College Acceptance was started by two Yale Law students, one a former New York City public school teacher, the other an active participant in the Harlem Educational Activities Fund. College Acceptance has membership extends beyond the law school; we have members in the college and almost all the graduate programs.
The program aims to provide low-income students with the same college information, exposure, and assistance available to their wealthier peers. Working with New Haven public high school students, College Acceptance helps students think about, prepare for, and navigate the admissions process.
The goal of the program is to target all the junior classes in a participating school to provide information to as many students as possible. Then, in the Senior Program, we provide more intensive help to students who show interest, and the need for more guidance. While this structure does not help every student to the same degree, it does provide some benefit to all the juniors in a participating school, and it goes a long way towards putting the seniors who participate on equal footing (in some respects) with their wealthier peers.
WHY WE DO IT
While there are many grave inequalities in primary and middle school public education, there are still a large number of economically disadvantaged students who reach 11th grade with the credentials and the desire to attend college. Still, many of these students suffer because of a lack of information; mostly because many poor urban students have considerably less exposure to college educated adults [for research on the subject see e.g. Choi et al, http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/provost/MidStates/Retention%20charge.htm].
New Haven Public Schools suffer from many of the same problems as the schools in larger urban public school systems. Accordingly, even the best New Haven schools fail to provide their less advantaged or academically talented students with the college counseling, essay help, and individual guidance. This is the kind of college help that wealthier students receive as a matter of course—from their parents or from well-paid professionals.