Weekly Update: June 18

We hope that everyone is enjoying our brand-new federal holiday - Happy Juneteenth!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUPREME COURT PUTS OFF HARVARD AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASE

The case against Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policy has made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court, but the Court declined to review the case, asking the Biden administration to weigh in first. The delay does not necessarily mean that the case will not be heard, but it is now likely to have to wait until the next Supreme Court session in October. Harvard has asked the Court not to take the case. 

ARE STUDENTS LEARNING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS?

One of the most persuasive arguments for a classical liberal arts education has always been that it teaches students how to think - not just knowledge, but the ability to use and analyze it. But according to Jeff Selingo’s latest newsletter, colleges may not actually help students gain the critical thinking skills they need to be successful in the workplace. In an analysis of 2,500 college students, natural sciences students had the most gains in critical thinking skills - while business majors had the lowest! 

If you want to dive deeper into learning about how to think critically and how it benefits students in the long run, we love Range by David Epstein - this book about the importance of general skills over specialized knowledge is just one of many on our Summer 2021 Reading Guide, available to all Membership Vault subscribers! 

LAW SCHOOLS OVERBOOKED FOR THE FALL

While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a lot of unexpected events this year, the rise in students attending graduate and professional school was easy to anticipate. During a recession, many adults who would otherwise be working often choose to return to or continue with school, hoping to graduate into a better job market. 

But what was unexpected was the change in testing procedures - it turns out, students taking a shortened version of the LSAT at home are much less stressed than those taking the traditional test! The number of students scoring 175-180 doubled last year, leading to many more highly qualified applicants in the pool and the danger of over enrollment at almost all of the top 200 law schools. The larger class sizes are expected to lead to an extremely competitive job market for law school graduates in three years. 

There is also the consideration of what the impact will be on students applying this cycle, given the larger cohort above them. Duke, for example, offered students a $5,000 scholarship to accept a binding deferral to next year - a move that may lead to even fewer accepted students than typical for a highly selective school when it comes to this year’s applicants. 

NORTHEASTERN ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH MILLS COLLEGE

We covered here on this blog the shuttering of Mills College, a small liberal arts college in Oakland, California. Mills was just one of several smaller schools closing its doors in response to lost enrollment and revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Northeastern University has now established an historic partnership with Mills College, bringing the school into its global network. We will be interested to see how this alliance develops, and whether other large, selective institutions follow suit when it comes to these struggling smaller campuses.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The Wall Street Journal published an article last week that is providing a lot of food for thought for us and other education professionals. The author, R.R. Reno, writes that he won’t hire Ivy League graduates - because students at selective, typically liberal colleges are not prepared to speak out against prevailing opinion, students he calls “thin-skinned.” Reno acknowledges that his organization speaks for “religious and social conservatives,” and so looks for employees that share these views. 

This Slate article, “The Real College Admissions Scandal,” attempts to shine the spotlight on private schools, arguing that the real advantage in college admissions is not athletics, legacy status, alumni donations, or race - the real advantage is attending a private school. 

This is a common misconception that we hear from students and parents, but I think the writer is conflating correlation with causation here. The article does not mention that it is typically a self-selecting group of high-achieving, ambitious students who choose to attend private schools in the first place, and that students who do so are also more likely to pursue opportunities that lead to admission at selective colleges. 

One important thing the article does mention, though, is the counselor call. We’ve talked about this on the blog before, but one of the most important things a school counselor can do to help students understand their admissions decisions is to make a counselor call, and counselors at private schools are more likely to take advantage of this than those at public schools, who often have a larger caseload and less time to make calls.

We always encourage our students, especially those who receive a defer or waitlist decision, to ask their counselor to make a call to get more information! This advocacy can definitely be important in the admissions process.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

For high school students looking for a volunteer opportunity this coming year, Vienna Youth Cheerleading is looking for cheer coaches (18+) and assistant cheer coaches (16+) to teach cheerleading skills to young students and attend games and practices. Interested students should email the VYI cheer commissioner at melissa.pechulis@gmail.com. This is a great organization!

I have been out of the office (but still working, somewhat!) for most of the past two weeks and today I took my first steps on a college campus since Covid began! My daughter and I toured Penn, which I just love.

I have mentioned before that if I could go to any school today, Penn would probably be it. I really admire the way they seek to provide ALL students with the perfect mix of pre-professional career skills and a liberal arts background. I also love the city of Philadelphia and the way it is so integrated into all things Penn, yet the campus is green and leafy with a vibrant sense of community that most other city schools are missing. Plus, students have the opportunity to become involved in athletics and/or Greek life without it overtaking the undergraduate experience .. and it goes without saying that the academic opportunities and career outcomes are phenomenal.

I will be back in the office next week, and I’m excited to jump into some more Rising Senior Meetings with the Class of 2022! Things are speeding up around here for sure and we are LOVING reading all of the supplemental essays - such a good way to learn more about all of our amazing students.

Enjoy the weekend! 

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Weekly Update: June 11

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

Happy Pride Week! We have so loved seeing all of the rainbow art around town, and are proud to be allies. Keep an eye out next week for more on LGBTQ-friendly colleges, and in the meantime check out the Princeton Review’s list of Top LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges.

ANNANDALE HIGH SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

Mario Ramos, an immigrant from El Salvador who came to Fairfax County in 2007, gave an inspirational commencement speech at Annandale High School last week. He gave the speech in English and Spanish, in a powerful message of inclusion for graduates. After graduating with his high school diploma, Ramos became a “classroom monitor,” helping Annandale open up to students in-person during the pandemic. 

WILLIAM AND MARY WILL NOT REQUIRE COVID-19 VACCINE IN THE FALL

In a session that Shannon attended on Thursday, William & Mary’s President Rowe confirmed that the school will not be requiring students to get the COVID-19 vaccine. W&M does not plan to require the vaccine until it has been approved by the FDA (it is currently under emergency use authorization), but does intend to eventually require it for students as well as faculty and staff once it receives full FDA approval. 

COMMON APP® CHANGES ARE AHEAD

The Common Application® held a webinar earlier this week which shared some important information about ongoing and future changes. I was glad to have been able to attend! Here’s what I learned:

• The organization embarked on a pilot program between March 2020 - February 2021 called “Evolving the App,” a project which sought to ensure that all questions on the core part of the application are inclusive and do not present barriers to any applicants

  • The project was broken into five distinct stages, beginning with the identification of sections to examine and concluding with the delivery of final revisions to the Common App® technology team and member schools

  • The process was considered to be a success and will now be completed annually

Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t be!

The process of transferring pre-completed information from the 2020-2021 application to the 2021-2022 application is called rollover - we work with all of our rising seniors to complete the 2020-2021 application to spread out the work involved and take advantage of this rollover option!

• As most of them know, we will create a step-by-step guide to the rollover process by the end of the day on August 3, at which point they will hear from us with instructions to complete the Common Application® and Coalition Application Rollover processes in advance of their first August college counseling meeting.

• They will also be asked to complete all non-essay application supplement questions at that time, along with an additional supplement guide that we will send.

• Then, our rising seniors will have three separate college counseling meetings with Shannon and me.

  • At the first meeting, we will help them submit recommendation requests to their teachers and counselor, and we will also review/edit all of their work to make sure that you completed the rollover process and all non-essay application supplemental questions correctly.

  • At the second meeting, they will work with us to go through and finish anything that remained outstanding from the first meeting (they will typically have a list of action items from the first meeting).

  • At the last meeting, they will meet with one of us again to perform a detailed, line-by-line, final review of all applications and supplements before submission. We will discuss how the status chart and tracking process will work and will give you them final all-clear to submit! 

  • Some students prefer to submit applications with us in real time; others can do so at home with their parents. If they would like to submit together, we ask them to schedule a separate meeting to do this. 

SPRING COLLEGE ENROLLMENT NUMBERS DROP

Many schools were hoping that the drop in enrollment during COVID-19 would be limited to the fall semester, but that does not seem to be the case - while fall numbers declined 3.6% from last year, spring enrollment numbers declined 5%. 65% of total enrollment losses were felt by community colleges. 

Graduate school enrollment, on the other hand, actually increased in the uncertain job market caused by COVID-19. This means that while some students will not have college degrees, others who already have degrees are receiving more education. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The big news in college sports this week is the expansion of the college football playoffs to include twelve teams rather than the usual four. The expanded bracket likely won’t come to pass until at least 2023, but 24 teams rather than eight are likely to see playoff games. This also means that college football players may be playing 16 or even 17 football games, increasing the potential for injury and potentially overworking athletes during a time when college athletics has been under increasing scrutiny for its treatment of college players. 

As we all know, rates of anxiety and depression for college students, which were growing over the past several years, skyrocketed during the pandemic. Unfortunately, they do not seem to be dropping now that vaccinations are widely available and campuses are opening up again for the fall. Researchers at Dartmouth discovered a correlation between students’ mental health and the prevalence of phone searches for terms like “covid fatigue” on campus. Four student deaths on Dartmouth’s 4,400 student campus this year have prompted students to call for mental health reforms, and the school has vowed to create more support for students.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

There are still plenty of summer opportunities available for students who don’t yet have their summer plans in place! If you are looking for an opportunity that starts later in the summer or fall, consider applying to work as an usher or ranger at Wolf Trap National Park. The position is open to all current high school students and will run from August 1 to October 2 during the park’s performance season. Interested candidates should email Sam Swersky, House Manager at sam_swersky@nps.gov.

Shannon attended a session yesterday with the admissions offices at Barnard and Stanford to discuss selective school admissions for the coming year. We always try to emphasize to our students that no matter what, it is important to apply to a balanced list of schools. As Michael Devlin from Stanford put it, “There are more valedictorians in the United States than spots in the class at Stanford.” 

"Sometimes when students email me afterward and ask what they could have done better, there is no answer. There's nothing they could have done better." 

Yes, really! Even students who do every single thing right might be denied from an extremely selective school. “Holistic” admissions does not just mean that the admissions office reviews the student holistically, but also that they need to take into account the needs of the school and the student body as a whole, in addition to the individual applicant. 

And for those still keeping fingers crossed on the waitlist, Barnard announced that unfortunately they are done pulling from their waitlist for the year, and Stanford expects to be done as well (though this is not confirmed). This should be a reminder to everyone to submit letters of continued interest early - Barnard was done pulling from their waitlist on May 1!

As some of you saw on social media, I was quoted this week in Forbes about whether the pandemic may have permanently boosted private school enrollment - and it was perfect timing because yesterday was my daughter's last day of school at Our Lady of Good Counsel here in Vienna after transferring from FCPS!

Those of you who have been reading since last year will remember that I was really in tune with the issue of instructional equity last spring and summer. Because I had an up-front view of the differences that my clients in public and private schools were experiencing, and also saw it myself as an FCPS parent, I was approached a lot by the media - you can read a little bit about that here.

But anyway.. here we are a year later, and as someone who literally assesses schools for a living, I can't say enough about how AMAZING our experience has been at OLGC. I honestly feel like nothing I could write would adequately express my admiration and appreciation for the administration and teachers, and the impact that their hard work had on my daughter’s life this year - not just academically, but also socially and emotionally during what was an incredibly turbulent time.

I came in just hoping she'd be able to attend in-person school - like I said in the Time piece, she just wanted to get out of the house! But what we got was so much more. I cannot tell you how much I would recommend OLGC for a family seeking a K-8 alternative to FCPS in our area (and for what it’s worth, we are an interfaith family and this was not an issue at all whatsoever).

Back to the point of the Forbes article, I feel beyond fortunate to be able to keep her there. I know that many other families all over the country are making similar decisions, and it will definitely be interesting to see the impact on private school enrollment in the long term.

Have a good weekend, stay cool, and stay dry!

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Weekly Update: June 4

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE WHISPERER DOCU-SERIES COMING SOON

With Operation Varsity Blues dominating headlines, the independent educational consulting profession has gotten a lot of scrutiny in the last few years! The College Whisperer is being advertised as the antidote to that. The new series will follow Perry Kalmus, a consultant in Alaska who was featured in the Operation Varsity Blues documentary on Netflix, as he counsels eight students through the process. The goal of the series is to show what it looks like to work with ethical independent consultants and the ups and downs inherent to an honest admissions process. Fun fact: I was contacted by a film crew to do the same thing about six years ago. I turned it down because I was pretty confident that none of my clients would be up for having their confidential information shared on national TV :)

VACCINE REQUIREMENTS ARE MORE DIFFICULT FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

We’ve been following the lengthening list of schools that are requiring vaccines for the upcoming school year. These requirements will not pose a problem for most of our students, who have easy access to vaccines this summer. However, it is a different scenario for international students, many of whom may not have access to WHO-approved vaccines. 

One Columbia student who received the Covavaxin shot in India has been told that she will need to be re-vaccinated with an US-approved vaccine once she arrives on campus - a potential health risk that has not been explored. India sends the second-largest number of international college students to the US (after China), so this issue is not an isolated one - we are likely to see many students who have received Covavaxin struggling with US vaccine requirements. 

WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY ERASES GRADUATES’ STUDENT DEBT

Wilberforce, an HBCU in Ohio, forgave all student debt for students in the classes of 2020 and 2021 in a surprise graduation announcement on Saturday. The funding to erase the debt was secured through various nonprofit organizations. Students were excited for the fresh start that they received from the university. 

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY WILL KEEP ITS NAME

The Board of Trustees at Washington and Lee voted today in favor of the university maintaining its name, after nearly a year of investigation into the name, symbols, and other issues related to the university’s history. The board decided that it will expand diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in addition to retaining the name. The college, originally called Augusta Academy, adopted the current name in 1870. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This is an important article from the New Yorker that gets to the heart of why students and families experience so much stress from the college admissions process - the feeling that colleges are judging applicants, in a fair environment, and finding the “best” ones. But we want to remind students and families - a college admission or rejection is NOT a personal judgment!! We do our absolute best to help colleges get to know you, but at the end of the day, there are a TON of factors that affect admissions that are completely out of your control. At the end of the day, where you go to college is part of your story, but not a value judgment on you as an individual.

We shared our recommended summer reading for high school students last week. It is super important for high schoolers to be able to talk about books, articles, and current events that interest them, especially for admissions essays and interviews! Students who don’t yet read the news regularly may be interested in participating in the New York Times’ Summer Reading Contest - where 13-19 year olds can enter to win prizes by reading an article every week this summer. 

If you are a current client looking for some good reads, don’t forget to check out our Summer 2021 Reading Guide in the Membership Vault! 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon attended a testing update webinar this week to get some more information on this cycle of standardized testing! We learned that there is a good reason the College Board decided to drop SAT Subject Tests in favor of AP tests - students who took APs over the last few weeks probably won’t be surprised to learn that revenue from the AP test accounts for 60% of the company’s revenue. 

Despite all of the anticipation for digital versions of the SAT and ACT, we are unlikely to see digital versions of either test until 2022. The ACT is also putting plans on hold to let students retake individual sections to incorporate into their superscore - though we are hopeful that this will happen sometime in the next few years! Students using the ACT superscore should be aware, though, that schools will also receive their highest composite from a single test date along with the superscore. 

Over 4 million students have taken standardized tests this year - about half have taken the ACT and half the SAT, so as we always tell students, take the test that works for you! Colleges truly do not have a preference. And for those still waiting on a test date, keep an eye out in July for registration to open again for both tests.

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While this won’t apply to families, I know that there are a lot of other educational consultants who read our blog, and I wanted to provide an update on the videos I mentioned from a few weeks back:

It can be challenging to stay on top of all the key components necessary for developing and operating an independent educational consulting business. To provide peer-to-peer training and share expertise, the IECA Business Practices Committee has created a new pilot series of videos to help you learn from fellow IECA members about topics that have been core to the growth of their practice. The video topics include: Networking 101, Project Management 101, Accounting Systems, Email Newsletters, Budgeting 101, Sales: Part of Your IEC Toolkit, Time Tracking 101, and Using Evernote. Learn more and watch the videos here (scroll down to IECA Business Training Videos icon).

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: May 28

Now that summer is almost here, we’ve got a lot going on this week - graduation gifts, rising senior meetings, and summer reading lists coming your way! 

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLORADO BANS LEGACY COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

On Tuesday, Colorado became the first state in the country to ban state colleges from using legacy as a factor in admissions. This is a BIG DEAL, because it sets a precedent for other state university systems, such as Virginia (which does consider legacy as a factor) to follow suit. The move is aimed at making higher education access more equitable. 

STUDENTS WITHOUT HELP ARE DISADVANTAGED BY THE INCREASED IMPORTANCE OF ESSAYS

Speaking of factors that lead to certain admissions decisions - a recent study found that college essays are “‘the most important “soft factor’ and the fourth-most important overall factor — after grades, curriculum strength and standardized test scores.” Not surprisingly, it also found that students’ essays are influenced by their social class; wealthy students are more likely to have help with their essays, whether from their parents or a paid professional. This is an important reminder that class continues to be a factor in the admissions process despite the fact that standardized test scores have lessened in importance during the pandemic.

We encourage all students to get a second set of eyes on their essays - whether you work with professionals like us or not! We saw this for the Class of 2021 and will see it again for the Class of 2022 - so-called “soft” factors like the essay, recommendations, and extracurricular activities have become more important than ever. 

COLLEGES IN BLUE STATES MORE LIKELY TO REQUIRE VACCINATIONS

We’ve been keeping track here as more and more colleges and universities announce that they will require students to be vaccinated in order to return to campus in the fall. Now, over 400 institutions are requiring vaccines. But whether or not a student needs to be vaccinated likely depends on whether the state where they will attend college is red or blue - nearly all of the colleges requiring vaccines are in states that voted for Biden. A major exception is the Indiana state system, which announced last Friday that vaccines would be required for students. 

COVID-19’S IMPACT ON HEART DAMAGE IN STUDENT ATHLETES

A recent study of Big 10 athletes who suffered from COVID-19 revealed that heart damage may be more prevalent than originally thought, especially in students that have not exhibited symptoms. The researchers’ recommendations of cardiac MRIs for students may cause the NCAA to rethink its guidelines when it comes to the treatment and monitoring of student athletes who have contracted COVID-19. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This beautiful New York Times article really captures the joy of “summer reading” - something that we certainly did a lot more of during the pandemic lockdowns! We encourage any students looking for a summer reading book to drop the plans to read books that you THINK would impress admissions officers and look for books that actually help you discover more about your passions! That way, you will be more likely to enjoy the reading AND be able to speak about it more genuinely, in a way that reflects your interests. 

And to be honest - that authenticity is what actually will impress the admissions officers. If you tell them that you’re reading War and Peace or The Fountainhead, they won’t think you’re smart - they’ll think (a) you’re lying and (b) since you had to lie, you probably aren’t reading anything at all. Not the message you want to convey in an interview!

Since many colleges will ask for reading lists, essays discussing a recent read, or mention books during the interview stage, so it is smart to have a few good ones ready to discuss. We want to particularly highlight Shape, by Jordan Ellenberg, because sometimes it’s hard for students interested in math or quantitative fields to find a book that interests them - but even future mathematicians should try to fit in some summer reading! This would be a perfect book for a math student to mention in an interview or application.

If you are a current client looking for some good reads, don’t forget to check out our Summer 2021 Reading Guide in the Membership Vault! 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

A few private schools are already out for the summer and we have started family meetings with our rising seniors, working to finalize their college lists, make sure they are where they need to be in the process, and set a plan to finish up all of their remaining tasks in the admissions process over the summer. At this point we ideally like students to be finished with their standardized testing; to have their Common Application activities section, main essay, and four generic supplemental essays completely edited and ready to go; to have turned in the final drafts of their recommendation prep work to two teachers and their school counselor; and to have gathered all of their state residency information to prepare for any in-state applications to come.

After every meeting with students or families, we send detailed meeting recaps with what was done in the meeting as well as a list of action items for the student. Here is an example of part of a recap from a recent meeting with a rising senior:

In addition to rising senior meetings, we are already celebrating some private school graduations! Shannon has been busy packaging up gifts for our graduating seniors with some help from Tyler! 

Tyler actually went to pick up a gift for a GMU-bound student this week and was very impressed with a coffee shop near campus, Gathering Grounds. Tyler is a coffee buff (his unique approach to building community at a particular coffee shop here in Vienna even made it into his Common App essay), so you can trust his review! 

Hello everyone, this is Tyler! I just went to the Gathering Grounds Coffee Shop near George Mason University and it is incredible! They build your own coffee with tons of flavors such as blackberry, Coconut, and Lavender. I got the Coconut Latte and trust me, Starbucks has nothing on this coffee! The staff is lively and sociable, and get your coffee out in a snap, and the vibe of the shop is cozy and perfect for study breaks. If you attend George Mason and want a good hangout spot, I would highly recommend Gathering Grounds, and trust me, there's a good chance you'll become a regular. 

YUM! After a long few weeks of ordering coffee gift cards from all over the country, Shannon was THRILLED to get her own from a happy student who will be headed to a top west-coast university in the fall! We are so appreciative of our clients :) 

Our office will be closed for Memorial Day on Monday - we hope everyone enjoys the long weekend, but also takes some time to remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. If you’re looking for a good cause to support, check out The Honor Project, which I read about last night in this inspirational Washington Post piece. It really goes to show that anyone with a good idea and a passion for helping others can make a true difference in the world!

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Weekly Update: May 21

I think that today is the first graduation for a few of our seniors and we have a whole bunch following next week and the week after! Such a perfect day for a graduation and I hope that the sunshine holds for everyone else :)

June 1, 2003 - A very IMPERFECT day for a graduation but a happy one nonetheless :)

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

WAITLIST MOVEMENT THIS CYCLE

If you have been placed on a waitlist this cycle, make sure to bookmark College Kickstart’s Class of 2025 Waitlist Statistics. They keep the page updated with 2020 statistics at a long list of schools, as well as the notification dates by which students should expect to hear about waitlist movement. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for all of you!  

FCPS OFFERS COVID-19 VACCINES

If you are a student over 12 who has not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19, take note of the upcoming vaccinations at four different high school locations. FCPS is also offering transportation from the students’ base schools to the vaccination sites. 

DIFFICULTY WITH COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY VACCINE PLANS

On the college end, there’s not much consistency between the vaccine mandates from school to school - and with all of the various exemptions, rules, and laws involved, it’s no surprise that people are confused. If you are heading off to college this fall, make absolutely sure that you know what’s required of you from a vaccination standpoint so that there are no unhappy surprises during freshman orientation!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Even with many students getting vaccinated over the summer, colleges and universities are still looking for ways to manage the virus on campus. At Colorado Mesa University, a comprehensive app tracking program developed in conjunction with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has helped the school to track and control COVID-19 outbreaks. Hopefully the sophisticated system in place at Colorado Mesa will become accessible to more schools, who can help to manage the coronavirus on campus when students return in the fall. 

The debate about how colleges should allocate their resources has been particularly salient in light of COVID-19, when even highly selective colleges have been struggling with budget deficits. This article argues that colleges should focus more on retention of current students than on recruitment. There is an inherent tension in higher education between the institutions’ need to make money and the desire to serve low-income and underserved student populations who can’t afford to pay full tuition. The article argues that serving the students who are already on campus, rather than working to recruit more full-pay students, would actually help to increase the institution’s bottom line by attracting more gifts from donors in support of their mission. By delivering a high-quality education to current students, schools won’t need to pay large amounts of money for the purposes of recruitment. Seems like a win-win for everyone!

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 Fairfax County’s Teen Police Academy and Future Women Leaders in Law Enforcement, both week-long camps for teenagers interested in careers in policing, law enforcement, public policy, or criminal justice. Read more about these and other camps in the Other Educational Opportunities section of the database!

We’ve been hearing from a lot of students and families this cycle that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of gaps in their education - particularly when it comes to writing. In response, we added small group writing instruction, 1:1 writing tutoring, and academic coaching to our offerings this past school year - all of which were very successful!

Please take the time to fill out this survey to let us know whether you might be interested in this offering. Whether you want to be prepared for a first-year writing seminar in college, gear up for AP Language or Literature classes next year, or get a head start on college essays, Staci and our other coaches will help you get there!

We are also working hard in our office on a little gift for our seniors - we don’t want to ruin the surprise, but we did post a sneak peek on Instagram:

And then lastly I was asked by a professional organization to create tutorials for my fellow educational consultants on time tracking and project management - two areas in which our practice excels! I finished those this week, and they were a lot of fun to make! We are really proud of all of the systems and processes we use to make our client experience as seamless as possible :)

Have a great weekend, stay cool and AVOID THE CICADAS!! :)

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Weekly Update: May 14

Good luck to all the juniors and seniors taking AP exams this month! We’re keeping our fingers crossed for you.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

NATIONAL MERIT COMMENDED STUDENT CUTOFF RELEASED

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the new Commended Student cutoff this year - 207. The score is two marks points than last year, making it the lowest cutoff in a decade. An estimated one quarter or more of students were not able to take the PSAT last year, which may have contributed to the drop. 

We will have to wait on the Semifinalist cutoffs, which are determined by the individual state scores rather than national scores, so we may see a big variety of cutoffs depending on how available the test was to students in each state. Compass Prep predicts a cutoff in the 218 - 223 range in Virginia - we will likely see the actual numbers leaked once schools are notified in late August. 

SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS ARE COMING

Our first juniors have finished up their Common App essays and are starting to work on supplemental essays. Our unique process helps students prepare information that they can use across multiple essays, saving them a lot of time and energy once the specific prompts are released! 

Some schools have already released their prompts for 2021-2022, announcing that their prompts will remain the same. The UC system and the University of Miami, in particular, have both already announced that their prompts will not change from the 2020-2021 choices. Don’t be tempted to make sweeping generalizations about other schools based on this news, though! We always remind our students that they should ALWAYS wait to begin a specific essay until the school confirms its use, whether it’s a change or a continuation.

