Weekly Update: January 25

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

VIRGINIA SENATE VOTES TO BAN LEGACY PREFERENCE IN ADMISSIONS

Virginia Tech got rid of legacy last summer, and it looks like we’re about to see the other Virginia schools follow suit. Here’s my unpopular opinion of the day: I am really bummed and disappointed about this. And I say that as someone who did not have the benefit of legacy preference to any schools I wanted to go to, when I applied to college - so I have no personal skin in the game here. But after so many years hearing incredibly heartfelt stories from students who have grown up watching basketball games with their parents in the JPJ for the previous 18 years or similar - these people live and breathe for their schools. I could share so many fun stories I’ve heard over the years - college-themed Christmas trees, family pets named after coaches, and more! Why shouldn’t those kids, who are already loyal members of a community, be able to get some preference to strengthen and formalize their role in that community? I assure you that unqualified legacies are not being admitted to these places anyway, so it just feels very unfair to me. My guess is that the average person on the street - or average lawmaker - does not realize that legacies still have to be exceptionally qualified applicants in order to get in under the current climate.

FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO HOST ANNUAL GAP YEAR FAIR

On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, from 6:00 to 8:30 pm, FCPS School Counseling Services is partnering with Go Overseas to host the 2024 Gap Year Fair at Marshall High School (inclement weather plan: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 6-8:30 pm). A gap year is a break in schools between completing high school and beginning college which is typically a year-long break. The program begins at 6:00 pm with Gap Year 101, where an expert gap year counselor will present a general overview and then open up to questions. The fair itself begins at 7:00 pm. Students and families will be able to speak with gap year program providers, trip leaders, advisors, and gap year alumni and explore programs ranging from outdoor and experiential opportunities to travel and language immersion to community service and internships. Students should register using this link.

AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET CAN TEACH PERSISTENCE

The most recent “Teaching” newsletter in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses a recent study that took a look at how an entrepreneurial mindset can help students who experience challenges, setbacks, or negative emotions to persevere through rather than disengage. Eliana Crosina, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College in Massachusetts and her team document four ways in which professors can support students and teach them to persist. One of those actions suggests professors work with their colleagues to create a community to support both students and faculty. The newsletter’s author also brought into the discussion the dichotomy between a movement to deemphasize grades known as “ungrading” and the traditional classroom, in which students receive a final grade for the course.

SENSE OF COMMUNITY IS CRITICAL TO BLACK MALE COLLEGE COMPLETION

Katelynn Jarrells’ article “Building Belonging to Benefit Black Male Students” focuses on advice for college faculty and staff in addressing the significant drop in the rate of black male students who complete a bachelor’s degree. Research demonstrates that efforts to create a sense of belonging are more effective in supporting black males to degree completion than an emphasis on individualism has been. Virginia Commonwealth University’s success with their Men of Color Initiative is a model for other institutions of higher education in ways to help students feel connected to a community. This article argues that DEI training (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is inadequate and calls on colleges and universities to refocus on building community and engaging diverse students.

DIRECT-ADMISSION PROGRAMS ON THE RISE

Direct-admission programs have increased significantly over the past three years. State legislation in Idaho, Minnesota, and Georgia guarantees admission to specific state colleges or universities to students who meet specific criteria. A new collaboration between the Common Application and Niche, a college search website, allows students to input their information into an account, and participating colleges - including George Mason University, locally - can view and respond with an offer of admission for students who meet their criteria.

COLLEGES INVOLVED IN FINANCIAL AID ANTITRUST LAWSUIT CONTINUE TO SETTLE

An antitrust lawsuit filed in January 2022 accused 17 colleges and universities of acting as “a price-fixing cartel” when they collaborated on financial aid formulas. The lawsuit contends that the 17 schools violated the terms of the federal antitrust exemption that prohibited them from taking a family’s ability to pay into account when making admission decisions. University of Chicago was the first defendant to reach a settlement in August 2023, while Emory, Rice, and Vanderbilt followed in September, October, and November respectively. Brown, Columbia, Duke, and Yale settled earlier this week.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

A study released this week reports that 86 percent of college and university faculty and staff support implementing new learning models which focus on skills and competencies. The survey also assessed the use of “comprehensive learning records” (CLRs) to document students’ mastery of these skills or competencies. More community and technical colleges are taking the lead on the shift to map learning to the skills employers are looking for in their employees. 

The cost of college has been in the news frequently over the past month. The New York Times article, “Why Is Paying for College So Complicated?” provides an overview and history of the financial aid system in American colleges and universities. Ron Lieber, the author, provides insight into the rise of merit aid and federal and state grants, savings, and loan programs. In our January 16 Weekly Update we shared an article about the College Cost Reduction Act introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, and in our January 5 Weekly Update, we included an article about the launch of the redesigned FAFSA, which has been plagued by delays and other issues. Last week, a different New York Times article chronicled the choices recent college dropouts have faced and why some young people are questioning whether or not a degree from an expensive school is worth the debt.

Financial concerns are not just affecting high school and college students, but also having an impact on higher education institutions across this country. The University of Redlands in southern California west of Los Angeles announced its third merger with a floundering school—nearby Woodbury University located in Burbank, just north of LA. In 2019, Redlands merged with San Francisco Theological Seminary, and, in 2022, they began the merger process with the Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. In 2023 alone, 15 colleges and universities closed, merged with another school, or were acquired by other schools. 

Amid renewed controversy over the role of the SAT and ACT in college admissions, the Commonwealth of Virginia has initiated funding for tutoring for students in grades three through eight who performed poorly on the reading and/or math SOLs (Standards of Learning). An article in The Washington Post details the plans to implement the requirements of ALL In VA, the education plan announced by Governor Youngkin in September in response to learning loss as a result of the pandemic. Tutoring efforts have begun in Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, and Loudoun counties. Each district has the authority to determine who is eligible for the tutoring, how the tutoring will be implemented, and how families will be notified. 

And in the feel-good story of the month, the Oakton High School marching band learned that they were the winners of the high school small band division of the first ever “For Whom the Band Tolls!” competition, in which marching bands were challenged to create performances using the songs and sounds of Metallica. Over 450 high schools and colleges entered the competition in one of five divisions, and the marching band will receive a customized package of musical equipment with a value of $15,000. Performances by each of the winning bands, including the Oakton High School Marching Cougars, can be viewed on YouTube. Congratulations, Cougars!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Do you want to build a snowman? Across the northern Virginia, DC, Maryland region, students enjoyed two snow days last week! Sally’s 9th grade daughter and her friends found enough snow to build a little snowman. Whether it was sleeping in, reading a book, playing outside, or enjoying some family games, we hope our students and their families were able to enjoy the days off.

In other news, we are busy gearing up for a meeting with all of our essay coaches this weekend to get ready for the upcoming 2024-2025 Common Application (R) essay prompt release! It will be nice to have our entire team together, albeit virtually!

check out our most recent weekly updates in case you missed any!

Weekly Update: January 16

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM EASES REQUIREMENTS FOR JEWISH STUDENTS SEEKING TRANSFER DUE TO ANTISEMITIC FEARS

Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues issued an emergency order this week for the state system to “remove barriers for undergraduate students who are seeking to transfer to a Florida university because of a well-founded fear of antisemitic or other religious discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or violence.” Rodrigues' action came after Florida Governor (and Republican presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis said in his annual State of the State that Jewish students would find Florida welcoming them “with open arms.”

NEW BILL INTRODUCED TO U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO MAKE CHANGES TO FEDERAL GRANTS AND LOANS FOR STUDENTS

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a bill intended to make major changes to how students pay for college. The “College Cost Reduction Act” includes a variety of changes to student loans, capping how much a student can borrow, making colleges potentially responsible for unpaid loans, and reforming the Pell Grant program (doubling it for many juniors and seniors), among other things. Some of the changes have bipartisan support, including Pell Grant reform, but it’s not clear yet how much support the full bill will attract.

EMORY UNIVERSITY’S FACULTY SENATE SEEKS ANSWERS AFTER INVESTIGATION INTO USE OF ATLANTA POLICE IN PEACEFUL STUDENT PROTEST

Wading into the recent conversation on many campuses about freedom of speech and assembly, this week The Chronicle of Higher Education examines a campus incident and subsequent university actions from last year. Students at Emory University staged a demonstration in April to bring attention to their concerns about the Atlanta Police Department and a new training facility it plans to build. The students organized the peaceful protest on the University Quad, but when some students decided to camp out overnight, the Open Expression Observer (a trained faculty or staff member acting on behalf of the dean of campus life) alerted the students that they needed to disperse or possibly face conduct violations and be forcibly removed by campus police. Sometime after midnight, the observer contacted the campus police, who in turn called the Atlanta Police, and dozens of officers from both departments dispersed the protest. Now, the school’s faculty and students want the university to explain itself.

UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND RECEIVES $100 MILLION GIFT TO SUPPORT POOLED ENDOWMENT FOR HBCUS

Thirty-seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) got good news as the new year began. The United Negro College Fund is engaged in a $1 billion capital campaign that is to include at least $370 million for HBCU endowments. The Lilly Endowment Inc., a “private philanthropic foundation supporting the causes of religion, education and community development,” put a big dent in that goal with a $100 million gift toward that $370 million goal. According to Inside Higher Ed, the average HBCU endowment is only about $16 million, so an additional $10 million from the UNCF for each school would be truly meaningful. (For comparison, William and Mary’s endowment is almost $1.4 billion.)

SUNY CHANCELLOR AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPLAUD NY GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED GUARANTEED ADMISSION INITIATIVE

In New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address on January 9, 2024, she announced her plan to offer direct admission to students in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes to State University of New York and City University of New York schools. In a statement released by the Chancellor and Board, “As we have seen in other states, this plan will advance equity while helping to retain our most talented students.” In addition, the governor is proposing legislation which will require every public school district to ensure all high school graduates complete the FAFSA or the NY State DREAM Act Application or sign a waiver attesting that they were made aware of the financial aid opportunities, but chose not to apply.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision last June, James Murray Jr., a Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky, argues that the end of race-based considerations in college admissions opens a door for reparations for the descendants of enslaved people in the form of educational consideration and tuition remission. Citing a variety of legal scholars—as well as questions from conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh during oral arguments—Murray suggests that a person’s specific genealogical lineage should be examined, not that person’s racial makeup per se, to determine preferences and financial assistance up to full tuition. 

