Weekly Update: March 19

Happy (belated) St. Patrick’s Day! For those of you in the DC area, I hope you get a chance to enjoy the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin this week – they’re finally here!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SURVEY FINDS COLLEGE STUDENTS PREFER CAMPUS GUN POLICIES

A new Gallup survey showed that 81% of current and prospective college students consider campus gun policies to be “at least somewhat important” in their decision to enroll, and 34% say they are “extremely important.” Notably, the results are similar across various demographics, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity and political party affiliation. The largest gap among subgroups is a nine-percentage-point difference between Democrats and Republicans. Despite that difference, however, the study still reflects a majority favoring campus gun policies, with 77 percent of Republican students considering gun policies to be important in their enrollment decisions, and 26 percent saying they are extremely important. In light of recent acts of gun violence on college campuses in North Carolina and Michigan, these results do not surprise me!

NAACP LETTER ASKS BLACK STUDENT-ATHLETES TO RECONSIDER ATTENDING FLORIDA COLLEGES

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson sent a letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association last week, asking Black student-athletes to reconsider their decisions to attend public colleges and universities in Florida. As I mentioned in my weekly update earlier this month, the University of Florida just closed down its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in order to comply with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ law prohibiting the use of state funding for DEI programs. Other public institutions in Florida, including Florida State University, have also followed suit.

FONTBONNE UNIVERSITY CLOSES, WASH U TO PURCHASE ITS CAMPUS

Fontbonne University in Clayton, Missouri, will be closing its doors next summer after struggling with declining enrollment and a shrinking endowment. Originally founded as a women’s college in 1923, the school has a history of being one of the country’s most diverse Catholic institutions of higher education; as of 2021, more than a quarter of its undergraduates are African-American.  After its Summer 2025 term, the property will be acquired by Washington University in St. Louis. Interestingly, the Fontbonne campus is located on the other side of Wash U’s “South 40,” where the residence halls are located.  As such, it is located closer to most of the students’ residence halls than the current Wash U academic buildings.  Although it is sad to see Fontbonne close, this will be a great expansion opportunity for Wash U!

MARCH MADNESS BEGINS

Selection Sunday is behind us and the NCAA tournament games kick off this evening with Wagner vs. Howard and Colorado State vs. Virginia. The First Four will finish up tomorrow with Grambling vs. Montana State and Colorado vs. Boise State… and then things will really kick into high gear on Thursday! We’ve written before about the impact of “Cinderella runs" on the admissions process, and it will be interesting to see what this year holds!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

It’s been a challenging year in the college admissions world, to say the least, but we are making our way through it! I just read a Wall Street Journal article that summed it up this way: “This might be the most chaotic, frustrating, uncertain college-admissions cycle in recent history.”  

The WSJ highlighted three major factors that created this “perfect storm”: First, the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, which restricts how schools can consider an applicant’s race. As a result of this ruling, college applications cannot directly ask about race, but they can provide an opportunity in the essays for this information to be included. This has left many students uncertain whether disclosing their race and ethnicity would be beneficial or not to their application. On top of that, they have to figure out how to weave this information into their essays.

(Here at DCCC, we work with every single one of our students to write content on how their own unique and diverse backgrounds have impacted the person they are today. We then try to incorporate that particular content to fit college-specific supplemental essay prompts whenever possible, because colleges are looking for a class with diverse experiences and backgrounds. Sometimes these cover topics like race, ethnicity, and religion — but many times they don’t. Our students’ past essays on this topic have discussed the impacts of experiences as varied as frequent childhood relocations, to growing up with food allergies, to parental addiction and mental illness — and so many more. Everyone has something that has shaped their background in a unique way, even if it’s not immediately obvious.)

The second factor: test score confusion. We’ve heard it all – test-blind, test-optional, test-recommended, test-flexible and test-required. Understanding these new terms has added a layer of complication to the college application process, especially when students apply to colleges that require tests for certain majors or programs but don’t require them for others. Another consequence of schools not requiring test scores is that some students believe they don’t have to put any effort into prepping for them, only to realize too late that certain scholarships are tied to strong scores - or even worse, learning of last-minute policy changes at institutions that have begun to require them again. So: study for the SAT and ACT, kids! 

And lastly, the most impactful factor in upending this year’s college admissions cycle is the delayed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process. Usually by this time of year, students are sorting through and comparing their financial aid offers. This year, however, due to a delayed release of the new FAFSA online application and an avalanche of technological glitches, the federal government is extremely delayed in sending colleges information about applicants’ family finances and how much federal aid they qualify for. This financial information is critical for colleges in calculating need-based aid and creating financial aid offers.

Absent these offers, students are facing the possibility of blindly deciding on colleges to meet enrollment deadlines without knowing the tuition costs in advance. Or, even worse, they may not be able to enroll at all, since many students cannot seriously consider college without financial aid. This could lead to enrollment decline, which, as we have seen, can impact the very existence of certain less-selective colleges. It is ironic that the very system that was designed to help lower-income students has been their biggest bar to college enrollment.   

How did we get here? I came across a recent New York Times article that had a good breakdown of how this happened.  In 2020, Congress ordered the Education Department to streamline the FAFSA process to make it easier and more accessible. The notoriously long and complex form was whittled down from over 100 questions to fewer than 40. Unfortunately, though, it was not released until the end of December, almost three months later than the regular October timeframe. In addition to technical malfunctions that locked students out of their applications, the new FAFSA required social security numbers for both students and their parents. Students with mixed-status families have been disproportionately affected, as FAFSA delays may cause them to miss scholarship and aid deadlines. 

Two weeks ago, when the Education Department came up with a resolution to the social security issue, they discovered 70,000 emails from student applicants sitting in an inbox, unread and unanswered. The Department is now faced with processing a landslide of applications and handling 70,000 emails…and counting. Yikes.

Despite these setbacks on the national level, our DCCC students have been able to navigate this year’s application process with success! We have been hearing good news from so many colleges, and we’ve managed to stay on track thanks to the tireless work of our dedicated counselors, students and families. We can’t wait for more good news to pour in. Way to go, everyone!

On a completely different note, I want to share an excellent article from the New York Times discussing the purpose of universities, and it had me nodding my head in agreement. According to the article, an “understanding,” or something like an unspoken contract, has always existed between American universities, the government, and the people. Universities provide education with the help of government funding and tax breaks, and faculty are given academic freedom when it comes to what and how they teach and research; they are – or should be – insulated from external pressures of politics and industry.  In return, universities cultivate a pluralistic democracy and produce an educated citizenry, allowing for economic mobility and a capitalist economy. 

Stanford international studies professor Anna Gryzmala-Busse stated that “if universities are not fulfilling these missions, and are seen as prioritizing other missions, that political bargain becomes fragile.” The article points out the dangers when universities stray from their essential duty by pushing a political agenda, consequently stifling intellectual discourse and freedom of thought among its faculty and students. A social justice mentality is counter-productive to the university’s work of fostering open dialogue with multiple perspectives. Universities are increasingly forced to quickly make official statements on polarizing, political issues; issues that scholars spend years studying and continually discussing. Political interference in a university destroys its academic freedom. 

The last paragraph stuck with me: “When universities become overly political, and tilt too far toward one end of the spectrum, they’re denying students and faculty the kind of open-ended inquiry and knowledge-seeking that has long been the basis of American higher education’s success.” Well, there’s food for thought!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I’m excited to share an article from Northern Virginia Magazine, in which I provide advice on making your final college decision! Decision day is just around the corner for many of you, and all of us at DCCC want to make sure you are as prepared as possible.

Scholarships, location, campus culture, post-graduation jobs – there are so many important factors weighed in the balance as you narrow down those college acceptances and decide which college is the right fit for you. So, mark May 1 on your calendar (unless your colleges delayed their deadlines due to the aforementioned FAFSA problems!) and check out the article!

Anybody else go to the ACC tournament in DC last week/weekend? The Virginia games, both of which went into overtime, were insane! Especially Friday, wow. For those of you who didn’t catch it, they had a five-point lead in the last fifty seconds of regulation, and a three-point lead in the last five seconds. Despite ESPN indicating that their chances of winning at that point were over 98%, it was not to be: a very unfortunate series of events ended up resulting in a loss to NC State.

Fingers crossed for a win against Colorado State tonight!

Weekly Update: March 12

It’s finally starting to feel like spring in the DC area, and we’re wishing a happy Ramadan and easy fast to those who are celebrating this month!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FIRST DIGITAL SAT ADMINISTRATION TAKES PLACE

The first official (non-pilot) nationwide administration of the digital SAT took place on Saturday, and reports from students have been pretty positive so far! In addition to being online, the test is now adaptive — meaning that the difficulty of students’ questions will be impacted by their performance as they proceed through the exam. The new version is also significantly shorter than it was in the past, coming in at just over two hours with only two sections. I’m so glad it went well!

BROWN, PENN, AND UT AUSTIN ANNOUNCE TESTING POLICY UPDATES

Last week, Brown announced that they will reinstate the standardized testing requirement for the Class of 2029 (current high school juniors). The announcement also reaffirmed their decision to continue offering early decision and recognizing legacy applicants — for now, anyway. The University of Texas at Austin made a similar announcement about reinstating test scores yesterday, citing strong data-backed evidence pointing to the predictive power of standardized test scores on undergraduate performance. Penn, on the other hand, has chosen to buck this testing trend: the university will remain test optional for the upcoming admissions cycle.

LEGACY ADMISSIONS OFFICIALLY BANNED IN VIRGINIA

We knew it was coming, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills on Friday to ban legacy admission in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a move that is expected to impact applicants most at UVA and William & Mary (read the article’s quotation from William & Mary carefully, as it’s misleading, in my opinon — while everything stated is technically true, it seems to suggest that they haven’t historically given legacy applicants special treatment. I’m not even a critic of legacy admissions, but if that’s what they are suggesting… well, it’s just plain inaccurate). In other news, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Todd Young are now embarking on a bipartisan effort to ban legacy admissions on a national level.

PROVIDENCE COLLEGE STUDENTS SEND CAMPUS SECURITY GUARD HOME TO VISIT FAMILY

Such a sweet story out of Providence College! A group of students learned that one of their campus security guards had not returned to his native country, Nigeria, in over 11 years — and had not seen his son since he left. They organized a GoFundMe that raised money for him to take a trip home, and ended up with over $15,000!

SPELMAN LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE PROGRAM TO CREATE FUTURE BEAUTY INDUSTRY LEADERS

Did you know that Black beauty brands only make up a tiny 2.5 percent of the cosmetics and personal care market, despite the fact that Black women spend billions of dollars each year on those items? Spelman College did, and administrators and faculty are stepping up to flip that script. The Atlanta HBCU just announced a significant expansion of their cosmetic science program, including a minor in cosmetic science and a special concentration in “cosmetic chemistry” for chemistry majors. SO COOL!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

I really enjoyed last weekend’s New York Times piece entitled “We Tried to Create a Diverse College Class Without Affirmative Action,” in which researchers presented interactive visual models depicting the differing impacts of various policies on admitted student diversity, in an effort to create a diverse class without traditional affirmative action policies. The findings were interesting: giving low-income students an admissions advantage resulted in a significant amount of economic diversity, but a very small increase in racial diversity. Giving an additional advantage to students from low-performing schools helped some, but not much. So what worked best? A two-part process that (a) identified “outlier” students that performed significantly better from their peers in the same environment, no matter what that environment was; and (b) an expanded recruiting strategy that targeted students who may not have otherwise chosen to apply to highly selective colleges.

