We made it past 11/1! It is hard for me to even wrap my head around the fact that 6/29, the day of the Supreme Court decision, was a smidge over four months ago. These have been the longest four months of my life! So. Many. Essays! Predictably, the Common App (R) glitched a ton last week and early this week. If you’re reading this and you haven’t submitted all of your 11/15 apps yet - do it NOW! Don’t wait.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE LAST FEW WEEKS

HORRIFIC ANTISEMITISM ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Some of the recent antisemitic incidents on college campuses are so awful that I am honestly having a hard time wrapping my head around how they are possible in today’s world. Even if people are horrible enough to want to do these things (which I struggle with understanding, in and of itself) - how could they be so stupid to think that they can behave this way and get away with it? I really do not get it. When I first started drafting this post, the FBI was investigating the incidents at Cornell, and I’m so glad they were able to identify the person allegedly responsible, Patrick Dai. I hope this sends a strong message to students nationwide - no one will get away with this behavior.

VIRGINIA PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES ROLL OUT GUARANTEED ADMISSION PROGRAMS

No, not those Virginia public universities 😀 But these are great options for students, nonetheless! George Mason recently announced guaranteed admissions agreements for seniors at Alexandria City High School (formerly T.C. Williams) as well as Osbourn High School in Manassas. Students with grade point averages of 3.25 are automatically admitted - no applications, fees, essays, recommendations or test scores. VCU announced a similar initiative, except that any qualifying student in the state is eligible - regardless of high school. Students need GPAs of 3.5+, or must rank in the top ten percent of their high school class.

LIBERTY AND HILLSDALE FACE EXTREME BACKLASH

Liberty University is in hot water (to put it mildly) for their alleged violations of the Clery Act. According to the Washington Post, “Liberty failed to warn the campus community about gas leaks, bomb threats and people credibly accused of repeated acts of sexual violence — including a senior administrator and an athlete.” Several days later, Hillsdale College alumnae filed a federal suit alleging that the school violated state law and Title IX by by failing to address sexual assaults on campus. These allegations are very serious, and a good reminder to do your due diligence on any litigation involving schools on your student’s college list.

LOTS OF CHANGES AT UVA

UVA has now changed their approach to early decision and early action applications. Starting with this 2023-2024 application cycle, students will no longer be deferred to regular decision - just admitted, wait-listed, or denied. I think this is a great thing, by the way. The chances of admission post-deferral are so low - particularly with early decision - and it’s so much easier for students to be able to move on with their lives and make the best decisions possible without holding out for something that will likely never happen. Another change - UVA’s commerce (business) major will now be a three-year program instead of a two-year program. This is great for students who are hoping to have a more comprehensive, longer-term approach to business. And lastly, SCHEV approved UVA’s data science major last month, opening the door for undergraduates to move beyond the data science minor and pursue the much-desired major option.

SRAR PROBLEMS

More and more schools are requiring the SRAR, or Self-Reported Academic Record. In fact, Sally has spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks helping our seniors complete and submit these after they submitted their actual applications. However, a number of problems have emerged over the past few days. Rutgers applicants had trouble accessing their applicant portals due to technical issues, and couldn’t link their SRARs to their Rutgers applications. Fortunately, Rutgers extended their materials deadline (and for SRAR completion) to 11/10 for students who submitted their application on time. Applicants to other schools have reported logging into their SRAR to find that it is pre-populated with inaccurate information. Make sure to check everything over with a fine-tooth comb!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE LAST FEW WEEKS

While it’s nice to see that top law firms are putting pressure on colleges and universities to make sure the anti-semitic behavior referenced earlier in this post is addressed appropriately, I am with Bill Ackman - it’s really unfortunate that the pressure has to happen in the first place. BTW, I really like the way the law firms included Islamophobia in their letter, too. This kind of hatred is just totally unacceptable across the board and makes me sick.

The last place I would have expected a mass shooting is Lewiston, Maine, home of top liberal arts school Bates College - but Bates students had a really rough time last week. Students at Bowdoin College and Colby College were also impacted, as well as local campuses of the Universities of Maine and New England. One of Sally’s children is a student at one of these schools (keeping it vague for privacy!) and it just sounds like it was a terrifying situation all around for them.

On a more positive note, researchers from UVA’s School of Education and Human development recently developed what they call the Portrait of a Thriving Youth. This is a great read for parents, teachers, and anyone else working with or supporting an adolescent or young adult - it helps us identify needs and challenges as well as milestones and competencies. As a parent, I find this kind of thing so helpful, because I constantly remind myself that adolescent behavior is developmentally normal, despite the fact that it makes me want to pull my hair out. I have to literally repeat it to myself over and over in my head: “This is developmentally normal, this is actually a good thing, it would be bad if this behavior was not happening.” Whatever works, right?!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Fortunately, all of our 11/1 applications were submitted well in advance of the deadlines and almost of our students have submitted all of their regular decision applications as well. Things have started to settle down for a minute and we are giving our full attention to the juniors, transfers, and grad school applicants. And all of our former clients registering for their Spring 2024 classes over the next few weeks - we’re helping with course selection!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Several hours in advance, my son bailed on HIS plan 😀 for our Travis/Taylor costumes in favor of wearing last year’s Pokemon costume again - so I just went with it!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the slightly warmer weather after this week’s cold front!