Weekly Update: August 26

We hope our FCPS students had a great first week back at school!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

BIDEN RELEASES DEBT RELIEF PLAN

The new debt relief plan that the White House announced this week will forgive $10,000 of debt for college graduates making less than $125,000 per year, and $20,000 of debt for Pell Grant recipients. For students who are wondering how this plan will affect the loans they take out for college in the future, the plan also lowers the cap on how much of your income can be spent on debt payments - down to 5% of discretionary income, just half of the previous cap of 10%. We will be interested to see how this plan plays out and what the impacts will be on students taking out loans now and in the future.

UT OFFERS TAYLOR SWIFT ENGLISH CLASS

You may remember that we featured the Harry Styles class at Texas State on the blog a few weeks ago, and we’re realizing that Texas is clearly the place to go if you want to study pop stars in college! Now, UT Austin will offer “The Taylor Swift Songbook,” a class that covers poetry techniques in connection with Swift’s lyrics. Even if you aren’t headed to UT, you can keep up with the class and answer Taylor Swift trivia by following @swiftieprof on Instagram. 

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR CLEMSON STUDENTS

Clemson’s Lyceum Scholars Program offers $10,000 scholarships to incoming freshmen from any major. Students who will start at Clemson in Fall 2023 are now eligible to apply for the scholarship, and we recommend that seniors apply as soon as they know they will attend - this is a great opportunity for incoming freshmen to not only receive the scholarship money, but also access to high-level seminars and connections with professors!

IMPACT OF CRIME SURGES ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

Some students at big-city universities are expressing concern about rising crime rates near campus. This is definitely something to keep in mind for students interested in major urban universities (like the University of Chicago and Georgia Tech, both mentioned in the article). Different students and families have different priorities when it comes to safety around campus, so we recommend visiting the campus and surrounding area if at all possible so you can make sure that you feel comfortable on your college campus - after all, it will hopefully be your home for four years! 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

While it is true that a college degree often increases students’ earning potential, this is not always the case. This article explores the colleges and degrees that don’t necessarily provide additional earnings for students, who tend to earn roughly the same amount as high school graduates six years after graduation. While earning potential shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of college choice, it is an important consideration and one to which students and families should pay some attention. 

We’ve gotten some questions from parents recently about whether college admissions is “bouncing back” to pre-COVID experiences, as some other industries have. The short answer is: no! COVID has had a huge impact on higher education, and we honestly doubt that admissions at some schools will ever go back to the way it was pre-COVID. Check out this article from Jeff Selingo for more details on the ways that COVID-19 has changed higher education - and how permanent these changes might be. 

Finally, we want to share a tip for students who are heading off to college this fall (many of you are already there!) - start networking! It isn’t too early to be thinking about your career and future after college, and now is a great time to lay the groundwork for your next steps. If you are wondering how to start networking as a freshman, check out this article for some practical suggestions. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

GOOD LUCK to those students taking the SAT this weekend - we are keeping our fingers crossed for all of you! If you are a client NOT taking the SAT, but still want to get some weekend college prep in, we had two last-minute cancellations and now have both 10:00 and 11:00 essay coaching sessions available on Saturday. The sessions are first-come, first-serve, and are not available for online booking - so let our admin team know ASAP if you are interested!

If your student is heading back to school, now is the perfect time to check out academic coaching. Many students and families don’t think they need a coach when the workload hasn’t started up yet, but really, this can be the most effective time to start working with a coach! Shannon can help your student go through their syllabus, plan out major projects and assignments, and work on figuring out what organizational systems and study skills work best for them - before things get too crazy later in the semester.

Book an academic coaching Meet & Greet to talk more about how we can help your student succeed. Trust me, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and you don’t want to be scrambling to bring up grades and complete late work during finals week! 

And lastly… I’m headed back to school! Yikes!

I posted back in May about being invited to the next round of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program. After a lengthy process, I was recently chosen as one of 170 small business owners across the United States to complete what’s sort of like a “mini MBA,” fully funded by Goldman Sachs. I am so appreciative of the opportunity and look forward to continuing to grow DC College Counseling!

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Weekly Update: August 19

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

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GEORGE MASON!