We’ve shared a number of recent articles about why certainly highly competitive schools have made the decision to reinstate standardized testing, but this piece from The Atlantic does a great job of delving more deeply into why test-optional admissions policies hurt disadvantaged students in particular. Some of the analysis here aligns closely with the findings mentioned in the New York Times article above, too - especially the Michigan example.

I have worked with teenagers for my entire career — well before I had children. Yet as my oldest inches closer and closer to her teenage years, it’s been so interesting to see how my experiences as a parent have impacted my professional perspective. I really felt torn as I read “The Parents in My Classroom”, a Slate piece written by a teacher who complains about parents trying to maintain constant contact with her high school students during the school day. She writes that “increased parental surveillance has blurred the boundaries between home and school so much that students are not developing into independent thinkers,” and the professional in me knows she’s absolutely right. But the mom in me … well, I see the other side too — in a way that I probably wouldn’t have before. I guess the best we can do sometimes as parents is to educate ourselves about the “right” thing to do while still keeping practicality in mind.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

There’s been a ton going on in our office lately - from RD decision releases to college essays to hiring a new counselor (more on her later!). And the ACC tournament is in DC this week! Is anybody going?

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: January 30

Welcome to our last post of January - although it is hard to believe it is the end of January, with recent temperatures in the mid-70s!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS TOP 40,000

JMU received a total of 40,232 undergraduate applications for the class of 2028, an increase of 78% over the 22,603 applications they received in 2021. Melinda Wood, JMU’s associate vice president for access and enrollment management and director of admissions, attributes the increase to ongoing efforts on several fronts, including increased national exposure as JMU’s athletic teams have continued to excel. After all the controversy we wrote about last fall, the JMU football team ultimately did compete in their first bowl game against the Air Force Academy this past December.

NEW BILL INTRODUCED IN MARYLAND STATE LEGISLATURE TO GUARANTEE ADMISSION TO STUDENTS IN TOP 10 PERCENT OF CLASS

Maryland Senate President Pro Tem Malcolm Augustine has introduced Senate Bill 5, which would require specific state colleges and universities to accept students in the top 10 percent of their class at Maryland public and private schools. The 10 included institutions include the University System of Maryland–UMD Baltimore; UMD College Park; UMBC; UMD Eastern Shore; UMD Global Campus; Bowie State University; Coppin State University; Frostburg State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; and the University of Baltimore. Morgan State University and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, which are public schools that are not part of the University System of Maryland, would also be required to implement the plan. Virginia and Tennessee are among the states that have recently implemented similar policies at certain universities.

HOW SUPREME COURT DECISION, FREE TUITION, AND POLICY CAPPING OUT-OF-STATE STUDENTS AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL AFFECTED APPLICATION NUMBERS

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I got this from one of our seniors while I was eating lunch on Saturday and it just made my day :)

In 2023, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was at the center of a Supreme Court decision that limited the ways in which colleges and universities can consider race in admission decisions. Many predicted the landmark decision would have a direct, negative impact on applications for the class of 2028. In response, former Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz implemented several new initiatives that include providing North Carolina undergraduate students whose families make less than $80,000 per year free tuition. At the same time, the university hired additional admissions team members to recruit in “under-resourced” areas of North Carolina. Early numbers indicate that those initiatives have had an impact as Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts announced last week that applications are up 15% over applications received by the same date in 2023. UNC-Chapel Hill has received approximately 67,000 applications in 2024 in contrast to approximately 58,000 at the same time last year. Despite all of this, our students actually done pretty well - with multiple EA acceptances that came out a few days ago.

CANADA ANNOUNCES CAP ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Last week, Canadian officials announced a new two-year cap on the number of student permits issued to incoming international students. The initiative seeks to address severe housing shortages across provinces. In 2023, Canada approved almost 1 million study permits for international students, however, under the new policy, there will be a 35 % reduction, or approximately 350,000 fewer study permits. At the same time, the policy will also limit the number of work permits approved for foreign students after graduation from a Canadian institution. Popular university options for U.S. students include the University of Toronto (U of T), McGill University, and the University of British Columbia (UBC) as they offer excellent undergraduate educations at a lower cost than many private and public universities in the U.S.

A pre-Covid visit to LMU with some of my favorite colleagues - love that California sun in November!

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY CUTS SIX NCAA DIVISION I SPORTS

Loyola Marymount University (LMU) announced plans to cut six NCAA Division I sports at the end of the 2023-2024 seasons in an effort to maintain equal access and opportunities for athletes. The sports announced include men’s and women’s rowing, men’s and women’s track and field, women’s swimming, and men’s cross country. LMU’s more than 400 student-athletes are the highest among the West Coast Conference member schools’ athletic programs. The decision to reduce the number of teams allows LMU to redirect its funding to its other DI teams. LMU is assisting students affected by the decision in a number of ways, including continuing to honor students’ athletic scholarships and financial aid, and supporting students who want to transfer to another school to continue to play their sport in college.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS REPORT SHOWS 968 PERCENT INCREASE IN UNDERGRADUATE DATA SCIENCE DEGREES

The results are in and the number of undergraduate degrees awarded in data science jumped from 84 in 2020 to 897 in 2022. Wow! The report released by the National Center for Education Statistics also included an increase in degrees awarded in data analytics from 325 in 2020 to 767 in 2022. The Department of Labor projects that jobs for data scientists will increase by 36 percent over the next 10 years. Majors in data science, data analytics, and statistics are all increasing in popularity, particularly as students can combine them with other areas they are passionate about. Interestingly, in a study released by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), “data science has a higher concentration of female students than comparable majors, such as computer science and cybersecurity.”

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The New York Times reporter Bernard Mokam, shared his reflections on changes in the college essay since writing his own 10 years ago. Mokam, a former admissions essay coach himself, wrote on how the college essay and what students choose to write about has changed in light of the Supreme Court decision on the use of race in college admission decisions last June. His research for his article and the conversations he has had with students inspired Mokam to reflect on his own college essay and ask himself, as a Black American attending a boarding school in Massachusetts, if he would have made any changes. While he admits that there is no way to know what he might have changed, he does acknowledge that through the process of self-reflection, writing, and editing the college essay, students learn about their values and themselves.

As has been well-documented, colleges are coping with a mental health crisis among students, faculty, and staff. The New York Times Magazine took an in-depth look into the series of suicides in 2021 on the small, New England campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The article takes readers through the events and the response of the school’s administration and faculty. The lessons WPI and its leaders learned are a starting point for other colleges and universities as they assess their mental health resources and emergency procedures. Charlie Morse, the former director of counseling, hopes that the choice to be open, honest, and transparent with all of the members of the WPI community can serve as a framework for best practices for other educational institutions that are faced with such a crisis. 

In past blog posts throughout December and January, we have followed the redesign and launch of the new FAFSA, the application all students must complete in order to receive federal financial aid. NPR’s “All Things Considered” reports that the U.S. Department of Education has confirmed they will fix the error in the formula used to calculate a student’s Student Aid Index (SAI) which we covered on December 12 (the Department of Education neglected to account for inflation in the new formula used to calculate the SAI). (To understand how the SAI is calculated and/or estimate your own eligibility, go to the Federal Student Aid Estimator.) The failure to adjust for inflation results in a lower “income protection allowance” and, in turn, leads to students qualifying for less aid. NPR reports that the mistake could underfund students by $1.8 billion in federal student aid. Unfortunately, the Department of Education has not given a timeline to fix this error, further delaying the release of data to colleges and universities, and, therefore, financial aid packages for applicants.

The board of governors of Florida’s state university system ruled last week to remove sociology as a course students could take to fulfill their core curriculum requirements. It will now be replaced with a “factual history course.” According to The New York Times article, the new course will cover “America’s founding, the horrors of slavery, the resulting Civil War and the Reconstruction era.” This is the latest change enacted by the board in response to Governor Ron DeSantis’s Individual Freedom Act, more commonly known as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which was passed in April 2022. 

Once again, this week’s uplifting story comes from a marching band – The Mighty Sound of Maryland of the University of Maryland, College Park. When Alejandro Marroquin answered the door Sunday morning, he never expected to see someone dressed in a turtle costume and members of the UMD marching band standing in his front yard. James Massey, Jr., UMD Director of Undergraduate Admissions, handed Alejandro a letter while saying, “Congratulations! You’ve been accepted to the University of Maryland, College Park.” Alejandro’s parents were in on the surprise, having been contacted a few days prior by the office of admissions to arrange to deliver the good news in-person. Alejandro quickly joined the band to show off some of his percussion skills. Alejandro will be the first in his immediate family to attend college; he plans to major in Cinema and Media Studies and play percussion in the band at UMD.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

This week we’ve seen the release of early action decisions from a number of large, state flagship universities, including the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, the University of North Carolina and the University of Maryland, as well as a number of private institutions such as the University of Richmond and the University of Miami. We are continuing our work with seniors who were deferred by their early decision or early action schools to craft their letters of continued interest (LOCI). If you are a current client, we encourage you to book a meeting with us to discuss your decisions received and advise you in writing your LOCIs. 

If you are a student who is not working with us, follow up with your school counselor about your deferral and take a look at our past blog post about drafting your letter of continued interest.

And as I shared on social media over the weekend, our team participated in a training session over the weekend to get ready for Common Application® essay season!

We expect prompts for this main personal statement - the essay that students will send to each of their schools - to be released in February for the high school Class of 2025. We’re excited to jump right in and help our juniors navigate this important milestone in the admissions process!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Take a look at all of our january updates!

Trends and Themes: January 2024

January is always a good time to reflect on the trends and themes of the most recent application cycle and look ahead to what’s coming in the 2024-2025 admissions cycle. As chair of the Committee on Current Trends and Future Issues of PCACAC (Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling), Sally and the committee have been keeping track of the following trends:

ChatGPT made a splash in 2022 and since then more generative artificial intelligence programs have been released. Throughout 2023, many people in college admissions questioned how these chatbots would impact the college admission essay and supplements and how institutions would respond. Some schools have instituted new policies to address this issue; for example, the University of California system includes a Statement of Application Integrity in which they state that the “UC conducts regular screenings to verify the integrity of the responses” and “may request authentication of the content or writing as the student’s.” Our March 1 blog post, Rejected! How ChatGPT Destroys the College Admissions Essay, offers an in-depth look at the risks of using AI chatbots to write college essays.

The Supreme Court decision on race consideration in college admission released at the end of June 2023 had a significant impact on the way that colleges are reading applications this cycle and changing their internal processes. Many schools changed their supplemental essays in order to comply with the ruling, including the University of Virginia. Their new prompt asks students: “What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA?” Other schools added on more essays.

In December 2020, Congress passed legislation requiring the Department of Education to update and simplify the FAFSA (the application which determines eligibility for federal student aid) by December 31, 2023. The Department of Education has begun a “soft launch” of the redesigned FAFSA and students and families can begin to complete their applications. We have yet to see the impact of the changes in the formula the government uses to calculate the Student Aid Index (SAI). One of the more significant changes is the removal of the number of children a family has attending institutions of higher education in a given year. 

Changes relating to standardized testing have continued to emerge as a trend. While many schools saw an increase in applications and an increase in applications from historically underserved populations, other schools have decided to return to requiring either the SAT or the ACT. Two great examples are CalTech and MIT. Based on data from their internal review, CalTech has extended their moratorium on standardized test scores through the fall of 2025 and will no longer consider test scores in the admissions process. Conversely, MIT’s internal research demonstrated the need for test scores to be used in conjunction with a holistic review, to properly assess an applicant's preparedness to succeed given MIT’s curriculum. MIT requires students to complete a minimum of two semesters of calculus and two semesters of calculus-based physics regardless of their major. 

