Congratulations to the September 2007 Student Athletes of the Month

Brittany Butler Briar Woods Cross Country
Eric Zimmet Broad Run Football
Todd Lancaster Dominion Football
Natalie Liberty Freedom Cheer
Rebecca Presor Heritage Volleyball
James Sullivan Loudoun County Football
Kevin Rinek Loudoun Valley Golf
Will Ward Park View Football
Andrew Mott Potomac Falls Cross Country
Natalie Driskill Stone Bridge Volleyball

National Association for College Admission Counseling annual Conference

Trends in college admissions were released on Thursday at the National Association for College Admission Counseling's annual conference.

More students are applying to more colleges.

3.2 million students are expected to graduate from American high schools this year. More than ever. The population boom is expected to continue until 2009, when a projected 3.3 million students will earn their high-school diplomas. The number of high-school graduates is expected to stay at that number until 2016.

The report, "The State of College Admission," is based on data collected from 386 colleges and 1,508 high-school counselors.

According to the report, more colleges want to feel wanted by their applicants. The percentage of colleges ranking a student's demonstrated interest in their institution as "considerably important" rose from 7 to 21 % over the past four years.

NACAC's data indicate that students applying to seven or more institutions are still in the minority, at only 18 percent.

Colleges are relying more than before on standardized test scores in making admissions decisions. In 1997, only 50 % of colleges said test scores were "considerably important" in their evaluation of applicants, compared to 60 % in the most recent survey.

Class rank, which was important to about a third of surveyed colleges in 1997, is now considered important by less than a quarter of them (23 percent).

The college-application essay, which has become even more crucial to a growing number of institutions. Only 18% of colleges surveyed considered the essay important in 1997, 28 % do so now.