Arena BioWorks is a Cambridge, Massachusetts, startup company with interests in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. On the face of it, there’s nothing unusual about that, but when The New York Times refers to company researchers as “a splinter group of scientists,” you can bet this is no ordinary startup. With half a billion dollars on hand, Arena BioWorks isn’t just filling its coffers with money—it’s luring academic researchers away from tenured and high-visibility jobs at prestigious universities. Paydays for some of these rock-star scientists are reputedly in the range of $10 million, not to mention the freedom to explore their areas of interest with a lot less bureaucracy than in a university setting. A single, deep-pocketed research company (funded by Michael Dell of Dell Computers and Boston Celtics owner Stephen Pagliuca, among others) probably isn’t going to blow up university research by itself. But it’s a sign that times are changing in biotech and colleges and universities probably need to start thinking differently about how they approach the care and feeding of science students and faculty, as well as their output. 

At the input end of things, Forbes blogger Brennan Barnard says students should start thinking differently about how they approach the college admission process. Calling on high schools students to “revolt against the idea that admission is a zero-sum game” and “resist the impulse to approach your studies as simply a means to an end”—maybe harder to do now, knowing there’s a $10 million biotech payday out there—he urges students not to let the prospect of admission to a given school or a given major dictate what courses and academic risks they take. He goes on to call for a measured approach (like the one we urge students to take) to things like testing and rankings. In short: “Revolt against a single definition of success and the notion that being admitted to any one college will guarantee contentment or thriving.”

As if to prove the value of Barnard’s advice, in his newsletter writer Jeff Selingo shares some “where are they now” type reporting about three students he followed through the admission process in his book “Who Gets In, and Why.” All members of their different schools’ classes of 2019, Grace (accepted at UCLA), Nicole (Northeastern University), and Chris (Gettysburg College) have followed a variety of paths since graduation. Love this!

The students’ stories show in vivid color that the acceptance and rejection letters are only the first steps in the next part of the story and that the costs (financial, emotional, and personal) of “success” in the process accumulate long after a high school senior crosses a stage to become a graduate. The stories he told in the book and the stories he tells now are worth reading, because there’s something in them for just about anyone applying to college today.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

As we approach the midpoint of the school year, our students are busy with midterm or final exams and papers, but juniors are making time for their first round of check-in meetings to make sure they are on track! Once the second semester begins, we recommend students and families begin to plan for college visits or revisits in February, March, and April.

Of course, college visit planning will look different depending on the students’ class years. Juniors should be researching colleges, attending virtual visits and information sessions, and beginning to make plans to take advantage of school breaks, long weekends, and in-service days for on-campus trips. As seniors receive admission decisions, they should make note of programming that schools are offering for accepted students and look ahead to March and April to get some visits on the calendar, especially if they have not yet been able to visit a school in person yet. Remember: it is not a good idea to commit to a school that you’ve never seen in real life!

And on a lighter note, who else has been watching RushTok this week? Panhellenic (sorority) recruitment has just finished up at so many schools, including Northwestern, Tulane, Villanova, Virginia Tech and fan favorite SMU, and some of us (cough) have been tuning in for all those #OOTDs. I just finished a meeting with a junior who knew more about each chapter’s reputation on the various campuses than some of the girls who attend the actual schools probably do—I was very impressed with her research :)

While you can learn a lot about a school’s culture through these videos, remember that you’re seeing content created for entertainment purposes - and some of these girls are professional content creators! So the stories they tell are not necessarily reflective of the typical student experience at each of the schools. Still, there’s no denying the amount of Cartier jewelry on the SMU campus— that’s for sure!

INTERESTED IN MORE TIPS ON COLLEGE VISITS? CHECK OUT THESE POSTS

Weekly Update: December 12

What a week! Colleges have begun to release early application decisions, and while it’s still too soon to draw any conclusions, we are watching for trends. More to come on that next week or the week after!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOLDS HEARING ON CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM

The House Education Committee opened an investigation into Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) last week following testimony by their respective presidents regarding increased incidents of antisemitism on their campuses. In the hearing, the presidents faced intense questioning by committee members amid growing reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses among others. UPenn president, Liz Magill, faced tough criticism for her answers to the committee’s questions and on Saturday, December 9, tendered her resignation as UPenn’s president (she will remain a tenured faculty member in their law school). In addition, the chairman of the board of trustees, Scott Bok, resigned. Following the hearing, 70 members of Congress signed a letter calling for the resignation of all three university presidents. The New York Times reported Monday that over 500 Harvard faculty members (of approximately 2300) signed a petition in support of Dr. Claudine Gay and urged the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers to “resist political pressures … including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay.”

CORNELL UNIVERSITY TO LIMIT EARLY DECISION ADMISSIONS

Cornell University’s Faculty Senate has voted to limit the proportion of applicants admitted through early decision. This change is coming after almost one-third of the Class of 2027 was admitted through early decision. What is not included in the article is that nearly one-half of the enrolled class was admitted through early decision. In September, the University’s Presidential Task Force on Undergraduate Admissions issued its recommendations for changes to the admission process. The article is not specific about any new target the college has set, but it is clear that the class of 2028 will have a measurably smaller percentage of ED “yes!” envelopes and emails to send out.

ERROR IN NEW FAFSA CALCULATIONS

Previously, we have written about the changes coming to the FAFSA, the application for financial aid administered by the U.S. Department of Education. There have been multiple delays in implementing the changes, but now there are also errors in the way the FAFSA will calculate the Student Aid Index (SAI), which colleges use to calculate their financial aid packages. To give background, when the FAFSA calculates how much families can afford to spend on education each year, the formula protects a certain amount of annual income on which a family is expected to live before having to contribute to educational costs. That amount needs to be adjusted for inflation, and Congress mandated that the Department of Education increase it significantly for the calculations to be fair, given the recent record-high inflation. Parental income was supposed to be protected by 20% more than it was before. That’s HUGE! But the Department of Education didn’t follow through, so the calculations were never changed. For some families, this will have a significant impact on financial aid awards and eligibility.

GRADE INFLATION … AT YALE?

We have heard about grade inflation for years, especially as a result of the pandemic and how it has impacted college admissions. Last week, The New York Times published an article citing a new report that “nearly 80 percent of all grades given to undergraduates at Yale last academic year were A’s or A minuses.” Faculty and students are asking: “What does excellence mean at Yale … if most students get the equivalent of ‘excellent’ in almost every class?”

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Despite going 13-0 for just the third time in their history, the Florida State Seminoles will be on the outside looking in during the final year of the NCAA four-team playoff format. In what is already a controversial decision, the 13-member selection committee of coaches, athletic directors, and former players chose the top four teams based on a combination of record and the committee’s judgment about teams’ schedules and win quality. CNN contributor Cari Champion believes that TV ratings are among the unofficial factors the committee evaluates, and Florida State’s ratings suffered after star QB Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending broken leg in mid-November. While not everyone agrees, Florida State University athletic director Michael Alford told CNN, “Today’s decision by the committee has forever damaged the credibility of the institution that is the College Football Playoff,” adding that the committee “failed football.”

Next year will see an expanded 12-team format that limits the committee’s reach to only four teams, with several conference winners earning automatic inclusion. The new format would have left Florida State as the fifth seed and in a good position for a playoff run. But next year is, as they say, a long way off — and the controversy will be a long time ending. Once again, Rick Clark shared his reaction and insight to the football playoffs in the Georgia Tech Admission Blog titled The Committees and Decisions of College Admission… And College Football. This is such a great read!

When Adrian College in southern Michigan faced a significant decline in enrollment, the new president decided to look to athletics to reverse the trend. Since an all-time low enrollment of approximately 800 students in 2005, the college has steadily increased the student body, attracting new students by recruiting for 30 new athletic teams. Since 2005, the college has more than doubled enrollment, but Adrian isn’t the only college to employ this tactic. Small, private colleges are adding athletics as a means to increase both enrollment and income giving new meaning to Field of Dreams’ “if you build it, they will come.” In particular, schools are attracting more male and minority applicants, while at the same time, they are building new facilities to house the teams funded by the increased revenue.  

Unfortunately, not even athletics can save the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, which announced last week that it will be closing at the end of the academic year. They are working with current students to assist them in transferring to other schools to finish their degrees.

Almost 300 students have registered to take a new course at Harvard this spring: Taylor Swift and Her World. Colleges and universities across the country are joining the craze offering courses in literature, poetry, psychology, and entrepreneurship based on the career and creativity of Taylor Swift.

The New York Times published an opinion piece by Jessica Grose titled “Why Parents Can’t Quit the Elite College Arms Race,” which takes a deep dive into the obsession with highly selective or, as many have shifted to calling them, highly rejective colleges and universities.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Last week, Sally was in Waterville, Maine, visiting Colby College, a small liberal arts college serving approximately 2,300 students. About an hour north of Portland, Maine, Colby was the first college to offer the 4-1-4 plan or “Jan Plan” — an approximately four-week term during which students take a single course, often in a non-traditional discipline. Students can also take advantage of study abroad and internship opportunities during Jan Plan. DavisConnects — Colby’s career counseling program — provides students with opportunities in three areas: hands-on or experiential learning, specialized advising, and global opportunities for education and networking. Not only does DavisConnects’ dedicated staff help match students with these opportunities, it also has awarded more than $6 million in grants to students to access them.

The Colby Commitment to funding students’ education places it in a select group of schools that meet 100% of students’ demonstrated financial need without any loans. In addition, for families with a total income of $150,000 or less and typical assets, Colby calculates a family contribution of not more than $15,000 per year.

Colby sits atop Mayflower Hill and boasts outdoor trails for walking, running, and even cross-country skiing. The college has a three-year-old athletic and recreation facility, four new residence halls (with a fifth in the works), and a brand-new performing arts center that opened in September 2023. A close-knit community, Colby is known for students who love to learn and explore multiple disciplines. It is not unusual to meet students who have a major and multiple minors or a double major.

Enjoy the last week of school before the holiday break (for most of you, anyway)!

Interested in More updates? Check out these recent posts!

Weekly Update: May 15

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

VARSITY BLUES FRAUD CONVICTIONS OVERTURNED

Two parents who were convicted in the Varsity Blues scandal had their convictions overturned this week by a federal appeals court. The court overturned all convictions against Gamal Abdelaziz and all but one conviction of another parent, John Wilson.  

The federal judges on the case determined that the two parents did not knowingly commit fraud, believing that they were making legitimate donations to the universities. We’ll be paying attention to how this development affects the 50+ convictions of other parents in the aftermath of Varsity Blues. 

NEVER TOO LATE TO GRADUATE

A 72-year-old man graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College last week. After raising 5 kids and 15 grandchildren, Sam Kaplan got his degree in Cinema and Media Arts with his 99-year-old mother and several of his children in the audience. He hopes to become a screenwriter. 