In addition to institutional policies based on internal research, the 2023-2024 admission cycle saw an increase in some state schools returning to requiring standardized test scores or considering test scores in specific cases such as below a certain GPA or for consideration for scholarships. For example, the University System of Georgia announced that they would continue the temporary test score waiver for schools not including the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Georgia College & State University. 

The increase in both state and federal government oversight and involvement grew over the past year to include: a congressional hearing on antisemitism on the campuses of Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania; Department of Education investigations in response to alleged incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia; the North Carolina state legislature appointing board of directors; and proposed federal legislation introduced by Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) to ban legacy admissions. We anticipate that such oversight and proposed changes will continue through 2024 and will keep our readers abreast of any changes and their impact on students in the college application process.

Finally, the mental health of college students remains a priority for institutions across the country. Many schools are in the process of increasing access and resources for students who are struggling with issues ranging from anxiety and depression through substance abuse education and addiction counseling.

Weekly Update: January 9

It’s been a week since winter break ended and everyone is back to the grind!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

GWU SETTLES COVID-19 LAWSUIT FOR $5.4 MILLION

This week, a district judge in Washington, DC approved a settlement between The George Washington University and the four students who filed suit against the university. The students alleged that GW broke their enrollment contract following the switch to online education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While similar lawsuits have been filed against colleges and universities across the country, many have been dismissed only to be reversed on appeal. Other universities have reached similar settlements and/or provided refunds of room, board, and fees to students impacted by the change to distance learning.

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES WEST POINT CAN CONTINUE TO CONSIDER RACE IN ADMISSIONS

Students for Fair Admissions, the group whose lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina led to the Supreme Court’s ruling about race in college admission decisions last June, filed a petition with the court in September to prohibit the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from considering race in its admissions decisions. The Supreme Court specifically excluded U.S. service academies from the June ruling. The U.S. District Court judge in New York wrote in his opinion that “a full factual record is vital to answering this critical question” and that an injunction at this time would require West Point to change their admissions process in the middle of a cycle. A federal judge in Maryland issued a similar ruling in mid-December allowing the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis to continue to include race in making admission decisions. However, this is likely not the end of the court’s involvement in either case, as they now both continue to move forward through the court process.

MIT PRESIDENT SENDS MESSAGE TO COMMUNITY WITH PLANS TO ADDRESS DISCORD ON CAMPUS

Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of three university presidents to testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a message to the MIT community that included four steps to address what she has identified as “challenges” in the community that need to be “solved.” Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, and Elizabeth Magill, the former president of the University of Pennsylvania, each faced significant backlash and criticism following their appearance before the committee and have since resigned their positions. Dr. Kornbluth not only outlined these four steps in her letter, but also delineated current ongoing initiatives in which the community can participate as they work to rebuild trust, educate community members about antisemitism and Islamophobia, and “address conflict on [their] campus.”

UCLA PURCHASES NEARBY MALL TO CONVERT INTO SCIENCE INNOVATION CENTER

UCLA has purchased a closed indoor mall two miles from its campus, which will be transformed into a biomedical research facility to be named the UCLA Research Park. The site “will house two multidisciplinary centers focusing on immunology and immunotherapy as well as quantum science and engineering.” With little room to expand its Los Angeles campus, this is UCLA’s third acquisition in the past two years – the first was the purchase of “the Art Deco-style Trust Building”, which was renamed UCLA Downtown; the second was the purchase of Marymount California University’s 24.5-acre campus and their 11-acre residential campus in San Pedro, approximately 30 miles from UCLA’s main campus.

UC BERKELEY TAKES STEPS OVERNIGHT TO BUILD WALL AROUND THE PEOPLE’S PARK

In 2018, UC Berkeley developed plans to build a large residence hall on a property known as the People’s Park, which was taken by the university through eminent domain in 1969 and has been held up in litigation ever since, after city of Berkeley residents began occupying it in 1970. In the early morning hours of January 4, however, law enforcement officers from the UC and Cal State police, the California Highway Patrol, and other area sheriffs’ departments helped UC Berkeley clear the park of protesters and erected a fence made of double stacked cargo containers. However, the university cannot begin construction of the 1,100-bed residence hall until the California Supreme Court determines that UC Berkeley has completed the requisite environmental reviews.

RECENT STUDIES SHOW ADMISSIONS SCATTERGRAMS DISCOURAGE STUDENTS FROM APPLYING TO MOST SELECTIVE COLLEGES

Many high schools use college counseling programs, such as Naviance, Scoir, and MaiaLearning, that include the use of scattergrams. These are visual representations which plot application outcomes on graphs with GPA and standardized test scores of past applicants from that high school, without sharing identifying information of the applicants. Two recent studies contend that students who view the scattergrams are discouraged from applying to the “most competitive schools, such as Harvard and Stanford.” At the same time, after viewing scattergrams, students with lower GPAs and/or standardized test scores are more likely to apply to four-year colleges and are encouraged by the statistics to aim higher than they had previously believed possible.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

For a number of years, college application statistics, undergraduate enrollment numbers, and six-year graduation rates have indicated a decline in male enrollment and completion of undergraduate degrees is declining. Inside Higher Ed published an opinion piece by Joe Henry, Dean of Students at King’s University College at Western University in Ontario, Canada, in which Henry shines a light on this gender gap in both Canadian and US colleges and universities. He calls on professionals in both admissions and student affairs to address this gap, starting with understanding the data available and recommending that better data should be collected in order to provide support and interventions to increase student success. 

The New York Times article, The Misguided War on the SAT, brings to light recent research into the value of SAT scores, and more generally standardized test scores including the SAT and ACT, and their ability to predict student success in college and beyond. While many highly selective colleges and universities have instituted test-optional policies, the research indicates that test scores are better predictors than high school grade point averages. In their study of “Ivy Plus” colleges, the authors of the study looked at multiple measures of student success, including whether students were accepted into “elite graduate schools” or were “working at a prestigious firm.”

In a related article, The New York Times explained the “science of reading” movement that is at the heart of reforming how reading is taught in K-12 education and how colleges and universities are preparing educators. One of the hopes of supporters of the movement is that this redesign will raise the reading test scores of students across the country. In 2022 the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Literacy Act requiring all Virginia public schools to align their reading curriculum with science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction.

While the debate about the efficacy of using standardized test scores in college admissions continues, students and admissions professionals alike are grappling with understanding and adapting to the Supreme Court’s ruling in late June 2023 regarding the use of race in college admissions. In Friday’s “The Daily” podcast from The New York Times, producer Jessica Cheung interviews those on both sides of the admissions process, specifically focusing on students’ disclosure of their racial identity through their activities and essays. In the 237-page decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a key passage that Ms. Cheung summarized as meaning “the student must be treated on the basis of his or her experiences as an individual, not on the basis of race.” As she researched the impact on the Class of 2024, she noticed a trend of new supplemental essays which include prompts that ask applicants to “talk about lived experiences and how you could uniquely contribute to their campus.” In our blogs, Questions on the Affirmative Action Decision – Answered! and Weekly Update: August 7, we wrote about these exact changes and their impact on our students.

Finally, The Learning Network asked students and educators to answer the following question in any medium they chose: “What can you show or tell us that might help explain what it’s like to be an educator or a student in a secondary school right now?” In the article “What High School Is Like in 2023: The Winners of Our Multimedia Challenge,” The New York Times shares the responses of the 25 winners. From essays and poems to videos, pictures, and even interactive media, see their submissions and artists’ statements as they attempt to explain high school in 2023.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

It’s one of our busiest times of year - course selection season! We’re helping students all the way from middle school through junior year in high school choose the right classes to take next year. There are so many nuances and implications to consider, from keeping doors open in the future, demonstrating interest in a particular field, and showing the desire to challenge oneself. Check out some of our published guidance on middle school course selection and high school course selection, or book a one-time strategy session for targeted strategic advice based on your student’s interests and background.

As we approach mid-January and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 15, we remind you that our office will be closed for the day. Enjoy your long weekend!

Stay up-to-date with our recent weekly updates!

Weekly Update: August 7

August is here, and we are busy!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COMMON APP UPDATES

This has been a doozy of a Common App® update! For more on that, check out our Special Topics post from last week: Notable Common Application® Changes - 2023-2024 Edition. Since I wrote it, we continue to discover more essay changes (from the prompts that schools originally released for this application cycle) every single day. I have never seen anything like this in my entire career and I do not like it one bit! This is a hard enough process without kids having to re-write a bunch of essays! And even from the schools that have not changed their essays - they have added so many more. The overall essay load for are students has been truly unprecedented this cycle - which is especially challenging when paired with the significantly-delayed release of the Common App® personal essay prompts that gave everyone a late start. And that’s why I’m on my 12th hour of work today as I type this :)

COLLEGE BOARD RECOMMENDS FLORIDA SCHOOLS NOT OFFER AP PSYCHOLOGY

In the latest conflict between the state of Florida and the College Board, the College Board has asked Florida high schools not to teach its AP Psychology course. The Florida State Board of Education banned teaching students throughout high school about sexual orientation and gender identity in March, and asked the College Board to perform a review of the AP curriculum to determine that it aligned with Florida laws. In a recent statement, the College Board said that “any AP Psychology course taught in Florida will violate either Florida law or college requirements,” and advised schools not to teach the course. But now it might be back on? Time will tell..

FORMER STUDENT SUES UVA

We’ve talked on the blog before about Morgan Bettinger, the former UVA student who was accused of threatening a group of Black Lives Matter protesters and received harassment online. Now, Morgan is suing UVA, stating that the university violated her free speech rights by punishing her for the remark. Both President Jim Ryan and former Dean of Students Allen Groves are named in the lawsuit, which is the most compelling legal document I’ve ever seen. The detail, the story, etc- it reads like fiction! Pretty incredible, and so devastating for that poor girl.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This article, “The Real, Hidden Truth About College Admissions,” discusses whether elite colleges in the United States receive too much credit for preparing students for the future. After all, neither the president nor the vice president went to top universities - and neither did the House minority or majority leader, the Senate minority leader, or the vast majority of Fortune 500 CEOs. This Duke professor argues that the real test of a student’s outcome isn’t the selectivity of their college, but instead whether they take advantage of all of the opportunities they are offered during (and after!) their college years. 

We talk with students a lot about the impact of their location - for our students, mainly in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties - on their admission to top Virginia public colleges. This graphic is really helpful in visualizing the difference between a student applying to, say, UVA from rural Virginia, versus those applying from Northern Virginia. Some of the most rural counties in southwestern Virginia have 89-90% admit rates for Virginia public four-year colleges, versus a 67% admit rate for students in Fairfax County.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Week 1 of August is done! 🙏 Many of our students have rolled over their Common ApplicationⓇ, our essay coaches continue to work through supplemental essays, and we are so impressed with how hard our students are working. For many of them, this is the final stretch - and they will definitely see their hard work pay off this fall! 

One of the topics we mentioned in last week’s post has come up this week in our office with our own students - the use of ChatGPT. Remember: many schools are asking students to certify that they did not receive help from ChatGPT when writing their college essays, and others are providing instructions about the extent of Chat GPT help that they will allow. Our essay coaches are doing a great job flagging this in meetings when it’s an issue, and we encourage all parents to discuss it with their children as well. Please, please review policies on the use of ChatGPT or other large language models carefully, to ensure that your essays are your own work! Trust me - we are all about making things easy when we can. If there’s a way to be more efficient, I promise, we’re all over it. But using ChatGPT for college essays is not going to make things easier for anyone. It’s just going to wind up getting you in trouble!