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

BEST “SUMMER JOB” EVER

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

CHANGES ON THE HORIZON AS LAWSUITS CONTINUE

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

PRINCETON REVIEW RANKINGS ARE OUT

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

COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS LESSEN BUT MONKEYPOX CONCERNS RISE

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

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Weekly Update: August 12

This is going to be a shorter-than-usual blog post because OMG we are swamped!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE MOVE INS BEGIN

College freshmen all over the country are beginning to move into their dorms, and I thought it was cute to see Angelina Jolie moving her daughter Zahara into Spelman College this week. Good luck to Zahara and everyone else kicking off their first weekend in college! (Be safe!)

UPDATED COVID GUIDANCE FROM THE CDC

We’re all hoping for a more normal academic year now that the CDC updated guidance for handling Covid in schools. Although am I the only one starting to get a little nervous about Monkeypox?!

INFLATION IMPACTING TUITION RATES

Tuition rates are rising substantially as a result of inflation, which is less than ideal timing considering the state of everyone’s college savings accounts! It’s going to be interesting to see whether the economy has an impact on the college admissions process overall - my guess is that we will see many more students choosing state universities with lower price points.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

I am not sure whether I’ve heard more about Bama Rush this week from my 17-year-old clients or 37-year-old peers, but it sure is the talk of the country right now. Remember that all of these stories are really for entertainment purposes and that sorority recruitment (as well as greek life in general) at most schools is nothing like what’s been unfolding on TikTok this week. Check out the New York Times coverage here.

Rush (or maybe Bid Day?) 2006 at Wash U!

As Inside Higher Ed explained, the number of part-time application readers is skyrocketing this year and it’s important to understand that context when describing specific activities or other application information that a reader may not know if they are unfamiliar with a particular school community. Check out my TikTok on the subject!

Some colleges are taking their consideration of race in the admissions process to a new level, according to the Wall Street Journal. A test group of six colleges, including our neighbor down the street George Mason, is proactively contacting applicants who meet certain criteria to let them know that they are guaranteed a spot in the freshman class if they apply. Their study showed “a particularly strong effect” on the way this type of proactive notification influenced the behavior of underrepresented students.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Then 2nd week of August is now in the books with another 86 appointments taking place. Since there are many tasks and essays that students can’t start until August 1, the three weeks before FCPS begins on August 22 are without question the craziest three weeks of our year. I swear it feels like a race against the clock (and our sanity)! One more week to go, and then it will calm down a little bit after the Fairfax kids are back in session.

On a happy note, our students are making AMAZING progress. There are a few who are already in the final stages of reviewing PDF copies of their applications and we have our first student scheduled to submit his early decision application next week! If you are a parent of a senior and still need help, don’t hesitate to put your name on our Late Start Waitlist - we will be able to take at least five new students early enough for them to be able to complete all of their early applications with us.

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: August 5

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

THE BRAND-NEW COMMON APPⓇ

The Common AppⓇ has rolled over! Not too many changes to report this year in the main part of the application, though the application continues to tweak where and how students report their legal sex, gender, and preferred pronouns. There is also a slight change to the section about fee waivers. If, like our clients, you started working on the application before the rollover, make sure you are going back to confirm that everything has carried over properly and all the questions are answered! 

LOTS OF NEW COMMON APPⓇ SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS

Along with the new application come new supplemental essays! It seems like more schools changed their longtime prompts this year than ever before, with major changes at UVA (we covered these in an earlier post), Penn, NYU, and more!

UVA’S NEW DEAN OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

UVA’s College of Arts and Sciences will welcome a new dean this September. Christa Acampora grew up in Virginia, and currently serves as deputy provost and professor of philosophy at Emory University. She previously worked within the CUNY system. Dr. Acampora will arrive on Grounds on September 1. 

MIT’S NEW ALGORITHM FOR COLLEGE-LEVEL MATH

A team of researchers at MIT has designed a new model that is capable of solving college-level math problems. Students and faculty from MIT as well as Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Waterloo, have been working on the system for the past two years. The team hopes that, though the algorithm won’t be replacing university professors, it will help improve math education at the college level.  

