Meet the students
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Overbrook High School senior Walter Pinder was stunned when he got the three-page letter from Harvard in the mail over the summer, inviting him to apply and enticing him with a possible free ride.
The aspiring writer and chemistry aficionado was determined to go to college, though his education resembled a revolving door at best: 11 schools in as many years.
"It was like wow. Harvard! I didn't even think I was on the map," said Pinder, 18, whose father died last year in prison and is living in an apartment with his uncle.
The letter was a carrot - an invitation to apply, one of about 70,000 sent out by Harvard this year for a freshman class that numbers about 1,650. Not a promise of admission.
Autumn for high school seniors like Pinder is a season of hope, a time of courtship when colleges come wooing. And they're wooing harder than ever before.
It's also a season of stress: SATs to sweat through, essays to write, a taking stock - perhaps for the first time - of what they want in life. Then the long wait follows until the fat, or thin, letters arrive and the question of how to pay for college comes.
This year's admissions race promises to be one of the most competitive in decades for many students, with the number of graduating seniors peaking at 3.3 million.
And paying for it will be tough for many as the nation faces almost unprecedented financial troubles, with rising college costs and more hurdles to get loans.
This is the landscape that Pinder faces, along with other Philadelphia area students whom The Inquirer will follow as they try to jockey their way toward their dreams.
"It's exciting. It's nerve-wracking. It's fun. It's a little bit of everything," said Samantha DiFeliciantonio, a senior at Conestoga High in Chester County, one of Pennsylvania's best public high schools.
Even though she is a strong student and has special insight from her father - an admissions executive at Ursinus College - her search promises to be a challenge, as she eyes George Washington, Tufts and other competitive schools.
Alexandria Derassouyan, a senior at a Catholic preparatory school in Northeast Philadelphia, will take the SAT multiple times, trying to better her chances of breaking into top schools. Derassouyan also recently learned she was named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, which she hopes gives her an edge at schools such as Cornell.
Brett Johnson, a nationally ranked middle distance runner from Ocean City, N.J., who dreams of competing in the 2012 Olympics, will look to parlay his special talent into lucrative scholarships.
Kirby Dixon, a top honor roll student with an artistic flair at the private William Penn Charter School in East Falls, will strive to write that perfect essay to stand out. An African American, she's pondering a piece on how she overcame the discrimination she perceived from other black students when she first arrived at Penn Charter.
Meanwhile, twins Cooper and Samuel Gorelick, seniors at Cherry Hill High School West and the oldest of six children, will look to find the best and most affordable fit. Samuel is interested in music and math education, while Cooper is considering architecture or acting.
"It's mainly money that goes through my mind," Samuel Gorelick said.
It all will come down to what one local high school counselor likes to call the time of "balloons and towels," when students will celebrate acceptance to their dream school, or find they must settle for a second or third choice.
Their journey promises to be exhilarating and arduous as students try to distinguish themselves. Even though Samantha DiFeliciantonio, attends Conestoga High in Chester County - one of Pennsylvania's best public high schools - is a strong student and has a father who works as an admissions executive at Ursinus College, her search will be no cinch.
Parents say the process is daunting for them, too.
"When we were kids, you applied to a couple schools. Maybe you visited them. Maybe you didn't. The college process is so much more stressful now," said Andrea Derassouyan, Alexandria's mom, who got a business degree from Stockton College in New Jersey. "There's so much more pressure on kids."
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