BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

REOPENING PLANS

More plans were released this week - USC had previously announced a hybrid model, but is now essentially asking students to voluntarily decide to stay home. I think we will see more of this. On the flip side, Claremont McKenna is allowing students to return if they sign “The Agreement” - this is no joke!!

More and more schools (including Yale) will be teaching classes online and allowing certain class years to come to campus. At Yale, for example, juniors and seniors will be able to live on campus all year long. Freshmen will join in the fall while the sophomores stay home, and those two groups will switch in the spring.

Pretty much across the board, professors want to teach remotely, which I understand.

GAP YEARS

Schools are beginning to loosen gap year restrictions. Dartmouth actually reached out to incoming students on Monday to tell them that gap years were not an option, and then circled back on Wednesday with a change of heart. There’s a lot to consider about the impact of gap years, and I typed so much about it that I’m moving it to a separate blog post - stay tuned for that next week!

ACT

Ohhh, ACT. Like I said last week, would it really be an update without more ACT drama? Earlier this week, the ACT canceled July administrations in most locations (yep I called it!). I spent some time this week tracking down open spots for kids like a crazy person. Even some of the West Virginia locations canceled! Let’s hope those additional September tests happen, but I’m not all that optimistic.

WASHINGTON & LEE

This push to change Washington & Lee’s name has been a long time coming - I remember reading this article when it came out. it will be interesting to see how it plays out and whether recent events will have an impact.

RACISM AND SOCIAL MEDIA

There have been more situations than ever this summer where colleges (Cornell, Richmond, and many others) have rescinded acceptances as a result of incoming students’ hateful behavior on social media. However, I’m not writing this as cautionary advice about watching what you post (I do have one of those scheduled for next week - but it’s more of the “don’t post party pictures” variety). If you are troubled enough that you’re considering this, maybe it’s better to identify yourself as a racist on social media after all? You’ll be identified immediately and your spot will be given to someone else who deserves to be a member of that community.

BEST* ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

*Or otherwise attention-worthy

I absolutely hate stuff like this, and I’m spotlighting it for that reason: What We Care about in this Time of Crisis: A Collective Statement from College Admission Deans. At it’s core, I think that everything in this letter was truthful and straightforward. For example, notice the theme of family responsibilities throughout the post - I advise students to put that on their applications every year, pandemic or not, if it applies to their situation. And there is absolutely no question that students will not be “penalized” for academic issues beyond their control. But like my post on what it means to be test-blind, just because an applicant isn’t outwardly penalized for something doesn’t mean they will be accepted.

What I wish the letter said, instead, was something like “You will not be penalized for situations beyond your control. HOWEVER - we will look very closely at the manner in which you attempted to mitigate that situation. If you were homeschooling your six year old sister so mom and dad could work their double shifts, by all means, please tell us about that! We will not care what your grades looked like or what else you did.

But if you were the typical suburban kid whose school shut down, how did you handle that? Did you go on Khan Academy and try to learn the material yourself? Did you go on to Masterclass to learn a new skill? Did you take massive open online courses through Coursera and EdX to explore your intended major in depth? No? Ok, no problem. You’ll still be considered. But we have 30,000 applicants and 6,000 spots, so you do the math.”

The thing about holistic admission is that if they want to take you, they can take you. But they have to actually want to take you first. You have to give them a reason to want to take you and it has to be different from the other tens of thousands of suburban applicants.

Ok, getting off that soapbox with a McSweeney’s article! A friend sent it to me, saying “the nerd in you will love this.” Haha, she knows me well. Speaking of McSweeney’s, this piece from Dave Eggers (the founder of McSweeney’s) in today’s New York Times. was funny and relatable too.

For more thoughts on reopening colleges, this blog post was really good, and spot on. The part in the “Off Campus” section made me laugh, but it’s TRUE! I mean seriously! And if you want a more scientific take on the same issue, this one has been floating around.

If you’re in the mood for something positive, this was such a great feel-good story!! I had chills reading it!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

The podcast episode I mentioned a few weeks ago was released, which I shared on social media! It was fun to talk about the evolution of the business.

Other than that, we are close to being finished with our rising senior meetings and are full speed ahead with essay work. Every summer, I forget how busy this time of year gets with the essays (although in truth it’s usually not this busy until August, we’re just on a different timeline this year with being able to get a head start on everything earlier).