“YOU’RE THE DEAN” AT TULANE

Tulane is offering students a mock application review session to help them experience what goes on “on the other side of the desk” in the admissions office. We highly recommend students take advantage of this fantastic opportunity! The session takes place on Monday, August 8 at 5:00 pm ET and students can register here.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

If you are a rising senior going back and forth on whether applying Early Decision is worth it (it usually is!), check out this chart for more information on the acceptance rates of ED versus RD students at a variety of schools.

Every year as we work with our juniors on their activities section (which we will start for the Class of 2024 next month!), we have students who hesitate when they say that they’ve never had an internship or research experience because they were working. But having an after-school or summer job can be a great experience to share with colleges! This opinion piece from the New York Times agrees: jobs teach a number of lessons, including managing your time and interacting with an employer. 

After the activities section, our juniors move on to brainstorming for their college lists. For the majority of students, a traditional green campus is a must-have. But this opinion piece argues that the institution of the college campus actually separates colleges from “the real world” - and not in a good way. It is certainly an interesting perspective to consider. 

Navigating all of the big changes of early adulthood has always been tough, but for this generation in the midst of the pandemic, it is even more of a challenge. We liked this article with tips from psychologists on navigating a “quarter-life crisis,” which would be a great read for many high school and college students. 

Finally, many of our students are starting on the head-scratching UChicago prompts this week - and luckily, we have a system for tackling these “Quirky Topics” essays! If you are interested in some of the wackiest essay questions for the 2022-2023 cycle, check out this WSJ article. I just love that Ben & Jerry’s prompt!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Week 1 of August is done, with 73 appointments (that is not a joke!) and I believe 4 different application guides behind us. Many of our students have rolled over their Common ApplicationⓇ, our essay coaches continue to work through supplemental essays, and we are so impressed with how hard our students are working. For many of them, this is the final stretch - and they will definitely see their hard work pay off this fall! 

Finishing up with our current seniors this month also means that we will have plenty of space opening up in the fall for Late-Start Seniors. If you are interested in working with us this fall, check out our Late Start Waitlist page for more information.

And finally, we’re on TikTok! Follow me for more insight and information about the college admissions process - including the five things I DEFINITELY wouldn’t do if I were applying to college in 2022. 

(P.S. I need some more video ideas!)

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Weekly Update: July 29

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COMMON APPLICATION® RELEASE

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

BERKELEY HAAS ANNOUNCES FOUR YEAR BUSINESS PROGRAM

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

CALTECH ANNOUNCES ADMISSIONS UPDATES

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

CLARENCE THOMAS LEAVES GW LAW 

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

COLLEGES IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI FACE BOMB THREATS

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

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Weekly Update: July 21

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

UW WILL ACCEPT THE COMMON APP

So new we don’t even have a link - but the Washington State flagship UW-Seattle, one of the last Common App holdouts, will now accept the Common Application for the upcoming admissions cycle. Yay! Come on, Rutgers - time to get on the bandwagon!

STUDENTS WANT COLLEGES TO PROVIDE THE ABORTION PILL

While college health centers have long provided a variety of reproductive care for students, including birth control and STD screenings, they do not typically provide abortion care. Some colleges are responding to student demands to provide the abortion pill - UMass Amherst will begin to provide it in the fall, and California law requires all UC schools to provide medication abortion by January 2023 (some, like Berkeley, already do). 

But many public and private universities, especially those with strict or changing abortion laws, may not be able to legally provide this to students. Colleges also cite security and privacy concerns around providing these services on campus. 

COLLEGE TAKEOVERS INCREASE

The pandemic has seen a number of colleges go out of business, and several of these struggling schools have merged with larger universities. Northeastern, which put together a special M&A team to handle acquisitions, has absorbed Mills College, a Silicon Valley women’s college that went under during COVID-19. Northeastern hopes the opportunity to study in Silicon Valley will better prepare its students for future careers in the tech industry. This is just the latest of 95 college mergers in the last four years - more than in the previous 18 years combined. 

STUDENTS WORK TOWARD HERBICIDE-FREE CAMPUSES

In response to growing climate anxiety and powerlessness on college campuses, some students have turned to areas where they can make a difference - like stopping the use of toxic pesticides on school grounds. Toxic chemicals are often used at universities to keep up the picturesque green quad and vibrant landscaping, but the organization Herbicide-Free Campus is working to end that practice. 