Weekly Update: July 31

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COMMON APPLICATION® RELEASE

The 2023-2024 Common Application® will be released tomorrow, after a several-day shutdown period.  We’re excited! We will be hard at work updating all of our application guides and sending them out to our clients soon. 

VIRGINIA TECH GETS RID OF ED APPLICATION PLAN

Virginia Tech announced late on Friday that they will be doing away with their ED application plan this cycle. Students applying to VT will now have two options: Early Action or Regular Decision. As part of the change, the Early Action deadline will be moved forward, so students will need to apply by November 15 rather than VT’s previous December 1 EA deadline. In addition to complying with the Supreme Court decision to eliminate race and ethnicity as a consideration in the admissions process, VT has also made the decision to eliminate legacy preference as well.

UNC PROHIBITS SEX DISCRIMINATION IN ADMISSIONS AND HIRING DECISIONS

Anybody remember this article? It caused such a stir at the time, I don’t think I’ll ever forget it - and I would say at least 2-3 parents per year mention it, 13 years later. And now the girls trying to find boyfriends are not going to see their situation improve anytime soon! UNC’s board has announced that they will not consider “race, sex, color or ethnicity” in admissions or hiring decisions. This resolution, which at least one board member noted “goes well beyond the Supreme Court ruling,” also explicitly prohibits using admissions essays as a proxy for race. 

BIG CHANGES AT NEW COLLEGE

When Florida governor Ron DeSantis replaced many of the leaders at Florida’s New College, we knew that there would be changes to the small and previously liberal campus. Under new leadership, the school will have a record number of incoming students this fall, with much of the growth coming from recruited athletes. In March, the college announced the creation of a new athletic department, driving recruitment. While the number of incoming students is higher, metrics like average SAT, ACT, and GPA have gone down. This larger class will come in as the school works to fill 36 vacant faculty positions, about a third of the college’s full-time faculty members. 

The board also eliminated the college’s diversity office, a move that one trustee discusses in this opinion piece about DEI programs. The public institution has also requested $2 million in funding to create a center that will oppose cancel culture on college campuses. 

CU BUFFS MOVE TO BIG 12

CU Boulder’s Buffaloes will go back to the Big 12 conference after the coming season. The university left the Big 12 in 2011 for the Pac-12, a conference which lost its two powerhouses when UCLA and USC announced their move to the Big Ten. This is part of a larger realignment within college athletic conferences - as CU Boulder joins the Big 12, Oklahoma and Texas will likely leave; both are in the process of moving to the SEC.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

There has been a lot in the news recently about legacy admissions (see the VT news above!), and it can be difficult to keep up with the changes and the reasoning behind them. If you’re looking for a refresher, this article covers what legacy admissions is, why it is relevant now, and what the impact might be of the current legacy admission investigation at Harvard. Plus, it contains a list of all the schools that currently consider legacy as part of the admissions process.

On Thursday, a House subcommittee held a hearing about the cost of higher education and its value for families. Democrats focused the hearing on for-profit colleges, while Republicans expressed concern about the transparency of colleges and universities when it comes to their value proposition. One solution they raised is a risk-sharing approach, where colleges and universities will become responsible for student loans that alumni are unable to pay. The committee explored other aspects of the process as well, including the Biden administration’s proposed regulations defining what it means for an institution to prepare its students for “gainful employment,” as well as increased accountability for schools. 

This opinion piece from the National Review argues that accreditation, which previously served as a measure of accountability and value, is no longer an accurate way to represent the quality of education from a particular institution. The argument is that required programs, like DEI programs, are not improving educational quality but are still relevant to accreditation.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

It is hard to believe this is already our final weekly update of July! The Common App® is rolling out in less than eight hours (!), and we will hit the ground running tomorrow with our Class of 2024 students. August is our busiest month of the year, but we love seeing our students’ hard work all come together!

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: July 24

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

MARIUPOL STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES THE CLASS OF 2023

Ukraine’s Mariupol State University held its graduation ceremony about 400 miles away from its war-torn home city of Mariupol last week. Only about 60 of the university’s 500 graduating students attended the event in person, with the rest tuning in online. The university has been educating students virtually since the city fell to the Russian offensive last year; with about 5,000 students before the war, it now has an estimated 3,200 students actively enrolled. The university has begun constructing its new campus at a former military education center in Kyiv. 

WESLEYAN DOES AWAY WITH LEGACY ADMISSIONS

Wesleyan University announced last week that it will no longer factor legacy into its admissions process in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. Wesleyan joins highly selective schools like Amherst, MIT, Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon, who have already ended legacy admissions. 

NEW VDOE MODEL POLICIES

FCPS shared the Virginia Department of Education’s new model policies last week, raising concerns about what the changes in the policies may mean for LGBTQIA+ students. Glenn Youngkin emphasizes parents’ rights in the publication, which quotes Virginia code § 1-240.1: “A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent's child.” As such, schools are now ordered to defer to parental preference on a variety of issues, ranging from preferred pronouns to the use of school counseling services. The policies also mandate that every student (and their parent) has the right to opt the student out of sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender students. FCPS is conducting a review of the policies, and reaffirmed the commitment to inclusivity for all students. 

UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS RESIGN

This week saw two major resignations of university presidents, at Stanford and Texas A&M - both related to the universities’ journalism programs! A Stanford freshman journalist exposed photoshopped images in President Marc Tessier-Levigne’s research in November, after years of rumors that the research was doctored. In December, a Board of Trustees review of 12 of Tessier-Levigne’s papers found issues in the five papers on which he was the primary author. Though he is stepping down, Tessier-Levigne will remain on Stanford’s faculty as a biology professor.

At Texas A&M, President M. Katherine Banks resigned following controversy over her appointment of journalism director Kathleen McElroy. Dr. McElroy said that she was initially offered a five-year contract, but that it was changed to one year after conservative alumni groups objected to her work promoting diversity, including an op-ed that argued for the hiring of more non-white university professors. The controversy over the appointment, which Dr. McElroy ultimately turned down, led to the resignation of both Dr. Banks and the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. 

SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE ADDS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY

If you are a student with opinions on the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision, Sarah Lawrence wants to hear what you have to say! The university has added a new supplemental essay option to its application, which reads:

"In a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, 'Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected the applicant's life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.' Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court's decision."

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Everyone is talking about a new study from Harvard and Brown researchers, published this morning, which found that the top 7% of college students come from families earning over $611,000 - the top 1% of the income distribution in the United States. It also found that on average, legacy students at top colleges were actually more academically qualified than non-legacies, and that graduates from private high schools had stronger academic credentials, objectively, than those from public high schools.

This aligns with an argument that professors and others have made for a long time - that increasing socioeconomic diversity means admitting fewer highly qualified students to college. But the studies also found that 16% of college students come from that top 1% of income - far higher than the percentage that excel academically. The three factors that this newsletter sees as the cause are (a) legacy admission, (b) admission from top private schools, and (c) admission for recruited athletes, who are often more affluent than other applicants. 

At first glance, the data suggests that the higher the household income, the greater the chances of admission to a highly competitive school. However, this is not the case. One nuance I noticed is that this trend only applies to the top 5% of household incomes. Between the 20th and 95th percentiles, the relationship between parent income percentile and acceptance rate is inversely proportional.

Look carefully at the numbers. Once you hit the 40th percentile in parent income, admissions rates fall. They go up slightly between the 95th-97th percentiles, a little more between the 97th-99th, and of course they skyrocket at the 99th percentile.

I would highly recommend reading the study yourself, by the way, as there are a lot of fascinating nuggets like this and I can’t summarize all of them!

It is no surprise that colleges are often liberal enclaves, with students typically more likely to vote Democrat. This Politico article explores the impact that liberal college towns have on more conservative areas of the country, arguing that Democratic votes in Dane County, home of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, make it nearly impossible for Republicans to win in Wisconsin. The same pattern is happening in a variety of other states, too - examples include Arizona, the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas, and even our home state of Virginia.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Essay work is full steam ahead here in our office! We noticed a definite lag in schools releasing their essay prompts after the Supreme Court decision, but many of our students have been able to get a great head start on their supplemental essay work anyway.

So many, in fact, that I used my time out of the office last week to catch up on essay edits! I thought this was a funny picture - I was on a boat from Cannes to St. Tropez and hot-spotting in :) Every hour counts, right? I have mostly graduated from direct essay work with our students, but I still provide extra levels of review on every single essay they produce with our team (at no extra charge!). If you’re thinking “wow, she must review a TON of essays” - you’re not wrong. I do. But the perfectionist in me needs to do it or I can’t sleep at night!

I’m sad to say that my essay edits are now taking place in a much less exciting environment, as I’m back in the office! We’re gearing up for the Common AppⓇ release next Tuesday - we’ll be working hard to make sure that all of our clients have an updated, comprehensive guide to completing the 2023-2024 application during the week of its release!

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: July 17

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

WAKE FOREST DOES AWAY WITH INSTITUTIONAL APPLICATION

Students will no longer be able to apply to Wake Forest using the school’s own institutional application - this cycle, Wake will offer only two application options: Common or Coalition/SCOIR. This is particularly important for students who want to take advantage of Wake’s rolling ED application. The rolling admissions process makes it possible for a student to apply ED to Wake in August or September and, if they receive a deny decision, apply ED I to another school before the November deadline. 

However, the Common ApplicationⓇ only allows students to apply ED I to a single school and will block any subsequent ED I applications, even if the student hears back from the first school early. As a result, students wishing to apply rolling ED to Wake should do so using the Coalition/SCOIR application, so that they can apply ED I to another school, if need be, through the Common AppⓇ. 

HOUSE COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES UC BERKELEY PROGRAM

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is expressing concerns about national security risks posed by UC Berkeley’s Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, a collaboration with China’s Tsinghua University. The Committee is questioning whether Berkeley has properly disclosed Chinese funding for the Institute, as well as whether the Institute gives China access to U.S. military technology. Berkeley has said it will cooperate with the inquiry. 

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE FACES $8 MILLION FINE

The NCAA is fining the University of Tennessee eight million dollars following an investigation into recruiting violations. Tennessee football also faces five years probation. The number means that Tennessee will lose a total of 28 scholarships for athletes. The university has already self-imposed a loss of 18 scholarships, and will need to hold back 10 additional scholarships over the next several years. 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE CHALLENGES TEXAS TIKTOK BAN

A lawsuit filed last week by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University supports a coalition of faculty from Texas public universities, who argue that the state’s TikTok ban prevents them from using the platform to teach or conduct research. Texas is one of several public state university systems to ban TikTok on school-owned devices or networks. The lawsuit asks that faculty be exempted from the ban, so that they can use TikTok for research and teaching.     

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Jeff Selingo’s Next newsletter last week covered some of the biggest things we are watching in the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision. We were particularly interested in Jeff’s discussion of when college admissions officers will know about the racial and ethnic makeup of the incoming class. Will they only be able to see the data after students commit in May, or will they have the ability to look before students submit their deposits? 

While race cannot be used as a factor in admissions, if deans know the makeup of their class before deposit deadlines, race may play a major role in recruitment. If race is a factor in yield, we may see it impact financial aid packages, visits, and other outreach that contributes to how colleges increase their yield. 