CHEATING SCANDAL AT DARTMOUTH MEDICAL SCHOOL

We know already that cheating has increased at all educational levels due to the online environment this school year. But it is particularly frightening when those cheating charges come from adult students who will soon have a lot of important responsibility - like medical students at Dartmouth! The accusations leveled against 17 students have prompted protests from students and faculty on campus who feel that those students were unfairly treated, especially given the unique challenges that they faced while testing remotely. The controversy centers on the fact that the school used the online Canvas system to retroactively track student’s computer activity during the tests, what some see as an unacceptable level of surveillance. 

Many different high schools and colleges also use Canvas or similar systems that enable this type of tracking, so this story should also serve as a warning to all students to avoid even the appearance of misconduct while testing or completing assignments online.

FCPS GRADING OPTIONS UPDATE

FCPS has extended the deadline for high school and middle school students to request to have a class switched to pass/fail rather than a letter grade. Seniors will need to designate a class as pass/fail by May 17, while all other students will have until June 1 to make this decision. If you are a current client wondering how to report your grades, let us know and we are happy to help!

GEORGIA PUBLICS REQUIRE TEST SCORES

Public universities in Florida received a lot of pushback this past cycle for being the only state university system besides Wyoming to require test scores from students. However, now that young people are able to receive vaccines and things are slowly returning to normal, more state schools may follow suit. The University System of Georgia announced this week that test scores will be required for applicants in the class of 2022. They also announced that USG campuses will return to normal in-person operations this fall, though have not yet required students to be vaccinated to return to campus (Emory, as a private institution in Georgia, does have a vaccine requirement - and will also remain test-optional in the fall).  

So if you have your heart set on UGA or Georgia Tech next year, make sure that you are taking the time to study for those tests!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Our corner of the internet has been buzzing this week about this New York Times opinion piece about the college essay. The author makes a really strong and difficult point about how many students feel that they have to “sell” their trauma, trying to outdo each other with stories of hardship that are going to pull on the heartstrings of admissions officers.

I was so struck by what the author reports her teacher asking her when she questioned this idea:

“Who are you?”

YES! The very first thing we do with any student working on their college essay is ask them to speak with family and friends and write down adjectives that those people would use to describe them. Students often think they have to have the best story, but that isn’t the case at all - it is MUCH more important to demonstrate a specific personal characteristic, and the story is just the vehicle for that! Colleges want to know who you are, where you’re going, and how you’ll contribute to their community. 

You might have a difficult story that can do all of that, and that’s great! But just writing about personal tragedy for tragedy’s sake, in a way that doesn’t demonstrate personality or growth, is not the key to a strong college essay.

I thought this was so interesting when one of my sorority sisters posted it on her social media this week! She is a professor at USF and is researching the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate STEM education. This video on her early findings is available for online viewing until May 18.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Pomona, Swarthmore, and Williams are teaming up to offer group info sessions and events for prospective students - a great opportunity for any juniors interested in small, liberal arts colleges. As you work on your college search, we really recommend seeking out sessions like these that go beyond the traditional info session. Reed, for example, is offering a variety of sessions including a Case Study of a College Application session. These case studies can be super helpful for some inside info on how the admissions office is evaluating applications. 

In more exciting news, we are so excited to welcome (back) Tyler! As we mentioned last week, Tyler was a client of ours who just finished up his freshman year at the University of Richmond! He is back in our office as our summer intern, learning more about entrepreneurship and what it’s like to run a small business. We often work with past clients on graduate school applications and we love seeing them in a different context, but this is the first time we’ve had one working alongside us!

Tyler will be taking over the midweek blog next week to share more about himself and his experience with DC College Counseling, so keep an eye out for that. He is excited to talk with both prospective and current clients about the DCCC process and the college transition, so don’t hesitate reach out to him with any questions or words of welcome!

Lastly, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to attend a Zoom on Thursday morning with admissions officers from Brandeis, University of Rochester, Case Western and our own neighbor across the Potomac, George Washington. Shannon and I have both been attending a ton of these sessions lately, but I really enjoyed this one in particular. Here are some takeaways I thought were interesting:

• One of the schools mentioned that they look at actual interactions within prospective student online chats in order to determine demonstrated interest. So if you think that just signing into the chat is enough, think again! Make sure to come up with some well thought-out questions that show that you have done your research.

• On that note, another school’s representative noted, “Before you demonstrate interest, you have to develop interest.” So obvious, but at the same time so wise! His point was that showing up on campus once to check off a box isn’t enough. Take your time, read your emails, do your research, maybe start a dialogue, and THEN start to demonstrate interest if you authentically have it - whether that involves showing up on campus or not.

• Several of the schools reported some interesting observations on waitlist activity that may lead to more waitlist movement later in the summer than ever before. These fascinated me.

  • The numbers are not in alignment between the number of accepted students nationwide and the number of deposits that schools have received from the students. So there is a theory that many students have actually double OR TRIPLE (omg!) deposited this year… (like we have said, this an absolutely terrible idea). And if that’s what’s going on, we’re going to see a ton of activity right around the time when tuition payments are due. At some schools, that’s just two weeks before the start of the semester.

  • Many enrollment management offices are concerned about the travel bans in place with foreign countries and the impact that this could have on international student visas. These students were accepted and have enrolled, but if their visas don’t come through, there are going to be a lot of spots opening up at the end of the summer as a result. When Shannon and I were talking about this yesterday, she made a particularly insightful comment about how waitlisted students who didn’t apply for financial aid are the ones who will really see a huge benefit from this. This is because international students are nearly always full-pay and most schools won’t replace a full-pay student with one that has financial need, so I think she’s absolutely correct. And this, my friends, is why you don’t apply for financial aid just to apply!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: May 7

Congratulations to all of the seniors who sent in their deposits last weekend - we are so proud of you!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

REMOTE WORK CONTINUES AT MANY COLLEGES

With all the focus on whether or not students and faculty can safely interact in-person on campus, many people have overlooked the other major population on college campuses - staff! At some universities, staff are overwhelmingly in favor of continuing to work remotely. At Duke, for example, three-quarters of staff want to work remotely three to five days per week. Colleges and universities, which often pay less in salary than private companies, are considering remote work as a potential benefit to attract top employees. Georgetown, for example, is planning to indicate in job descriptions going forward which positions can be done remotely. It will be interesting to see how colleges, especially those with a high value on a residential campus community, respond to the increasing push for remote work. 

CORNELL ROCK CLIMBING CLASS CAUSES CONTROVERSY

Cornell’s spring BIPOC Rock Climbing course has caused some outrage from those who see this type of course offerings as in violation of Title IV, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or national origin in education programs. Cornell says that all students on campus have access to rich opportunities, and that this course is intended for students who are traditionally underrepresented in the sport of rock climbing. 

CHOOSING A COLLEGE

Decision Day has passed, but for juniors who are still working on putting together a college list, we recommend giving this Forbes article a read - a professor and parent of a college senior provides some interesting considerations as you think about which college would be the best fit for you! We want to emphasize:

“There are amazing universities across the spectrum. Pick one that fits individual needs not ‘name’ or ‘reputation’ metrics alone.”

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Several great articles this week that focus on equity in the college admissions process. This one from the Atlantic is a must-read! It delves deeper into the issues referenced in the above quote, discussing the chicken-or-the-egg relationship between college admissions, elitism and social status.

“Today, schooling is how elites secure income and pass their privilege down to their children. The U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges Rankings are our Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage. And it is a truth universally acknowledged,” it reads, in a satirical take on the first line of Pride and Prejudice, “that elite parents, in possession of excellent jobs, want to get their kids into college.”

Can’t argue with that, and some of the statistics mentioned in the piece were staggering, including a study quoted by Ron Lieber which found that “nearly 50 percent of America’s corporate leaders, 60 percent of its financial leaders, and 50 percent of its highest government officials attended only 12 universities.” In this type of landscape, it’s not surprising that many students and families feel so much pressure to keep rankings at the forefront of their college search.

Varsity Blues demonstrated the dangers that arise when students and families become hyper-focused on admission to a big-name school, but schools also have issues with this system, going as far as to hire expensive “rankings consultants” to help them increase their ranking (or even, as with the Temple University business school dean we discussed two weeks ago, falsifying the numbers to beat the ranking system!). 

And we recognize that the role of private college consulting companies is often considered alongside these considerations, as discussed in this Yale Daily News article. Here at DC College Counseling, we pride ourselves in working hard to discover students’ true passions and best-fit schools, rather than focusing on the rankings alone, but we recognize that not all students and families are able to afford our services (though, keep an eye out for an exciting announcement about that coming your way soon!).

However, we believe that students and families deserve robust support during this challenging time, and that school counselors do not always have enough resources to be able to provide that support to each student. We are proud to be part of the educational support network that our clients have built! We are educators first, and that is the attitude that we want to bring to all of our students and families. This is a nuanced article with a lot of information about the work that independent counselors do, for those looking for more information about these considerations.

Speaking of equity and rankings, I am always excited to read work from Angel Perez, CEO of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling. In his most recent article, he explores the issues driving people away from the admissions profession. This is a tension that so many admissions officers experience (including Shannon and I!) - entering the profession with the goal of helping young people get a great education. Angel offers several different ideas for colleges to step away from a focus on the bottom line, like diversifying revenue streams, so admissions and enrollment professionals don’t feel that pressure to meet the budget, and creating a more flexible culture in higher education as a whole. 

Jeff Selingo, in a LinkedIn article this week, also offered some ideas for how higher education can view emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity for a reset. Some changes include:

• Students watching pre-recorded lectures at home, but using class time for discussions and group work. 

• Changes in grading, particularly grades based on participation, given the challenges that students and teachers faced with this issue during online learning. 

• More flexibility for students with class assignments, including major exams and papers, after a year that has required professors to become a lot more comfortable with flexibility! 

• An emphasis on human connection and campus community - something college students have really missed this past year. 

Jeff’s article also gives some more interesting insight into test optional admissions this cycle. We’ve written before about how it does seem that testing had some effect on admissions this year, and this is particularly true in STEM subjects - students applying for STEM majors were much more advantaged by submitting test scores than those who applied for majors in the humanities or social sciences. At schools like Emory, Colgate, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt, students who submitted test scores were more likely to be admitted than those who did not - so if you have the opportunity to take a test this cycle, take advantage of it! You can always decide whether or not to submit the scores later. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are so impressed with the determination and perseverance of our juniors, who continue to finish up their beautiful Common ApplicationⓇ essays as they juggle school work and preparing for AP exams, which started this week at many schools! 

We’ve also had several strategy sessions with younger students who are planning ahead, and as we tell them, this is the perfect time to start thinking about your four-year plan for high school and how the next four years can help you develop your passions.

Lastly, we’ve been busy getting ready for the newest member of our team.. our summer intern and former student, Tyler! A future entrepreneur himself, Tyler will be spending the summer with us learning about what it’s like to run a small business. You’ll hear from him periodically with his perspective on a variety of different topics: the college search and admissions process, the transition from high school to college, attending college during Covid, and more!

Finally, Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

If you’re tired of reminding everyone about everything and carrying the burden of the mental load - the “mostly invisible combination of anxiety and planning that is part of parenting,” (a) I can relate and (b) our team can help! Book a Meet & Greet and get the college admissions-related reminders, worrying and stress off your plate!

Now can someone please invent a way to outsource reminders about keeping kids’ hands off the walls?! My four-year-old son and I will be your first clients :) Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 30

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

MORE COLLEGES REQUIRE VACCINATIONS IN THE FALL

Over 100 colleges and universities will require COVID-19 vaccinations for students this fall, with Emory, Wesleyan, Stanford, and others announcing that they will require vaccines. Colleges are still dealing with outbreaks of coronavirus, even as students are eligible to get vaccinated this spring. While many of the schools requiring vaccines are private, some public schools are requiring them as well - including the University of Maryland system. Other schools, like Baylor, are not requiring vaccinations, but are allowing vaccinated students to skip mandatory COVID-19 testing, creating an incentive for students to get vaccinated. The University of Wyoming is taking incentives a step further - vaccinated students will be entered into weekly prize drawings, and staff will receive an extra day off! 

PRIVATE SCHOLARSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE

I think it is hard for many students and families to realize how many scholarships are out there! Even for students who did not receive merit aid from their college of choice, there are still private options to apply for this spring and summer. Check out any local community groups you belong to, as well as any groups for your particular academic interest - there is a lot of money that you could find! Shannon even applied for a scholarship for tall students when she was going to college. As the article states:

“Do you love asparagus? There’s a scholarship for that. Are you left-handed? There’s a scholarship for that.” 

So do your research!