The organization now has chapters at Brandeis, Emory, Indiana, and Berkeley, among others. Students who belong to HFC spend time working on their campus grounds, pulling weeds alongside the campus grounds team. 

Some schools, like Harvard, have already transitioned to fully organic lawn care - a practice that HFC says has reduced irrigation needs by 30%. HFC hopes to see every campus go organic by 2030.

WANT TO STUDY HARRY STYLES?

Starting in Spring 2023, Honors College students at Texas State will be able to do just that, in a course titled “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity.” Students will study both Styles’ solo albums and the albums of One Direction in a contemporary history class that explores gender, sexuality, fandom, the internet, and consumerism, among other themes. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

If you watch movies or read the newspaper, it may seem like an athletic scholarship is the key to a full ride to college. Pop culture is rife with examples of students beating the odds and heading happily off to their dream school, which their parents could never afford without the coveted football scholarship. But only one in 100 top high school athletes actually receive a full ride, and the process of competing for one can often be nearly as expensive as in-state tuition! If you’re considering spending money on camps, equipment, or recruiting services, check out this article first - you may be tempted to put the money into a 529 account instead. 

In expectation that the current Supreme Court is likely to end affirmative action in college admissions, check out this opinion piece to learn why this might actually be a good thing. The writer argues that instead of focusing our efforts on admitting students to colleges when they may not be academically prepared, we should instead help students at younger ages receive the support they need to be successful at elite universities later on. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We have so many swim coaches working with us this year and the NVSL season is coming to an end this weekend - good luck, everybody!

A few cool things to share this week:

• If you’re a class of 2022 student gearing up for your freshman year, check out this free webinar - illustrating how to build the habits that will help you transition into college life. The event - Tiny Habits for College Success - takes place next Wednesday 7/27 at 2:00 pm ET. The event is also open to parents with current or future college students in their lives :) 

• If you’re younger and/or will be in DC next year, have you heard of the Kennedy Center’s MyTix program? I just learned about it this year. Students from kindergarten through I believe graduate school are able to purchase two deeply discounted tickets to lots of performances- one for the student and one for a companion of their choice (parent, etc). They sent out an email this morning about the “MyTix Mix” subscription package for next year- it’s such a great deal if you enjoy the arts, and some of the seats are surprisingly decent! Tickets range from $15-$35 per show. If you don’t want to commit, sign up for MyTix emails anyway and you’ll get new offers every Monday morning for individual shows.

Have a great weekend! I’m out of the office next week, but Shannon will be back and holding down the fort.

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Weekly Update: July 15

We’ve got plenty of news for you from the past two weeks after taking the holiday week break!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK(S)

PENN’S EARLY EXPLORATION PROGRAM

Penn has announced two great programs for high school seniors, serving students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in order to underscore their commitment to a diverse class. The Early Exploration Program is a month-long program will allow students to meet with current students and admissions staff to learn more about Penn and participate in workshops on writing essays and preparing for interviews. If you are a low income and/or first generation student, you should definitely take advantage of this opportunity!

BOSTON COLLEGE ENDOWS HEAD SKIING COACH POSITION

BC received a gift of $1.25 million this week from an alumnus, in order to endow a head coaching position for BC’s skiing program. BC’s ski team sent its first student to the NCAA Championships in 2018, and has sent seven other skiers to national championships in the years since. 

CAMBRIDGE OPENS INQUIRY INTO STUDENT DEATHS

Five students at Cambridge University have died in the last five months, and the school is now opening an investigation into these tragedies, one of which has been confirmed as a suicide. While the university is not releasing information in order to protect the students’ privacy, a spokesperson said that they do not believe there is any connection between these incidents. 

NEW CHANGES TO B-SCHOOL ADMISSIONS

Dartmouth, Duke, and Michigan have all made announcements about changes to their MBA application process for the MBA class of 2025. Duke has announced a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion concentration to the program, for a total of 17 concentration options that students have during the application process. The university also created the new Fuqua Impact Scholars Program, which will award merit scholarships to incoming Fuqua School students. 

Michigan’s Ross School added an additional short essay to its application, and will offer students the option of submitting a standardized test waiver in lieu of a test score. And the Tuck School at Dartmouth will now offer virtual interviews to all students who apply in Rounds 1 and 2!