A fact that won’t be surprising to most parents: college is getting more expensive. Average tuition at private colleges is $40,000, and goes down to $10,500 as an average for state colleges. But for highly selective colleges, those numbers are much higher. This article digs into some of the reasons why a college like Harvard has a final cost - including tuition, fees, housing, books, and cost of living - of $95,438 per year. Causes include the salaries of faculty. The main business of colleges, after all, is teaching - which is something that has not (yet) been outsourced to advances in AI or other tech. Plus, wealthy families are able and willing to pay more in tuition for nicer dorms, better food, and prettier campuses. And state subsidies are dropping - 37 states decreased the amount they spend on public education between 2020 and 2021. 

But there is a silver lining: while the sticker price of college has gone up, the amount that the average student actually pays for college is going down. Adjusting for inflation, students and families pay 11% less on net for college than they did five years ago. 

This article explores the impact that “ALDC” admissions has on the college admissions landscape, and how it may change in light of the Supreme Court decision. ALDC stands for athletes, legacies, children of donors, and children of faculty and staff - a population that makes up about 5% of Harvard applicants, but 30% of admitted students. This example is not unique amongst highly selective colleges, and the likely outcome from ALDC admissions is a whiter student body - something that may not be possible for colleges to maintain after the affirmative action decision. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Wondering how to fill that “Honors” section on the Common AppⓇ? Looking for some more activities this year? Check out some of these contests and other opportunities:

Library of Congress Friends’ Choice Video Game Challenge - Create video games that “improve public knowledge of civics” and win up to $20,000! This contest is open until November 27. 

Virginia’s Soil & Water Conservation Districts Photo Contest - Submit up to 10 photos showing what conservation looks like by August 1 and win in one of three categories, including Young Photographer for photographers under age 18. 

Northern Virginia Soil & Water Conservation Poster Contest - Design a poster focusing on the theme of watersheds and “One Water” and submit by September 30. Winners will be forwarded to the state competition. 

Fairfax Food Council Youth Representatives - Rising juniors who live and attend school in Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church are eligible to apply, and should do so by September 15. 

National Environmental Youth Advisory Council - If you are over 16 and interested in environmental science or other related issues, this is a great position. Apply by August 22, and don’t forget to check out their info session on August 7. 

If you are a current client interested in any of the above positions, let us know - we are happy to help with your application!

Weekly Update: July 10

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY BANS TIKTOK

Clemson University announced today that students will no longer be able to access TikTok through the campus network. Students, faculty, and staff can still access TikTok on personal devices using their cell networks, but the app will not be accessible on campus Wi-Fi. The university says the decision was made in order to maintain campus security.

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY PAUSES PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH

On Friday, Florida Atlantic University’s Board of Trustees received a letter from the Florida State University System Board of Governors, alleging that there were anomalies in the university’s presidential search. The university argues that the anomalies were a result of a questionnaire sent out by an independent search firm, AGB Search, and were not authorized by the university. Anomalies in the questionnaire included asking a male candidate if his sexual orientation was “queer” and whether he was a “male or transgendered male.” The university is cooperating with the Board of Governors’ investigation.

LSU MAKES HISTORY IN MLB DRAFT

The MLB draft began Sunday night, and LSU made history when its players went numbers one and two overall, the first time two college teammates have been selected for the top slots back-to-back. LSU also had four draft picks total on Sunday, the most of any team in the first night. The big wins in the draft come on the heels of LSU’s national championship win last month.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We’ve been anticipating the effect of the recent Supreme Court case on legacy admissions since long before the decision was handed down, and we’re starting to see the impact play out. Last week, a legal activist group filed a complaint against Harvard University, arguing that the school’s legacy admissions preference discriminates against Black, Latinx, and Asian students. This interesting opinion piece from a Princeton professor argues that in fact, the presence of legacy students at elite colleges benefits underprivileged students, because they can network with students that have more “cultural capital” and useful connections.

Another group with a clear admissions advantage? Recruited athletes. This opinion piece argues that it is athletic preference, not legacy admissions, that should be the first practice to go in an effort to make admissions more fair. Over 1,000 Harvard students, for example, are recruited athletes, and they receive significantly more preference in the admissions process than even legacy students. The author, who was a recruited athlete at Princeton, argues that the number of athletic recruiting slots a school offers is a “de facto quota,” which goes against the decision by the Supreme Court. We will have to see whether legacy admissions, athletic recruitment, or any other aspects of the admissions process change in the next few months and years after the decision.

For students looking for less selective schools that have great name recognition and on-campus recruitment opportunities, public state flagships are a great option! This article lists the state universities with acceptance rates over 50%, and features well-regarded schools like the University of Alabama, Penn State, and Virginia Tech. While it is important to take the acceptance rates at state schools with a grain of salt, as they are often much lower for out-of-state students than for those applying in-state (or vice versa, depending on the state!). I would not include Virginia Tech as a less selective option for Virginia residents, unfortunately, But this list could be a great starting point for students who are beginning to build their college lists!

And for college students heading off to school in the fall and looking for tips, check out Forbes’ top five financial tips for college kids to follow. This summer is a great time to start building credit, creating a budget, and getting familiar with the perks offered to you as a college student, which can range from free museum or movie tickets to free public transit in your college town to discounts at local businesses. I will add my own tip here: return your library books, and when you get a letter in the mail about library fines, DO NOT ignore it. In one sense, it’s kind of funny that the biggest mistake I made in college was failing to return library books, but the consequences were a lot less funny. The library reported me to the credit bureaus, it impacted my credit score, and when I bought my first home in my early 20s, I had to pay a higher mortgage interest rate as a result. I was never so happy to see that fall off my credit report!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

If you didn’t catch my FAQ on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, posted at the end of last week, check that out here.

Speaking of the Supreme Court decision, I think that it is impacting some of the timing around supplemental essay prompt releases for the current admissions cycle. Schools which have had the same essay prompts for years have now indicated that they are considering making changes as a result of the ruling - because of increased dependence on essays. And from other schools that have always released prompts by this point in the cycle, we’re just hearing crickets…

If you want to know which schools have released prompts already, we keep a running pre-8/1 list here: 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts. As a reminder, our goal is to help our students complete as many essays as possible before August. This gives them plenty of time to get a lot of it out of the way before the school year starts, so they can focus on their classes (and enjoying senior year) in the fall!

Have a great week!

Questions on the Affirmative Action Decision - Answered!

Last week, the Supreme Court released decisions in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC cases. As expected, the ruling effectively eliminates the use of formal affirmative action practices in college admissions: an incredible development for some and a devastating setback for others.

Our goal at DC College Counseling has always been to help each one of our students navigate today’s college admissions landscape in the most advantageous and strategic way possible, given their varying circumstances.

Whether our next steps together involve maximizing new opportunities or overcoming new limitations, please know that we remain committed to finding creative and ethical solutions to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome for each individual student.

With that said, we’ve been fielding a lot of questions - and we want to share our answers!

IS THIS AS BIG OF AN ADMISSIONS gAME CHANGER AS IT SEEMS?

It’s very important to read the wording of the opinion carefully to differentiate between what will change and what will stay the same. Yes, an admissions committee is no longer able to give an applicant an advantage simply due to the color of their skin alone, in a vacuum.

But admissions committees are still able to consider the impact of students’ races on their individual experiences. The mainstream media isn’t picking up on this as much as I wish it would. College admissions professionals know that this makes a big difference, because the entire college admissions process is holistic by nature anyway at highly selective schools.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

That doesn’t mean this decision doesn’t matter, though. Roberts also added, “Universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.”

Ultimately, I think that underrepresented students may not see as much of an impact as we had previously imagined if (a) they have faced adversity as a result of their race, and (b) they can successfully communicate the impact of that adversity on their individual circumstances through their essays and other application materials.

We will know much more next summer, after we are able to analyze the results of a complete admissions cycle.

When does this go into effect?

The ruling will go into effect immediately, so rising seniors will see the impact of the case.

Which students will this impact most?

Now that schools have lost the ability to consider race as part of the admissions process in a blanket sense, we expect admissions committees to give more consideration to other factors that may increase diversity- such as socioeconomic status.

That could result in an easier admissions process for white or Asian students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and a much more difficult process for underrepresented students from privileged backgrounds. 

Asian students will likely see the biggest positive impact - in fact, the negative impact on Asian students from affirmative action policies was the central argument in this case. The major benefit to this group will actually be a lack of discrimination.

There’s also another group that I think could come out ahead - students who are diverse but didn’t quite “fit the box” for a leg up. For example, students of Middle Eastern descent. There is no question that they face discrimination in today’s society - so why weren’t they getting any kind of admissions advantage?

The justices cited this group as an example three separate times throughout the course of the opinion, noting that existing affirmative action policies “fail[ed] to articulate a meaningful connection between the means they employ and the goals they pursue” in this regard. It also specified that the current approach was “underinclusive” for Middle Eastern students in particular.

If colleges shift their approach to considering the impact of race or minority status on each individual student’s life, these students may not fall through the cracks as much.

WHICH colleges will this impact most?

There are many colleges and universities that do not use race-conscious admissions at all - in fact, it is banned in nine states, including California (so the UC system is not impacted).

I believe that the changes will be most obvious at public schools which currently do use race-conscious admissions and are less holistic in their admissions approach. To be clear, not all public schools operate this way. Many do not, including the more academically competitive institutions here in Virginia.

Private schools, on the other hand, often place greater emphasis on subjective factors like essays and recommendations. These institutions may not have to change their policies as drastically, because they can simply continue evaluating candidates on an individual basis that takes many different factors into consideration.

HBCUs, like Morehouse, Spelman, and Howard, will probably see a rise in applications as more Black students choose alternative options.

What will change on the Common ApplicationⓇ?

Students will likely still have the opportunity to indicate their race on the Common ApplicationⓇ, but beginning August 1, colleges will have the ability to block the race answer on their side, so that admissions officers do not see this answer while reading the application. We will have to stay tuned to see whether Common AppⓇ decides to do away with the box entirely in the wake of this decision.

What should I do differently as a result?

While “checkboxes” or other binary options indicating race cannot be used in the admissions process, essay content is still fair game. ALL students, whether or not they are from an underrepresented group, should pay close attention to their college essays and be strategic about the information they share (this was always true, but is especially true now!). There was actually an article in the LA Times about this very issue today.

Black, Latinx, or other underrepresented minority students will need to make sure that if they do want to discuss race on their applications, they do so in a way that connects directly to their personal characteristics. For example, a Black student could focus an essay on her determination, showing how she overcame persistent racial slights at her mostly-white high school. 

For DC College Counseling clients, we already take this approach! All of our students build their essays by choosing a personal characteristic first, before focusing on the story.

PRO TIP: Underrepresented students who do not want to include anything about race in their main Common ApplicationⓇ essay should consider preparing a separate written statement for the “Additional Information” section of the application instead.

What will the future impact of this case BE?

This decision is expected to encourage colleges and universities to remain test-optional in the coming years. As we’ve seen already with the UCs, which are test-blind, eliminating test scores from the admissions process helps create diversity on campus in the absence of race-conscious admissions. This may apply to graduate schools as well, with less of a reliance on GRE, LSAT, or GMAT scores. 

This is not necessarily a good thing for students, by the way. As many of our rising seniors are learning, test-optional policies are not test-blind policies. If you don’t know the difference, I still like my pool analogy from 2020! Plus, test-optional policies have caused test score averages to skyrocket now that the bottom group of test-takers is no longer factored in.

We may also see more schools making the decision to stop relying on legacy admissions in an effort to diversify their incoming classes. Because larger proportions of white applicants are admitted through the legacy process, colleges hoping to increase numbers of Black, Latinx, and Native American students on campus may look to eliminate the legacy preference. 

Finally, we are likely to see an impact on minority scholarship programs and outreach initiatives at colleges and universities.

