not com-
pletely their fault. Many don't understand
the admissions system.

College Scramble on page 42

In-State Stats

Neither the University of Michigan nor
Michigan State University have for-
mal written guidelines on how many
Michigan residents must be included
in their freshman classes each year.
However, Julie Peterson, U-M's
associate vice president for media
relations and public affairs, said U-
M uses a target of 65-67 percent
Michigan residents to 33-35 percent
non-residents. Out-of-state students
have a higher incidence of transfer-
ring to other schools and completing
their undergraduate educations faster,

Peterson said, probably because of
the higher tuition cost for out-of-state
students.
Therefore, the U-M freshman class
is usually 60 percent Michigan resi-
dents to offset the loss of non-resi-
dents later.
Using those figures, Michigan's
2006 freshman class of 5,418 stu-
dents includes approximately 3,250
Michigan residents.
In addition, U-M accepted 792
undergraduate transfer students this
fall. Some 519 of the transfers were
Michigan residents.
U-M has a total enrollment in Ann

Arbor this fall of 40,025. Of the
25,555 undergraduate students, 64.6
percent (16,508) are Michigan resi-
dents.
At Michigan State University,
86.5 percent of the 2006 freshman
class is from Michigan, according to
James Cotter, MSU's acting director
of admissions. That would be 6,237
Michiganians.
Cotter said MSU ranks 10th of the 11
schools in the Big Ten athletic confer-
ence in the number of out-of-state
and international students enrolled,
but is trying to change that in order
to provide a more diverse learning

experience.
MSU's percentage of Michigan resi-
dents in the freshman class has been
as high as 90-91 percent, Cotter said.
In addition, MSU accepts approxi-
mately 1,500 transfer students each
fall and 550-600 each spring, and the
vast majority are Michigan residents.
MSU has a total enrollment of
45,200 this year, including 35,800
undergrads. Some 11.2 percent of
the undergraduates at MSU this fall
are out-of-state or international
students, which translates to 31,790
Michiganians in the Spartans' under-
graduate population.

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November 2 • 2006

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