I can’t believe this is already my last weekly update of the month. Time is speeding by and it feels like every day now we have another student clicking “submit” - so exciting!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SAT UPDATES: CHECK WITH YOUR TESTING CENTER

It sounds like everyone was able to get through this past week’s school-based SAT administration relatively unscathed (although I have heard a lot of complaints about the reading passages). However, there might be some issues ahead. Out of the nearly 700,000 students registered to take the test on September 26 and October 3, almost half will be unable to take it due to test center closures. In a perfect world, students should have heard from College Board already if their test was impacted; however, we know it doesn’t always pan out like that in reality! If you have a test scheduled for tomorrow or for October 3, please call your test center directly to confirm that you will be able to take the test as scheduled.

SOME UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGES AT CORNELL WILL BE TEST-BLIND FOR THE 2020-2021 CYCLE

Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; College of Architecture, Art, and Planning; and the SC Johnson School of Business (which includes both Dyson and the Hotel School) will be test-blind this cycle, meaning that scores will not be considered for any applicant. If you haven’t already, you can read more about the difference between test-optional and test-blind admissions in my blog post from April. 

PAC-12 FOOTBALL UPDATE

Now that we’re well into fall, I’m seeing college sports updates every week! The Pac-12 announced yesterday that it will play a seven-game season beginning on November 6. This follows the news that I shared last week from the Big 10, which has also reversed its original decision to suspend play this fall. If you are following along, that means that only one top conference, the Mid-American Conference, has no plans to play a fall football season.

NETFLIX REALITY SHOW ABOUT GALLAUDET PREMIERES OCTOBER 9

Netflix has just released the trailer for its new reality series, Deaf U, about life at Gallaudet University right here in DC. One of the producers for the show is Nyle DiMarco, who is from Frederick and attended Gallaudet (he also won America’s Next Top Model in 2015). The trailer definitely made me excited to check out the first episode on October 9!

UC IMPROPERLY ADMITTED AT LEAST 64 STUDENTS

A California state audit recently found that the University of California admitted at least 55 students who were under-qualified as a result of family connections or donations. The audit was conducted in response to last year’s Varsity Blues scandal, which had previously identified at least three students at UCLA and UC Berkeley who were improperly admitted. Auditors found that UC admitted 22 students falsely designated as student-athlete recruits, and an additional 42 applicants were admitted to Berkeley based on connections to staff, leadership, and donors.

Perhaps even more discouraging, the audit also found that admissions staff were insufficiently trained and supervised, leading to inconsistent application reviews. Hopefully, the UC system and other institutions will learn from this and pay a little more attention to their oversight processes. They have already pledged to follow the auditors’ recommendation of verifying athletic ability and donor records before admitting students. 

One silver lining of the shift to test-optional admissions at many schools is that admissions officers are receiving additional training to read and review applications without test scores. I am optimistic that training will help keep admissions practices consistent in these offices that are re-training for this cycle. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This article from the Washington Post does a nice job of providing a big-picture look at the manner in which college campuses opened this past fall. The ability to control COVID-19 in a university setting depends on so many factors, including whether the school is public or private, whether the surrounding area is urban or rural, and the number of students on campus. It was helpful to understand the issues at play during a year in which colleges are making really tough calls when it comes to on-campus instruction.

This profile of Washington State cross-country runner Andrew Cooper gave me a lot to think about when it comes to college athletics. Cooper was a strong voice in the Pac-12 players’ initiative, which made demands of administrators related to health and safety, racial justice, and economic rights, and is dedicated to making these types of athletic reforms. He ultimately hopes to provide a collective bargaining agreement for student-athletes, among other changes to the NCAA. Players’ rights are particularly important right now, when COVID-19 is spreading and illuminating health risks for student-athletes. 

I love being able to promote free programs from colleges and universities, and I’m really excited about these sessions on Activism & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Pomona College. We’ve seen our students including activism experience in the activities sections of their applications more and more frequently, as they have taken advantage of more opportunities for civic engagement during their high school years than past cohorts. This article does a great job of discussing the nuances of including student activism during the application process. Just as there is no single way to be an activist, there is no one-size-fits-all advice for representing student activism in the application - for our clients, we can help you put your best foot forward in the application process while remaining true to yourself and your beliefs. 

You may remember my post from earlier this month, where I revealed my college admissions “article of the year” from Jeff Selingo. If you missed that post, I encourage you to go back and take a look - I break down the three pieces of advice that I hope you take away. The article made me so excited to read Jeff’s new book, which he discusses in this recent interview (along with his views on how admissions has changed during the coronavirus pandemic). I am plugging away at the book bit by bit every night, and it’s great so far!

I also provided a FAFSA update in that same September 5 post, and shared that it opens for Class of 2021 students on October 1 (this coming Thursday). I mentioned that if you experienced a dramatic shift in finances as a result of COVID-19, the FAFSA will not pick that up. If that is the case for your family, you will need to complete the FAFSA as early as possible with 2019 tax information and then reach out to financial aid offices directly to request a “professional judgment” review, for which you can submit new material like layoff notices, unemployment checks, or medical bills. This article from the New York Times expands on my guidance and provides an excellent overview of the steps that students and families will need to take to qualify for financial aid in that type of scenario.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We can’t engage in the same level of travel to college campuses this year, but that does not mean our research stops! In fact, we take it more seriously than ever, because our families can’t visit either - and they are relying on us to provide them with up-to-date insider information that is not always obvious from their online research.

Shannon has been attending a ton of counselor-only virtual visits and presentations in order to write up individual profiles to help our students with their decision making and school-specific essays. Ultimately, these profiles will go up on our Membership Vault for current clients and subscribers, but in the meantime, here are just a couple of examples for anyone hoping for a preview!

This time of year is definitely bittersweet as we begin the active stages of the process with juniors and finish up with seniors. Usually I think “it feels like yesterday that the seniors were having their own junior year meetings,” but NOT THIS YEAR! Haha, September 2019 feels like a century ago! We received an email a few days ago from a student who started out as one of our most reluctant writers last year but ended up with absolutely amazing work:

We get a lot of feedback like this about how students’ writing skills improve throughout the process - so once they matriculate at the college they choose, they already have a leg up on college writing! My favorite part of my job is hearing about how we were able to help students feel more confident in themselves during what can be a (very!) challenging process.

I have another video to share - this time about submitting test scores. I have been fielding questions about this topic over and over again during the current application cycle, and I hope my advice will help students make the tough decision about whether or not to share their test scores with schools.  As you can see, it’s not as straightforward as we’d hope!

Have a great weekend and good luck to those taking the SAT tomorrow! Don’t forget to call your test center this afternoon to double-check that the test is on as planned!