MORE CHANGES IN STORE FOR NCAA CONFERENCES

After the announcement two weeks ago about USC and UCLA’s move to the Big Ten conference, there is a lot of speculation about the creation of “Super Conferences,” in which the Big Ten, SEC, and possibly Big 12 conferences jump out ahead of other teams, creating a new tier of college football that will leave behind the ACC and the Pac-12 with teams that didn’t make the cut for these new super conferences. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK(S)

We like this short list as an easy guide for rising seniors as they work on their college applications this summer. Many juniors who start with us in the fall have already done most of these things by now, but if you’re just getting started, it’s not too late to get a jump on the college process before school is back in session (P.S. our Late-Start Waitlist opened last week for rising seniors who want some help tackling this list - you can join here). 

Larry Arnn - president of Hillsdale College - created controversy this past weekend when he remarked at a conference that teachers are “trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country,” calling the Education Department the “dumbest part” of any college. Ouch. Hillsdale has helped to open a network of charter schools around the country, and argues that students will receive a better education from teachers at these schools than those at public institutions. 

If you are going on college tours this summer, you may be surprised to learn that campus tours “keep college presidents up at night.” But the college tour, often led by a current student, is one part of the admissions process over which the college administration has the least control. Often, students’ experiences on a tour are shaped by their particular tour guide, who is hanging around campus that day, even the weather! If you are a student touring colleges this summer, this article is a really good reminder that the tour shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of your college search - because so much depends on luck, this isn’t necessarily the most representative piece of your college research!

I really enjoyed this piece from the Washington Post about self-deprecation in the college essay! I definitely agree with the author - do NOT overdo it. But if you can do this in a way that still shares positive characteristics and/or personal growth with the reader, go for it!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Many of our students are moving onto their school-specific essays, and we love reading more about them! Students who stick to our timeline will usually knock out about half of their supplemental essays before August 1, which makes the work in August a bit more manageable and sets them up to finish their applications by September. If you are looking to get a head start on your essays as well, don’t forget to check out our essay prompt database, which we update weekly with new prompts for the class of 2023 as they are released. 

Speaking of essays - we just had two cancellations come through for appointments with Staci if anyone wants to snap them up! One is for Monday, July 25 at 4:00pm and one is for Tuesday, July 19 at 11:00am., and you can go ahead and book here.

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: July 1

Lots of college news to share before the holiday weekend!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

JOHNS HOPKINS SUMMER PROGRAMS CANCELED

The three-week academic summer programs run by Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth were canceled at the last possible minute last week - while some students were already enroute to the campus. Hopkins made the announcement on Friday at 3:30 pm, with the programs scheduled to start on Monday morning. 

Hopkins said that lack of staffing was the reason for the cancellation, which affected 870 students prepared to attend the prestigious summer program. Today, the director of the program’s employment was terminated. Hopkins’ CTY has hosted celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg and Lady Gaga, and is open to students from grade 2 to grade 12. 

OUR USC DREAMS ARE (SORT OF) COMING TRUE

For years it has been a rude awakening for students who love USC to realize that the school does not accept Early Decision or Early Action applications - and will review every student, even the most interested in the school, as part of the Regular Decision pool. While we’re still holding out for an ED option, we’re excited that USC will now offer an Early Action option to students applying to programs that do not require portfolio submissions. 

It seems like USC will follow Georgetown’s lead in deferring ALL EA students to the Regular Decision pool if they are not accepted, without sending any rejections during the EA round. EA students will receive either an admit or defer decision in mid- to late January. 

USC AND UCLA LEAVE THE PAC-12

Speaking of USC, in 2024, USC and UCLA will move from the Pac-12 conference to the Big Ten. The schools received notice that their applications to join the Big Ten were accepted on Tuesday night. The Big Ten says that the conference unanimously voted to allow the Los Angeles schools to join. The Pac-12 says that they are disappointed with the loss of these two schools, the biggest brand names in the conference.

UGA STUDENT RECEIVES CARNEGIE MEDAL

Last summer, Tucker Shields, a UGA student, was completing an internship at a DC law firm. While waiting for an Uber near Nationals Park, Shields saw a young couple being harassed by an armed assailant. Shields tackled the man, dodging a gunshot that left him deaf in one ear for a month. Now, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission has honored him with the Carnegie Medal for his actions. 