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As we continue to learn more about how individual institutions plan to modify their policies or approaches in response to the ruling, we will do whatever we can to leverage this information to help our students.

Do you have any questions that I didn’t answer? Let us know in the comments!

Weekly Update: July 3

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUPREME COURT ENDS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

The biggest college-related news of the week is, of course, the Supreme Court’s decision last Thursday that did away with the use of race in college admissions. We have been getting a ton of questions from you about this decision and how it will impact this admissions cycle, so look out for more information in our FAQ blog post later this week. 

GRADUATE CHARGED IN ASSAULT CASE AT UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

Also on Thursday, a 24-year-old recent graduate of the University of Waterloo was charged with assault for stabbing two students and a professor in a gender studies class. The attack is believed to be a hate crime, targeting gender identity and gender expression. 

MONTGOMERY COLLEGE PROFESSOR GUILTY OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found a professor at Maryland’s Montgomery College guilty of sexual harassment and violation of Title IX after he required his female students to remove their shirts and commented on their bodies, allegedly to demonstrate a medical examination. The professor was fired after it was determined that his class created “a hostile environment on the basis of sex.”

DEBATE OVER “PROBLEM OF WHITENESS” COURSE AT UCHICAGO 

The “Chicago statement,” a 2014 declaration in support of free speech on campus at the University of Chicago, has been a guideline for other schools for years when it comes to campus speech. The statement came under question this year when a UChicago sophomore and conservative activist shared the name, photo, and email address of Professor Rebecca Journey, who was scheduled to teach a seminar called “The Problem of Whiteness.” The student has not received any disciplinary action in response, and others at the university continue to debate what constitutes free speech and what can be considered “cyberabuse.”

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Lots of articles to share this week in the wake of the affirmative action decision! This one from the New York Times discusses how race-neutral admissions may lead to the entire process becoming more subjective, with more emphasis on personal qualities (and the essay) and less emphasis on grades and test scores, in an effort for admissions offices to retain diversity without explicitly considering race. The Atlantic explores the particular impact that this decision may have on the admissions essay, arguing that the decision will mean that more students will need to shoehorn race-related incidents into their admissions essays, leading to more formulaic personal statements. And NPR reviews how the UC system responded to the ban on affirmative action established for California public universities in 1996, which may provide some insight into how other colleges will respond to the ban in the coming months and years. We think we might see more colleges going the way of the UCs and becoming test blind in an effort to maintain their diversity - more on this soon!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Our office is closed tomorrow for the holiday - wishing everyone a happy Fourth of July!

If you’re on the beach this week, don’t forget to check out our 2023 Fiction Summer Reading List and 2023 Nonfiction Summer Reading List. And I have an extra recommendation for parents - I’ve been making my way through Dr. Becky’s Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and I can’t get over how spot-on it is. I wish I had read it sooner! :)

Weekly Update: June 27

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES AWAIT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DECISION

The Supreme Court could issue a ruling on whether schools can continue to consider race in college admissions as soon as tomorrow, and colleges and universities are preparing. While no school has yet released a concrete plan for how they might respond if affirmative action is abolished, we suspect that this will impact whether or not schools remain test optional, as well as whether those that consider legacy as part of admissions will continue to do so. 

DESANTIS CHALLENGES COLLEGE ACCREDITATION

Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration sued the U.S. Department of Education, claiming that it was disrupting the efforts of Florida public universities to switch accreditors. DeSantis says that accreditation boards have too much power over Florida schools, and are undermining decisions made by his administration. Florida’s current accreditor is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS), but more than half of Florida public schools are expected to change accreditors in the next two years. 

DUKE UNIVERSITY OFFERS FREE TUITION

If you are a Carolina resident, you might be in luck - Duke University is offering free tuition to students from North and South Carolina whose families make less than $150,000 per year. Duke is already need blind and meets 100% of students’ demonstrated need, but the full tuition grant is designed to encourage more applicants from the Carolinas, who can apply with the knowledge that if admitted, they will be able to attend without financial hardship. 

FLORIDA GATORS SCORE MOST RUNS IN COLLEGE WORLD SERIES HISTORY, BUT STILL LOSE

During a 24-4 game against LSU on Sunday, Florida scored 24 runs - breaking the previous record of 23 runs, scored by Notre Dame in 1957 and by Arizona State in 1984. But don’t feel too bad for LSU - they had a comeback on Monday evening and won the College World Series!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Last week, we shared an Atlantic opinion piece from a Princeton professor who believes that universities should not take political stances. This week, the opinion comes from a Princeton student - a rising senior who argues that when university departments take a political stance, it alienates some of their students. In the coming months, Princeton’s faculty will vote on a proposal that would prevent departments from taking positions on controversial issues. The student offers examples of the kind of official communications, from condemnation of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict to the support of Roe v. Wade, that would be limited under the new proposal. 

The recurring question - is college worth it? - has a new answer. According to an analysis from the Institution for Higher Education Policy released last week, college is worth it for 93% of students. The report is meant to identify colleges that provide a “minimum economic return” for their students. In other words, college is “worth it” if students earn at least as much as a high school graduate, plus recoup their investment in college tuition, within 10 years after graduation. Public universities provide the best economic return, likely due to lower tuition costs, while for-profit colleges and private colleges are least likely to help students reach the threshold. 

Not a fan of Greek life? Check out U.S. News’ list of 10 Colleges with No Fraternities or Sororities, which features schools like Princeton, Middlebury, and Virginia’s own University of Mary Washington.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I (Colleen) was featured last week in U.S. News’ list of 18 Ways to Prepare for Your Freshman Year of College, sharing some of my top tips. If you are a Class of 2023 student, I highly recommend using at least a few hours of your summer to refresh yourself on topics from your high school courses, especially courses like math and foreign language that build on themselves year to year. This is also a great time to take a look at the list of clubs and organizations on your campus, so you can make a plan to get involved - without getting totally overwhelmed at the club fair! 

Shannon, Staci, and Ian led our second research session for clients last week. Performing college research is an essential skill for students as they think about writing “Why This School?” essays this summer. Wondering how the research session came to be? We noticed that our students have so much trouble with these types of essays and wanted to give them a little bit of extra help. After brainstorming ideas, we decided to offer all rising seniors two different opportunities to join a special session on research at no additional charge.

We covered: 

• Parsing the prompt to really understand what the school is asking you to write about in your essay

• Identifying aspects of the school that are unique and relevant to your interests - and which attributes aren't unique at all!

• Using the ASC Method for performing research focused on academics, student life, and community

• Choosing where to get started with your research and how to fact-check when you are done

Current clients who weren’t able to attend a session can, of course, work on these skills one on one during regular essay coaching meetings with their coaches! Our schedules are now posted throughout the summer, and we encourage our current clients to book meetings ASAP to ensure they get their preferred times to complete their essay work this summer. 

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: June 19

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE BOARD WILL KEEP AP CURRICULA

Florida recently asked the College Board to update its AP curricula to modify any courses that conflict with Florida’s law which restricts teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. Last week, the College Board responded to the request with a letter stating that it would not be making the changes. 

Florida’s request didn’t specifically mention AP Psychology, but this is likely the course that would be impacted by the rule. The College Board argues that without discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in AP Psychology, the course would no longer have all of the content necessary for students to receive college credit. 

The College Board’s refusal comes in the wake of Florida’s ban on the AP African American Studies course. The Board did make changes to that course, and received a lot of backlash from professors of African American studies. We will be watching to see if AP Psychology is banned for Florida students!

COLLEGE DEI PROGRAMS DISAPPEAR

On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott prohibited diversity, equality, and inclusion offices in Texas public colleges. The law will affect UT Austin as well as other colleges in the UT system. The law allows students and faculty to sue the college if DEI trainings of any kind are mandated. Florida has already instituted a similar ban, stopping state funding for DEI programs - Governor Abbott is expected to sign a similar funding-related bill in Texas. 

But Florida and Texas aren’t the only states where DEI offices will see changes. North and South Carolina introduced bills to track DEI spending at public colleges, while in Ohio, a bill to abolish diversity training in public colleges is currently in the legislative process. 

DREXEL AND SALUS UNIVERSITIES MERGE

Mergers between larger colleges and struggling smaller schools have been more common since COVID-19 depleted college enrollment, and the latest schools to merge are Drexel and Salus Universities. The merger, which will take place next summer, will provide Drexel with the health sciences resources of Salus, including labs and clinical facilities. New programs at Drexel will include optometry, audiology, occupational therapy, and more.

WAKE FOREST’S FIRST COLLEGE WORLD SERIES SINCE 1955

The Demon Deacons are headed to the College World Series for the first time since their 1955 championship win. 68 years ago, the biggest controversy around their appearance was the team taking the field on the Sabbath - thankfully, this time around Sunday will be an off day for the tournament!

THE YOUNGEST COLLEGE GRADUATES

Every year around this time, we see a rash of stories about interesting college graduates - the youngest, the oldest, the entire family graduating at once that we wrote about a few weeks ago! This year brought us a 12-year-old with an associate’s degree from Los Angeles City College - she started when she was 9 - and a 14-year-old with an engineering degree from Santa Clara University and a job at SpaceX! 

We found these two stories particularly interesting because of the contrast between the parents’ choices for their young students. 12-year-old Fiona Currie’s parents are sending her to high school, despite her 4.0 college GPA, saying that they want her to have the social experience of being in high school with students her age. 14-year-old Kairan Quazi, on the other hand, applied to 98 jobs and chose SpaceX from his three offers. 

Your student may not be a college graduate as a preteen, but these are things that many parents think about when debating whether to send a student to college early or help them pursue an associate’s degree while in high school. Our perspective? It is generally better to keep a student with their peers, like Fiona’s parents did - but the choice is different for different families!

FCPS INTRODUCES COURSERA CAREER ACADEMY PILOT

Coursera and FCPS are offering an awesome pilot program for Fairfax County students! Up to 1,000 students will be able to access Coursera’s Career Academy, with the ability to learn from experts at companies like Microsoft and Google and access almost 30 professional certificates. This is a great opportunity for students to explore different careers! You should be able to fill out the interest form here to gain access, but as of the time we are posting, it’s not loading for us. We assume that it will work for those with FCPS email accounts!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We’ve got some interesting questions for you to consider this week!

Where did most Fortune 500 CEOs attend college? If you guessed “nowhere,” you’d be right! Successful CEOs go to a huge variety of schools - this year, only 11 or 12 of the top 100 CEOs attended an Ivy League university for undergrad. Of the top 20, 14 of them went to public colleges and only one - Amazon’s Andy Jassy - graduated from the Ivy League. But 5 of the top 20 CEOs didn’t go to college at all! Looks like resourcefulness, determination, and networking skills are much more important for aspiring business leaders than the brand name of their college. 

Should colleges take political stances? Princeton professor Robert P. George says no. George argues that when Princeton’s Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies released a statement condemning last summer’s Dobbs decision, the program made a mistake. Official political statements from universities, he said, can make some students feel excluded. 

Do American universities have something to learn from Oxbridge? As we wait for the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision and colleges’ responses, this article from the Financial Times has a suggestion - American schools could learn something from the UK’s Oxford and Cambridge. The article outlines what elite UK schools have done to make their classes more diverse, and considers whether these changes would be applicable to schools in the United States. 

What does the average University of Minnesota student look like? We’ll give you a hint - they appear to be standing in the snow. When AI was asked to generate “average” students at 18 different colleges, it turns out they all dress in their schools’ colors - and aptly, UT Austin students wear tank tops while Minnesota students are bundled up! Check out all of the fun photos on Buzzfeed.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I (Colleen) am out of the office this week, but Shannon and our admin team are holding down the fort - please reach out to them at admin@dccollegecounseling.com with any questions.

