College competition drives resume-building activities

Lianne Zhang, an incoming senior at Palo Alto High School, feels she is being pushed to fit a perfect formula.

"All these people are telling me what to do for college," said the 16-year-old. "It's really crazy."

To give herself an edge, Lianne, who has a 3.9 GPA, has taken four SAT preparation classes and spends her free time doing various extracurricular activities - and not always ones she wants to do.

"Freshman year, my mom signed me up for fencing, for an 'unusual sport,'" she said. "I joined these random national societies, which are just for my college application. France was for a 'cultural experience.' I didn't quit the piano because it looks bad for college, even though I really hated it. I've volunteered at the library for over 200 hours. If it wasn't for college, I definitely wouldn't have started all this stuff."

Getting into a prestigious university has never been more difficult. There is more competition, and in the case of California's public universities, fewer slots. So students and parents are doing whatever they can to get an advantage, and some begin plotting how to stand out from the crowd even before high school.

Lianne's parents are so worried that they have scaled back their expectations.

"My parents have given up on me going to Stanford; they just want me to go to a UC now," Lianne said.

But Lianne's mother, Ying Li, still puts college on the top of her priority list.

"Education is so important," Li said. "The college you go to and how well you do in four years will determine the rest of your life. Going to a good college will make your life better because you can rely on what you've learned."

Competition for college slots is increasing because of a growing tidal wave of applicants who are the children of baby boomers. The college-age population (18 to 24 years old) in the United States, at more than 28 million people, shows signs of being crowded. In 1984, Yale University had 10,304 applicants and accepted 2,130 students, or 20.7 percent of applicants. In 2004, Yale had almost 20,000 applicants and admitted only 1,950 students, or 9.9 percent of applicants. Other top schools have similar statistics.

Budget cuts have forced the University of California and California State University systems to cut their freshman spots by 10 percent, or about 30,000 students. About 7,600 students in the top 12 percent of their class, traditionally guaranteed admission to a UC campus, were denied this year. The CSU system cut its student population by approximately 20,000 new admissions.

Recognizing an opportunity, myriad application-brightening services have sprung up. Lianne's family has spent more than $1,200 on four Princeton Review courses for the SAT 1 and 2.

"It's a waste of money, but everyone goes," Lianne said. "Every time I go to a Princeton Review class, I see lots of people from my school there."

Princeton Review, a private test preparation company, has seen tremendous revenue growth in recent years. Last year, the company's revenue was $104.5 million, a 50 percent increase from $69.1 million in 2001.

Another expensive step is to hire a private college counselor. Mary Clarke, of Menlo Park, has never advertised but said she doesn't have any trouble finding students who are willing to pay her $75 per hour fee. She meets with students for one hour every week starting during the freshman year and guides them through the maze of high school academics and college applications.

"She pushes people to try to get into the best college they can, and if you need to do more extra-curriculars, she'll tell you what to do," said Ruven Chu, a 17-year-old student at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, who is one of Clarke's students.

But not everyone can afford or is willing to do these extras. Samuel Germaine, 18, who will be a freshman at West Valley College this fall, said that not taking SAT classes left him disadvantaged.

"Even if it was one little thing that helped me do a little bit better, I would have taken them," he said. He said that his parents would have paid for SAT classes, but they would not have paid for a private college counselor.

Some admissions officers say a neatly groomed resume may not necessarily guarantee admission into a top school.

Daniel Krause, an admissions officer at Pomona College, said he sees application padding frequently, and he said he can't always tell if the applicant is really passionate or just prettily packaged.

"There are ways and indications, though," Krause said. "Sometimes if the resume is a mile long, then they probably did each thing once. It's better to be really invested in this club, and have a really personal connection."

Sometimes, students may find that although they started something for their resume, they enjoy it after all. For Palo Alto High student Lianne, college has been, overall, a positive incentive. Although she started many activities to enhance her college application, the line between real interest and application packaging has blurred.

"If it wasn't for college, I would have quit piano a long time ago, but I found out that I really like it now," she said. "It's not too bad. I got to find things like fencing that I like. Although I don't have any passions, I do enjoy a lot of things."