I’m taking off next week but will still be reviewing post-meeting essay edits to keep everybody on track. Other than that, I will respond to all emails when I return and Donna will handle any issues that come up!

FCPS Q&A (AS PROMISED!)

We’re thinking about hiring a tutor to come to our home and homeschool our two kids for two days each week. Do you have any recommendations of someone who can teach multiple subjects for a 9th and 11th grader?

I know a lot of families are talking about hiring tutors for their kids to act as teachers during the school day and my advice on that front is that I just don’t think very many will be available (at least for in-person tutoring during the school day).

The demand for qualified tutors willing to come to your home during the school day will far exceed the supply, as the retired teachers will likely not want to come to your home for health reasons, the actual teachers will be teaching their classes, and the stay-at-home-mom-former-teachers will be teaching their own kids. Maybe that last group will have some availability but not nearly enough to go around.

You can probably get a recent college graduate to come to your home during the day if you try to find that person right now, though. Just be prepared that they are probably looking for a “real job” too, and if they find one, you may be out of luck. Check posts on Next Door, facebook, etc. Be prepared to pay more than the going rate for tutoring and to make a long-term commitment.

If you really want a qualified teacher to come to your home, here’s my best advice to make this happen (spoiler alert, it’s going to cost you, but you could split the cost with multiple families). I actually considered doing this myself but it ended up to be more hassle than I wanted to deal with. Reach out to Carney Sandoe and see if they can help you find a teacher in the DC area who is not working right now for whatever reason. Maybe someone who is about to relocate for their spouse’s job. See if you can pay that person a full salary and benefits to work for your family (or a couple families) for the year.

I researched this option heavily last weekend and determined that it would cost about $120k all-in (not just salary - liability insurance, benefits, etc) to be able to hire a qualified teacher with some experience to run something like this for a year. That does not include the cost of space. Honestly, if you have six kids across multiple families this might not be a bad way to do it… but what ultimately changed my mind were licensing issues and legal implications. It can definitely be done - I just didn’t have the time or energy to put towards it myself.

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Do you think FCPS will actually be back in person next year? What about private schools?

I think the FCPS part of this question refers to the hybrid approach (in school two days per week). To be honest, I think it’s unlikely that the two day per week plan will work out exactly as advertised. I hope it does but I just think that people will start getting COVID and they are going to have to shut things down, right?

I think private schools will be able to make it longer than FCPS will, yet if the spread of the virus worsens, it’s just not going to be possible for them to continue either.

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Is it true that high school students will not be able to take AP courses online anymore?

FCPS has indicated that AP courses will not be guaranteed because of staffing issues. This has nothing to do with College Board and taking AP courses online. AP courses were offered online pre-pandemic, they will continued to be offered online during the pandemic, and they’ll be offered online after the pandemic! If you are an FCPS student who wants to take an AP course online and FCPS can’t guarantee it, sign up for one at one of the VPCE-approved online schools we spotlighted.

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Which of the two choices will you choose for your own children?

(The person is asking whether I will choose the 4-day online version vs. the 2-day hybrid version)

Well, I only have one child enrolled in FCPS and she’s going to be in 3rd grade; also, I’m 99% sure we are leaving FCPS. If I was choosing one of these two options, I personally would have gone for the 2-day hybrid version, but only because I’m more worried about the psychological impact of being isolated than I am about the academic impact. On the off days I would have focused on areas that I know are academic weaknesses. For example, my daughter is amazing at math (definitely did not get that from me) and has a harder time w/writing, so I would have tried to hire someone to help with writing on the off days - and truth be told I would have had one of my essay coaches work with her if I couldn’t find someone experienced with her age group.

If I had a student in high school and I couldn’t get a spot at a private school, I’d go all-virtual and just allow limited socialization in other settings, if I’m being really honest. They’d get more instructional time that way and I would be very concerned about academic impact for an older student.

HAPPY 4TH!

I hope you all have a happy and safe fourth of July. I know it’s tough this year and I am not feeling particularly positive or enthusiastic myself, but I’m trying. On the bright side, Hamilton on Disney Plus today, right? That’s something?!? I’m reaching I know…