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: June 12

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY TOPICS RELEASED

Several schools have begun to release supplemental essays for the 2023-2024 application cycle, including the University of Georgia, the University of Vermont, and the University of Miami. We’ll be keeping track of these prompts for our clients, but even non-clients can follow our Supplemental Essays Database to have access to the prompts. Remember: the more work you complete over the summer, the easier fall will be!

COLUMBIA DROPS OUT OF U.S. NEWS RANKINGS

Last week, Columbia became the first major university to stop sharing data on its undergraduate program with U.S. News & World Report. Several high-ranking law schools (including Columbia, Harvard, and Yale) have already stopped using the ranking system, but undergraduate schools have not followed suit - until now. The move comes after Columbia dropped from #2 to #18 in the rankings, due to providing inaccurate data, and is only the latest in a series of criticism of the U.S. News rankings and whether they actually benefit potential college students and families.  

KENTUCKY STRUGGLES TO HOUSE RECORD NUMBER OF INCOMING FRESHMEN

Many schools have record-breaking incoming classes this cycle, and the University of Kentucky is no exception. Without enough housing for students, Kentucky is encouraging students to “TRI-IT” - in other words, to create forced triples with three students in rooms initially meant to house two. Students can live in the triple rooms for a discounted rate. 

Even if you aren’t headed to Kentucky next year, this is something to look out for - other universities, like Villanova, also have forced triples, and with record numbers of incoming first year students at many schools, the practice may become more common. 

TRIBAL UNIVERSITY IS FIRST TO OFFER PHD

Navajo Technical University plans to offer a Ph.D. program in Navajo culture and language sustainability this fall, making it the first tribal university to offer a program at this level. The goal of the program is to help preserve the Navajo language, and the university hopes that it will be the first of many such programs at tribal colleges and universities across the country.  

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

As we all wait anxiously for the Supreme Court affirmative action decision, there are plenty of articles about the impact it may have on the admissions process. We were particularly interested in this piece from The Atlantic, which discusses the problem with colleges expecting students to “put their trauma on display” in their college essays. We hear about this expectation from students all the time. Many of them feel that if something “bad” hasn’t happened to them, they won’t be able to write a good college essay - or that if something bad has happened to them, they need to share it with college admissions officers to write a strong essay. The fear is that if affirmative action goes away, students will have even more pressure to discuss their traumatic experiences in their essays, so that colleges can use their personal background in the consideration of their application. We will have to see whether this is true after the Supreme Court releases its decision!

Graduating seniors were in ninth grade when the pandemic began, and this has affected their future plans. This article states that COVID-19 affected the decision on college choice or college major for over 40% of the Class of 2023. Post-COVID graduates are more likely to go directly to work rather than attend college, compared to students in the Class of 2019. Social and academic challenges as a result of the pandemic have definitely contributed to students’ attitudes toward school in general and college in particular, and we’ll have to wait and see whether this trend continues - or whether the number of students interested in college bounces back in the next few years.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

The end of the school year is around the corner for many students, and with it, essay work is ramping up for our juniors! They are going to put in a lot of hard work over the next few months, but it will be so worth it when they are done with our Finish by September Timeline! They will spend senior year focused on their classes and other commitments, not applications. Our past clients report that this is one of their favorite parts of working with our team!

We’ve also brought on a new essay coach for our busy essay season - a big welcome to Rose! She is pursuing graduate work at UMD, after working as a school college counselor with the College Advising Corps in conjunction with Davidson College. It’s rare to find an essay coach with college counseling experience, so we’re thrilled to have her on board. We will introduce her on the blog in more detail in the coming weeks!

Last but not least, McClain - who I believe at this point has been with DC College Counseling longer than any other essay coach - is back again for another great summer with us. So many kids over the years have absolutely loved working with McClain and we’re very lucky to have the benefit of all of her experience!

Current clients can book meetings with Rose and McClain here!

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: June 5

Good luck with finals for those of you taking them this week!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUNY ACCEPTS 125,000 STUDENTS

The State University of New York is sending out 125,000 acceptance letters to graduating high school seniors. No, they aren’t students who applied - the acceptances are automatic, with the goal of encouraging more high school seniors to enroll in college. We’ve discussed here before how the pandemic exacerbated a decline in enrollment that has been happening over the last decade, and this is the latest attempt by the SUNY system to enroll more students in local community colleges. 

GW JOINS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES

The Association of American Universities, an invitation-only organization that comprises the country’s top research institutions, recently gained six new members - including GW. This expansion brings the AAU to its largest-ever membership of 71 schools, also welcoming Arizona State, the University of Miami, and Notre Dame. UC Riverside and the University of South Florida were admitted as well.

This prestigious organization was founded in 1900 by schools including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and UC Berkeley. 

VIRAL VIDEO LEADS TO FULL-RIDE SCHOLARSHIP

Just a few months after going viral for his video response to his Morehouse College acceptance, Amir Staten got more good news - he was named one of Morehouse’s Bonner Scholars, earning a four-year full-ride scholarship. Morehouse College’s dean said that the selection panel had not seen the video before selecting Amir for the scholarship, though he was personally moved by the student’s excitement over attending Morehouse. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The rise of ChatGPT and other AI models has led to a lot of speculation about the future of the job market - and maybe we should be worried! Two University of Washington students recently won UW’s startup competition and $25,000 with their AI college counseling platform. The platform takes in data from students’ high school performance to offer advice on course selection, strategies for extracurricular activities, and help with the college search. Right now, the platform is maxed out at 30 users, as the college-student founders are doing some 1:1 counseling work themselves while they work on automating the entire process. This isn’t the first time a startup has tried to automate college counseling - for now, we think that a real-life counselor is the way to go! 

We are potentially just days away from the Supreme Court rendering a decision on the use of affirmative action in college admissions, and the expectation is that the conservative Court will abolish or limit affirmative action. We’ve seen a lot of articles speculating on what the ruling will ultimately mean for college admissions, including this one from David Brooks. He argues that the current admissions process creates an “elite” educated class, and that the race-based affirmative action programs at many schools should be replaced by class-based affirmative action in the admissions process. We will be eagerly awaiting the decision and tracking the impact it has on the admissions process moving forward.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

My top tips for parents who are sending their students off to college in the fall were featured in U.S. News’ Parents’ Guide to Freshman Year this week - the whole article is a great read if you are saying goodbye to your senior! While I know it can be challenging as a parent, sometimes the best thing you can do for your student is allow them to advocate for themselves and make mistakes - while always serving as a sounding board and supporter as they navigate this next step. 

Our juniors are starting to finalize their lists and several have moved onto early supplemental essay work! While we know that summer is busy for these students, we also know that they will be excited come senior year to have all of this work behind them. 

Have a great week - the last week of school for some of you!

Weekly Update: December 9

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

A NEW TOOL FOR COMPARING SAT AND ACT SCORES

Students who received their PSAT scores this week should take a few minutes to check out the concordance widget. Compass Prep released this new tool that makes it easy for students to convert their scores from SAT to ACT and use the comparisons to make important decisions about future test prep.

CONTRACEPTIVES BOOST COLLEGE GRADUATION RATES

There’s good news this week for young women in Colorado. Researchers have found that the state’s Title X Family Planning Initiative (CFPI) - which increased access to low and no-cost contraceptives in 2009- has also increased college graduation rates for women over the past decade by up to 12%. Additionally, the data shows improvements in high school graduation rates, as well as the number of women in Colorado who earn their bachelor’s degree by the age of 24. Researchers feel these numbers are significant because they emphasize the importance of Title X policies and programs, as well as the impact contraceptive access can have upon a woman’s future. 

HIGHEST PAYING COLLEGE MAJORS OF 2022

What is your college major worth? Payscale released their annual list of highest-paying majors, so check them out. As many might expect, a majority of the top spots are held by engineering industries, computer science, and math. However, there are a few surprises on the list this year, especially for those preparing to become dental hygienists or physician assistants. And if you’re still in search of a well-paid career path, you might want to look into marine transport management! Aspiring entrepreneurs should check out this recent Forbes piece - a lot of interesting data here about small business ownership.

A NEW LEAD EMERGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO MURDER CASE

After receiving over 6,000 tips, investigators in the University of Idaho student murders have a new lead. On Wednesday, police announced that a white Hyundai Elantra was spotted near the off-campus house during the time of the attacks. They believe the person(s) in the vehicle could have critical information into the case. Meanwhile, the two surviving roommates - who are believed to have slept through the attacks- opened up for the first time since the tragedy. During a memorial service last weekend, they shared memories of their friends and spoke about the impact of the tragic event.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

With affirmative action at the forefront of college admissions over the past several months, many are taking a fresh look at disparities in higher education. For decades, experts have cited a long list of factors that create a system of imbalances for students: athletic recruitment, legacy admissions, elite prep school education, to name a few. And now, in the words of Taylor Swift..

via GIPHY

Well, according to Evan Mandery, anyway. In his article for Time Magazine this week, he looks closely at the rise of private college counselors like us, which he calls the “gatekeepers.” He writes that we take “disparities between rich and poor, which diverge from birth, and explode them exponentially.” Yes, because college admissions have become increasingly competitive and complex, many families are turning to expert counselors like us at DC College Counseling for one-on-one support. I can’t deny that he’s correct about the advantages of working with us, but it’s not accurate to say that we only work with wealthy families. We also work with quite a few middle-income families as well as an increasing number of low-income families through our pro-bono program. We also do not charge anywhere near the amounts mentioned in that article - wow.

Can race impact your chances of college admissions? That’s the question many Asian-American students are asking in the wake of Harvard’s discrimination lawsuit. While students highlight their racial backgrounds on college applications, that doesn’t seem to be the case for a lot Asian-American students. In fact, many say they prefer not to disclose their race and even avoid “stereotypical” activities out of fear of bias. I can understand the stereotypical activities part - it’s awful that this has to happen, but I can understand why a student would make that choice given this landscape.

But my personal opinion - which I understand others may not agree with - is that there’s rarely a point to opting out of race disclosure. It’s almost always pretty clear whether a student is Asian based on other information in the application, so I don’t think it’s effective, and a student who chooses not to disclose when it’s obvious can instead give off the impression they are trying to hide something. Again, just my personal opinion, and of course these concerns extend far beyond college admissions. Many experts believe that heightened self-consciousness over race can have detrimental effects on students’ mental health.

The college essay is dead! This bold statement might leave essay-averse undergrads cheering, but our office of English majors was devastated to see the headline. And it’s not referring to the admissions essay, by the way! According to Stephen Marche in The Atlantic, growing AI technologies are changing the face of humanities. Students are now relying on auto-generated programs to write “original” works, from analytical essays to poetry. Some argue that the use of AI technologies isn’t actually cheating, but the issue certainly raises important questions about the role of technology in the study of humanities. Will the art of writing be relevant in the future? What value will natural language hold? Marche believes that academia will need to work hard to answer these questions and create a new vision for the future–one where humanities and technology won’t be at odds. I think writing will always be an essential skill for success in any career field and life in general!

Financial aid letters are in desperate need of revision, according to researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. A recent report revealed significant problems with the ways in which schools present financial aid packages to admitted students. These letters can be confusing and misleading for families, who struggle to make sense of the numbers and compare offers across multiple schools. That’s why researchers are calling for standardization of information in financial aid packages, as well as legal disclosures, so that students can avoid costly mistakes.

