We hope you all had a fun and restful break, and we’re excited to be back with our first weekly update of 2021!
BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK
FCPS BOARD DELAYS SCHOOL REOPENING
The FCPS School Board voted to indefinitely pause the Return to School plan and reevaluate in early February. In more hopeful news, Governor Northam announced that K-12 educators are now in group 1B and may receive vaccines later this month, which is very promising for the return to the classroom. YAY! Edit: A press release went out late this afternoon indicating that educators in Fairfax County will be able to get vaccinated as early as Monday, January 11!
BETSY DEVOS RESIGNS
The Secretary of Education submitted her resignation on Thursday, following the riots at the Capitol this week. DeVos is the second cabinet-level official to step down in the wake of recent events. She’s not the most popular name in town, but she did do quite a bit of work to push school choice and keep schools open during the pandemic. We will keep an eye on how those policies might be affected in the coming months.
COLLEGES CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH SPRING SCHEDULES
With the five deadliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic taking place over the last two weeks, colleges are struggling with how to plan for spring semester. Syracuse, which laid out its spring semester plans in September, announced on Monday that it will start and end the term two weeks later than planned. UNC will start the semester on time but remotely, delaying in-person undergraduate classes for three weeks. Georgetown is facing backlash for keeping students remote during the spring semester, while nearby schools like American and Catholic will be returning to in-person instruction. We are watching closely, as more schools are likely to change their plans for the spring in the coming days.
CHALLENGING ADMISSIONS YEAR FOR STUDENTS AT TOP COLLEGES
As we have said many times on this blog, the overall decrease in college enrollment in the US is not reflective of the landscape at highly selective schools. Early applications at Harvard are up 57% over last year, and the early admit rate was cut nearly in half, from 13.9% to 7.4%. Yale apps are up 38%, and acceptances down to 11%, and the trend continues at Penn and Dartmouth. The Ivy League schools aren’t the only ones impacted, either - UVA and UGA also saw increases in early applications.
NORTHEASTERN BEGINS COVID-19 VACCINATIONS
Northeastern University, an authorized Massachusetts vaccine provider, became one of the first colleges in the country to issue COVID-19 vaccines this week. About 1,500 people at Northeastern, including 1,000 students who work in direct patient care, are eligible for Phase 1 vaccinations, and 88 people have been vaccinated so far. The university plans to begin Phase 2 vaccinations in February.
BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services released a report this week that reveals an average of a 56% rise in COVID-19 cases in counties where colleges and universities had in-person learning. The report does not indicate whether the spread was as a result of in-person learning, or other sources of spread in the community.
Students and faculty at DC area colleges spoke out this week about their relationships with the U.S. government and their reactions to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Their statements underline D.C.’s status as a “college town,” and the links between Washington and the D.C. educational institutions.
The New York Times is inviting students to share their college essays about experiences and issues that defined 2020. Submitters will have a chance to be interviewed or have their writing featured. Of course, we encouraged our own students to steer clear of Covid-related topics in their college essays, but there were so many major issues this past year that I am sure some would qualify. We always say that the hardest part about working on essays is that we can’t share our students’ amazing progress, so this would be a great opportunity for students to have a wider audience for their stories!
OFFICE HAPPENINGS
So many people send us emails this time of year saying “You’re probably so relieved to be done with the admissions season…” but did you know that the month of January is probably our third-busiest of the year, after August and September?
Not only are we working with Class of 2021 students on follow-up work such as additional interview prep or LOCIs, we’re also assisting with initial research and application materials with the Class of 2022, who are putting together college lists at a very difficult time. The rate at which colleges are changing their requirements and deadlines is keeping us on our toes! Class of 2022 families who want to learn more about our ongoing services can book a Meet & Greet.
That said, what really makes us crazy busy this time of year is not actually our work with juniors or seniors (or our grad student or transfer applicants, for that matter). Why are we so swamped? Two words: course registration. As soon as the new year hits, FCPS course registration for the following academic year begins in full force, and this January is no exception.
Are you struggling over whether it’s better to earn a B in an honors course or an A in a regular course; wondering which electives to choose; or wondering about the credibility of your 15-year-old son who swears up and down his school counselor said it was no problem at all to go ahead and drop Spanish since he already met his foreign language graduation requirement in 10th grade? You are not alone!
Pro tip: the best money you’ll ever spend on the college admissions process (truly!) is our one-hour strategy session for your 8th, 9th, or 10th grade student. You’ll walk away knowing exactly which courses to choose, which tests to take and when, and what your student needs to be doing (and NOT doing) at this very moment if they want to be one of our success stories down the line.
Whether your family ever sees us again after the meeting is totally up to you, but starting off on the right foot will ensure that you ultimately begin the active stage of the admissions process in a position of strength, because you won’t be frantically trying to make up for mistakes you didn’t even know you were making.
Like dropping Spanish :)