Can’t believe it’s Labor Day weekend! Hope everyone is enjoying and staying safe!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

JUDGE ORDERS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM TO GO TEST-BLIND

We’ve been following along as more and more schools choose to make testing optional this cycle due to COVID-19, but this is a new one! Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ruled that the UC system is no longer allowed to consider ACT or SAT scores from applicants. 

The UC system had already adopted a test-optional policy, but this new ruling means that they will not consider scores at all - whether applicants want their scores considered or not. This is a test-blind policy - and you can learn more about test-optional vs. test-blind admissions in my blog post from April. Thanks to an awesome senior mom for being the first one to send this to me :)

MORE VARSITY BLUES

Yet another parent was charged in the Varsity Blues scandal this week. Yikes! If you haven’t already, you should check out the tell-all book that came out about the scandal earlier this summer.

FAFSA UPDATE

The 2021-2022 FAFSA opens on October 1 for Class of 2021 seniors, and it is better to fill it out sooner rather than later! The blog posts that I wrote last winter will be helpful for families deciding whether or not to apply, and I stand by my recommendation: If you don’t have financial need, don’t fill out the forms. I personally think that advice will be more sound than ever this coming fall, as colleges will look to make up budget shortfalls with full-pay applicants.

That said, one big caveat - if you have experienced a dramatic shift in finances recently as a result of COVID-19, the calculators likely won’t pick that up. In fact, we won’t see COVID-related changes reflected on the calculators for quite a while because of PPY. However, financial aid offices will still take other information into consideration when attempting to capture a holistic assessment of a family’s ability to pay. So I highly recommend filling out the FAFSA if you think there is any possible chance you may qualify, whether the calculator says you will or not. The people who I do not think should apply are the ones who know full well they won’t qualify but are wondering if they should “apply just to apply.”

FAUCI ASKS COLLEGES TO KEEP STUDENTS ON CAMPUS

We’ve been paying close attention to colleges changing their reopening plans because of COVID-19, and we’ve seen some schools like JMU, Notre Dame, and NC State open in person and then go remote due to outbreaks on campus. This week, Dr. Fauci urged colleges to keep infected students quarantined on campus, rather than sending students home due to outbreaks. This makes sense to protect the communities at home, but I also know a lot of parents who would prefer to have a sick child at home rather than quarantined in a dorm room! 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

There’s no shortage of interesting college admissions articles out there (as you know from my weekly posts), but probably once every year or so I come across a piece that makes me really, really excited. It’s almost like I know while reading it for the first time that I’m going to keep coming back to it and referencing it for years.. and come on, who wouldn’t get excited about that?! #nerd (In case you are wondering, this was the last such article).

I came across the most recent "article of the year” about a week ago- just after I’d posted the last blog update - and here it is in the WSJ: “The Secrets of Elite College Admissions” by Jeff Selingo. Seriously - you need to read this article. It’s a teaser for the author’s upcoming book, which I have already pre-ordered!

There’s so much I want to say but I will limit myself to highlighting what I hope are your three greatest take-aways:

• An applicant’s activities must support their intended major. MUST. This is why our first or second meeting with every junior (or Late Start Senior) is spent ensuring alignment between the Common App activities section and the student’s intended major.

• Teacher letters of rec must provide specific, detailed information about how the candidate performed in the classroom. MUST. A glowing character reference will not cut it. Again, this is why we spend substantial time and effort helping our students provide their teachers with the right rec letter content.

• “Why this school” essays must demonstrate how the student’s interests fit with the school’s unique offerings. MUST! They cannot be generic and boilerplate. This is why we use our proprietary “ASC Method” for these essays - to help students rack up those LTE points!

The rest of this week’s articles may not be quite as interesting as that one, but I still have some others worth sharing!

This piece from the Washington Post reports on the interesting method that the University of Arizona has used to prevent coronavirus outbreaks on campus - wastewater testing. Hopefully, other schools will see the success at Arizona and use this method to get ahead of campus outbreaks, so we don’t have to see more students sent home. Pretty fascinating if you ask me!

I really feel for the students at JMU who have had to leave campus due to the outbreaks, and I hope that they are isolating and testing to keep their communities safe! This blog post offers a great read for daily coronavirus status updates in Virginia - especially as it relates to college campuses.

I’ve been posting a lot recently about the tension between students and administrators when it comes to who is to blame for coronavirus outbreaks on campus. This New York Times piece goes deeper into personal tensions for the students themselves. I don’t envy how tough it is for all of the students, even the socially responsible ones, to keep the peace on campus while keeping themselves safe. 

I have to say, amidst all the COVID-19 news, I love to read stories about safe ways to make the most of the college experience this fall! Along the same lines of the U Experience, which I posted about several weeks ago, I found this in-depth article about college “collab houses” really hopeful. Just something else to remind me how resilient, inventive, and adventurous our students are during this crazy year. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Maybe it’s just a holdover from my own days in school (or working at a school!), but September always feels to me like a month of new beginnings. And even though it is still hot and humid here in DC, I’m already looking forward to fall. 

As I have mentioned before, we are continuing to transition from working primarily with our original Class of 2021 cohort to spending more time with our Late Start Seniors. I believe this past week we had four or five different students completely finish their applications, and we have a whole bunch more set to finish next week. Congratulations, guys!

I find it ironic that after years of meaning to do so, I finally documented the entire submission process last fall and of course Common App unexpectedly changed things up for the current cycle! I can’t be too frustrated, though, because they actually simplified it a lot. You don’t have to put in any of the information about the mailing address or email address - the only information that needs to be typed in is the credit card number. So all in all, it’s a much easier and faster process than in years past!

If you are reading this and feeling overwhelmed - it’s not too late for help! Seniors who book a Meet & Greet within the next several weeks will likely be able to finish their applications by November 1!