BIDEN PROPOSES FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION FOR ALL

One of the components of President Biden’s $1.8 trillion (ouch) American Families Plan involves free community college for all Americans - regardless of income. While I am NOT a fan of increased government spending in general, I really do like this idea. I’ve written about this before, but I have always found it sort of puzzling that more families in our area do not consider community college to be a viable plan for their students. I get that most of us are hoping for a traditional college experience for our children, but you truly cannot beat NOVA’s guaranteed admissions agreements. Yes - guaranteed! You will automatically get a spot at the University of Virginia and other great schools if you spend your first two years at NOVA, take certain classes and achieve a 3.4 GPA or higher. That’s pretty incredible when you consider what it takes to get into UVa these days. And I haven’t even gotten into the cost savings! For a student who doesn’t mind sticking around for two more years, this could really be a path worth considering. Remember, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We’ve heard a lot about artificial intelligence in the last several years - how it might affect jobs and even everyday tasks. But higher education is not immune from AI, and many schools are increasingly relying on the technology to do everything from emailing students to grading assignments. Algorithms have even worked their way into admissions, raising questions about bias if we have programs, rather than humans, evaluating students. NYU, for example, uses a program to determine students’ interest in the school based on how they interact with the school’s website and respond to its messages. Georgia Tech pioneered a chat bot, not only to answer questions from admitted students, but to serve as a TA, answering questions about course material. We will have to wait and see if these technologies become more prevalent in making big decisions!

From a do-it-yourself graduation at the University of Tampa to arrivals in shifts at Vanderbilt and Northwestern, colleges and universities throughout the country are taking all kinds of approaches to graduation ceremonies this year. This New York Times piece details the various options, along with the frustration that the students and parents feel about the situation.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are so excited for all of our seniors who have sent in deposits, and have been busy talking through a few last-minute decisions over the past few days! Congratulations to everyone for such phenomenal success in such a difficult year. We are so proud of you!

We also passed a fun milestone - our first junior is 100% done with her main college essay, and we have about ten more right behind her in the final editing stage! Our students go through a very extensive soup-to-nuts process to make sure that their work is “17-year-old-perfect” and represents their best selves. It’s so nice for them to have this huge accomplishment out of the way and finished early.

For juniors looking for a weekend activity, we recommend attending NACAC’s Virtual College Fair, including live and recorded sessions from over 600 colleges - a great way to get an overview of many different institutions. 

Enjoy the sun this weekend and be careful out there in the wind today! I just heard from friends that a tornado hit Great Falls?! Yikes! No clue if that’s true but I sure hope everyone is safe!

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Weekly Update: April 23

Happy Earth Week! Don’t forget to check out our blog from earlier this week about some of the greenest colleges in the country if you are hoping to be eco-focused all year round.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

WEST POINT CHEATING SCANDAL

Back in 2020, West Point experienced its largest cheating scandal in decades, when over 70 cadets were accused of cheating on a calculus exam. 55 of the students who confessed to cheating were enrolled in the academy’s “second chance” program, which provides rehabilitation for cadets who break the rules. Now, the academy is announcing plans to scrap the second chance program, in an effort to crack down on cheating in the future. 

ACT SUPERSCORING

ACT has rolled out an option that allows students to submit their own ACT-generated superscore to colleges instead of sending multiple score reports and letting schools calculate, which has always been the process in the past. The concept is a good one, but in practice it’s been very confusing. Compass Prep did a great job of putting together a guide for students who are interested in sending ACT-generated superstores.  

HIGHLY UNUSUAL WAITLIST ACTIVITY

As I posted on social media earlier this week, we’ve started seeing waitlist movement already. For context, it’s EXTREMELY rare to see waitlist activity before the reply deadline of May 1, because it doesn’t make sense to start accepting students from the waitlist until all of the admitted students have responded and schools can determine how many spots remain. So this was either part of the overall enrollment management strategy, which is very possible in such a conservative year, or these schools are trending very, very poorly with their yield, which is also possible. Either way, the fact that this is happening so early means that any expressions of demonstrated interest, including LOCIs, need to happen immediately! The schools that have already turned to the waitlist include NYU, Barnard, Lehigh, SMU, Virginia Tech, JMU, and many more!

NEW BOOK OUT: YOUR TURN: HOW TO BE AN ADULT

This is a follow-up to one of our long-time favorites, How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success. The author, Julie Lythcott-Haims, is the former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford and is so spot-on in so many ways. Truly, every parent should read the first book if they haven't already, and we're willing to bet that the new student version is just as great. Although if you are one of our graduating seniors or transfers, don’t buy it… a copy may be coming your way in the future! :)

You can get a sneak peak from Julie's famous Ted Talk on raising successful kids without over-parenting, as well as her recent NPR interview. Julie's experience with her own son really resonated with us, because we see this all the time: 

"He got a diagnosis of ADHD and anxiety when he was in the fourth grade... And I think in hindsight, my husband and I didn't quite understand what that meant. He seemed to be so smart and capable and kind and lovely and had good friends and was doing just fine …. [but] he really got into a downward spiral when he got to college. When the scaffolding of home and high school was taken away, this kid began to really struggle."

For many students, the most difficult part of the transition to college is learning how to manage their time - they see a lot more white space on the calendar, but really, that means that they have to figure out their own schedule and that can be incredibly difficult for students used to the structure of high school.

These are exactly the kind of skills that we teach students through academic coaching, which is a great idea for high school and college students alike who need a little extra help developing the executive functioning skills that will set them up for success! Interested in learning more? Book an academic coaching Meet & Greet!

FIRST ANNUAL MARYLAND DAY

If you are looking for a fun virtual activity for young students, check out the University of Maryland’s first virtual Maryland Day on Saturday, April 24! Sessions include “Fun Science for Kids,” “Build a Better Lemonade Stand,” “Dance and Movement,” “Engineering is Awesome!” and more! 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The lack of standardized testing this cycle, along with a nationwide focus on social justice, has enabled colleges and universities to welcome their most diverse classes ever. Relying on standardized testing often works to the advantage of more affluent families, who can afford tutoring and test prep, so the removal of the emphasis on standardized tests worked to level the admissions playing field this year. Last year, 77% of students reported test scores with their applications - this year, that number was only 46%. We are likely to see similar numbers this cycle, as many schools remain test optional for the Class of 2022. 

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that we take US News ratings with… a few grains of salt. But many students and families use rankings to consider their college choices, and in fact rankings do become more important for graduate schools like business and law school (as opposed to undergraduate programs, where rankings truly don’t provide much useful information).

The pressure placed on schools to retain their place in the rankings was brought to life this week when the former dean of Temple University’s business school was federally charged with fraud for falsifying information to ensure that the school would appear at the top of the US News list. This scheme doubled Temple’s enrollment for MBA programs, which rose from #28 on the list to #1 within two years. This just goes to show that US News does not audit the data that schools send in for rankings - and the rankings system may be even more precarious than we thought! 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon and I both attended an great discussion on Clubhouse this week called “What the Heck Just Happened?” - funny, right? But it’s a completely accurate description of the reactions we’ve seen from counselors after this “hectic and insane” admissions cycle! Everyone in attendance emphasized the need for a balanced, conservative college list, given the current upheaval (which is likely to continue for at least the next several years).

My colleague Joyce Wong, who serves with me on the Independent Educational Consultants Association’s Business Practices committee, is a prominent consultant in the Bay Area. I couldn’t agree more with how she summed up the list-making process:

“More than ever it is so important to have a balanced list… I don’t think our parents fully understand what unpredictability means. There is really no formula for guaranteed admissions and that’s a [mindset] that is hard to break.”

She’s completely right - this really is a mindset issue. This is not the college admissions process of a generation ago, a decade ago, or even a year ago - so it’s been a tough season for many students and families that didn’t know what to expect and didn’t have enough options spanning a wide range of selectivity.

However, that does not mean that there aren’t things you can do to help make your application as strong as possible. We keep reminding students that even with their activities severely limited by the pandemic, they can still include the passions they’ve taken on during their time at home - baking bread, learning to code, studying aquatic animals - there are so many things that students can do now to show colleges their drive and passion. Bob Carlton, another seasoned consultant who chairs the committee on which Joyce and I serve, noted:

“Personal stories seemed to be much more significant - their ability to find their personal story and their impact [for the] common good - how they are helping with an issue that they care about in society or in their neighborhood.”

Even with the crazy and unpredictable admissions cycle, we are so relieved to have a lot of happy students who followed our advice and made smart, strategic decisions. During this past week, we started to hear from transfer applicants and I have to say - these decisions on the whole are coming in much better than I expected! We LOVE to get emails like this one, which came from one of our favorite students last night:

I mean, how can you not read an email like that and want to jump up and down?! #lovethisjob

And for our seniors who are still trying to make their final college decisions, check out our blog post from earlier this week on choosing your college - we know it can be stressful to make this decision, but you have everything you need, and you can have a fulfilling college experience at whichever school you choose!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 16

Another Friday, another weekly update!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT DOWN 25%

In our world, it seems like college is all students are thinking about - we’ve talked about institutions dealing with huge application increases, students applying to more schools than ever before, and historic numbers of waitlisted applicants. But when you focus on the small slice of selective colleges (a tiny fraction of all the higher education institutions in the US!), you can sometimes miss the bigger picture. According to one study, the pandemic has led to a 25% drop in college enrollment - that is a huge number! Many students were forced to postpone college due to financial hardship from the pandemic, and these students are significantly less likely to attend college at all after putting it off. Community colleges, which educate half of the students who eventually obtain bachelor’s degrees in the US, saw on average a 10% drop in enrollment.  

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES CONTINUE TO REQUIRE COVID VACCINATION

Since Rutgers University announced that they would require the COVID-19 vaccine for students to return to campus in the fall, over a dozen other colleges have followed suit. The list includes highly selective institutions like Cornell, Brown, and Northeastern. While these requirements have seen some legal pushback, for now it is legal for these colleges and universities to require vaccination in order to help the community develop herd immunity.

FCPS EVENTS THIS SPRING

FCPS and APS’s virtual career fair is starting next Monday, April 19. This is a great opportunity for high school students to learn more about internship opportunities, as well as take part in mock interviews and resume workshops to prepare them to apply for summer jobs and internships!

(And if you’re still looking for the right summer opportunity? Don’t forget to check out our Summer Opportunities Database - we add new listings every week. Future psychology or education majors should definitely check out the special position I shared on our facebook page yesterday. Not only is it well paid, it would look amazing on applications and you’d be helping out a really wonderful family and incredibly sweet little girl!)

Back to virtual events - parents may be interested in FCPS’s annual Special Education Conference this Saturday, April 17, to learn more and talk with other parents about supporting students through hybrid learning and the slow emergence from the pandemic.

NCAA EXTENDS STANDARDIZED TESTING POLICY

As we’ve seen more and more schools announce that they will be test-optional this cycle, there has always been that important caveat - not for hopeful DI and DII athletes. But the NCAA finally announced this week that it will extend its test optional policy for the Class of 2022. Yay! The NCAA is convening a task force this spring to discuss their testing policy moving forward.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We found this article that emphasizes the “specialist approach” to parenting really interesting! The author is right that many people who are exceptional in their fields start honing their skills at an early age. Does that mean that you should have your six-year-old specializing in piano and quitting the soccer team? We’re not quite sure if it works that way, but we’re confident that it works that way in the college process!

Remember: the well-rounded students of earlier generations are out, and colleges now want to see depth, rather than breadth, from students who know*** what they want to pursue and demonstrate their passion through their course selections, summer plans, and extracurricular activities throughout high school. If you are a high school student looking to maximize your college admissions chances, specialize!

***Totally fine to change your mind. We all do. But have a plan going in!

TIME published an article this week about the impact of climate change on higher education. Particularly, the number of majors that address climate change has expanded from just environmental science to architecture, engineering, business, and more! Interested in studying at a college that emphasizes environmental issues? Check back next week for our Earth Day blog post spotlighting some of the greenest colleges in the country!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon did a lot of different sessions this week, including one with the Common Application to collect data about 2020-2021 college admissions cycle. For our post-game assessment of the data and some key takeaways, check out our post from earlier this week.

We have been getting a lot of questions this week about double-depositing. If my student hasn’t decided where she wants to go, can we put down a deposit at two different schools until we have a chance to visit in person this summer? The answer is a resounding NO! Colleges share lists of students who have deposited, so they will know if your student has deposited at more than one school. This will likely result in both admissions offers being rescinded. It is absolutely not worth the risk! And with the length of waitlists this cycle, it is also unfair to other students who may be waiting on one of those spots at their dream school.

Of course, it has long been considered acceptable (in fact, encouraged!) for students to put down a deposit at one school while they are on the waitlist at another - or on multiple waitlists. If admitted from the waitlist, the student simply has to withdraw from the first school. Make sure to read the fine print, though, because we mentioned a very strange example earlier in the week with a school that had a rather unorthodox waitlist requirement.

And today, we heard about a school that required a student to accept the offer before technically receiving it. How does that work, you ask? We were wondering the same! The school required the student and his parent to sign a binding statement promising to enroll if admitted from the waitlist. Sort of like early decision, waitlist edition? And then he got in ten minutes later. I swear this year gets crazier and crazier..

All of the upheaval has led to a lot of questions from current seniors who are looking for help with waitlist strategy, decision appeals, or just deciding between college options when many schools still aren’t open for in-person tours. So, by popular demand, we are introducing a one-time Strategy Session for Class of 2021 seniors who need help navigating their post-decision landscape.

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 9

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to our students who received the last of their RD decisions this week - you did it!!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

LAST ROUND OF DECISIONS IS IN

After the Ivy League’s delayed release date of April 6 and Stanford’s April 7 release, all decisions are finally OUT! This has been a particularly difficult admissions cycle, as we’ve now said a million times, but you can see the hard facts on College Kickstart’s admissions results list. Those are some tough numbers! Regardless of the decisions you received, I want to be able to celebrate, commiserate, or strategize with you, so if you are a current client - let me know how you’re doing!