COLUMBIA STOPS PARTICIPATION IN U.S. NEWS RANKINGS

Dedicated blog readers may remember several months ago when a professor at Columbia cast doubt on the data that the school provides to U.S. News & World Report - data which has led to Columbia capturing the number two spot in the prestigious rankings. Today is the deadline for schools to submit data this year, and Columbia has announced that it needs more time to review the allegations about its data and will not be submitting.

In addition to Columbia, the School of Education at USC will also be absent from the rankings, having pulled its data due to years of inaccuracies. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Curious about the new digital SAT, which will be available to US students in spring 2024? We recommend this blog post, which covers all of the recently announced specifications and sample questions provided by College Board. 

The outgoing superintendent of FCPS, Scott Braband, was interviewed about all of the major moments during his tenure - including the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring challenges, the changes in admissions at TJ, and diversity initiatives. Braband’s last day was yesterday, and Michelle Reid has taken over as the superintendent of the largest public school system in the state. This interview is an interesting retrospective of the upheaval over the last few years.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I (Colleen) was interviewed by U.S. News this week about the biggest mistakes that a new college student can make - check it out here to find out why you shouldn’t join too many clubs, why you should get a random roommate, and the real reason not to skip class! 

We will be closed on Monday for the July 4 holiday - enjoy the long weekend!

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Weekly Update: June 24

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

ROE V. WADE OVERTURNED

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

DARTMOUTH ELIMINATES LOANS FROM AID PACKAGES

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

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

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

$6 BILLION IN STUDENT LOAN DEBT CANCELED

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

UMD GOES TEST OPTIONAL

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

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MONKEYPOX CASE

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Essay work is ramping up as some of our students start on their school-specific supplemental essays for UVA, Virginia Tech, the UCs, and other schools that have already released their essay prompts. We’re very excited to welcome back McClain and to welcome our newest essay coach, Stephanie, who will be starting with us in July (keep an eye out for a longer introduction soon!). Our schedules are now posted throughout the summer, and we encourage our current clients to book meetings ASAP to ensure they get their preferred times to complete their essay work this summer. 

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: June 17

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

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY PHASES OUT “COLONIALS” NAME

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

FINAL VARSITY BLUES VERDICT

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

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR 529 ACCOUNT

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

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT ISSUES AREN’T GOING AWAY

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

UVA ESSAY PROMPTS OUT!

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

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

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

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

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: June 10

We were shocked and saddened by the tragedy at Oakton High School this week, and our thoughts and support are with our Oakton families.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY TOPICS RELEASED

A number of schools have begun to release supplemental essays for the 2022-2023 application cycle, including Virginia Tech, Villanova, University of Miami, University of Georgia and more. UGA also announced that they will be releasing their actual Common Application supplement on 8/1 in order to align with other schools' application release dates. This is welcome news, as UGA applicants in previous years have had to wait until September to complete the supplement!

MIT TOPS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS

The QS world university rankings came out this week, with MIT topping the list. This list includes universities from all over the world (see #2 - the University of Cambridge), but five of the top 10 were U.S. schools, and four were in the UK. The only outlier? Switzerland’s ETH Zurich. 

HISPANIC-SERVING RESEARCH INSTITUTION ALLIANCE

Twenty hispanic-serving research institutions across the U.S. announced a new alliance at their launch event in D.C. yesterday, pledging to increase the number of Hispanic faculty and doctoral students at their institutions. The alliance includes UT El Paso, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKY ADDRESSES UK UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

During tonight’s live broadcast, President Zelensky will address students at Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, UCL, Glasgow, and a number of other UK universities. Zelensky is expected to address the importance of international cooperation, as well as answer student questions. The event is being held by a newly formed group of Ukrainian students at UK universities (USU).

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We’ve covered on the blog both the New York Times opinion piece “My College Students Are Not OK,” as well as the backlash from many readers about the burnout that college students are experiencing in the wake of the pandemic. Now, the column’s author, a first-year writing professor at SMU, has published a series of responses to questions about how this burnout fits into larger issues about the cost and value of attending college. If you’ve been following this story, the piece is definitely worth a read!