Meanwhile, at Texas Lutheran University, senior Ashley Adams is making university history by graduating alongside both of her parents on Saturday. We believe that everyone should have the chance to get their degree - but we have to say, we’re not sure many of our students would love having their parents on the same campus!

FREE TUITION PROGRAM IN MINNESOTA

The Minnesota House and Senate passed a bill that includes a free tuition program for students coming from families that make less than $80,000 per year. The program will allow Minnesota students to attend public colleges and universities for free, covering any tuition costs left over after state and federal grants and institutional scholarships. Now, these students will not need to take out loans to cover their education!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This CNBC article is a reality check for some college students when it comes to starting salary. Job prospects look good for the graduating class of 2023, who are graduating into a strong job market, and the average starting salary for new graduates is $56,000. However, a survey found that college students expect to be making nearly $85,000 just one year after graduating - a difference of 30K! In fact, the same survey found that many college graduates say they wouldn’t take a job for less than $72,000 - lower than the average expectation, but much higher than the average starting salary. While salary expectations vary widely across industries, it is smart for students to do their research so they can manage their expectations upon entering the workforce. 

DC local Yasmine Arrington started ScholarCHIPS - a scholarship nonprofit to assisted Children of Incarcerated Parents - when she was just sixteen years old. The child of an incarcerated parent herself, Yasmine started the organization to provide a safe space for students who need support - many of whom have not disclosed at school or to their friends that their parent is incarcerated. Since the organization was created in 2010, it has awarded over $450,000 in scholarships to more than 80 students. In addition to scholarships, the organization provides each student with a laptop, access to an emergency fund, check-ins throughout the year, and the option of being matched with a mentor. Students can apply or get involved here, or donate to ScholarCHIPS here. Of course, do your research before you donate, as we have not vetted this organization - just passing it along!

We hope the moms out there had a wonderful mother’s day yesterday! My own mom sent this article to me about the #1 phrase that moms are sick of hearing and it really resonated with me (I could probably write a book on invisible labor- don’t even get me started).

Mother’s Day 2023, representing 11 years of love, joy and invisible labor :)

One thought I did have while reading, though, was that I can sleep well at night knowing that my team and I are 100% part of the solution for other parents - we absolutely, one million percent have your back and will do whatever we can to help you out and make adolescence easier on your family, whether something is directly related to college applications or not. And that’s how I ended up at Nordstrom last week, helping one of my favorite young women try on clothes for an interview - true story :) I know we get paid for our services, but at the same time, we really care and will go to great lengths to ease your load however we can (as long as it’s not illegal!). This is a central part of our mission and I think we do an excellent job living it out.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon attended the Best of Boston counselor session this week and wanted to share some of her biggest takeaways:

1. Early decision is becoming more and more important. Tufts and Northeastern expect to admit about half or slightly more through the early rounds, while BU intends to admit 55% of its class early decision next cycle. Many selective and highly selective colleges around the country will have similar projections, so we encourage students to think hard about whether the strategic advantage associated with ED is the way to go!

2. Check your email! Tufts, Northeastern, and BU all expect to close their waitlists in mid-June, so we’ve got about a month or less of waitlist activity. In the event that students are admitted off the waitlist, the school will give them about a week (or sometimes less!) to respond. So, if you are waiting on a decision, make sure to check email regularly and prepare to commit on a short timeline. 

3. Don’t phone in your “Why This School?” essay. All three schools at the session consider demonstrated interest, as do many others. While Northeastern does not typically have supplemental essays, for Tufts and BU, the “Why This School?” supplemental essay is the most important essay - and a big factor in their consideration of demonstrated interest! It is essential to ensure that the essay is unique, authentic to you, and could only be used to describe that single school.

   P.S. We have noticed that these types of essays have been a real pain point for students post-Covid. As a result, we made the decision to offer our Class of 2024 students two options for free instruction from our essay coaches on how to approach these essays. Yes - totally free - that’s how important we think these are. If you missed the email communication and are wondering how to sign up, please email admin@dccollegecounseling.com for details. 

And for any OLGC families reading - students who are members of OLGC parish with a GPA of at least 3.0 are eligible to apply for the JTC Scholarship. Interested students should apply by May 25!

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: May 8

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

HACKERS THREATEN VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

The emergency information system at Bluefield University, a small university in western Virginia, was hacked last week. Hackers sent a threat to all students and faculty, and students were told that unless the school paid a ransom, their full personal and admissions data would be leaked online. While hacks at educational institutions have become more common, this is the first time hackers have hijacked a school’s emergency alert system. Bluefield was one of five universities to have been allegedly hacked last week alone. 

NEW COLLEGE CREATED AT UT AUSTIN

The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted last week to create a new college at UT Austin. The unanimous vote created the School of Civic Leadership to house the Civitas Institute, a center created less than a year ago with the help of state leadership and conservative donors. The dean of the School of Civic Leadership will be hired by November, and have the responsibility of bringing on 20 new faculty members related to the Institute. 

VCU FACULTY PROTEST POTENTIAL LAYOFFS

VCU’s Focused Inquiry courses are meant to teach new students the skills they will need in college, like communication and problem-solving. But VCU is now proposing to cut about a third of the faculty in the Focused Inquiry department. Professors predict that the cuts will eliminate about 130 sections of these small seminar-style classes, which are often new students’ first opportunity to build a personal connection with their professors. The university’s United Campus Workers union has started a petition against the proposed cuts. 

HOWARD UNIVERSITY CHOOSES NEW PRESIDENT

Ben Vinson III will move from his current position as provost at Case Western on September 1 to become the new president of DC’s Howard University. Dr. Vinson’s academic work as a historian focuses on the African diaspora, particularly in Latin America. Dr. Vinson is returning to the DC area, where he has previously founded the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins and served as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at GW.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Concerned about paying for college? Even seniors who have already committed to their schools (and current college students!) may still have a chance to increase their financial aid awards, particularly if their family’s income has recently changed. It isn’t too late to apply for financial aid and even some scholarships! This article covers the top five ways students can help mitigate the costs of college. 

The Washington Post published an article this week about the value of teaching students “civil discourse” in an effort to combat polarization and give students the skills to discuss potentially controversial issues. American University’s “Disagree with a Professor” series allows students to practice speaking up, voicing their opinions, and opposing ideas with which they disagree. This is just one civil discourse program - other colleges across the country are instituting similar ideas, like MIT’s “Dialogues Across Difference.” Here in Virginia, UVA has partnered with Heterodox Academy, a nonprofit that promotes “open inquiry” and “constructive disagreement,” while Virginia Tech, William & Mary, and George Mason have partnered with a different nonprofit, the Constructive Dialogue Institute. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

FCPS recently announced a partnership with Hazel Health, which will allow students and families to access free behavioral health services at home. Parents can opt in to receive a behavioral health assessment for their child, short-term counseling, and even help with transitioning to other providers in the community for the long-term.

We also want to share a great opportunity for any students interested in history: apply to join Mt. Vernon’s Student Advisory Board! This is a fun way to learn more about history while getting a behind-the-scenes look at how the museum works. Plus, it’s a great activity to add to an application or mention in an essay.

Anybody catch me on Fox News tonight? I was honored to be included as part of a special report on the impact of Covid on education and learning loss! Tonight was just the first part of the program, so you might see me on again soon.

And back at the office, we have had some exciting changes - Courtney’s last day was last week, and while we will miss her, we are so happy for her as she begins her career as a therapist. We are thrilled to announce that we’ve brought on our newest team member, Libby, to fill her shoes!

Our current clients may notice that some of their emails and reminders will come from Libby in the coming weeks, but don’t worry - you can still send any questions or concerns to the same admin@dccollegecounseling.com address and Libby or Donna will help you out!

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: January 30

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

MORE MEDICAL SCHOOLS PULL OUT OF NATIONAL RANKINGS 

Last week Harvard Medical School made headlines when it withdrew from the U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings. Now four other medical schools have followed suit. Columbia, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and Mount Sinai have all announced that they are withdrawing from the rankings due to concerns over inaccurate representations of data.

COLLEGE BOARD RESPONDS TO CONCERNS OVER AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSE

On Tuesday, The College Board announced that it will reveal the new framework for its AP African American Studies course on the first day of Black History Month- February 1. Many are concerned that the framework will be influenced by political agendas, given that Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently rejected the course for its “lack [of] educational value.” The College Board issued a letter to its members on Thursday, reaffirming that the curriculum has only been shaped by educational experts and was completed prior to DeSantis’ public rejection. 

CHARGES AGAINST FORMER LOUDOUN COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT ARE UPHELD

During a court hearing on Thursday, a judge ruled that misdemeanor charges against Scott Ziegler- former superintendent of Loudoun County schools- will be upheld. Ziegler is being charged with making false statements about two high-profile sexual assault cases in the county, as well as unfairly firing a teacher.

MARYLAND COLLEGE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS ARE REVISED- AND PARENTS AREN’T HAPPY

After freezing college savings accounts due to interest calculation errors, Maryland 529 has revised its account balances for hundreds of families. However, many are upset by the new numbers. Families are claiming they are owed a 6% interest rate on all contributions, but this rate is only being applied to money invested from November 2021 onward. The result is a staggering discrepancy between what families thought they had available for college funds versus the newly adjusted totals. We will continue to track this story, as Maryland 529 plans to hold a meeting today.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

A woman with a mission to help college students turns out to be a $175 million dollar fraud. No, this is not the premise for a new blockbuster movie. It’s reality! Charlie Javice, a woman once recognized as one of the most creative people in business, built a career in social enterprise, promising to help millions of families navigate the college financial process. However, when JPMorgan paid $175 million to acquire her financial planning company, they discovered they had been conned. This is a pretty incredible story and one that I haven't seen floating around my normal education spaces. Instead, we discussed it in my Goldman Sachs session last week. Our advisor reinforced what the article stated- that it's a good example of a situation where the lenders didn't have enough institutional knowledge - specifically, they didn't understand the financial aid process and how it works. They should have called us :)

In 2021, an infamous Supreme Court decision changed the world of college athletics. No longer would players be restricted from earning money. Instead, they were free to profit off of their NIL- name, image, likeness. Since then college athletes have earned significant figures through donations, endorsement deals, and even business ventures. And while many support the rights of these athletes to profit off their talents and skills, others are concerned about the potential long-term impact. Advertisers and donors are now investing in individual players rather than school programs, which affects budgets and the overall strength of athletic departments. Too, not all college athletes have the name recognition to make NIL profitable. This is a new “unregulated economic frontier” fraught with both excitement and worry over the future of college athletics.