WAITLIST NUMBERS EXPLODE THIS CYCLE

This has been an extraordinary year for waitlists - the record numbers of applicants, combined with test-optional admissions and schools’ concern for yield numbers, have led to extensive waitlists and a lot of uncertainty. The Washington Post quoted UVa’s Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts, who reflected: “I’m not sure I’ve ever gone into a summer so uncertain about what is going to happen.” Well said - same here!

If you are one of the students who received a waitlist decision, check out our blog post about handling difficult decisions - and get to work on that LOCI (unless you’re waitlisted at UVa - they don’t want these letters)! Need help with your letter of continued interest? Book an appointment with us and we can walk you through it. 

TOURS AND INFO SESSIONS RESUME

Many schools have brought back some form of on-campus tour, and more than a few have brought back info sessions or one-on-one meetings with admissions counselors as well. This is great news for Class of 2021 students trying to make a decision before May 1 as well as Class of 2022 students who are still putting together their college lists. That said, visit options are changing all the time, so make sure to check your schools of interest before booking those summer trips!

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY ACCIDENTALLY ADMITS 500,000 STUDENTS

It does seem like every year we hear about some unfortunate admissions errors! The University of Kentucky sent acceptance emails to 500,000 high school seniors for its selective College of Health Sciences program, which typically admits only 35-40 students per year. Luckily, most of the students who received the email were not interested in the program - and had not even applied to the university! So while this was a big error, it doesn’t seem like there will be too many disappointed students once everything is cleared up. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The miniscule admissions rates at top colleges this cycle are prompting a lot of thoughts about how to expand the number of students who are able to benefit from an education at an elite school. Should Harvard admit more students? Should Stanford create a second campus? And here’s my biggest question - would Harvard and Stanford even be as attractive to applicants if they weren’t as selective? While some of these ideas might drop the schools a rank or two in U.S. News, it does seem like a good trade-off for expanded access. We’ll have to wait and see whether this incredibly selective admissions cycle has any real impact for Ivy League schools in the long-term future. 

We are only beginning to understand some of the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. One seems to be a decrease in young adults interested in becoming teachers. Teaching as a profession has been upended this year, and as a result, teaching programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level are seeing a drop in enrollment, while applications for organizations like Teach for America are also down. On the other side, attrition of teachers has increased with all of the uncertainty the profession has seen this year. This is just the latest decline in an industry that has been slowly losing candidates since 2006, and we’ll be watching to see whether there is a rebound from this latest drop.

You may have heard this week about the absolute chaos at Notre Dame Law School. Students were warned via email that they needed to deposit before the deposit limit was reached, or they would be unable to secure their spot. In just six hours, Notre Dame Law filled its class and all admitted students who wanted to consider other options, were unable to pay immediately, or just didn’t check their email were moved to the waitlist. This situation clearly disadvantaged students who did not have the money to deposit immediately, as well as those who did not have reliable internet access or work during the day. 

This instance of inequity in the admissions process is just an indication of a larger underlying problem. With everyone in our industry occupied with COVID-19 in 2020, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling slipped a major change under the radar because of pressure from the DOJ: they replaced the required "Code of Ethics and Professional Practices" with the optional "Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission." The situation at Notre Dame may just represent the beginning of what’s to come, now that less regulation exists in the admissions space.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I’m coming at you from Day 2 of a spontaneous road trip back from Florida on I-95. We had plane tickets and decided to drive at the last minute so my daughter wouldn’t have to quarantine for a week. I have seen a lot of teenagers in college gear at rest stops, which makes me so happy! Although - pro tip, don’t go crazy with the sweatshirts until you have an acceptance letter in hand next year!! ;)

Still not sure what to do this summer? Many of our students have reported great experiences at Cornell’s Precollege Summer Program, which will be holding an information session next Wednesday, April 14 at 8:00 pm. The application deadline is May 17, so interested students still have plenty of time to get an application in (or book a session with us for some help!). 

Closer to home, JumpStart NOVA is providing graduating seniors with the opportunity to take two free courses at NOVA this summer and get ahead on their general education requirements. Interested students should apply by April 30. And if neither of these options work for you, check out the summer college courses list on our Summer Opportunities Database for some more ideas! 

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 1

We will be closed tomorrow for Good Friday, but don’t worry - we’d never leave you hanging on the weekly update! Here it is a day early..

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

PANDEMIC IMPACT ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

There is no getting around the fact that the transition to college can be difficult for many students. This is often the first time that students live away from home, and the increased independence can also sometimes feel like the loss of the support system that they’ve had throughout high school. While colleges try to make mental health resources easily available to all students, mental health on college campuses has been a big concern in recent years, and is only increasing with the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Make sure to check in with your new college students this fall, even if they are still learning from home!

BROWN UNIVERSITY VOTES FOR REPARATIONS

Over 2,000 undergraduate students at Brown voted last week on the question of whether students who are descended from enslaved people should receive preference in the admissions and financial aid process. Over 80% of students voted yes. While the vote does not directly impact the school’s policies, we will be watching to see what the administration does in light of this overwhelming support for reparations from students.  

STUDENT ATHLETES TRANSFER IN RECORD NUMBERS

Why have college coaches and sports journalists been glued to the NCAA’s transfer portal this cycle? The portal, which lists student athletes looking to transfer, is not new - it debuted in 2018. But what is new is the potential change in the NCAA transfer rule. Up until now, athletes in certain sports like football and basketball were required to sit out for a season as a penalty for transferring schools. But now, the NCAA is scheduled to vote on a change to the rule that would enable these students to transfer once without penalty. The vote was originally scheduled for January, with the new rule taking effect in August 2021. Though the vote has been pushed back, students and coaches anticipate that this new transfer rule will still apply to the 2021-2022 school year - and as a result, we may see a LOT of transfer movement from student athletes. 

WATCH OUT FOR FAKE COLLEGES THIS APRIL FOOLS’ DAY

Have you heard of the Southern Rhode Island Institute of the Arts? Us either, because it doesn’t exist! Some high school seniors blew off steam during this more-stressful-than-usual admissions season by creating a fake university, complete with a website, mascot (the soft-shell crab), and emotional admissions acceptance videos. Hopefully, “SRIIOTA” creates a bit of fun for other students as well! 

IMPORTANT VACCINE DEVELOPMENTS FOR ADOLESCENTS

Lots of great news this week on the vaccine front! First, the Pfizer vaccine was found to be 100% (WOW!) effective in adolescents ages 12-15 - and no major side effects occurred. According to the New York Times, middle and high school students may be able to be vaccinated by the end of the summer, followed by elementary students.

For our sophomores through seniors, some very promising news out of Gov. Northam’s office today - all individuals ages 16+ will be eligible to register for the vaccine later this month! Shannon and I actually just wrapped up a meeting in which we were discussing our own reopening plans. Right now it looks like our clients prioritize having in-person essay coaching meetings vs. in-person college counseling meetings, so we plan to start with those this summer with our vaccinated students as we begin the transition back into a new normal. We’ll be in touch with more information for our Class of 2022 families over the coming month.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The pandemic has made boarding school seem like a very attractive option for many parents and students. For students unable to attend classes in person in their local schools, boarding school provided the opportunity for face-to-face learning. Boarding schools, like selective colleges, have seen a rise in applications this cycle as students and families look for a chance to get “back to normal” in a new environment. 

We have a lot of personal and professional boarding school experience here in our office: in addition to working with a lot of boarding school clients (both in terms of admissions and exmissions), clients who have seen the banner over my desk know my Choate pride! What you may not know is that Shannon is also a boarding school alum - she graduated from Andover, where she also gave admissions interviews and evaluated candidates for admission. And Staci also has a substantial amount of experience teaching and working at boarding schools!

If you are considering a switch for your student during this difficult time, book a strategy session with us and we can help you think through your options and the boarding school application process. For some students, repeating junior year or pursuing a post-graduate year can be the right choice on the journey towards college - particularly if athletic recruitment is involved.

And if you’re just plain interested in what boarding school life is like, add All Girls: A Novel to your summer reading list. E! Online noted, "If Gossip Girl meets Curtis Sittenfield sounds like your jam then All Girls is extremely your jam. [E]ngrossing.” Gossip Girl and Curtis Sittenfeld are very much my jam and I can attest that it was a page-turner for sure - but it went deeper than that. It led me to reflect upon issues of consent and institutional betrayal, along with the anxiety, pressure, and expectations that are so present in the lives of teenage girls. If UVA keeps their long-time Arts & Sciences essay prompt for the upcoming application cycle, this book could lead to a very compelling response.

On Choate’s campus in Fall 2019 - the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Many students come to us looking to pursue business-related careers, and investment banking is a big one. But this passion may have dimmed this week in light of multiple reports from young Goldman Sachs analysts about the dangerous workplace culture at high-level firms. As cultural norms shift, more young people become much more interested in work-life balance and a healthy mindset than making a lot of money - and larger firms may find that their work cultures have to keep up.  

There have been a lot of waitlist-related blog posts this year because the uncertainty relating to COVID  made the current admissions cycle the unofficial "cycle of the waitlist" in highly selective admissions. I'm actually going to take this opportunity to proactively share a piece with which I do NOT fully agree and I think should be read with some caution, especially because it's on a very popular admissions blog that I normally love and recommend to families all the time. 

In The Waitlist. Why?!, Georgia Tech's Rick Clark shares some very helpful background about waitlists, including why they are needed and how they work. He's spot on about a lot of this, including the need to deposit elsewhere, the slim chances of waitlist admission, and the fact that no amount of begging (or yummy cookies!) will supersede institutional priorities. But I don’t agree that demonstrated interest doesn't matter. In my own experience, time and time again, demonstrated interest actually matters a heck of a lot more in a waitlist situation than at any other point in the admissions cycle. 

This is because admissions officers at many schools are often instructed to recommend waitlist admission for a certain number of students that meet the institutional priority criteria. For example, "Find me 5 female chemical engineering majors from the Mid-Atlantic." In these situations, I cannot emphasize enough that the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the metaphorical grease. That doesn't mean you should go crazy, but you also HAVE to make sure you're "known" - in a good way - to get one of those coveted spots. After all, there might be 100 chemical engineering females on the waitlist from the Mid-Atlantic! 

My experience has been (time and time and time again) that once it gets to this point, demonstrated interest actually outweighs any other factor - because every student on the waitlist has already been deemed to be qualified. At this point, the admissions committee is primarily concerned about yield protection and only wants to admit students who they are sure will accept the offer. While it obviously doesn't work like this at Georgia Tech, it does at the vast majority of other institutions.

Anyway, I’m concerned that families could get the wrong idea from this post. One of my fellow educational consultant buddies was so surprised to see this advice that she actually started a text chain with a group of us about it the other day to make sure that she wasn't losing her mind (we all agreed: she wasn't!).

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Speaking of Rick Clark, Shannon was able to chat with him and several other admissions officers at an Atlanta-area counselors event. Rick mentioned that Georgia Tech has not yet decided whether to be test-optional for next cycle, so we will have to wait on that news for Class of 2022 applicants. The admissions officers at the event also spoke about the “demographic cliff” that they expect to see in the next few years, when 15% fewer students are expected to graduate high school and apply to college. Some schools may admit more students over the next few cycles in an effort to combat this anticipated drop in applications. 

This year, however, applications are up - but attendance may not be. Georgia State is up in applications and admits, but actually down in students who have deposited or registered for orientation. This suggests that while students may have applied to more schools this cycle, they still have to choose just one, and schools like Georgia State are often dependent on waitlist releases from more selective state schools like UGA and Georgia Tech.

Speaking of UGA, this has been an incredibly difficult cycle for students from out of state. We have already told our students who were admitted that they should be very proud of themselves!! For students who are still waiting, UGA plans to release their waitlist by the end of June or early July. 

We have been hearing from several of our students about the grading changes at FCPS this semester, which will let students change F grades to “NM” (no mark) and C or D grades to simply Pass. While some students and families may see these changes and think of them as a positive in the college admissions process, students should assume that any information about grading provided to them is also provided to admissions officers. In other words, colleges will know that an NM grade is on the transcript instead of an F, and that a P likely means the student received a C or D in the class.

The upshot is that these grade changes won’t really make a difference for a student in the college process, and the same is true of grade changes at other high schools. Some students think that if they have a 4.0 GPA, for example, they should select for even A- grades to be reported pass-fail to keep the GPA intact. But keep in mind that colleges may see that “P” in the context of the information provided by the school and wrongly assume that the student’s grade was much lower. If current clients have additional questions about grading options for this year, please feel free to reach out to us. Or better yet, book an academic coaching session to learn about how we can help your student stay on track and out of a grading dilemma!

Lastly, we are so excited to announce the opening of our new and improved Membership Vault! If you are looking for a DIY approach to the college admissions process, the vault is for you. And if you are a current client, you have access to the vault (with easy, one-stop access to all of our many resources) automatically included in your package.