During pride month, we also wanted to share this article about the mental health challenges that face LGBTQ+ college students. Many, many students struggle with the transition to college, but it can be helpful for LGBTQ+ students and their parents to be aware of the particular challenges that may arise, and the resources on their campus that are available to help with this transition. 

In a follow-up to the article we shared last week with unexpected public colleges that lead to six-figure salaries, check out this list of ten jobs with the best future outlook for college graduates. Some of these jobs are certainly surprising - with elementary school teacher topping the list!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

With the start of summer, things are really ramping up for our juniors! We know that they are going to put in a lot of hard work over the next several months, but it will be so worth it when they are done with our Finish by September Timeline and can spend senior year focused on their classes and other commitments, not applications. For our past clients, this is often one of their favorite things about working with us!

All those essay coaching meetings mean that we are excited to bring on new coaches, and McClain will start meeting with students next week! You can check out one of McClain’s guest blog posts here, and current clients can book a meeting with her here. Welcome back, McClain!

And last but not least, I was out of the office yesterday celebrating my son’s preschool graduation! A bunch of our current families were working with me while I was pregnant with him (with their older children, of course) so I get questions from time to time about how old “the baby” is now. Hard to believe he will be off to kindergarten and turning six in the fall!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

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Weekly Update: June 3

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

BIDEN ADMIN CANCELS STUDENT LOANS FOR CORINTHIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

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

PANDEMIC RELIEF IMPACTS FINANCIAL AID

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

TITLE IX TURNS 50

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: May 26

We were shocked and saddened by the tragedy in Texas this week, and our thoughts are with the victims and their families. I have a fourth grader too, so it hit especially close to home for me. As we prepare for Memorial Day weekend, we are also thinking of the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country - as well as the incredible sacrifices made by their families and friends left behind.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUMMER AND FALL 2022 SAT REGISTRATION IS LIVE

The College Board typically opens registration each June or July for the entire following school year (I.e. in June 2022 for August 2022-June 2023 test dates). This year, they changed things up and just released the ability for students to register early for the August 2022, October 2022, November 2022, and December 2022 test dates. All students planning to take one of these tests (or even considering it) should register as soon as possible! The August and October administrations are already filling up quickly.

2022-2023 COMMON APPLICATION UPDATES

The Common Application held a session yesterday to share upcoming changes in advance of the 2022-2023 application release. They confirmed that application rollover will take place on August 1, as in previous years. Students’ login information will remain the same, and all of the information in their profile, family, education, testing, activities, writing, and courses and grades sections will roll over.

(Remember: It’s great to take advantage of the rollover function - definitely get started early and fill all of this out in advance. But MAKE SURE to print/save PDFs of each individual page in case there is some type of rollover error. This does happen occasionally and it would be so awful if all of your hard work was lost!)

Some new changes: “Mx.” and “Other” are now prefix options, and the order of the gender, pronoun, and name questions have moved. There will also be some adjustments to the order and criteria of the questions relating to fee waivers.

PRINCETON FIRES JOSHUA KATZ

In 2018, Princeton University suspended Professor Joshua Katz, pending an investigation into a relationship he had with one of his undergraduate students. On Monday, the school fired the tenured professor, citing a lack of cooperation with this investigation. This is a particularly unusual occurrence, as Katz was a tenured professor at the university. Katz argues that the firing came on the heels of an article he published that criticized the school’s anti-racist policies, and is not an issue of his relationship but instead a blow to free speech. 

GEORGETOWN SENIORS SHUT DOWN LINCOLN MEMORIAL

The Lincoln Memorial was shut down on Saturday morning after hundreds of Georgetown University seniors left broken bottles and spilled wine and champagne covering the monument’s steps. The site was open to the public again by 11:00 am on Saturday. 

COLLEGES REIMPOSE INDOOR MASK MANDATES

As COVID cases spike, colleges around the country have started to reinstate their mask mandates on campus, including the University of Delaware. Public school systems in Philadelphia, PA and Providence, RI have also reinstated their mask mandates in response to cases in the area. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We shared an article a few weeks back with one professor’s opinion of how the pandemic has affected student’s learning ability and focus in the classroom once they arrive in college. Now, a disability rights advocate has published a response, citing mental health issues rather than online learning as the reason why so many students are struggling. Several other letters to the editor continue this dialogue, offering remote learning and mental health related responses to the perceived crisis in students’ engagement. 

