In this issue

Since it's fall, I should probably mention colorful fall leaves or how crisp the fall air is or football or how much I enjoy wearing sweaters, but what really defines fall for all of us is the beginning of a new school year. Students leave their summer jobs and dust off their backpacks, while professionals prepare for changes in class and in the admission world. The journal of College Admission strives to keep you informed of these ethical and legal, regional and national changes.

Our issue opens with "How to Win Friends and Influence People During the High School Visit." In this Open Forum, Maureen Johnston, a high school counselor, shares her experiences with inconsiderate college reps. She offers sound advise to the unpunctual, unhelpful, unprincipled, and just plain unconnected college rep.

Ethiopia may be 7000 miles away, but counselors still face the same pressures. In Michael Archbold's Lighter Side, "The PSAT, the Fourth Grade, the Carpenter, and the Goat," we get a new view of recycling and learn the value of a goat.

The college community constantly debates the predictive value of the SAT and ACT. First-generation students have to deal with testing pressure on top of anxieties inherent in starting their postsecondary educations without parents' expert advice. In our feature article, "Identifying Variables that Predict College Success for First-generation College Students" by Wendy Naumann, et al., the authors discuss how college admission testing may disadvantage firstgeneration students compared to second-generation students and how "self-regulating variables" may be better indicators of first-generations students' college success.

A generation of Web-savvy high school students are now surfing to search for and apply to colleges. Authors George Mentz and Richard Whiteside offer colleges and universities technical, creative, organizational, ethical, and marketing-oriented advice in their article "Internet College Recruiting and Marketing: Web Promotion, Techniques and Law."

In "The Impact of Flagging in the College Admission Process," Cara Cahalan-Laitusis' (et al.), researches how admission officers, guidance counselors and disability service providers view test flagging according to their positions and their institutions' policies. Although this fall several large testing services will no longer flag tests given under special accommodations, the topic is still controversial.

College Rules!... if you know what you're doing. Brad Burch reviews Sherrie Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh's tips for academic success.

Closing the Journal with a Last Word, Frances Bernstein shares her experience implementing programs to build solid school-counselor relations at the University of Buffalo (NY). "Good Neighbors: Tips for Colleges to Enhance School-Counselor Relations" suggests several ways to reach out to counselors and stay active in the admission profession.

Visit our Web site at www.nacac.com/news_jou rnal.html to learn how you can write for us. Prepare for the fall changes with a new sweater and the Journal of College Admission!

Sarah E. Smith

Journal Editor

ssmith@nacac.com

Copyright National Association of College Admissions Counselors Fall 2003
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