When it comes to college admissions, we often defer to the experts for their thoughts on rankings, costs, and quality. But what about students? What matters most to college applicants as they make important decisions about the future? The New York Times assembled a focus group of eleven high school seniors to find out these answers. And some of their responses may surprise you! It appears that many students are trying to balance practical considerations, such as tuition and career preparation, with a desire for mental well being and happiness. The group also weighed in on college rankings, regrets over the admissions process, and advice for high school juniors.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

WHERE OH WHERE are the 2023-2024 Common App essay prompts? OMG - I look for them every morning and they still haven’t been released yet. Driving me crazy! We are very excited to jump right into essays with our juniors so they will be finished with their main essay around the timeframe of spring break. At that point, they will move on to preparing supplemental essay content and teacher/counselor recommendation input. We like to stay on track so we can have all of our students finished with their college apps by September as planned!

In other news, so many schools released their EA decisions over the past week! If you didn’t receive the decision you were hoping for, don’t panic! Instead, book a session with us to plan a letter of continued interest, otherwise known as a LOCI. Current clients, schedule your meetings here. If you are not a current client but would like to book a one-time meeting, please click here.

We also want to remind our current students to please always update your status chart each time you receive a decision. It’s also important to update with the decision itself rather than just checking off that a decision came in - otherwise we won’t know what it was! Please watch my quick instructional video if you have any questions about whether you’re doing this correctly.

Finally, be sure to check out our internship database. We’ve listed some great opportunities for Summer 2023, but they might disappear if you don’t apply now! Many programs have February deadlines.

Weekly Update: December 19

if you’re one of our long-time readers, you might notice something different this week. We’re posting on Monday! Yes, we are going to try moving our weekly updates to Mondays from here on out, and you’ll see additional content later in the week. Would love to hear any thoughts or comments!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

RUTGERS MOVES TO THE COMMON APP

In an email to counselors on 12/12, Rutgers announced that they will be moving to the Common App for the HS Class of 2024. Great news!

EARLY DECISION ACCEPTANCES ARE AT RECORD LOW

Data is starting to emerge as colleges release their early decision/ restrictive early action news this month. Several schools received a record number of early applicants, including Duke, Dartmouth, and Yale, and once again this has driven acceptance rates to record lows. We will continue to track the data as more early decision data is shared. So far, we were fortunate to have our students accepted ED to a lot of great schools - Tufts, Barnard, Northwestern, Emory, Syracuse, Villanova, Elon and of course a number to UVA! We also had more students than ever choose to opt out of ED because their favorite schools only offered EA (or REA). Still waiting on some of those decisions, but Clemson and UGA came in really strong.

MISSING COLLEGE STUDENT IS FOUND

A missing college student will make it home for Christmas after all. In late November, St. John Fisher University senior Kenny Deland Jr., disappeared from University of Grenoble Alpes, where he had been studying abroad. Friends reported him missing, and investigators undertook a multinational search. Last week Deland was found safe in Spain, but no further details have been released. For now, the mystery of why and how Deland ended up in Spain remains. 

INVESTIGATORS SEARCH 22,000 CARS IN EFFORT TO SOLVE IDAHO MURDER CASE

As we reported last week, investigators in the horrific University of Idaho murders finally got a lead in the case. A white Hyundai Elantra was spotted near the crime scene, and police have been trying to identify the individual(s) in the car. They are currently searching over 22,000 vehicles that match the description. Meanwhile, investigators continue to scour surveillance footage and encourage community members to be on the lookout for the white Elantra as well.

LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL OFFICIALS ARE INDICTED

Loudoun County’s school system has made headlines over the past year for high profile sexual assault cases. Last week two school officials, Scott Ziegler and Wayde Byard, were indicted as part of the investigation into how the district has handled sexual assault reports. Ziegler has been accused of publishing false statements related to a sexual assault in a school bathroom that took place in 2021. He is also indicted on unlawfully firing a teacher who filed sexual assault complaints about one of her students. At this time the reason for Byard’s indictment is unclear. Several local area parent groups have responded to the news, expressing gratitude for the investigation and the efforts to address these problems within the school system. 

best articles of the week

If you are struggling to make sense of a college decision, check out Jon Boeckenstedt’s Why You Were Denied. The bullet-point list is on point, and while some of them are more obvious than others (i.e. we all know that recruited athletes are likely to be in a better position than the rest of us), so rarely do we consider the role that sheer randomness can play.

There’s a surprising new class appearing on high school students’ schedules across the country: Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (otherwise known as JROTC). For over a century, JROTC has been a volunteer program for young adults potentially interested in a military career. However, this class may not be optional anymore. Recent data indicates a rising trend in automatic and/or mandatory enrollment at several high schools, especially those in predominantly non-white, low income areas.

These numbers have created a great deal of controversy, and not just from teens who oppose an additional class. While the program has the potential to provide students with discipline and direction, many insist that it takes advantage of vulnerable young adults. Some are worried that JROTC pressures students into a military career and prevents them from considering other pathways. A number of families have successfully challenged required enrollments, and community debates continue to unfold about the nature and direction of the JROTC program. 

What’s the best way to relieve student debt? For months, there’s been a national debate centered on debt cancellation programs, which are meant to support those with limited means. Specifically, President Biden’s proposals focus on people earning five-figure salaries whose debt far outweighs their earnings. But what many don’t know is that there are also programs in place to help even the wealthiest of families better manage the steep price of higher education. Most of us have 529 college saving plans for our children - but “dynasty” 529s allow those with “hundreds of thousands of dollars to spare” to create hefty savings accounts that avoid taxation- provided that future generations use the money for college tuition. These “dynasty” plans have come under attack, as many view these accounts as just another advantage for the economically advantaged.

Speaking of college savings, there’s a great deal going on at Colby-Sawyer College: half off tuition! As part of the great “tuition reset,” several small, private colleges have recently cut tuition prices in an effort to fill their classes. How can they manage such a financial hit? Well, for years many schools have used hefty price tags to denote status and align themselves with the most elite institutions in the country. Here’s a secret, though: the majority of students don’t actually pay the steep price, thanks to scholarships, loans and grants. This financial “game,” as some in the education world label it, has worked for years but hasn’t been so successful in the economically conscious climate of late. Many applicants are now being deterred by sticker shock and opting to apply to schools seen as a “better deal.” In response, schools have begun to lower their prices, which could be a big gamble. Those who are part of the great tuition reset will need to carefully watch the data and see what story the numbers will tell in upcoming admissions cycles. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

As you might have seen from my social media posts, I made an appearance on CNN last week discussing private versus public schools. We are so fortunate to have lots of great options here in Fairfax County- both of my kids attend amazing schools with incredibly dedicated teachers and administrators.

I personally believe that strong public school systems breed strong private school alternatives, and that healthy competition in the educational marketplace promotes accountability and a culture of excellence across the board. If you’d like to see a clip of the CNN segment, head over to our Facebook page. 

As mentioned above, decision notifications continue to roll in, and we are thrilled that so many of our students have been admitted to their first choice schools! If you’re a current client and haven’t shared your news with us yet, please send us a quick email! 

For those who may not have received the ED news they were hoping for, we can help! If you’re NOT a current client, book an emergency strategy session ASAP, so we can begin planning your next steps. We also have essay coaching meeting times available for students who need to write a letter of continued interest. If you ARE a current client, email us to figure out your next step!

And lastly - it’s hard to believe that we are right in the middle of the holidays already! Hanukkah started last night and Christmas is in just a few days. We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends. But try to keep the college admissions talk to a minimum with extended family! This article is a few years old, but it still rings true!

Weekly Update: November 25

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

A SHUTTLE BUS CRASHES AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

On Saturday night, tragedy struck at Brandeis University when a shuttle bus full of students crashed into a tree. One student was killed, and twenty-six others were injured. The cause of the accident is unknown at this time, but an investigation has been launched. Meanwhile, the university canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday, allowing students to leave early for Thanksgiving break. Additional opportunities for support were offered to those still remaining on campus.

UVA SHOOTING VICTIM IS RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL

There is some good news to share in the aftermath of the UVA shooting. After undergoing two surgeries, UVA football player Mike Hollins was released from the hospital this week and is recovering at home. Hollins told investigators that he was one of the first students to escape from the bus during the deadly shooting where Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr., opened fire on classmates, killing three. However, he returned to the bus to help other students escape. Hollins was shot in the back but is walking again.

UVA CANCELS GAME AGAINST VIRGINIA TECH

Last weekend UVA canceled its football game against Coastal Carolina and instead held a memorial service for victims of the tragedy. The Cavaliers were also scheduled to play Virginia Tech tomorrow, but have decided to cancel this game as well and bring their season to a close.

GOVERNOR YOUNGKIN RESPONDS TO UVA SHOOTING WITH NEW PROPOSAL

In response to the UVA shooting, Governor Youngkin announced his plans to propose new mental health legislation in the state of Virginia. His agenda includes addressing mental health staffing shortages, which were recently highlighted in the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission study on K-12 publication education, and improving access to “day of” treatment. 

IDAHO STRAGEDY CONTINUES TO BAFFLE INVESTIGATORS

As we reported last week, four University of Idaho students were found murdered in a home off campus. Two roommates in the same house were not harmed. Investigators have been working around-the-clock to identify a suspect, vowing to work through the holiday weekend to find answers. This is the first murder the town has had in seven years, and residents have been trying to help police, calling in over 1,000 tips and leads. While the case is still largely shrouded in mystery, officials have pieced together a timeline of events leading up to the murders and are following up on rumors of stalking. For a more detailed account of events and evidence, click here. And if you are a true crime junkie like me, all the theories on Reddit will keep you busy!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

“How does that happen?” That’s the question many are asking administrators at Fairfield University. The school has recently come under scrutiny for its sharp decline in Pell Grants, which support students from low income families. Over the past four years, Pell Grant recipients at Fairfield have dropped by 44%. The 7.5% of Fairfield students who now receive these grants is the lowest of any college in the country. Some argue that the stark decline is the result of Fairfield’s increasing reputation and rising selectivity. Others believe that low income applicants may be finding better fits and more inclusive communities elsewhere. In the meantime, the university has put forth initiatives to support underrepresented students, including the Company Scholars and Fairfield Bellarmine Scholarship. Both programs are designed to create affordable and accessible opportunities to a Jesuit education.