Computer science may be one of the highest paying majors of 2022 (as we mentioned above), but recent undergrads could have trouble finding a lucrative job in the industry. Over the past decade, the number of students majoring in computer science has tripled, as undergrads are lured by dreams of six-figure salaries and office napping pods. However, a weakening economy has led to recent cuts within major tech companies, such as Meta and Amazon. But don’t panic yet, computer science majors! Recent data shows that there’s an increasing demand for computer science majors in the automotive and finance industries. Job seekers may just have to give up their dreams of working for Twitter and imagine a future at Toyota instead. 

If you like kids and want to earn a six-figure job within a few years out of college, we've got a school for you! Norland College, located in Bath, England, has been the premiere educational center for nannies for 130 years. The school is known for its rigorous curriculum - a mix of early childhood development studies and training in martial arts, evasive driving, and even cybersecurity. Who knew?! Graduates are in high demand and often go on to work for elite households, from the house of Windsor to ​​the house of Mick Jagger. Just don’t tell anyone if you’re admitted. Privacy is one of the hallmarks of Norland College! 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We have a lot of students hearing back from their ED schools both tonight and over the next few days. I feel so anxious! For our current students, please let us know as soon as you find out. We are crossing our fingers.

If you watch CNN, look for me early next week on a segment with Don Lemon about public vs. private school and which is better. I’m not sure which day yet, but I’ll post it when it comes online. Spoiler alert: it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer, in my opinion. I have children at both! They are fortunate to go to amazing schools and have incredibly dedicated, hard-working teachers. As I listened to the other panelists, I could not help but reflect on how beyond fortunate we are in the D.C. area to have so many diverse school choices. This is definitely not the case in other parts of the country!

On another note, while you’re busy making plans for winter break, don’t forget to start planning for summer as well! Several summer pre-college programs and internships have been announced recently, and deadlines are approaching fast (we know it seems early, but many applications close by mid-January!).

To see a list of summer academic, internship, and volunteer opportunities, visit our database. We update the listings weekly. And if you need help with summer applications or your resume, we can help. Book a session with us here (scroll down to the bottom) if you aren’t a current client and here if you are.

Weekly Update: November 4

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT

Like many in the higher education world, we were glued to Monday’s arguments in the Supreme Court! After the arguments, it seems likely that the Court will decide to eliminate race-consciousness in college admissions at the end of this term. This is likely going to have a reverberating impact on many aspects of the process, so we’ll be keeping a close watch on this one!

VIRGINIA’S FIRST COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

The school itself has been around for a while, but George Mason recently announced it will be renaming its College of Health and Human Services, instituting the George Mason College of Public Health as the first college of public health in Virginia. The College, which houses several schools at GMU including the School of Nursing, will offer both online and in person classes to graduate and undergraduate students.

FORDHAM INSTITUTES BOOSTER SHOT REQUIREMENT

On Tuesday, Fordham University’s policy requiring a mandatory fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine went into effect. This vaccine mandate, one of the strictest in the country, sparked backlash - with a group of Fordham Law School students announcing that they will file a lawsuit in the Bronx Supreme Court against the mandate. 

STRUGGLING ECONOMY IMPACTS UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENTS

Many schools are seeing the largest dip in their endowments since 2009 as assets continue to decline. Wash U, for example, lost over 10% of its endowment this fiscal year - slightly more than the average 7.8% loss across schools. For wealthier colleges, however, the impact has been less intense - with Princeton and Harvard losing just over 1% of their endowments. A continued decrease could impact faculty salaries and hiring, new projects on campuses, and more. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The affirmative action case in the Supreme Court is generating a lot of articles around college admissions this week. We were especially intrigued by this article from The Atlantic, which explores the multitude of factors that go into the admissions process (as we always tell families, at a certain level, it doesn’t actually have much to do with how wonderful the student is!). And CNN dives into the specific relationship between Asian-American students and affirmative action - a particular issue as the cases currently before the Court allege that UNC and Harvard are discriminating against Asian-American students. 

Plus, yet more evidence of gaps in learning for students who attended high school virtually during the pandemic - particularly in classes like math, where foundational concepts clearly affect mastery of more complex material down the line. Math professors are faced with the dilemma of giving out more poor grades and failing more students, or changing their curricula and focusing more on fundamentals (we’re in favor of the latter!). 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon got back from a trip to Richmond recently to see VCU and the University of Richmond. Here’s what she had to say:

After visiting both schools at the same time, I was reminded of what a great microcosm of college variety they are! For sophomores or juniors just beginning their college search, Richmond is a great trip to take. Students will be able to experience and figure out whether they prefer an urban or suburban school; a big or small school; a public or private school… having two schools so close together that are such opposites is a really wonderful opportunity to start to figure out what works for you. 

November 1 deadlines may have passed, but things are still busy over here! We are focusing on wrapping up applications for our late-start seniors, as well as law school applications. We’re also getting started on military academy applications (remember to start these early!) and brainstorming college lists with our Class of 2024 juniors. Finally, we are continuing to finalize course selection as well as scholarship applications with our college experience coaching students. Phew! One of these days we will take a vacation ;)

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

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Weekly Update: October 28

Happy Halloween!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

HALF OF STAFFORD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OUT SICK

1,000 students at Stafford High School in Fredericksburg, nearly half of the student body, were out sick today with “flu-like and gastrointestinal symptoms.” The school is investigating the cause of the illness, and currently plans to be open on Monday. 

ELI LILLY CREATES NEW PURDUE SCHOLARSHIP

Eli Lilly has committed a $92.5 million gift to Purdue University, nearly half of which will fund a new pharmaceutical manufacturing scholarship program. The 75-100 students who receive the scholarship each year will receive full tuition, in addition to guaranteed internships or co-ops with Eli Lilly. The school expects to award the first of these scholarships next fall.

The remaining $50 million will go towards extending the established research partnership between Eli Lilly and Purdue. 

UMD MAKES NEW “TERRAPIN COMMITMENT”

UMD pledged this week to invest $20 million in need-based aid. The program will help fill in the gaps for low-income students who receive federal Pell Grants, to make tuition and fees more affordable for these students and families. The “Terrapin Commitment” joins programs such as UNC’s “Carolina Covenant” and Michigan’s “Go Blue Guarantee” in making it easier for low-income students to attend public universities. 

NC STATE COPES WITH STUDENT DEATH BY SUICIDE

This week, NC State suffered the third reported death by suicide of a student in the last two months. With 1,100 deaths on college campuses per year, suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students, and this is another harsh reminder of the mental health crisis that all schools continue to face. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This article from The Atlantic explores the income gap at colleges and universities, in light of the affirmative action case coming before the Supreme Court. The author, Richard D. Kahlenberg, is serving as an expert witness for Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the case. He argues that striking down affirmative action is a progressive move, because it will require universities to give an “admissions boost” to economically disadvantaged applicants, rather than doing so along racial lines. Kahlenberg notes that while Harvard’s classes reflect America in racial diversity, the school has 15 times as many students from the top quintile of wealth distribution as from the bottom quintile. Likewise, UNC has 16 times as many students from the top fifth as the bottom fifth. He argues that a more authentic way to achieve racial diversity, after affirmative action is struck down, will be by admitting more economically disadvantaged students, noting that this is the case at schools like UC Berkeley and UCLA, which do not use race in admissions. 

Penn’s doctoral program in higher education management - a class for aspiring professionals hoping to become top-level administrators and university presidents - dedicated an entire weekend to discussing college sports and the NCAA. The importance of this subject matter is a clear sign of the impact that athletics have at the top levels of college administration. Students were asked questions about various aspects of athletic policy and budgeting - for example, if they were presidents of Big Ten schools, what would they do with the income from the conference’s new media rights deal? These types of questions are becoming increasingly more important for college presidents to answer as college sports continue to grow in popularity and revenue.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Those November 1 deadlines are right around the corner - good luck to those submitting this weekend and CONGRATULATIONS to all of our seniors who have submitted their early applications! We are so proud of all of you. Enjoy the Halloween weekend!

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Weekly Update: August 19

We made it through our crazy three weeks of August! Yay! Good luck to everyone starting back at school on Monday.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GEORGE MASON!

Did you know that George Mason is turning 50 this year? Check out Northern Virginia Magazine’s profile of the school’s transformation during that time.

BEST “SUMMER JOB” EVER

A 20-year old USC student just made $110 million on Bed, Bath, and Beyond stock. He explained in a post on Reddit: “The significant appreciation of BBBY’s share price combined with the fact that I am leaving for school tomorrow played critical roles in closing the Position.” That’s some experiential education right there!

CHANGES ON THE HORIZON AS LAWSUITS CONTINUE

We have an update on the financial aid lawsuit we mentioned back in January in which top colleges are being accused of antitrust violations: it looks like it’s moving forward! A federal judge in Chicago is requiring the universities named as defendants to respond to the plaintiffs by September 9. If you’re interested in continuing to learn more about the upcoming Supreme Court case on affirmative action, check out this week’s article from Politico.

PRINCETON REVIEW RANKINGS ARE OUT

My favorite rankings! I love these because of the specific categories in which schools are ranked. This is so much more helpful than a blanket ranking with methodology that may not be relevant to a particular student. Instead, you can pick the categories that matter to you! These are really worth a read. Proud of my alma mater Wash U for once again killing it - #1 in the country for best dorms, #3 for best food and financial aid, #9 for most beautiful campus and #11 for best run colleges. And a whole bunch more but I will stop bragging now :)

COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS LESSEN BUT MONKEYPOX CONCERNS RISE

From WPI to VCU, colleges are continuing to lessen their Covid-19 restrictions. Instead, many colleges have shifted focus and are working hard to educate their students about Monkeypox prevention as the outbreaks spread.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

A Little League player suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling off his bunk bed this week at the Little League World Series. This tragedy has brought bunk bed safety to light, and it’s a particularly timely topic this week as college students are heading back to school. Did you know that there are 36,000 injuries per year related to bunk beds? I think about all the years in boarding school that I slept on top bunks without rails - scary. If you have a student sleeping in a top bunk, make sure to purchase safety rails for them.

The Washington Post offered some great advice to parents this week about making college admissions less stressful. Some of these really resonate with me, although the best piece of advice I would give to parents is to always watch your commentary about various schools. The reality is that you may very well have no concept of where your student can get in today, and a guaranteed way to make a kid feel like a loser is for them to end up at a school their parent badmouthed six months earlier.

We write a lot about the ways that colleges use data to track applicants - but the tracking doesn’t necessarily stop after matriculation! The Wall Street Journal covered the many ways that schools are beginning to use data to change the student experience, from academic advising to identifying at-risk students.

And speaking of data - WalletHub recently put together a set of community college rankings based on methodology that considers cost in relation to career and academic outcomes. You can check out how individual community colleges performed as well as entire state systems.

If you’re wondering our how local options stacked up, Northern Virginia Community College came in at #165 and Montgomery College came in at #7 (impressive!) out of 936 community colleges nationally. Honestly, I think that both NOVA and MC offer INCREDIBLE opportunities for students who want to save some money or take a non-traditional path. Students can land guaranteed admission agreements to UVA, Georgetown, and a number of other great schools - pretty amazing if you ask me.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon helped one of our students submit what I believe was our first binding early decision application of the year at the beginning of this past week, which was very exciting! We are all crossing our fingers for him.

Most students in Fairfax County have their senior year schedules now - so it’s a great time to cross-check with the Common App and list of planned AP tests to ensure that none of that information needs to be updated.

Have a great weekend - I will be supervising lots of last-minute summer reading, can’t wait :)

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