THE TOP UNIVERSITIES=THE BEST CHOICES?

　She may look calm, but honor student Katie Rogers is in the biggest battle of her teenage life, trying to get accepted to an ivy 1 league school.

Katie: It's a life decision. It's a very, very important decision and especially in my high school, college and the top colleges are stressed very much.

     An investment in the future that starts with considerable cost. At least 55 dollars for each of the 13 applications Katie sent out to schools like Princeton, Georgetown, Yale and Cornel. It's all about opportunity.

Ellen Brener (High School Guidance Counselor): People also see it as an entry way to the best job, not just the best education. So that by going to the best school, you're probably going to have the best 1)access.

    That's exactly why more students than ever from around the country and around the globe are sending a flood of applications to the America's most competitive colleges and universities.

Ellen Brener: You don't know what the admissions officers are going to see when they read your application and just the more schools you apply to, the better you have getting accepted.

     But those chances are getting slimmer by the year. At Harvard, 18% of all applications were accepted in 1990. Last year, that number dropped to only 11%. The admission rate at Brown dropped from 23% to 16% over the past decade. And the University of Pennsylvania which accepted about 43% of all applicants 2 ten years ago admitted only 23% last year.

Richard Shaw (Dean of Admission, Yale University): They really are an amazing group of kids and the hardest part of this job is to have to say "no" to so many very, very qualified 3 students.

    This year a record breaking 14,600 people applied 4 to get into Yale, for 1,300 slots in the 2)freshman class, that means students have a one in nine chance of making it.

     And the odds 5 may be even slimmer than the numbers indicate. Most elite 6 schools look for an SAT score above 1,400.  Students who were in the top ten percent of their class and who have challenged themselves with difficult classes. But even that's no guarantee.

William Shain (Vanderbilt University): For the most competitive colleges in the country, it does seem that being perfect is no longer good enough. The number of students with 800s on each SAT who don't get into the most selective colleges in the country is highest it's been.

   And the rules about what top colleges want have changed 3)dramatically. In the past, schools courted only 4)well-rounded students who excelled at most everything. Not any more.

Michelle Hernandez (College Consultant 7): The trend has really shifted, and now they're very much looking for students who are very focused in a couple of areas and perhaps reach national level. Someone who reaches the Olympics or even their academic field like a debate.

     Author and college consultant Michelle Hernandez, who wrote "A is for admission the insider's guide for getting into the ivy league", is a Dartmouth grad who also worked in admissions there for years. She says never believe college admission rates. Your odds of getting in are actually much slimmer.

Michelle Hernandez: Out of 100% of the class they're admitting, a full 40% of every ivy league and other highly selective college is taken up by specialty 8 groups, so you've got maybe 17-20% of recruited athletes. That's a huge percentage of the class. You've got another maybe 5-10% of minority applicants. You've got legacy 9 applicants, meaning that their parents went to that school. You've got VIP or development cases, which are either sons and daughters of famous people, or ones who give an extraordinary high amount of money to the college.

  That leaves 60% of the class for students outside those categories. Admission counselors 10 say they read each of the thousands of applications at least twice, and have had to expand staff to handle the growing demand. But the fierce competition at the so-called selective colleges doesn't apply everywhere.

Ellen Brener: There's plenty of room for kids in most places, and we see that once you get beyond the most selective schools there are wonderful schools out there. Good places for all of our kids.

William Shain: There is no university in this country, not even Vanderbuilt which I think is wonderful, that has a  5)monopoly in turning out the people who matter.

     That's the first college lesson, Katie Rogers has learned.

Katie: I'm confident that wherever I'm accepted, I'll get a good education, I won't be, you know, short-changed in terms of academics.

名牌大学等于最好的选择吗？

   她看起来可能很冷静，但优秀生凯蒂·罗杰斯正面临着她少女时期的最大挑战--希望被名牌大学录取。

凯蒂：这决定关乎一生。那是非常、非常重要的决定，尤其在我就读的中学里，考上大学和名牌大学是每个学生的重点目标。

   这项对未来的投资需要付出相当可观的费用。罗杰斯投递了13张申请表，申请像普林斯顿、乔治敦、耶鲁和康奈尔这样的大学每张申请表至少花费55美元。那还只是希望得到机会而已。

埃伦·布琳娜（中学指导顾问）：人们也把读名牌大学看作是得到一份好工作的跳板，而不仅是受到最好教育。通过进入名牌学校，你很可能就会得到最佳捷径。

   那就是全国各地乃至全球越来越多的学生纷纷申请到美国最热门的大专院校的真正原因了。

埃伦·布琳娜（高中指导顾问）：你不知道招生办的人看你的申请表时会看哪方面，所以你申请的学校越多，被录取的机会就越大。

   可是目前被录取的机会正逐渐减少。在哈佛大学，1990年有18%的申请人会被录取。而去年数字跌到11%。布朗大学在过去十年中录取率从23%跌到了16%。宾夕法尼亚大学十年前所有申请人录取率为43%，去年只有23%。

理查德·肖（耶鲁大学招生办主任）：他们确实是一群出色的孩子，而这工作最困难的部分就是不得不拒绝那么多符合资格的学生。

   今年耶鲁大学破纪录地收到14,600人的申请表，而新生的位置仅有1,300个，那意味着学生成功的机会只有九分之一。

   可是实际成功的机会可能比这些显示的数字还要小。精英名校要求学生的SAT成绩超过1,400分。要求是在班中名列前10%的优秀生，还要求他们曾上过高难课程。但即使是这样也不能保证成功。

威廉·圣（范德比尔特大学顾问）：对国内最热门的学校而言，十全十美的学生还不够好。在国内， SAT每门都考过800分却落选的学生人数比历年都多。

   名校的招生标准已经大幅改变了。过去学校会录取在各个方面都出色的学生，现在不再如此。

米歇尔·赫南达兹（大学顾问）：招生趋向的确变了，现在他们会录取一些在几方面有特别专长、甚至是水平达到国家级的学生，奥运健儿或辩论等学术领域的高手。

   作家兼大学顾问米歇尔·赫南达兹曾著有一本有关“获得名校录取的内部权威指南”的书，她本人是达特茅斯大学的毕业生，也在该校招生办任职多年。她说千万不要相信大学的招生率。实际上你可能获得录取的机会更小。

米歇尔·赫南达兹：在被他们认可的100%招生率里，名校和其他一些受欢迎的大学中的学生专门占去了40%，运动人才要招大约17%到20%。这一类学生在班级里占的百分比很高。有另外5%到10%是少数民族申请人。还有校友后代申请人，即该校毕业生的子女。更有重要人士或捐款人士的孩子，他们是名人的后代或者是捐过一笔巨款给该校的人士的子女。

   除此之外，其他学生可申请的位置只剩下60%。招生办顾问说他们看的申请表数以千计，每份至少看两次，所以不得不增加人手来应付这不断增长的需求。但并不是所有所谓一流学校都会竞争这么激烈。

埃伦·布琳娜：大部分学校都有很多位置留给学生，我们可以看到，一旦你落选最名牌的学校后，还有很多好学校等在那里。对我们所有的孩子来说，那都是些好学校。

威廉·圣：在美国没有任何大学--哪怕是汪德比尔特这些著名大学--能在培养重要人才方面垄断市场。

   那是凯蒂·罗杰斯上大学学到的第一课。

凯蒂：不管是哪所大学录取我，我都有信心接受良好教育，你知道，这不会因为学校的不同而有所改变。

1） access通道，入门

2） freshman大学一年级学生

3） dramatically大幅地，戏剧性地

4） well-rounded多方面有能力的

5） monopoly垄断