Online gambling is the newest extracurricular activity offered at several universities, The New York Times reports. Gambling companies have begun targeting colleges and universities for sports betting partnerships. Especially for universities that have strong sports cultures and loyal fanbases of students and alumni, these deals can be lucrative. In fact, some claim that sports betting is helping colleges recuperate from pandemic losses and bolster their athletic programs. However, the ethical implications of gambling in higher education has been called into question. Many are particularly concerned with the effects such behaviors may have upon students. Not only could betting lead to gambling disorders among such a young population; some are concerned about the pressure and impact this could have upon student athletes. Only time will tell how big of a gamble these partnerships will actually be.

In his newsletter this week, Jeff Selingo takes a close look into the state of test optional admissions: year three. While some schools are continuing to make year-to-year decisions on testing requirements, other institutions have finally “close[d] the book on testing,” most notably the University of California. UC’s decision raises a host of questions about the future of testing and the overall admissions process. Will other schools follow in UC’s footsteps? Will students continue to sit for the ACT or SAT? And what impact will a lack of testing have upon yield models and student success long term? For now, many schools are delaying announcements regarding testing, as they wait for more data to emerge.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are offering our ONLY deal of the year!

Whether you’re a 9th-10th grade family wanting help with next year’s summer plans or course registration; an 11th grade family ready to jump right into the admissions process; or a college student wanting to learn about transfer or graduate admissions options… we’ll help you get started before it's too late!

Take advantage of 50% off Meet & Greets OR 50% off Class of 2025-2027 Strategy Sessions now through Cyber Monday.

To book a Meet & Greet: https://zcu.io/r8BI

To book a Class of 2025-2027 Strategy Session: https://zcu.io/MseA

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: September 9

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

OBERLIN PAYS LOCAL BAKERY $36.59 MILLION

Oberlin College settled a years-long legal fight this week with a $36.59 million dollar settlement to a local bakery. The payout came after Oberlin sided with students who accused Gibson’s Bakery of racial profiling after a Black Oberlin student was caught stealing wine from the baker. After the incident, several hundred students protested outside of Gibson’s. The lawsuit emerged because members of Oberlin’s administration, including the dean of students, attended the protest. Oberlin hopes the payout will help to resolve and strengthen its relationship with local businesses. 

PRINCETON EXPANDS FINANCIAL AID POLICY

Princeton announced this week that it will cover tuition, room, and board for all students whose families make less than $100,000 per year. This new policy is expected to cover about a quarter of Princeton’s student body, who will now attend the university at no cost. The university has also expanded its “Miscellaneous Expenses” estimate from $3,500 to over $4,000 per year. Additionally, the expansion will help students from more affluent families, especially those who have multiple children in college at the same time. 

UVA STUDENTS PROTEST NEW BOARD MEMBER

Bert Ellis, one of Governor Youngkin’s picks for the UVA governing board, is receiving pushback from students. Ellis received his bachelors and masters from UVA, and is also the leader of the Jefferson Council, a UVA alumni group. The Cavalier Daily, UVA’s newspaper, recently published an article about Ellis’ efforts as an undergraduate to bring a prominent eugenicist to speak on campus, which led to student leaders objecting to Ellis’ appointment to the board. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

If there is one thing that intimidates many of our students, it is picking a college major! And while we reassure our juniors and seniors that their majors are not set in stone yet, if you are looking for tips on choosing a major, check out this article. The article’s author advises students to focus on a subject they love rather than a major that they think will be most financially profitable. While this is great advice for some students, for others, financial considerations are a huge part of their college degree choice! There are also certain careers that depend much more on degree than others. We encourage our students to talk with their parents and advisors (and us!) to figure out the best major path for them. 

I for one never took a film class in college, but if you’ve been wondering which movies your aspiring Film Studies major will be watching, check out this list of the most commonly assigned movies and directors in college classrooms! You’ll be surprised at the top choice. The article also provides data on the biggest drivers of “brain drain” - when students from public colleges move out of state to work. But D.C. is the biggest winner of brain drain by far, with 302% more college graduates living in D.C. than the city generates.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon and I have a ton of webinars and tours of various schools these next few weeks (Shannon is in Richmond today exploring UR and VCU). We’re excited to share our tips and impressions with all of you. Keep an eye out for a future post here with a list of virtual info sessions for students to attend as well! 

No matter where you are applying this year, we are in the home stretch of this process! If you are feeling overwhelmed by all of the upcoming deadlines, it’s not too late to set up a Meet & Greet - students who start this week should still be able to have their applications submitted by November 1. 

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: July 29

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COMMON APPLICATION® RELEASE

The 2022-2023 Common Application® will be released Monday, August 1, after a several-day shutdown period.  We’re excited! We will be hard at work on Monday updating all of our application guides, and our clients and membership vault subscribers will have access early next week!

BERKELEY HAAS ANNOUNCES FOUR YEAR BUSINESS PROGRAM

The undergraduate program at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business has been extended from two to four years, thanks to a $30 million dollar donation from a Haas alumnus. The first class will enroll in the new four-year program in August 2024. For applicants, this means that rather than applying as Berkeley sophomores to begin the business program during junior year, they will apply as high school seniors to enter the program as freshmen. 

CALTECH ANNOUNCES ADMISSIONS UPDATES

In other California news, Caltech announced several updates to its admissions process this week. The school will continue to be test-blind for two additional years - meaning that they will not consider test scores even if students do submit them. This brings the moratorium on test scores to five years total. The university is also replacing its current Early Action program with Restrictive Early Action beginning this fall - the REA deadline will be November 1. The program will also be open to international students with financial need for the first time.

CLARENCE THOMAS LEAVES GW LAW 

Clarence Thomas announced this week that he will not be returning to teach at George Washington’s law school this fall. After ten years of teaching constitutional law, Justice Thomas made his decision to leave in the wake of student protests against the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

COLLEGES IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI FACE BOMB THREATS

On Wednesday, at least 13 colleges in Alabama and 5 in Mississippi faced bomb threats, including Auburn University and Mississippi state. Four campuses were evacuated. The threats affected universities all over both states, but as yet no suspect or motive has been identified.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Slate published an article this week exposing the process of institutional financial aid at many colleges (not to be confused with federal college aid) - calling it a “scam.” While some elite colleges, like the Ivy League, provide need-blind admissions and meet 100% of student need, this is not the case at most colleges and universities. But many schools instead use algorithms to identify how likely students are to attend the college and how much they or their families are willing to pay. The article encourages students to think of paying for college like they would another commodity, rather than trusting colleges to have their best interests at heart. 

It makes sense that with the price of college and the size of loans rising, some Americans are questioning whether college provides value to the country. While 73% of Democrats think higher education provides value, the number of Republicans is only 37%. But despite being divided on value and who should pay for college, about half of people in both parties think that it isn’t possible to receive an affordable college education in the U.S.

The next emerging market sector appears to be the metaverse, and it might be a good idea for students hoping for jobs in the field to begin thinking about the best programs to pursue. This Forbes article identifies degrees in computer science, game design, and virtual reality as some of the best programs to pursue for skills that will be applicable to the metaverse. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I (Colleen) was featured in a U.S. News article this week about high school GPA scales. Most students know that GPA is a major factor in the admissions process, but colleges consider GPA in the context of the rigor of curriculum, the reputation of the high school, and other factors like the idiosyncrasies of recalculating GPAs. In theory, colleges will have information from school counselors that allows them to understand the context of a GPA - but this isn’t always the case in practice. 

I was away from the office this past week (see below!) and will work through my email this weekend - thanks in advance for your patience! As always, anyone with urgent needs should contact Donna/Courtney or Shannon.

And lastly - it is hard to believe this is already our final weekly update of July! The Common App is rolling over this weekend, and we will hit the ground running on Monday with our class of 2023 students. August is our busiest month of the year, but it’s also the most fun - we love seeing our students’ hard work all come together!

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Weekly Update: June 24

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

ROE V. WADE OVERTURNED

With the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade overturned as we write this post, we wanted to provide a state by state breakdown of where abortion laws currently stand. We know that this is an important consideration for some parents and students when it comes time to think about possible college locations. If this matters to you and your student, make sure to do a search before finalizing their college list.

DARTMOUTH ELIMINATES LOANS FROM AID PACKAGES

Dartmouth College is the latest institution to eliminate loans from student aid packages. Beginning yesterday, the college has replaced loans in student aid packages with grants, and already students enrolled in the Summer 2022 term are benefiting from this change (P.S. This is many more students than you might think - Dartmouth’s D-Plan requires EVERY student to complete at least one summer term on campus). 

Dartmouth already had loan-free packages for students with a household income below $125,000, but the change will now apply to all students, including those with higher household incomes. This change is supported by donations from 65 Dartmouth donors, totalling about $80 million. 

The campaign will also allow Dartmouth to offer need-blind admissions to international students, and raise the income threshold for full scholarship recipients to $125,000. 

$6 BILLION IN STUDENT LOAN DEBT CANCELED

Speaking of student loans, the government will cancel $6 billion in loans for students who were “defrauded” by (mostly for-profit) colleges. The settlement will benefit about 200,000 students, many of whom applied for relief from colleges that are now out of business, as well as operating for-profit institutions like the University of Phoenix and DeVry University. 

UMD GOES TEST OPTIONAL

The University of Maryland system has gone test optional. But before you get too excited, the Board of Regents is not requiring specific schools within the system to disregard SAT and ACT scores. Instead, each school (College Park, Baltimore County, etc.) will get to make their own decision when it comes to considering test scores. At present, the University of Maryland - College Park will be test optional until 2027, while the University of Maryland - Baltimore County president said that he believes standardized testing is an important process for students to complete. 

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MONKEYPOX CASE

Georgetown announced this week that a community member assumed to have monkeypox is currently isolating in off-campus housing. Students and staff who have been in contact with the individual have been notified and are being monitored. This comes on the heels of the first reported case of monkeypox in the DC area, which appeared last week in Maryland.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Looking for a side hustle to earn some extra income this summer? It’s not too late to find a job or freelance position! Check out this article for some ideas to get started. Some students feel that if they don’t have an impressive internship, they’re disadvantaged in the college process, but colleges really love work experience and we’ve read some wonderful and heartwarming essays that students have written about cleaning the pool as a lifeguard or chopping lemons as a restaurant hostess. 

A student at Bowling Green State University died from alcohol poisoning after a hazing incident, and his parents are now speaking out. Shari and Cory Foltz are filing a lawsuit against Bowling Green for the preventable death of their son, Stone Foltz. The parents allege that the school encourages students like Stone to join fraternities, while turning a blind eye to hazing. 

