BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK
MORE MEDICAL SCHOOLS PULL OUT OF NATIONAL RANKINGS
Last week Harvard Medical School made headlines when it withdrew from the U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings. Now four other medical schools have followed suit. Columbia, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and Mount Sinai have all announced that they are withdrawing from the rankings due to concerns over inaccurate representations of data.
COLLEGE BOARD RESPONDS TO CONCERNS OVER AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSE
On Tuesday, The College Board announced that it will reveal the new framework for its AP African American Studies course on the first day of Black History Month- February 1. Many are concerned that the framework will be influenced by political agendas, given that Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently rejected the course for its “lack [of] educational value.” The College Board issued a letter to its members on Thursday, reaffirming that the curriculum has only been shaped by educational experts and was completed prior to DeSantis’ public rejection.
CHARGES AGAINST FORMER LOUDOUN COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT ARE UPHELD
During a court hearing on Thursday, a judge ruled that misdemeanor charges against Scott Ziegler- former superintendent of Loudoun County schools- will be upheld. Ziegler is being charged with making false statements about two high-profile sexual assault cases in the county, as well as unfairly firing a teacher.
MARYLAND COLLEGE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS ARE REVISED- AND PARENTS AREN’T HAPPY
After freezing college savings accounts due to interest calculation errors, Maryland 529 has revised its account balances for hundreds of families. However, many are upset by the new numbers. Families are claiming they are owed a 6% interest rate on all contributions, but this rate is only being applied to money invested from November 2021 onward. The result is a staggering discrepancy between what families thought they had available for college funds versus the newly adjusted totals. We will continue to track this story, as Maryland 529 plans to hold a meeting today.
BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
A woman with a mission to help college students turns out to be a $175 million dollar fraud. No, this is not the premise for a new blockbuster movie. It’s reality! Charlie Javice, a woman once recognized as one of the most creative people in business, built a career in social enterprise, promising to help millions of families navigate the college financial process. However, when JPMorgan paid $175 million to acquire her financial planning company, they discovered they had been conned. This is a pretty incredible story and one that I haven't seen floating around my normal education spaces. Instead, we discussed it in my Goldman Sachs session last week. Our advisor reinforced what the article stated- that it's a good example of a situation where the lenders didn't have enough institutional knowledge - specifically, they didn't understand the financial aid process and how it works. They should have called us :)
In 2021, an infamous Supreme Court decision changed the world of college athletics. No longer would players be restricted from earning money. Instead, they were free to profit off of their NIL- name, image, likeness. Since then college athletes have earned significant figures through donations, endorsement deals, and even business ventures. And while many support the rights of these athletes to profit off their talents and skills, others are concerned about the potential long-term impact. Advertisers and donors are now investing in individual players rather than school programs, which affects budgets and the overall strength of athletic departments. Too, not all college athletes have the name recognition to make NIL profitable. This is a new “unregulated economic frontier” fraught with both excitement and worry over the future of college athletics.
When it comes to college admissions, we often defer to the experts for their thoughts on rankings, costs, and quality. But what about students? What matters most to college applicants as they make important decisions about the future? The New York Times assembled a focus group of eleven high school seniors to find out these answers. And some of their responses may surprise you! It appears that many students are trying to balance practical considerations, such as tuition and career preparation, with a desire for mental well being and happiness. The group also weighed in on college rankings, regrets over the admissions process, and advice for high school juniors.
OFFICE HAPPENINGS
WHERE OH WHERE are the 2023-2024 Common App essay prompts? OMG - I look for them every morning and they still haven’t been released yet. Driving me crazy! We are very excited to jump right into essays with our juniors so they will be finished with their main essay around the timeframe of spring break. At that point, they will move on to preparing supplemental essay content and teacher/counselor recommendation input. We like to stay on track so we can have all of our students finished with their college apps by September as planned!
In other news, so many schools released their EA decisions over the past week! If you didn’t receive the decision you were hoping for, don’t panic! Instead, book a session with us to plan a letter of continued interest, otherwise known as a LOCI. Current clients, schedule your meetings here. If you are not a current client but would like to book a one-time meeting, please click here.
We also want to remind our current students to please always update your status chart each time you receive a decision. It’s also important to update with the decision itself rather than just checking off that a decision came in - otherwise we won’t know what it was! Please watch my quick instructional video if you have any questions about whether you’re doing this correctly.
Finally, be sure to check out our internship database. We’ve listed some great opportunities for Summer 2023, but they might disappear if you don’t apply now! Many programs have February deadlines.