Current clients should check their email for an access code, and others can learn more or register for membership on our Membership Vault page.

Enjoy the weekend, and a very happy Easter to those who will be celebrating! I will be out of the office during the week ahead, but Shannon will be holding down the fort!

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Weekly Update: March 26

We are so excited for this spring weather! We hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the sunshine.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

JMU AND UIUC JOIN THE COMMON APP

YES! We cannot tell you how excited we are to see JMU join the Common Application this cycle, along with the University of Illinois and over 30 other colleges and universities. This addition will definitely make it easier for our students to apply to these schools, and will save students and families a lot of time! Now if UT Austin could hop on board, all my application dreams would come true…

ADMISSIONS STATISTICS CONTINUE TO COME IN

We’ve reached that point in the year where new regular decision releases are happening every day, and as a result, we are starting to see more statistics come in for this year’s admissions cycle. Check out this list for some of the overall admit rates that we’ve seen so far this cycle, including a recently released 19% admit rate from Boston College, 21% from UVA, and a miniscule 4% from MIT! Dean J also released a more detailed breakdown of admissions statistics at UVA that encouraged students not to pay much attention to that 21% average. Instead, students should look to two different admit rates - 28% in state, and 17% out of state - since residency is such a large factor in UVA admissions. 

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY REQUIRES VACCINES IN THE FALL

Rutgers was the first college to announce this week that they will require students to be vaccinated in order to return to campus this fall. Other schools are also considering how they will encourage students to pursue vaccination - Dickinson State in North Dakota will not require vaccinated students to wear masks on campus. UNC, Michigan, and the UC schools have said that they are not currently requiring students to be vaccinated, while Notre Dame has not yet decided on a vaccine mandate. 

Most colleges already require students to have certain vaccinations in order to attend: MMR, meningitis, and Hepatitis B vaccines are commonly mandated before students arrive on campus, so there is some precedent for the Rutgers requirement. We’ll wait and see if other schools follow suit! 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the case of NCAA vs. Allston, which addresses the question of whether lucrative NCAA programs should compensate their players. This article breaks down why the NCAA’s refusal to pay players may be a violation of federal antitrust laws. If the Supreme Court agrees, it could mean a lot of changes for Division I college sports - but it is unlikely that this will happen.

We’ve covered before how colleges are using mass testing to try to keep students safe on campus. But colleges are not bubbles, and even if students are being tested regularly, there is a chance for spread in the surrounding areas. This New York Times article argues that colleges (and other businesses) would benefit from increasing mass testing not only for students and employees, but for the surrounding community as well.

While many schools are opening their doors for the first time, some have already been open for months, and there are definitely some lessons to learn from how they have managed the pandemic. This article has some interesting things that have been discovered from in-person learning, some of which go against conventional wisdom (for instance, that it is actually safer for students to have fully in-person classes rather than hybrid, since students who split their time are exposed to more people). 

We love Coursera! The site offers free online courses in hundreds of subjects, and it is a great way for students to delve deeper into subjects that interest them, as well as displaying an interest in those subjects to colleges. This course on the science of well-being was a popular one for our students this year, and according to this New York Times article, over 3 million people agreed! We really recommend this course not only to students but to anyone who needs to focus more on well-being these days.

We found this Atlantic article interesting because it shows how oftentimes, what parents and even students themselves think is the problem with their learning, the actual problem is even deeper. These parents are concerned that their student isn’t remembering what he learns, but the article suggests that maybe he isn’t actually learning it in the first place - the issue isn’t with memory, but with comprehension. This is a really common issue that can make it difficult for students to find the help that they need with learning in the classroom.

As an academic coach, Shannon sees this kind of confusion all the time! That’s why in her first session with a student, she always takes the time to ask questions and get to the root of the problem. We recently had a parent tell us that she is GREAT at asking the right questions! If you are looking for extra support in the classroom, you can hear more about how we can help by booking an Academic Coaching Meet & Greet.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

2021 is quickly shaping up to be “the year of the waitlist.” A lot of students learned decisions this week and will continue to hear decisions next week. Remember that in a waitlist situation, a letter of continued interest is EXTREMELY important! For tips on writing an effective LOCI, check out our blog post. And if you are a student who received a decision that wasn’t what you hoped it would be, read this! If you are a client who received a waitlist decision, please let us know so that we can support you. If you are not a client but are looking for some extra help, book a strategy session with us!

And adults, we know it is difficult, but the best way to support teenagers during this time is refrain from asking them about decisions. Of course, that doesn’t apply to your own children - but if your group of friends agrees not to ask each other’s children about their decisions, it takes the pressure off for all of them. While we know this is a tough process, and a rejection is absolutely not an indictment of the student, many students still feel shame over a deny decision, so try to respect their space during this part of the process. 

For those who are itching to get out and visit colleges - today is the LAST DAY of Amtrak’s big Northeast Corridor sale on train tickets. This is a fantastic sale that we wanted to let you know about - only $19 for a ticket to NYC! The sale applies to trips taken before September 30, so this is a really great deal for students planning to visit colleges in NYC, Boston, or anywhere in between over the summer. 

Shannon has been really enjoying conversations with students and families during drop-in hours (especially when she gets to talk about her alma mater, William & Mary!). Have a quick question about your course schedule for next year, or having difficulty completing a form or research assignment for us? Drop in on Thursdays between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm and Shannon is happy to chat with you and get you on the right track. 

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: March 19

We hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick’s Day and a great week (and isn’t too tired from springing ahead)!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

REGULAR DECISION RELEASE DATES

It is that time of year again - many of our students are receiving regular decision news from colleges! Fordham, American, Bucknell, Northeastern, and Dickinson were among the colleges to release decisions this week, and we expect to hear from UGA, Swarthmore, UCLA, and Boston College today! For more updates on release dates, we recommend following College Kickstart’s list - it is updated almost every day with new information. 

US CANCELS DEBT FOR STUDENTS OF FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES

For-profit colleges in the US have a long history of taking advantage of students, and the Department of Education has decided to forgive $1 billion in debt for students who have been scammed by these institutions. DOE will also work with these students to improve their credit after carrying loans from these private, for-profit college systems. 

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

CNN released an interview with the Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management at NYU, discussing the impact of the pandemic on college admissions. As we’ve recounted on the blog before, schools that interest our students are seeing huge application increases (17% at UVA; 42% at Harvard; an enormous 103% at Colgate!). 

But community colleges and other institutions are seeing enrollment fall due to COVID-19, and are providing incentives like debt forgiveness and extended application deadlines to encourage students to enroll. Mills College, a private women's college in Oakland, CA, is the latest institution to close its doors due to economic struggles caused by the pandemic.  

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This week saw the release of Netflix’s Operation Varsity Blues on Wednesday - check it out! This interview with one of the creators is also worth reading. Those who made the movie believe that with the notoriety around the scandal, this type of “side door” into college admissions will never open up again. I hope this is the case! We were also excited to see other independent consultants featured in the film… and thought it was funny that we got invitations to some watch parties this week! Maybe we will host one ourselves :)

Schools across the country (and here in Fairfax!) are starting to reopen, and some students are headed back into the classroom for the first time in a year. This New York Times article captures some of the excitement and nerves that students are experiencing during this time, as well as some of the safety measures that schools are taking right now in line with new CDC guidelines on the reopening of schools.

This WSJ article provided more information that aligned with the interview above, including raw numbers. I liked the quotation from Sam Bigelow from the Middlesex School, who disagreed that test-optional admissions is ”tipping the scale on access and equity.” He noted (and I completely, 100% agree with this): “More than anything else it’s just making these applicant pools disturbingly big. It’s by and large just making more kids for them to reject.”

And as our juniors are busy with their college essay work, this piece from the New York Times gives a great sampling of college essays from the Class of 2021. I enjoyed reading about the breakdown of topics submitted:

The coronavirus was the most common theme in the essays submitted to The Times, appearing in 393 essays, more than 40 percent. Next was the value of family, coming up in 351 essays, but often in the context of other issues, like the pandemic and race. Racial justice and protest figured in 342 essays … Family was not the only eternal verity to appear. Love came up in 286 essays; science in 128; art in 110; music in 109; and honor in 32. Personal tragedy also loomed large, with 30 essays about cancer alone….Some students resisted the lure of current events, and wrote quirky essays about captaining a fishing boat on Cape Cod or hosting dinner parties. A few wrote poetry. Perhaps surprisingly, politics and the 2020 election were not of great interest.

All things being equal, I maintain that it’s better to break away from trends in essays if possible. I definitely remember how tedious it felt to read the same type of essay over and over and over again when I worked in admissions. That said, I understand that all things aren’t always equal, and sometimes writing about a popular topic is the right choice for a given applicant.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon attended a series of talks this week for CACHET Counselor Conversations, learning more about many different STEM programs. We are definitely starting to see how different schools will handle testing going forward - as we anticipated, extremely selective private schools and large state schools will be looking to use testing in admissions as soon as possible, while other institutions may leave it behind for good. MIT will be placing “more weight” on APs in admission than in the past in the absence of SAT Subject Tests, while WPI has shifted from a test-optional to a fully test-blind model going forward. Case Western expects to admit more students than last year and see a lot of waitlist movement to make up for a smaller class in the previous cycle, while Purdue does not expect to see much if any waitlist movement for their engineering program. 

One thing we were happy to learn was that this cycle overall, as a Purdue admissions officer put it, was the “most empathetic review” of student applications that many of these schools have ever done, taking into account the impact of COVID-19 on applicants. Want to learn more about the STEM programs who make up CACHET? Check out their Virtual College Fair for students March 29-31. 

If STEM programs aren’t your thing, there are still plenty of upcoming college fairs to check out. Register for the National Catholic College Admission Association fair on March 25, or the Colleges that Change Lives fair on March 23-24. 

Lastly, this blog post would feel incomplete if we did not mention that we were deeply saddened and angered by the events in Georgia this week. We stand in solidarity with our many AAPI clients and the wider Asian community. If you are looking to do more to combat rising anti-Asian violence, we recommend participating in this free bystander intervention training or making a donation to one of the organizations on this list to support Asian communities.

Enjoy your weekend! 

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Weekly Update: March 12

We hope everyone has been enjoying the beautiful weather!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

UMD CONFIRMS TEST OPTIONAL FOR 2022 AND 2023

The University of Maryland is the latest school to announce that admissions will be test-optional for the classes of 2022 and 2023. They specify that students who choose not to submit test scores “will not be disadvantaged” in the admissions process. Living-learning programs and merit scholarships will also be test-optional, though the English proficiency test requirement will remain in place. 

AN INTERESTING SPRING BREAK IDEA

We’ve written before about the variety of plans that colleges and universities have this semester to prevent students from traveling for spring break. From starting in February, to ending in April, to giving students single days off throughout the semester rather than a week-long block, we thought we had seen it all. But UC Davis has a different plan - offering $75 gift cards to local businesses as a “staycation” grant to 2,000 students who agree to stay on campus during spring break. That’s one way to incentivize students to follow CDC guidelines!

TJ ADMISSIONS LAWSUIT 

Last Wednesday, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against Thomas Jefferson High School, alleging that the school’s admissions policies are discriminatory against Asian-American students. This comes after new admissions criteria were put in place for TJ’s incoming class of 2025. These changes include increasing the class size, eliminating the application fee, and no longer requiring teacher recommendations.

This case definitely recalls the affirmative action case against Harvard, as well as those that other Ivy League schools have faced recently. For more of my thoughts on these cases, you can check out my Newsy interview on our Facebook page!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This article by Jeff Selingo examines the future of admissions in light of all of the changes we have seen during the pandemic. One of the things that is most fun (and most challenging!) about this work is that things change all the time, but Jeff thinks that some of the changes will stick. Here is an excerpt from the article: 

"The numbers from this year’s early-decision rounds were reaching high-school seniors just as many of them were applying for regular decision. For a certain set of prospective applicants — namely upper-middle-class and wealthy students — the early numbers seemed to indicate that applying test-optional might be the way into a selective college."

Key word here - SEEMED! Sure, the early numbers seemed that way to applicants, but that’s not necessarily what they actually said. Test-optional admission alone in the absence of other positive attributes wasn't enough to help a typical upper middle class or wealthy applicant gain admission to a selective college. As always, our current clients should speak with us first before deciding whether the test-optional route is the best choice for them, given their applicant profile. 

Quite an article from The Atlantic this week - “Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene.” I was actually interviewed for this piece last summer, though not ultimately quoted. COVID-19 has definitely thrown the major differences between public and private schools into the spotlight this year, especially as schools have decided whether or not to offer in-person instruction. 

It is worth noting, though, that just because more private schools send students to highly selective colleges, that isn’t necessarily about the school - it could be about the student. The sort of highly-motivated, full-pay student who attends an elite private school is often the same type of student who is admitted to an Ivy League school. The article also mentions the endowments at Exeter and Andover without noting that these schools, like Harvard and other Ivy Leagues, are also need-blind, admitting students regardless of demonstrated financial need. 

But it was a funny read nonetheless and I love the author. This was my favorite line:

College admissions is one of the few situations in which rich people are forced to scramble for a scarce resource. What logic had led them to believe that it would help to antagonize the college counselors? Driven mad by the looming prospect of a Williams rejection, they had lost all reason.

