IN THIS ISSUE

Although it's officially nearing the end of the school year, spring is a new beginning for high school seniors. As they plan their futures, many are considering the postsecondary options you have worked so hard to provide. While they strain to pass their final exams, they are under even more pressure to decide where they will spend the next few years of their lives. Because of this pressure and high hopes for the future, those involved tend to focus on students who got accepted, rather than console those who received thin envelopes. How can you help them cope with disappointment?

According to Marian McDonnell Norton, author of the Open Forum, "Will You Please Behave?" part of the answer lies in preparation. Read how she, as an admission officer, manages the stress of denying students admission.

On the flip side, another admission officer, Steve Young, author of the On the Lighter Side, shares his experience with the accepted students who have been successfully recruited to his institution. Join him on his quest to follow up with students who he served in "Retro-Recruits: Where Are They Now? Searching the Admission Archives."

Despite the time professionals take to offer vast resources, not all students take advantage of these services. Researchers explore this problem in the realm of learning disabilities and college success, in the feature article, "Educational Outcomes of Students First Diagnosed with Learning Disorders in Postsecondary School."

Other resources involve the entire student population. As our society becomes more racially, ethnically, socially and economically diverse, many campuses are realizing that they must communicate to potential recruits how they provide equal access and opportunity to students. Drs. Carol Elam and Gilbert Brown discuss the roles of the counselor and admission professional in selecting and shaping an inclusive institution in our second feature, "The Inclusive University: Helping Minority Students Choose a College and Identify Institutions that Value Diversity."

To adequately impart students with a solid definition of inclusion and other postsecondary essentials, counselors must be trained in all areas of the process. Dr. Kevin L. Ensor conveys the need for the development of a dependable college planning program to make this training possible in the third feature, "College Counselors in the Public School: A Time for Specialization."

The final feature, by William M. Sterrett, "Current Issues Involving Affirmative Action and Higher Education" concerns the aforementioned changing demographic landscape, and examines the Michigan cases and related issues, the Hopwood case and California's Proposition 209.

In The Last Word, "Are All Admit Offers Created Equal? The Case of Wait-List Deferral," Paul Mariners shares a survey of waitlist deferral policies and requests that the NACAC leadership discuss the results.

Please note the special feature on page six, The Counselor Letter. If you'd like more information about how to submit to the Journal of College Admission, visit www.nacac.com/newsjournal.html or email iournal@nacac.com.

Sarah E. Smith

Journal Editor

Copyright National Association of College Admissions Counselors Spring 2005
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