Here in Virginia, we’ve heard a lot about admissions at TJ, and we aren’t the only state with a highly desirable public school facing changes in its admissions process. This podcast dives into the trend at schools like TJ and Boston Latin, and provides an in-depth exploration of the admissions changes at Lowell, an elite public high school in the Bay Area.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Essay work is ramping up as some of our students start on their school-specific supplemental essays for UVA, Virginia Tech, the UCs, and other schools that have already released their essay prompts. We’re very excited to welcome back McClain and to welcome our newest essay coach, Stephanie, who will be starting with us in July (keep an eye out for a longer introduction soon!). 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 weekend!

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Weekly Update: June 17

Happy Father’s Day this weekend to all the dads being celebrated! And I apologize that we are posting on Saturday instead of Friday - I was basically going nonstop all day every day last week with rising senior meetings!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY PHASES OUT “COLONIALS” NAME

GW has committed to doing away with the “Colonials” moniker by the 2023-2024 school year, in response to criticism that the name glorifies colonialism. The announcement is the result of two years of committee deliberations on the name, as well as the name of the Student Center on campus (which was renamed last year). The change won’t impact only the sports teams, but also services on campus like the “Colonial Health Center” and “Colonial Cash” dining dollars. 44% of students voted against the name, versus 43% who voted in favor.

FINAL VARSITY BLUES VERDICT

The final parent charged in connection with the Operation Varsity Blues scandal was acquitted yesterday of charges that he bribed the Georgetown tennis coach with $200,000 cash to treat his daughter as a recruit. This is a surprise in the string of Varsity Blues trials that have led to guilty verdicts earlier this year.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR 529 ACCOUNT

As college tuition bills start to come due, many families are finding smaller balances in their 529 accounts after the stock market decline. This article provides some strategies that you can use if you are looking at a 529 balance that is no longer sufficient to fund your student’s education.

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT ISSUES AREN’T GOING AWAY

Though many colleges hoped that pandemic enrollment drops were temporary, it appears that the pandemic has changed how students think about their college education. Fewer high school students are choosing to pursue higher education immediately following school. In some states, including Indiana and West Virginia, less than half of 2020 graduates chose to pursue full time education after high school. We will have to keep an eye on how these trends affect future numbers in the workforce. 

UVA ESSAY PROMPTS OUT!

As promised on social media, I wanted to take some time to discuss the brand-new UVA essay prompts that were released earlier this week. I’m focusing on the ones that Arts and Sciences students will have to write, becuse that’s where most of our students apply.

First, I have to mention that these new essays serve as a great example of why students should never begin writing until a school has confirmed their essay prompts for the upcoming cycle. You never know when a prompt will change for the coming year, and you don’t want to waste your time and effort drafting an essay for an outdated prompt. UVA has used more or less the exact same Arts and Sciences mandatory prompt since the beginning of my career and probably even earlier, so this was definitely not an essay that anyone expected would change - but it did, out of nowhere!

Next, remember that every essay you submit should be used as a tool to share something new about you that the admissions committee doesn’t already know. So when you’re writing about a college course that all UVA students should take, don’t just write about something you think is cool. Make sure it’s relevant - that you are clearly linking it to your background, life experiences, or personality. This way, the admissions committee can learn something new about you that would reflect positively on your candidacy.

Here’s an example - let’s say I’d like to learn more about how to make TikTok videos. If I wrote about how I want to make TikToks because I think TikToks are cool and I really like watching them in bed on my phone before I fall asleep, the admissions committee would learn nothing about me. But if I wrote about how watching TikToks on my phone before I fall asleep every night led me to realize that I could incorporate them into my business’s social media strategy, the admissions committee would start to learn more about what I do and who I am. I could then go into my history of success with content marketing and why I believe that other budding entrepreneurs at UVA could benefit from instruction in this area too.

Regarding the “choice” prompts, I would recommend avoiding the “topic you could speak about for an hour” and “expert-level skill” options, because I think that those are too similar to the Arts and Sciences essay. On the other hand, I think the “favorite word and why,” “website the internet is missing,” “happy place” and “message on Beta Bridge” prompts are probably going to lend themselves more easily to sharing new information to the committee. Those would allow students who know they want to write about something specific to come in and tie that information directly to a message, word, happy place or nonexistent website!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

In his latest newsletter, Jeff Selingo dives into the importance of the student experience when it comes to choosing a college. A survey of over 100 institutions indicates that the student experience is one of the main fears in the college world today. Selingo shares a story that is common to many college students - a student looking to get his questions answered and moving from the registrar’s office, to the financial aid office, to the career center, to his academic advisor, and finally to an academic dean, repeating his story each time. Selingo argues that colleges need to improve their service infrastructure and enable students to get their questions answered - through technologies like chatbots and smart speakers - so that services catch up with the physical infrastructure that so many colleges have been investing in for the past several years. 

The third and final installment of Forbes’ series on college admissions encourages students and counselors to become “data scientists,” delving into schools’ admissions data in order to maximize their success and better understand the process. We AGREE! While some of the statistics mentioned in the article aren’t readily available, students and families interested in pursuing some of this data can Google “[School Name] Common Data Set” to find the latest statistics that the college has released on its admissions and class makeup. This is a wise move for anyone looking to assess their chances of admission at a particular school. 

I particularly recommend using Common Data Sets to calculate the difference between ED and RD acceptance rates, for schools that have both. Here’s how we explain this in our early decision guide, available to clients through our vault:

It takes some math, but you can quickly determine the acceptance rate of ED applicants by dividing the number accepted by the number who applied. When determining non-ED numbers, you’ll need to subtract the ED folks (applied and admitted) from the total numbers and then again divide the number accepted by the number who applied. Now you can compare these rates and determine the importance of ED to a school. 

Here’s an example from the 2019-2020 Common Data Set for the University of Pennsylvania. Most Common Data set numbers are split by gender which requires an additional step in calculations. After adding the male and female numbers together, we learn the following on page 8:

Total Number Applied: 44,961 // Total Number Admitted: 3446 // Total Number Enrolled: 2400

Then we scroll down to page 13, where we learn the following about the ED numbers:

Total Number Applied ED: 7109 // Total Number Admitted ED: 1280

We can then use this information to calculate the following statistics:

Total Acceptance Rate = 3446/44961 = 7.66% // Percentage of Class Filled ED = 1280/2400 = 53%

ED Acceptance Rate = 1280/7109 = 18% // RD Acceptance Rate = (3446-1280) / (44961-7109) = 5.72%

You can also see that students applying ED have a very clear advantage over those applying RD - it’s practically a lost cause at a 5.72% acceptance rate - and this was using number from several years ago!

Finally, this interview with the current president of USC (and former president of Dartmouth and UNC), Carol L. Folt, explores the experience and importance of students who move from community college to a four-year university. The subject is personal for Folt, who got her bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Barbara after beginning her education at a community college, and her perspective is an interesting way to look at both sides of this issue.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I (Colleen) am writing this post on a plane to Greece! I’ll be out of the office for the next two weeks, and Shannon will be holding down the fort. Families with college counseling questions should email her while I’m away, and of course Courtney and Donna are there as always to help out with administrative and scheduling needs!

We hope our students are also getting some time to relax, too! But if anyone out there is still looking for summer opportunities, don’t miss our mid-week post on last-minute Summer 2022 options for high school students.

We’ve also got a couple of opportunities to share this week for current college students! If you are a student interested in sharing your college experience with others, College Scoops is seeking student ambassadors willing to film a video about their college for high school students to use as they try to get a feel for the campus culture (particularly difficult when travel is limited). If you’d like to create a video for your school, reach out to moira@collegescoops.com for more information. 

And if you are a current college student looking to pursue a mental health career, the Chesapeake Center for ADHD, Learning, and Behavioral Health is looking for you! Interns for their Fall 2022 internship will have the opportunity to co-facilitate group programs and sit in on various other meetings, receiving valuable hands-on experience working with clients as well as marketing & programming. Interested students should send their resume to communications@chesapeakeadd.com. 

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: June 3

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

BIDEN ADMIN CANCELS STUDENT LOANS FOR CORINTHIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

The Biden administration announced this week that it will forgive student loans for over half a million students from Corinthian Colleges, one of the nation's largest for-profit colleges. Corinthian Colleges has faced numerous lawsuits for its predatory practices. This is the largest student loan forgiveness action that the government has taken to date, and will cost close to 6 billion dollars.

PANDEMIC RELIEF IMPACTS FINANCIAL AID

Students who received unemployment benefits in 2020 may be facing issues getting the financial aid they need through the FAFSA. This is an ongoing issue that began after many families faced drastic changes in income during the pandemic. So make sure that your FAFSA is as accurate as possible, and don’t be afraid to reach out to schools if you think your aid should be reevaluated!

TITLE IX TURNS 50

For the 50th anniversary of Title IX, USA Today investigated how colleges are doing in the march toward equity for women. The results aren’t inspiring - the expose uncovers how women are still underrepresented in college sports, and reveals the colleges that have padded the numbers and inflated women’s rosters rather than abiding by the spirit of the law.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The New Yorker explored how the pandemic has affected the SAT as we know it. In addition to the number of test optional schools making the SAT less important in the admissions process, the pandemic has also prompted the creation of the new digital test. The article explores the history of the SAT and how it has endured through multiple scandals and shifts, with the pandemic only the latest (and perhaps most drastic) change that College Board and its flagship test have had to face. 

This article about the top ten highest-earning degrees from public universities is worth checking out for a few reasons. Most of these schools are not considered “brand names,” and I doubt that many of the students in our area have even heard of some of them! This just goes to show that a “big name” doesn’t necessarily map onto a higher salary after school. And we were excited to see that UVA made the list - students with computer engineering majors make a median salary of just under $102,000 three years after graduation.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Our juniors are starting to finalize their lists, are finishing their Common App essays, and several have even 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 essay writing behind them. 

I don’t think we have written about this much on the blog, but we’ve talked a lot internally about how different this essay season has been from any other year. This group was in the middle of their freshman year when the world turned upside down… and they just haven’t really done very much.

It’s not even about activities, as most of them have taken our advice and maintained extracurricular involvement as much as they could, even virtually. But we don’t advise parroting off a list of activities in the college essay. Whether activities are involved in the story or not, the essay really needs to be a venue to show personal growth and share insight about the student that can’t be found anywhere else in their application. It’s really tough to do that when you haven’t had a typical teenage experience.

But we are lucky because Staci is basically the most patient woman on the planet! She has been working so hard with these students to help them craft amazing essays regardless of what they have been able to come to the table with! Shannon and I have been helping out with lots of extra editing behind the scenes and of course Alan is a godsend! He does the last round of edits from a fresh perspective, having never seen the pieces before. It is amazing to me how much value his perspective adds to the final versions.

Anyway, over the last week we have finished a whole lot of these essays and it’s amazing to me how all the extra work has paid off. The final versions are AWESOME, which is not necessarily something I thought I was going to be able to say a couple of months ago. I actually think they have turned out even better than final versions usually do. For example, I don’t know that we have ever had a year with such little feedback about potential changes. Sometimes parents and students aren’t on the same page about certain aspects and we have to play mediator, but not this year. All constituents involved have just been very happy with few or zero suggestions, and I really hope that ends up to be a theme this season (knocking on wood right now)!

On an entirely different note - we want to congratulate our graduating seniors and wish them well on this next adventure! This is always a bittersweet time because we’re really excited about how we’re getting to know the juniors more, but it’s sad to be done with the seniors and their families. We become so close with these students and we really do miss them! We’re excited to see where they go next - and to see a few of them back for College Experience Coaching.

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: May 20

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

AP PRECALCULUS!

Yes, you read that right. College Board announced this week that it will be offering an AP Precalculus option in the 2023-2024 school year. The announcement comes in the wake of numerous articles (including some we shared on this blog) that cover the lack of math preparation for high school students during the pandemic. College Board asserts that the new course offering will better prepare students for college math, particularly STEM-related majors. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT FALLS

I’ve shared on the blog before about my decision to pull my daughter out of her public school and it turns out I’m not alone! Since 2020, public school enrollment is down by over a million students. Many of these students moved to private or parochial schools, or were even homeschooled, while others dropped out of school due to job loss, homelessness, lack of Wi-Fi access, or other financial issues during the pandemic. The enrollment drop has particularly affected schools that had long periods of remote instruction. And since school budgets are tied to enrollment, public schools will likely be dealing with a drop in funding as well. This may be a contributor to some school districts’ reluctance to reinstate mask mandates or vaccination requirements for fear of losing even more students. 

MENTAL HEALTH DAY OF ACCEPTANCE

Here in our office we were excited to join in on today’s Virginia-wide American Academy of Pediatrics “Wear Green Day of Action” for Mental Health acceptance! (Can you tell that none of us really have green in our wardrobes?! We tried…)

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We love summer reading in our office, and not just because we’re book lovers! “What is a great book you’ve read recently?” or “What are you reading right now?” or “What is your favorite book?” are very common interview questions for students, and summer is a great time to learn something new AND prepare your answers at the same time. Not sure where to start? Check out our nonfiction summer reading recommendations from the blog this week, or take a look at this Atlantic article for reviews of books based on college campuses or other educational settings.  

When it comes to paying for college, looking at a private vs. a public school is often one of families’ first considerations. But despite the popular wisdom, there are cases where a scholarship to a private school makes it more affordable than a public option - and many cases where an out-of-state public school can be as expensive or even more expensive than a private one! This Forbes article provides a run-down of the tuition costs for the most expensive public colleges by state, and might be a good place to start if public college is on your student’s list (and yes, UVA is #1 on this list).

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

The hot weather lately definitely reminds us that summer is coming! We are still adding to our Summer Opportunities Database every week. Most recently, we featured an opportunity for juniors and seniors in high school to join Mount Vernon’s Student Advisory Board. This is an awesome leadership opportunity for students interested in art, history, museum curation, education, or just networking and gaining experience!

And one more thing on the summer to-do list for juniors - essays! We are so excited to welcome McClain back to the office this summer - she will be available starting in mid-June for students to work with on their essays. Our calendar has been updated and students can now book appointments for June and July with McClain or Staci. If you have a busy summer ahead, we recommend booking those meetings now to make sure that you get the time slots that work best for you! 

McClain has been busy since last summer - check out her adorable new baby Theo, born in January!

Have a great weekend, and stay cool!

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Weekly Update: April 29

Decision Day is almost here - good luck to all of the seniors who are making their decisions this weekend! Make sure to celebrate once that deposit is in :)

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FCPS HIGH SCHOOLS RANKED AMONG THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY

The U.S. News rankings are out, and TJ tops the list of public high schools as the best school in the country for the fourth consecutive year. Other FCPS schools, like Langley and McLean, were ranked in the top 200 high schools in the U.S. Take a look at where other FCPS schools fall on their website!

And on a related note, the Supreme Court decided this week to let TJ’s new admissions policy stand.

COLLEGES STILL ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

Thankfully, all of our seniors have great options for this fall! But every year, there are some students who do not plan as carefully and need additional school options. If you or someone you know is looking for college openings, check out this list of schools that are still accepting applications for Fall 2022. 

UC SYSTEM WAIVES TUITION FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS

The approximately 500 undergraduate students at University of California schools who are California residents and members of Native tribes will have their tuition and fees waived as part of the UC Native American Opportunity Plan. UC professors say that they hope other public land-grant institutions will follow the UC’s example in offering tuition-free education to Native American students. 

FACEBOOK OBTAINED FAFSA DATA

Code embedded in the website where students fill out the FAFSA automatically sent data like first and last names, email addresses, and zip codes to Facebook. It is unclear how many students were affected by the system, which affected students who were not logged into the FAFSA site and even those who did not have a Facebook account. Scary!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

With so much conversation about student loan debt in the news, it can be comforting to hear that many states already offer free public college options for students. This Forbes article covers a list of the most popular tuition-free schools, as well as other options for students who don’t have the means or the desire to pay for college. 

If there is one thing we can say with certainty at this point, it is that the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding uptick in applications to selective schools has made getting into college MUCH harder for the students we work with - and they’re not alone! During the pandemic, the number of students who chose to take gap years rather than continuing directly to college rose by over 100%. Some schools have also shifted to rolling admissions models, to give students more flexibility over when to begin their college education. 

Finally, an interesting perspective on the past few years of changes at Liberty University from the New Yorker, including interviews with students, faculty, and staff, as well as with the former president Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his wife.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are so excited for all of our seniors who have sent in deposits!! Congratulations to everyone for such phenomenal success in such a difficult year. We are so proud of you!

For underclassmen who are still looking to bring their grades up during the fourth quarter, FCPS is partnering with Tutor.com to offer free, live tutoring to students in all years - learn more here. 

And for sophomores and juniors working on the college search, the Six College Consortium (which is made up of small liberal arts colleges - Amherst, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Carleton, Pomona, and Williams) is offering a variety of virtual events next month, including special sessions for first generation and international students. We’ve enjoyed Six Colleges counselor events, and this is a great way for students who know they are interested in a traditional liberal arts college to explore several in a single session. 

Enjoy the sun this weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 15

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

DAVIDSON MAKES TEST-OPTIONAL PERMANENT

The pandemic initially forced Davidson College to begin test-optional admissions, but the school announced this week that it will be making the change permanent. At small private schools like Davidson, which can typically spend more time reviewing individual applications with less need for numbers-based selection, we expect to see more admissions offices follow suit. 

WILLIAMS LAUNCHES ALL-GRANT FINANCIAL AID PROGRAM

In other small liberal arts college news this week, Williams College launched the first all-grant financial aid program in the U.S., totally eliminating students loans from all financial aid packages. More than half of current Williams undergraduates (over 1,000 students) will benefit from this change. 

A CRITIQUE OF SCHOOL RANKINGS

On Wednesday, the former president of Reed College released Breaking Ranks, a new book that argues against the college rankings industry. The book focuses in particular on the U.S. News rankings, since they are some of the best-known and most respected by many parents and students, and suggests ways for colleges to combat these rankings. We’re excited to give it a read!

RUTGERS BUSINESS SCHOOL ALLEGEDLY FAKED JOBS FOR GRADUATES

In the latest example of what happens when the race for rankings gets out of hand, a former employee at Rutgers’ Business School has sued the school for faking employment for its graduates, in an attempt to increase the school’s place on the rankings list. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Students’ mental health has been in the spotlight in the wake of COVID-19 school closures. This week, an expert federal task force (including a GMU professor) recommended that all children over the age of 8 be automatically screened for anxiety. The task force asserted that anxiety disorders can often slip through the cracks, as children are less likely to have behavioral issues that serve as red flags to parents and teachers. It is still recommended that children over the age of 12 are automatically screened for depression and suicidal ideation. As mental health screenings become more routine, hopefully children will be treated and diagnosed earlier, before cases become more severe. 

This CNN interview with Paul Tough, author of the book The Inequality Machine: How College Divides Us, serves as pushback on MIT’s recent decision to reinstate the SAT/ACT testing requirement in order to bring in a more diverse class. Tough disagrees, and explains in this interview how test scores actually increase inequality in the admissions process, without adding any real benefits to determining how successful students will be in college. A great read for those hoping to dig in more to the anti-testing argument!

Wondering how students themselves feel about the testing decisions? Check out this WSJ article, which asks college students to answer the question, “Should colleges require standardized tests?”    

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are hiring for the summer here in our office! Stay tuned for some announcements about our new team members :) And we are still searching for a skilled essay coach to join our team - we love referrals, so if you know someone who is passionate about helping students with their writing, let us know! 

Speaking of the summer - if you’re interested in trying out our college counseling or academic coaching services, we have an opportunity to share that is for a worthy cause: check out our donated services in the Women’s Club of Great Falls Scholarship Fund’s silent auction!

I know that a ton of planning has gone into this, and it looks like it’s going to be a really fun event - so fun, in fact, that it sold out before I bought my tickets!!! Oops!!

In all seriousness, if anyone local has two extra tickets or can’t attend at the last minute - please email me - I really want to go and would be thrilled to buy a pair of tickets from you!! 🤞

Lastly, a reminder that we are closed today for Good Friday. Have a great weekend, and happy Easter to those celebrating!!

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Weekly Update: February 25

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS IN UNIFORM

In some striking images this week, the New York Times covered the use of the National Guard as substitute teachers in New Mexico schools, where the teaching staff has been severely impacted by COVID-19. 

While New Mexico is the only state to use the National Guard as substitutes, National Guard members have also driven school buses in Massachusetts, and police officers in Oklahoma have also served as substitute teachers. 

FLORIDA CONSIDERS FINANCIAL LITERACY REQUIREMENT

Virginia is one of a few states around the country that require students to learn personal finance in the classroom - including balancing a checkbook and completing a loan application. Florida may be the latest state to add a financial literacy requirement for high school graduation. We are big fans of practical coursework like this - and find that students are always more engaged when they know that they will use the material later in life.

VIRGINIA MASK MANDATES LIFT

Most Virginia counties have made mask mandates optional in schools, in response to Governor Youngkin’s recent executive order. In fact, Fairfax County is the last holdout - the only county that has not committed to switching to a mask-optional policy by March 1. 

Update! Earlier today, FCPS announced that masks will be optional starting Tuesday. You can read more about that here.

For an interesting exploration of how politics has played into parenting, both when it comes to mask mandates as well as curricula and vaccinations, check out this Atlantic article.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Yale professor Laurie Santos, instructor of the famous “Yale Happiness Class” and host of The Happiness Lab podcast, gave an interesting interview this week discussing her own feelings of burnout, as well as the anxiety that her students are experiencing. This is a useful interview for anyone trying to support college students - and anyone just looking to lead a happier life!

Based on a recently released Common ApplicationⓇ report, the number of applications has continued to increase this cycle, now up nearly 14% since before the pandemic. The report identifies nine key findings from applications up until the February 15 deadlines (p.s., these findings are all listed on the first page, so no need to read all 19 pages unless you’re admissions nerds like us :) 

Finally, we’re so excited to share this article, which includes some really important information about affording college. We often hear from students and parents that are cost-conscious that they prefer to look at public universities. But as the editor-in-chief of the Princeton Review says, “Never cross an expensive school off your list… by sticker price alone.” If you consider the possibilities of merit aid, whether schools consider financial need in admissions, and other factors, it is possible that a private education can end up being less expensive than a public one. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

February has FLOWN by and we are so excited to start reading student essays as they work through the STAGE Program with Staci. If you are a junior who has not yet booked your essay coaching meetings, make sure you get on the calendar to begin this process! 

Learning students’ personal stories is one of the best parts of this job - in fact, all week I have been thinking about an essay that one of our students wrote about his Ukrainian heritage (during a different application cycle). Such a devastating situation and we have been watching the news nonstop along with the rest of the world.

On a (much) lighter note, we have also been enjoying the end of the college basketball season! As some of you saw on instagram, my kids and I got to see Virginia beat Miami over the long weekend - so fun! Hopefully we will see another win against Florida State this weekend.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

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Weekly Update: February 18

We hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! A quick note that we will be closed on Monday for Presidents’ Day.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

UC BERKELEY MAY CUT INCOMING CLASS

An Alameda County judge ruled last August that Berkeley was under an enrollment freeze, in response to complaints by residents in the area about the school’s plan for expansion. Last week, Berkeley lost its appeal in the case. This makes it likely that they will need to cut one-third of the freshman class - over 3,000 seats! This development will likely make an already ultra-selective school even more so - particularly given that it comes on top of Berkeley’s cuts to out-of-state enrollment. Along with UCLA and UC San Diego, they are cutting their out-of-state population by approximately 21% (going from 23% of the overall population to 18%).

UC APPLICATION OPEN PERIOD EXTENDED

In other UC news, the window during which students can submit their application, which has always began on November 1, is set to begin a full month earlier next year - students can submit their applications as soon as October 1. The deadline for submitting the application will remain November 30 (though given the UC website’s history of crashing on that date, we highly recommend getting the application submitted much earlier!) 

US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION COLLEGE SCORECARD UPDATED

New changes to the Department of Education’s database allow students to see at a glance each school’s graduation rate, annual cost, and the median salary of graduates. Students can also see the percentage of graduates from any given college that earn more than a typical high school graduate. 

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FINANCIAL AID

We’ve written before about the need- and merit-based aid processes for schools, but there are a variety of scholarships available for students from outside organizations, and it is important to be on the lookout for options like these (Shannon once applied for a college scholarship granted to tall students!). 

This week, we’re highlighting scholarships from the National Center for Learning Disabilities. These scholarships are open to students with a specific learning disability or a diagnosis of ADHD.

And if you’re more focused on the financial aid application process, a great free resource is College Access Fairfax - check out their webinars for step-by-step help through this very complicated process. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

In his newsletter this week, Jeff Selingo dives into colleges’ responsibility for graduate outcomes. Specifically, he notes that Black and Latinx students are often enrolled in majors with lower earnings, and this leads to underemployment after graduation. Selingo asks whether colleges are responsible for extending their diversity and equity goals to students’ lives after college as well as while they are at school. 

We just spent a lot of time in strategy sessions and meetings with our classes of 2023 and 2024 students to discuss course selection, and some of the news that gets the biggest groan from students and families is that yes, you have to take calculus. Yes, even you, hopeful English/history/political science major. This report from Inside Higher Ed concludes that a statistics class is often a better choice for high school students, academically. We agree! Unfortunately, until admissions offices start to see the light, students should still plan to take calculus.

Tj is once again in the national news. This New York Times piece covers a federal lawsuit from a group called Coalition for TJ, which alleges that the school’s new admissions processes are discriminatory towards Asian students. A group called the Pacific Legal Foundation is providing support to the TJ group in hopes that the case could potentially set precedent for other highly selective magnet schools. This reminded me of a different article I read last week from New York Magazine, entitled The Left Is Gaslighting Asian Americans About College Admissions. The author supports affirmative action in general but believes that the “dishonest propaganda” regarding the impact of affirmative action on Asians needs to stop. Feelings on affirmative action aside, I can 100% attest that Asian-Americans are discriminated against in high school, college, and graduate school admissions. It’s really awful and the term “gaslighting” sums it up perfectly. Why are we denying that this is happening? Come on - like the author says, it’s not only dishonest but insulting.

When it comes to graduate schools, like law or MBA programs, “brand names” tend to carry more weight than in the undergraduate admissions process. Nearly all students we work with are aiming for the top programs in their field. While attending a top school is extremely beneficial from a networking standpoint, these may not be the only schools that can prepare students for their future. This ABA Journal study lists the law schools whose graduates routinely overperform on the bar exam - and (surprise!) some of them aren’t ranked at all (P.S., shout out to UVA, Washington & Lee, and Liberty as the Virginia schools that made the list!). 

Finally, if you’re wondering how your major choice stacks up against other students in your class, check out this Forbes article for lists of the most popular majors for each class. For current high school seniors, the most popular intended majors include biology, business, nursing, and engineering.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We’ve been busy this week as Colleen and Shannon continue check-ins with current clients and strategy sessions, and Staci dives right into Common ApplicationⓇ essay work with students. It is so much fun to watch our students generate their essay ideas, and we’re really excited to see how this latest batch of essays turn out!

We also heard back about ED II results! We’ve hit the ED II lottery over the last few years; if I'm not mistaken, every single one of our ED II applicants in recent memory have been admitted. Given the selectivity and unpredictability of this process, I know this streak is bound to end soon... but we made it through another application cycle with our perfect track record intact!!! Yay! Our three ED II applicants were all admitted to their top choice schools - one to Johns Hopkins and two to Wake Forest! They are all amazing kids and we are so happy for them. 

On a related note (no pun intended!), we have noticed lately that we've been working with SO MANY sets of siblings and first cousins, and that ED II group is a perfect example. Of the three I mentioned, one is a younger sibling of a past client and two are older siblings of current clients. And we'll see even more of that in next year's graduating class, because our percentage of "legacy" clients is the highest it's ever been for the Class of 2023 - over HALF of them are either younger siblings or first cousins of former students! 

It's really fun to get to work with the same families over and over again throughout the years - and even more so when the older ones come back to work with us for grad school admissions!

Have a great long weekend - we’ll be back in the office on Tuesday!

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Weekly Update: December 24

A very merry Christmas Eve to all those celebrating today and tomorrow! Our office is closed today for the holiday, but we will be open on Monday and Shannon and Staci will be available to help answer any questions :)

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

MORE CAMPUS SHUTDOWNS

We covered the campus closures at Cornell, GW, Stanford, and others last week, and this week brought more to add to the list. Yale has moved finals online, while in Boston Harvard and Emerson have announced that the spring semester will begin remotely in 2022. Seven of the colleges in the UC system have also decided to begin next semester online. Meanwhile, several schools including UVA, Oberlin, and Northwestern have made COVID-19 boosters mandatory for students returning to campus. 

However, one medical expert disagrees with the decision to send students home, saying that the travel required to send students all over the country is more likely to increase the spread of COVID than keeping them in a quarantine situation on campus. We’ll be waiting to see whether more closures are announced in the new year. (P.S. If you are a parent worried about your high school or college student’s exposure over the holidays, check out this article for tips on staying safe)

NEW YORK’S CITY COLLEGE HAS A MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTOR

A physics professor at City College in Harlem received a package in the mail. Inside? $180,000 in cash. A letter included in the package explained that the goal of the gift was to help needy physics and math students at the college. The anonymous letter stated that the donation was from a former physics department student. 

After investigating whether the cash was the result of criminal activity, the college’s Board of Trustees formally voted to accept the gift last week.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Every year, there are always a few students who, despite being accepted into their early decision schools, want to know: Is early decision really binding? This article from the New York Times aims to answer that question - and the answer might surprise some families. The truth is that if you cannot afford to attend the school to which you applied early decision, you can back out of the agreement.

Now keep in mind - this doesn’t mean you can go back to the school and change your mind later if you don’t get a better deal from another school - you can’t. This is why families who want to compare aid offers may decide that early decision is not for them. But at nearly all institutions, no one would penalize a student who decides that they can’t afford to attend and wants to back out. That student would be able to withdraw the ED application with no issue. However, many schools leave this information in the fine print, or say that they will work with students on the financial aspect without directly saying that students can back out. 

You should also remember that this applies only to families who are not able to afford tuition - students and families who are simply not willing to pay the tuition cannot be exempted from their early decision agreements. 

And lastly, students can also ask for more funding to make attendance feasible (whether they are admitted early decision or not!). If you’re a current client, we encourage you to work with us on how to ask for more funding in a polite and respectful way. Negotiating is just one of the ways to hack your college tuition bill - check out this Forbes article for more. 

On a lighter note - after reading (and re-reading, and re-reading) their own college personal statements, we hope students enjoy these personal statements from Shakespeare characters as much as we did!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

This week we’ve been busy helping some deferred and waitlisted students regroup and write letters of continued interest - if you need to do this as well, check out our blog post for some examples (or book an essay coaching session!). We’re also wrapping up with some graduate school and MBA applications, and keeping our fingers crossed for students still waiting to hear from their schools!

Since the world seems to have shut down over the last several days because of Omicron, I’m hoping to take advantage of my time at home over the weekend to check out “Try Harder!” a NYTimes Critic’s Pick documentary about the pressures facing high-achieving high school students today.

“Try Harder!” follows a group of students at Lowell High School (think the TJ of the Bay Area - new lottery system and all) as they go through their senior year, and by all accounts it’s supposed to be great. It begins streaming on Netflix today!

Have a great holiday!

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