Tongue-in-cheek, but also SO TRUE. As I’ve said before, a student’s [school-based] college counselor at school plays an essential role in the admissions process. This is NOT the person to antagonize, trust me!

Bad news for some class of 2021 students from the Wall Street Journal - college wait lists are likely to be longer than ever this year. This is in part because schools, concerned about pandemic yield numbers, have chosen to be conservative with admissions (which may mean that more students are admitted off the waitlist in the end). But it could also be a symptom of the sheer numbers of qualified applicants that applied to highly selective schools, just the latest sign of a crowded playing field. 

This is also a great reminder to NEVER DOUBLE DEPOSIT - not only could it end with two rescinded offers of admission, but you may be taking a spot from another deserving student who won’t be able to attend that college because the school didn’t have an accurate idea of enrollment numbers until it was too late. 

Something else that can lead to rescinded admission: not being careful with your social media use. Check out our blog post from earlier this week, from guest blogger and hiring expert Jayana Garvey, for more tips about keeping your social media in tip-top shape.  

Students might enjoy this list of secrets and surprises from former college admissions officers. There is some great insight here, but keep in mind that some of these come from admissions officers at less selective schools and may not be true about the schools where our students apply. Legacy students certainly aren’t always accepted (though for more on the impact of legacy status, check out this blog post!) We definitely hope that students keep #15 in mind: “One thing that’s really important to know is that at schools with really low acceptance rates, probably 50-60% of the applicants are equally qualified, and only 5-10% will be admitted.” So true! You can only control what you can control - at some point, even the most qualified applicants are relying on luck! 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are really excited to introduce a new offering to past, present and future clients alike - academic coaching! We've proven that breaking down the college admissions process into manageable chunks makes it more successful and less stressful. Now we are officially helping students from ninth grade through graduate school approach their regular academic work in the exact same way! Check out yesterday’s blog post to learn more about this offering and set up a session.

Lastly, I couldn’t finish this without acknowledging the one-year “Covid anniversary.” Exactly a year ago today, March 12, was our last normal day seeing clients in the office. I wish I had something meaningful or insightful to say about the past year, but nothing could come close to capturing the challenges we have all faced. From a business standpoint, though, everything has moved forward so seamlessly and I’m incredibly grateful for that. And we are so close to the finish line now!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: March 5

Happy March - and happy (part-time) BACK TO SCHOOL to our FCPS students! Wow - talk about the longest spring break ever :)

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

TOP 20 MOST EXPENSIVE COLLEGES

The cost of college attendance gets a lot of attention, but the fact is that many schools offer both merit- and need-based aid, so the advertised cost of attendance may only be paid by a fraction of students. A more relevant measure for most students is the average price that students pay for their education, calculated by CTAS Higher Ed Business. The University of Chicago, for example, has the highest cost of attendance at more than $80,000, but most students do not pay this full cost. The “real” most expensive school in the US? Wake Forest, with an average cost of nearly $63,000 per student. 

Three schools near the top of the list - NYU, BU, and USC - have students paying a premium for their locations in major coastal cities. NYU, benefitting from an influx of applications like so many top schools this year, may even shoot to the top of the list as we get more data. 

IECA RELEASES NEW STANDARDS

As we’ve written on the blog before, DC College Counseling may not be the right fit for every student looking to work with an independent counselor. However, if you are a student looking to work with someone outside of your school counselor, make sure you do your due diligence! Shannon and I are both members of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), which means that we are required to uphold certain ethical and professional standards. Anyone can call themselves a counselor - look for outside accreditation and experience so you can be confident in the person that you are trusting to help you with such an important life decision!

The IECA recently released new “We Believe” standards in the wake of the Varsity Blues scandal. We stand behind all of these standards, but our favorite has to be #2: “We believe independent educational consultants should act respectfully, honestly, compassionately, ethically, and professionally with every student.” 

OPERATION VARSITY BLUES ON NETFLIX

Speaking of Varsity Blues, we’re excited to check out the new Operation Varsity Blues movie when it premieres on Netflix on March 17. The movie recreates conversations recorded through FBI wiretaps during the investigation, and it is definitely disturbing to hear some of what went on during this scandal.

RICE INTRODUCES BUSINESS MAJOR

Rice University will be introducing an undergraduate business major this fall! This is really exciting for students who have been interested in the incredible STEM programs at Rice and want to be able to further develop their business skills. And since we have a ton of students every year looking for business programs in the South, we’re glad to have another alternative to recommend! Since the school is trying to fill the major with incoming students and current freshmen, fewer students will be eligible - meaning that a student who is interested in the new major might have a slight admissions advantage at this extremely selective institution.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We try to help our students develop the skills they need for college as they work with us throughout the process, but we know that students need a variety of different levels of support to be successful as they move on to this next step. For parents that have been really involved in supporting their students, it can be challenging to get them ready to work on their own as college students. We found this Atlantic article to give some really helpful strategies for parents to help their students improve executive functioning skills in advance of heading to college. As an executive functioning coach, Shannon definitely agreed with all of the tips in the article! And if you want to learn more about how our process can help your student develop self-advocacy, make sure to book a Meet & Greet with us!

One of the most common questions we’ve received during the pandemic is how students can complete community service or volunteer projects while staying safely distanced. Our Summer Opportunities Database is a great resource for these types of opportunities, but for more ideas, check out this New York Times article about how teenagers managed to volunteer this year despite the new challenges. These students phone banked, organized, tutored, and completed other amazing volunteer projects this year.

Interested in a particular organization or nonprofit but not sure how to start volunteering? Our favorite tip is to reach out to the organization and ask them what their needs are right now. Then, you can create a proposal for volunteer or internship experience that meets those needs. This method demonstrates initiative and also makes the choice to take on a volunteer or intern a no-brainer for these organizations!

We know that it has been difficult for students to feel that they really got to know a college during a virtual tour. All the Zoom videos tend to blur together, and students are savvy enough to know that admissions officers are intentionally presenting an overly positive version of the student experience. This Washington Post article illuminates just one of the student-led virtual tour companies that ask real students, unaffiliated with the admissions office, to reveal their perspectives on their school. Check it out! Some of our other favorite resources for student voices are Niche and Unigo, and we always encourage you to connect with current students or alumni at schools that interest you - if you don’t know someone personally, your high school counselor may be able to connect you to a former student. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

One of the best parts about having Shannon on board in our office is that we can be so much more available to our current clients! Starting next week, we are introducing a month-long pilot of drop-in hours, where current clients can hop into a Zoom meeting to ask Shannon a quick question or provide an update without booking an appointment. Drop-in hours will be from 11:30-1:30 on Thursdays, so parents and students can feel free to pop in during their lunch break for a quick chat with Shannon. This video will show you how to access drop-in hours:

I appeared on Newsy last Friday to discuss the Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard case and the potential implications that the reversal of affirmative action policies could have on the college admissions process. Watch the entire interview on our Facebook page.

And lastly, a really exciting opportunity for FCPS students to pursue a leadership role - serving as Student Representative to the School Board. Current 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students can apply now to represent student interests to the School Board. 

Have a great weekend! 

Weekly Update: February 26

It may be late February but it has felt more like April this week. SUCH a nice treat to have this beautiful weather - we hope all of you were able to get outside and enjoy it!!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

HARVARD ADMISSIONS LAWSUIT REACHES THE SUPREME COURT

Back in 2019, Judge Allison D. Borroughs rejected the argument presented by the “Students for Fair Admissions,” stating that while the Harvard’s admissions process is “not perfect,” the university did meet the constitutional standard for considering race.  She argued that universities need to consider race in college admissions so that they can foster greater diversity, “tolerance, acceptance and understanding that will ultimately make race-conscious admissions obsolete.” The group brought their case to the Supreme Court yesterday.

It’s important to recognize that back in 2003, Sandra Day O’Conner wrote in the majority opinion for Grutter v. Bollinger that race-base admissions was not meant to be permanent:

The Court takes the Law School at its word that it would like nothing better than to find a race-neutral admissions formula and will terminate its use of racial preferences as soon as practicable. The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.

Well, it’s been almost 18 years, so this will be interesting - it has the potential to shake up college admissions in a very big way. Stay tuned for more as we watch it closely!

VIRGINIA TECH EARLY ACTION DECISIONS RELEASED

After we posted our Friday blog last week, Virginia Tech released early action decisions. They had a 35% year over year increase in early action applicants (nearly 30,000 this cycle compared to just over 20,000 last cycle), and decisions revealed that this was a significantly more difficult cycle than we have seen in the past. We also suspect that demonstrated interest may have played a larger role at VT this year, as it appears anecdotally that they may have tried to fill the class with students most likely to attend. Congratulations to all of our seniors who received good news last week!

INFLUX OF APPLICATIONS AT TOP COLLEGES

This pandemic admissions cycle has felt particularly long for many of our students - and for us as well! But one thing that we’ve increasingly noticed as more data is released (and written about again and again) -is that while college applications across the country have dropped, applications at top universities and big state schools have gone way up. That means that most of our students will be experiencing the most competitive admissions cycle in history (not exactly a claim to fame you want, right?). But it also means that smaller mid-tier colleges may be struggling to fill their classes and suffering budget shortfalls.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The Varsity Blues scandal illuminated some of the ethical issues with athletic recruitment at top colleges. This article further considers that relationship, digging into the relationship between Sean Hannity and the tennis coach at Wake Forest, where his son is a senior and varsity tennis player. Though an investigation did not find any illegal actions in this case (unlike Varsity Blues), it still raises some ethical questions and is a great read to help think about where the lines are drawn for NCAA recruitment.

Not exactly an article, but I recommend this Twitter thread for anyone looking to understand a bit more about the trends we’ve been seeing in applications this year, and how school officials are thinking about this admissions cycle.

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education digs into the CSS Profile, one of the most frustrating forms for students and families to submit during the admissions process. About 300 colleges and universities require this form in addition to the FAFSA for students seeking financial aid. For many students and families, this extensive (and confusing!) form can be a serious barrier to entry for institutional grants from top colleges and the article honestly broke my heart to read! The CSS Profile is just one example of the challenges that low-income students have to overcome when applying to college. The pandemic has only exacerbated this challenge, and led to a decrease in applications overall from low-income and first-generation students. If you are struggling with this form, don’t forget that College Access Fairfax provides great free resources and can help!

High Point University is definitely a school that has recently come into the consciousness of many students and families due to its luxury amenities, including a concierge, multiple swimming pools, and an on-campus steakhouse. This article explores some of the wildest amenities at elite colleges, and how schools use luxury as a way to attract wealthy applicants.

Speaking of luxury, there’s no walking on the High Point tour - your tour guide drives you around on a cushy golf cart! I was six months pregnant in the photo above and THRILLED for a break after trudging around Duke, UNC, Wake, and Elon during a very hot July week!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

February has flown by and we are so excited to start reading student essays as they work through the Wow Writing Workshop with our essay coaches. Hearing students’ personal stories is one of the best parts of our job! If you are a Class of 2022 student who has not yet booked your essay coaching meetings, make sure you begin the process by reviewing what’s ahead and scheduling your meetings! (And don’t forget to share your thoughts on in-person services with us!)

Interested in medicine? Check out this STEM workshop tomorrow morning! The office of Rep. Jennifer Wexton is hosting a workshop for high school students from 10:00-11:15 am tomorrow to allow students to hear from medical professionals, researchers, and health policy experts about how the healthcare field has transformed during COVID-19. 

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update: February 19

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm this week!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

ACADEMIC INFLUENCE RANKINGS

A self-described “team of academics and data scientists" at an organization called Academic Influence recently released a brand-new set of rankings that they deem wholly objective and free from outside bias. What are the rankings based on? Influence. The researchers divided the number of influential alumni by the school’s undergraduate population to come up with a term called “Concentrated Influence.”

The rankings allow you to examine a school’s overall influence or even sort by field, which is pretty cool. I thought it was very interesting that they separate alumni field from area of academic study, acknowledging that people are often influential in fields in which they did not earn their degree. Love that! It’s so true. They use the example of Princeton, explaining that it has produced some very influential alumni in the legal field without having a law school.

If you are wondering how a person is deemed to be influential, you are not alone - I was wondering the same thing, but they seem to have a pretty sophisticated process that uses AI.

Check out the rankings here. Most won’t be surprising, but I did find the order to be interesting. For example, NYU is ranked #11 in concentrated influence while Penn is ranked #15 and Caltech is ranked #23. University of Wisconsin-Madison (which I might have called under-rated a few years ago, but I think everyone in our area has caught on by now) comes in at #27 just after Carnegie Mellon at #26, but UVa is #35 and Georgetown is #39. My alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, was ranked #61. Ouch!!

NCAA DEAD PERIOD EXTENDED THROUGH 5/31

Ughhh - again?! I feel so badly for high school athletes going through the recruiting process right now. The NCAA Division I Council announced yet another extension on the in-person recruiting ban that has been in place since last March. Word on the street is that this will be the last extension, but who really knows. It is insane to think by the time this is over, we will be looking at a minimum of fourteen months without official campus visits. I was sharing observations with a few counselors this morning about how coaches really seem to be prioritizing transfers as a result of this extended dead period.

