BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

PSAT AND NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CUTOFFS

After many Class of 2022 students were unable to take the PSAT during COVID-19, we expected to see numbers go up for the Class of 2023 - after all, nearly 50% more students took the test! The prediction for the cutoff for commended students is 208. Here in Virginia, we expect to see National Merit Semifinalists in the 220-223 range, in keeping with the past three years of cutoffs. For a more detailed state-by-state breakdown, this article has some helpful charts and graphs.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION PROGRAMS APPLICATION REOPENS AFTER ELIGIBILITY ERRORS

Speaking of Class of 2022 students who took the PSAT, it turns out that a number of students were not notified about their eligibility for National Recognition programs. In recognition of this error, College Board has reopened the application until December 15. If you believe that there is any chance that you are eligible, PLEASE go ahead and apply!

Class of 2023 students with GPAs of 3.5+ and either attending school in a rural area/small town OR identifying as African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, or Indigenous are eligible to apply today if either one of the two bulleted statements apply:
- Scored in the top 10% of their state in the winter or spring of sophomore year (students scoring in this range on this past fall’s PSAT will be able to apply later)
- Earned a score of 3+ on two or more AP exams during 9th and/or 10th grade
Class of 2024 students with GPAs of 3.5+ and either attending school in a rural area/small town OR identifying as African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, or Indigenous are eligible to apply today if they earned a score of 3+ on two or more AP exams during 9th grade (students scoring in the top 10% of their state on this past fall’s PSAT will be able to apply later).

Again, if there is any chance you believe you might be eligible, go ahead and apply. Other counselors have estimated that the “top 10%” number on the PSAT would be around 1200+ depending on the state.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS CONTINUE TO SOAR ABOVE PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS

We expected college application rates to stay high this year, compared to before the pandemic, and so far that is playing out. Already, applications are up 22% from pre-pandemic levels. As we saw last year, most of the increase is from affluent students applying to a longer list of schools (perhaps as a result of the increased unpredictability in admissions decisions), rather than more students applying. And we expect to see an additional spike as we get closer to those early January deadlines!

VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT’S TRAGIC DEATH

A Fairfax County student at Virginia State University has died after a shooting at a university apartment building last weekend. Daniel Wharton, of Alexandria, was nineteen. As of this writing, a suspect has not yet been identified.

TRANSFORMATIVE, RECORD-SETTING GIFT TO HOLLINS UNIVERSITY

An anonymous donor just set a record by donating $75 million to the Hollins University endowment. This is very significant - not only is it the largest-ever donation in history to a women’s college, it equates to more than a third of their existing endowment. I visited Hollins back in April 2019 on the way back from Virginia Tech, and I will admit that it did not strike me as a place that many of our students would be interested in - simply because of the size (800 students), rural location, and the fact that it’s a women’s college.

But for a girl seeking a very small, tight-knit community, it could be a great option! They have always offered generous merit aid, and I bet that it will get even better now. Anyone interested should check out the accelerated three-year undergraduate program, as well as the impressive partnerships with institutions ranging from Carnegie Mellon to UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Future students interested in the UVA Batten partnership should also make sure to read up on Hollins’ own Batten Leadership Institute, which offers an undergraduate certificate in leadership studies.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

While many students in our area are continuing to pursue their college goals during the pandemic, a large number of students across the country are putting off college - overall, college enrollment has dropped 8%, with community college bearing the brunt of the decrease. Many in the education space are afraid that with students putting college off for a few years, they are much less likely to return to pursue higher education.

But this New York Times article provides some hope - it’s never too late to go to college! Devon Simmons, who served 15 years in prison for crimes he committed as a teenager, later graduated from Columbia and is now working on a program to help “jailhouse lawyers” become paralegals and create a path to law school after incarceration.

Shon Hopwood’s book, Law Man, is a great read for those interested in these types of stories. Shannon worked with Shon on events at Georgetown and highly recommends this as a great book for students interested in criminal justice to read over the break (and include in college applications)!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Now is the time when decisions are rolling in! If you are a current client, make sure to keep us updated over the weekend and next week as more and more of those early decisions roll out. And if you are anxiously checking your email, we recommend checking out College Kickstart’s list of application notification dates, which is updated regularly with new information.

I mentioned in the mid-week post that I had the chance to go see Wash U last weekend. I will admit that I was actually in St. Louis to see the James Taylor concert but it was so much fun stopping by campus while I was there. I met up with a current freshman and really enjoyed hearing about the similarities and differences between our experiences.

It’s crazy how much has changed since my last visit just four years ago - which is a good lesson about the importance of revisiting schools that your student may have seen a few years back with an older sibling. At the rate that new buildings are popping up and new initiatives are rolling out, so many of these schools are completely different places in the span of a few years. And right after I left, they announced the construction of yet another new building, which will create a whole new quad.