BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

Geez, where do I even start with this week?! I feel like I could have written a whole post on “biggest college-related news of Thursday, June 18” itself, haha.

VIRGINIA TECH

I posted last week about new schools accepting the Common Application and mentioned that I hoped JMU would follow suit, joking that I had already given up on Virginia Tech. Well, pigs are flying because Virginia Tech made their own announcement yesterday afternoon! They will accept the Common Application and this is HUGE for so many Virginia residents!

Several years ago, VT switched from using a somewhat-inconvenient-but-not-terrible institutional application to being one of the few schools in the country that required applicants to use the Coalition Application exclusively, i.e. there was no other choice. If you haven’t had to complete a Coalition Application, you may not understand why I’m so excited, but take my word for it: this is very, very good news for anyone interested in Virginia Tech. The Coalition App is just terrible and I’d be so happy if I never had to log into it again!

(Note: as of the time I am writing this post, there has not been an official announcement and it does not even appear that their website has been updated to reflect this, but that’s what they told counselors behind-the-scenes yesterday afternoon).

TEST-OPTIONAL ADMISSION

Nearly all of the most competitive schools that hadn’t yet made announcements did so this week. All of the Ivy League schools, Vanderbilt (that was today), Duke, Notre Dame (also today), NYU (yesterday), etc.

PRINCETON

They get their own category! Princeton dropped single-choice early action yesterday and will only have one application deadline of January 1, 2021. I’m pretty excited about this, actually, as I am not a fan of SCEA. I think we will see more deadline/app cycle related shifts over the months to come.

ACT

The ACT announced last fall that it would provide students with the opportunity to re-take the test one section at a time beginning in September 2020, if the students had already completed the full test at least once. Yesterday, they made the announcement that this initiative has now been postponed until sometime in 2021. Honestly, this is no big loss - to my knowledge, not a single college or university had agreed to accept scores taken through this method and now at least students aren’t making decisions based on something that most of us behind the scenes knew was highly unlikely to pan out.

ERIC FURDA

Ok, so maybe not enormous news but I was sad to hear that Eric Furda is leaving Penn for the “other side of the desk.” I really liked him a lot and he always struck me as very down-to-earth and funny, and we can’t forget his passion for the Eagles! Those kids at Penn Charter just won the college counseling lottery, that’s for sure!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

A New York Times piece examines decision-making and risky behavior among college-age students, writing that the plans to return to college this fall “border on delusional.” I have spent my entire career working with students ages 14-22 and I would definitely agree that this age group is not exactly known for their prudent choices, haha. But maybe they can turn things around and serve as an example for the rest of us?

Several days later, this College Reality Check snippet agreed with the first article and said what everyone in higher education is thinking right now: “Colleges have come rushing forth to announce that they will be inviting students back to campus this fall. But as I’ve spoken to college officials over the past few weeks — usually not for quotation — I’ve been struck by the difference between their public optimism and their private uncertainty.”

That’s so true. Regardless of what’s going to happen and whether this is a good idea (I truly have no clue anymore), there is no question that there is a major, major difference in what is being said publicly right now and what’s being said behind the scenes. This Washington Post article about the aftermath of the Great Clips exposure in Missouri made me feel really optimistic, though. If only everyone would wear their masks!!!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Tons of meetings with rising seniors - all of whom will be receiving an email on Monday to let them know that our August availability is live on the website! We’re also continuing to hold Meet & Greets with rising juniors and are continuing to fill our roster for the Class of 2022!

Speaking of our roster, we’ve reached capacity for the Class of 2021 and at this point will be moving to our annual Late Start Waitlist. We’re able to take a number of kids this way every year after we finish up our work with the first cohort, and this will likely happen sooner than usual this particular year because so many of our students were able to make substantial progress during COVID closures. Not to mention the fact that SO many supplemental essay topics are being released early! If you are interested in working with us, fill out the linked form above and we’ll give you a call to discuss how the waitlist works and what you can expect.

Families who’d like to start right away can instead purchase one of the membership vault plans launching Monday! The highest tier option is a great alternative to a traditional package; it includes quite a few hours of college counseling and essay coaching services and an incredible amount of DIY resources for just over half the price of our least expensive package.

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That’s all for now! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there :)