RELEASE OF 2021-2022 COMMON APP ® ESSAY PROMPTS

We covered this earlier in the week, but the Common Application ® finally released the prompts for current juniors (Class of 2022). I’m not a fan of the changes, as I explained, but our whole team is really excited to start the process with our juniors. All current clients should have received an email last night with instructions to begin, followed up by their Wow Writing Workshop login information this morning!

Staci is our Student Success Coach and manages the essay process for each of our students! She’s AMAZING!

Speaking of essays, we have some exciting news to share! One of our all-time favorite coaches, McClain, is going to come back this summer! YAY! We are so excited. She wrote a great guest blog a few years ago about maximizing the high school experience - check it out here. McClain is able to leverage her experience as a teacher, coach, and member of an independent school admission team into her essay coaching, and we’re so fortunate to have her back.

SHAKESPEARE’S BEEN CANCELLED

Boy would this have been welcome news in my life twenty years ago - I hated the mandatory Shakespeare class I had to take as an English major! In any case, some teachers are now refusing to teach Shakespeare or encouraging their students to view his work through a different lens. They are making these decisions on the basis that his work is anti-semitic, misogynistic, homophobic and more. Others are offended by the idea that his work is “universal.” After reading the article, I do vaguely remember writing a paper in college on anti-semitism in The Merchant of Venice. It will be interesting to see if this catches on.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

A New York nonprofit, the National Education Equity Lab, has offered thousands of underprivileged students the opportunity to take for-credit coursework at Ivy League schools during high school. The program began with a 300-student pilot, and has shown that 89% of participants are able to pass the courses, which are graded at the same level as coursework for traditional undergraduates.

This sounds like a fantastic program, and I agree that graded coursework from an Ivy League institution will offer these students another data point in their application materials. But this line from the article made me laugh: “the students’ success has raised questions about how elite university gatekeepers determine college prospects.” Really? Their success raised questions? I think we’ve all had questions on this topic for a little while now :)

On the flip side, and I actually had to read this a few times to make sure I was understanding properly because it sounded so wildly discriminatory to me, the Faculty Senate at Stanford just voted to adopt two policies to de-emphasize wealth in the undergraduate admissions process. It seems like one of the main goals is to help prevent Varsity Blues-type situations with rogue admissions consultants, and I would support that. As the article states, though, close to 70% of students use college admissions counselors - it’s not a service limited to the wealthy. And “surveys to track the distribution of income and wealth levels for parents and undergraduates” seems highly inappropriate in my opinion. I’m honestly shocked that Stanford is publicly sharing their plans to do this. Anyway, it’s yet another reason to skip filling out that FAFSA if you know you won’t qualify for financial aid.

This won’t surprise most of us, but 18-to-29 year olds are having a particularly difficult time struggling with the isolation we’re all experiencing as a result of Covid. I get it - it’s so hard and it’s sad to think about years lost from their lives that they won’t get back. It’s actually my au pair’s 22nd birthday today and when I was writing her card earlier this morning, I was thinking about how most of the time she was 21 - a milestone year - basically disappeared. It is really sad!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon took a much-needed vacation this week and let’s just say I cannot wait for her to come back! :) We are finishing up a number of transfer and grad school applications, in addition to helping some undergraduate clients with honors program applications at their respective schools, and things were very busy!

If you are a current junior client, please don’t forget to take our in-person services questionnaire to help us understand your priorities as we move forward with plans for the spring and summer.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Weekly Update: February 12

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

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS AND DEADLINES

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!). 

Scholarships that have been announced this week include the National Catholic College Admission Association scholarship, which is awarded to 16 randomly selected students who are attending National CCAA member colleges like Boston College, Villanova, or Notre Dame. 

The Cameron Impact Scholars application is also now open - the early deadline for the Class of 2022 to apply for this full-tuition merit scholarship is May 21.

JILL BIDEN PROMISES FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Dr. Biden said on Tuesday that she would work to ensure free access to community colleges and training programs for all students. Those who are local to Northern Virginia are very fortunate to have guaranteed admissions agreements in place between Northern Virginia Community College and over 40 colleges and universities, including William & Mary, GW, Virginia Tech, UVA, and JMU. All students who graduate from NOVA and meet the requirements of the agreement are guaranteed admission to the college of their choice - a great deal for Virginia students! Dr. Biden is an instructor at NOVA.

CHANGES FOR THE CLASS OF 2022

We wrote last week about some of the changes we are seeing to the AP exams, and expect to see even more changes going forward now that the College Board has done away with subject tests. The College Board is offering three administrations of AP tests: the first wave in early May will be in-school only, while the late May and early June test dates will be available in school and at home. Schools, not students, will make the decisions about exam dates and administration methods, so check in with your school for information.

Changes have also been made this cycle to the citizenship section of the Common App. The question about citizenship will now offer different options for international students and undocumented/DACA students. All questions related to geography will now be optional, as will questions about parents and family. Questions about student visas have also been changed. In general, we recommend that students include as much information as possible, even for optional questions, but we encourage clients to reach out to us if you have any questions about your particular situation!

Here’s how the new visa questions will look for international students this cycle.

STUDENTS PROTEST SEXUAL ASSAULT ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES ACROSS THE US

College students at Boston University, Minnesota State, Gettysburg College, and more participated in socially-distanced demonstrations to support survivors and raise awareness of sexual assault on campus. Students argue that schools have deprioritized sexual assault issues amidst the focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.  

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We had hoped that with more college students back on campus this spring, lessons learned from the fall semester would improve safety. But with the new coronavirus variants now spreading, there are already outbreaks at many schools around the country, including Michigan, Berkeley, and Tulane. Some of these outbreaks are linked to the new variants, while others arose because students did not follow quarantine rules upon the return to campus. As we’ve said before, it is not worth the trouble of a disciplinary violation to flout COVID restrictions on campus - you will set yourself up for success by following the rules as closely as you can!

Though we don’t necessarily agree with every single point made in this article from the Wall Street Journal, there were parts of it that definitely resonated with us as interesting as food for thought with the new changes to the SAT and the admissions process this cycle. The author argues that by focusing less on merit and data like grades and test scores in the admissions process, colleges shift their focus from excellence to “mediocrity.” Definitely makes us think about how schools and colleges (and the rest of us!) define excellence for ourselves and our students. 

If you need a feel-good story to counteract all the negative news lately, check out this Washington Post article. It profiles a Houston high school senior who used the money she had saved to attend Barnard College in the fall to pay her family’s rent after her mother lost her job due to the pandemic. This particular story has a happy ending - the student was able to raise the money after her story was featured on Good Morning America - but it is a reminder that during this difficult time, there are a lot of students forced to make challenging financial decisions. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We have been busy discussing how we might reopen in person in our office - we miss seeing all of you! Given the current Phase 3 restrictions for small businesses in Virginia, this would look very different than it has in the past. Of course, students who want to remain fully virtual would still have this option! If you are a Class of 2022 student or family, please fill out our in-person services questionnaire to help us understand your priorities as we move forward. We really want to serve our clients in person, but we also want this to be safe and successful for everyone - it is a tricky balance!

Have you checked out our Summer 2021 Internships Database recently? If not, you might be missing out on some great opportunities! We update this page every week with local and virtual internships and college courses. You can also see information about registration for the virtual Fairfax County teen job fairs coming up next month on March 13 and March 20. Now is the time to get your plans set for this summer! If you are an employer with an internship or job opportunity for high school students, let us know - we would love to feature your posting on our page. 

Enjoy the long weekend!

Weekly Update: February 5

Happy February - we hope everyone enjoyed the snow this week, and it sounds like there’s more ahead!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

UVA EARLY ACTION DECISIONS RELEASED TONIGHT

So many of our Class of 2021 students are on the edge of their seats waiting for UVA early action decisions to come out tonight. Dean J already published the statistics, so you can check those out now - and don’t forget to let us know the results after you check your applicant portals this evening. Here are our initial observations when compared to last year’s statistics:

• The number of EA applications increased, but the year-over-year jump was nowhere near as high as some other peer schools have experienced - it was only about 13% (although I believe it’s closer to 20% when looking at their overall numbers, i.e. not just EA). The percentage of applicants that increased increases were about the same from Virginians and those applying out-of-state.

• On top of the increased number of in-state applicants, less in-state students were accepted this year than last year. This resulted in an acceptance rate drop from 35% to 30% for that applicant group (remember, this reflects the entire state of Virginia and is not meant to be representative of Northern Virginia).

• Interestingly, more out-of-state students were accepted than last year - about 40% more, if my math is correct! Wow. Even after accounting for the increase in applications, the out-of-state EA acceptance rate increased from 15% to 18%.

• Overall, the spread between in-state and out-of-state acceptance rates narrowed substantially, from 20 percentage points to 12. I know the cynics will say that this was an intentional decision meant to increase revenue, but I wonder if it’s more about the fact that UVA is predicting a bigger spread between in-state and out-of-state yields this year than last year? If I had to guess, I would say that’s probably it.

FCPS RETURN TO SCHOOL AND REDISTRICTING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Yes, you’ve read this before, but FCPS began to implement the return to school plan this week, with priority groups returning to school buildings. If the plan continues as scheduled, high school students will be returning to classrooms in early March.  Not five days per week, but something is better than nothing, right?

In other FCPS news, the school board voted last night to redistrict sections of the McLean HS boundary to Langley HS. My neighborhood was one of the ones impacted and I’m really happy about this! While I actually like McLean HS a lot and would have been very happy to send my children there for a variety of reasons, I think split feeders are so hard on the kids and I’m very glad that Colvin Run won’t be one anymore. Split feeder elementary schools, for those who don’t know, are ones that split the class among different middle and/or high schools.

MID-YEAR REPORTS

Our own seniors have already heard from us twice this week on the topic, but it’s important for all seniors to understand that they are responsible for ensuring that their mid-year grades (also known as “senior grades” or “mid-year reports”) reach all colleges on their list with applications still in play. In other words: unless you have been denied from a school, turned the school down, or were specifically informed that the school does not require mid-year grades, you need to make sure that the grades are submitted. Some schools want students to submit these, and most want counselors to submit them. Please check your individual school portals for more information about the individual school requirements and modes of submission, and then contact your school counselor as appropriate.

And if you are one of the unlucky students whose counselor quit this week (no, we aren’t going to name your school, but there’s a bunch of you…) we suggest reaching out to the Director of Student Services at your school until you are re-assigned a new counselor.

COLLEGE BOARD ANNOUNCES NEW AP EXAM FORMAT

After the struggles that many students had last year with the hastily-assembled digital AP exams, it is no surprise that the College Board has reworked the digital exam for this year. Some changes include security features that block students from returning to a question they have already answered or from toggling back and forth between questions. This is very different from the paper AP exam, and important for students to keep in mind as they prepare! 

GOVERNOR NORTHAM RELEASES EXPECTATIONS FOR VIRGINIA SCHOOLS

Governor Northam announced during a press briefing this morning that Virginia schools will be expected to have in-person learning options for students in place by March 15. He also announced a mandate for in-person summer learning options. Summer programs will not be required, but schools are expected to have them in place this summer for students who want to take advantage of them.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The Virginia House passed a bill yesterday that requires public universities, including UVA and William & Mary, to identify and memorialize enslaved people who worked on institutional property. The bill also requires that the schools establish scholarships or economic development programs for individuals or communities with historic connections to slavery. Schools cannot use state funding for these projects, but must use private funds. This process has already begun at many Virginia schools, with William & Mary’s Lemon Project and UVA’s recently completed Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. 

An Indiana University professor wrote in The Atlantic this week about IU’s largely successful response to the coronavirus pandemic. While we’ve heard a lot of news (and featured it here) about the negative impacts of students returning to campus during COVID-19, this article shows how some schools were able to bring students back to campus successfully. IU’s example may offer insights for other schools as well as cities and towns across the country about how to manage the pandemic safely. Other schools, like UC Davis, have also provided important services to keep their communities safe.

This NBC News report provides a lot of useful information about how the merit aid system works at many colleges and universities. Keep in mind that super-selective schools, like Harvard and Stanford, will not offer merit aid at all. But for mid-tier schools, merit aid is an important enrollment management tool, and families should know how the process works.  

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon presented this week at William & Mary’s Center for Gifted Education annual conference. In addition to a session on finding the right college fit, she also spoke with middle school students about academic planning for high school and beyond. We’ve said before that the best money you’ll ever spend on the college admissions process is our one-hour strategy session for 8th grade students - and we stand by it! Starting off on the right foot will ensure that you ultimately begin the active stage of the admissions process in a position of strength, because you won’t be frantically trying to make up for mistakes you didn’t even know you were making.

I discovered Clubhouse this week and got to sit in on part of a session yesterday afternoon between meetings (thanks for hosting, Bob!). I am obsessed! It’s sort of like a cross between twitter, slack, and a podcast, and I love it so far, although I’m still figuring out how the clubs work vs. the chats. Either way, it’s fun to listen in while working at my desk and I highly recommend it!

Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend!