College Recruiting

The number of high school seniors applying to the University of California rose 8.8% this year, a jump UC officials attributed to better academic preparation and a continuing increase in the college-age population. Overall, 82,841 seniors applied for fall admission, figures released Tuesday show. That included 70,494 applications from Californians, up 7.7% from last fall. International student applications were up 16.1%.

Like other tour guides who show prospective students around the USC campus, at some point Meghan Martineau feels compelled to mention the football team. The Trojans have won 34 consecutive games, spanning two national championships with a chance for a third against Texas in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday. Martineau describes the buzz around campus on Saturday mornings, a sense of pride among the student body.

At college fairs in high schools and convention centers around the country, recruiters draw lots of questions from parents and prospective students. But these days Mark Rasic also is getting something else: plenty of wisecracks, skepticism and sympathy. Rasic is the Los Angeles-based western representative for Loyola University New Orleans, a 5,500-student Jesuit school that escaped the worst of Hurricane Katrina and is scheduled to reopen in January.

The teacher was giving instructions, but Konrad Reuland barely digested a word. A perfectly normal reaction for most 14-year-olds experiencing their first physics lesson. However, Reuland was especially perplexed. Because the teacher was speaking German. Such no-win situations were exactly what Ralf and Mary Reuland anticipated when, four years ago, they sent their oldest son to live with relatives in Germany for eight months between his eighth- and ninth-grade school years.

Much like star quarterbacks and point guards, the select group of high school seniors who win the annual National Merit Scholarship competition are recruited by major universities around the country. But six University of California campuses that have courted these high-scoring students in past years are considering pulling out of the program, a move that could reverberate nationally.

Magicians make the impossible seem possible: A man eats fire. A blue macaw appears from thin air. Playing cards cascade from a man's mouth. Now professional magicians from throughout the U.S. are bringing their acts to Los Angeles -- betting on magic to help turn young people into college students.

Thousands of other students might have jumped at the chance to attend UCLA, but not Michael Rodriguez. He passed up his UC acceptance last year in order to attend California Lutheran University, a less well-known but more intimate private campus in Thousand Oaks. Rodriguez, who is happy with his choice, said one reason for the decision was a financial aid program Cal Lutheran established specifically to lure students who had been admitted to several top UC campuses. A math and physics major from San Fernando, Rodriguez also said he wanted a more personal setting with small classes and hoped to avoid the overcrowding and other problems state budget cuts are causing at UC schools.

Kathy Olivier knew how important it was to persuade Nikki Blue to choose UCLA for school and basketball. It wasn't just that Blue was a physically blessed athlete who'd earned prep All-American accolades while setting CIF Central Section scoring records at Bakersfield West High.

When admissions officers for Santa Clara University recruit new freshmen, they do their best to reach the kind of students they'd like to see more of on the Silicon Valley campus: boys. "We make a special pitch to them to talk about the benefits of Santa Clara, as we do for other underrepresented groups," Charles Nolan, Santa Clara's vice provost for admissions, said of the school's efforts to boost male applicants.

A new online matchmaking service is trying to hook up those interested in intelligent discussion, Saturday afternoon football ... maybe a little particle physics. Minimum commitment: four years. With Destination-U.com, a Brentwood college counselor and her venture capitalist son are matching high schoolers with colleges using the techniques of online dating services. The idea is that students have a personality, and so do the schools they're considering.