Price hikes at a number of colleges have reinvigorated the conversation around whether college is really worth the cost. Enrollment continues to drop, even with the worst of the pandemic (hopefully!) behind us, and in a recent Boston Globe poll, only 10% of respondents felt that college was definitely worth the investment. Spring 2022 college enrollment has dropped nearly 5% from last year - in addition to the overall pandemic drop of almost 10%. This is a surprise to some colleges that expected enrollment to bounce back this cycle.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We’ve offered up our own lists of fiction and nonfiction reads for students to check out this summer, and we’d like to add these three career-focused books for college graduates! If you want even more info on summer reading, current members and clients can check out our Membership Vault summer reading guide.

Pro Tip: We also recommend reading a newspaper or two regularly this summer - this will definitely help you out in interviews when you are asked to talk about a recent news story or political issue that interests you, as well as on applications (like Princeton’s!) that may ask about which publications you read regularly. 

Still looking for more summer opportunities? Gettysburg College’s inaugural Civic Engagement Camp is still accepting applications until Friday, June 3. The program aims to teach students about American democracy and the importance of civic engagement, all against the background of Gettysburg’s history (and with a day trip to Washington, DC).

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: May 20

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

AP PRECALCULUS!

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

PUBLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT FALLS

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

MENTAL HEALTH DAY OF ACCEPTANCE

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

Have a great weekend, and stay cool!

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Weekly Update: May 13

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR ARIZONA THIRD-GRADERS

In 2012, the Rosztoczy Foundation selected a lucky Arizona third-grade class and made them a promise: their college tuition, including room and board, would be covered. With that class graduating from high school, the foundation has decided to continue the good deed, selecting two more third-grade classes from underserved Arizona schools for full scholarships. Students and parents report that the program has allowed them the freedom to focus on high school performance without worrying about how they will pay for college. 

LINCOLN COLLEGE SHUTS DOWN

Lincoln College, a predominantly Black college in Illinois, shuts its doors today after 150 years in operation. The college cites the pandemic as part of the reason for the closure, but it is also a result of a December 2021 cyberattack on the admissions data for the school, resulting in unclear 2022 enrollment projections. This type of attack is becoming more and more common for schools, with 26 colleges and universities experiencing cyberattacks in 2021. 

STUDENT WITH NON-VERBAL AUTISM DELIVERS COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

Elizabeth Bonker, valedictorian at Rollins College, was selected as commencement speaker - despite the fact that she has non-verbal autism and hasn’t said a word since her diagnosis at 15 months old. She delivered the speech using a text-to-speech computer program, and she had some words of encouragement for other students: “Use your voice.”

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This opinion essay in the New York Times illuminates some of the long-term effects of the pandemic on new college students. While of course the evidence here is anecdotal, it reflects a lot of what we have been seeing in terms of the lack of motivation and the difficulty establishing study habits that came along with online school. If you or your student are also struggling with this, check out academic coaching, which can help students learn the time management, note-taking, and study skills that they may have missed while learning remotely. 

My (former) favorite blog reader used to send me lots of interesting links and has moved on to bigger and better things now that his child is in college! 🙂 But he came through this past week with a good one from The Atlantic on data-driven parenting, and the one decision that really appears to make a difference. Can you guess what it is? Location.

Definitely read the article, and then you can have fun inputting zip codes into The Opportunity Atlas like I did. Absolutely fascinating. I was really struck by the difference between 22101 vs. 22102, and if you're from Vienna, you know that there's a friendly rivalry between those who live in town vs out... well, 22182 held its own! The author just came out with a new book called Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life, so add that to your summer reading list - I'm definitely adding it to mine!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are so excited to announce that our team is growing, and introduce you to Courtney! Courtney will be coming on as an administrator to share some of the workload with Donna, so current clients, keep an eye out for emails that you may see coming from her with reminders (both Donna and Courtney will continue to reach out using our admin email address). 

Courtney is currently a master’s student working towards a degree in social work. During the last academic year, she interned as a school social worker with FCPS and has experience working with students for academic and therapeutic counseling. We are thrilled to welcome her to the team!

Another exciting development for me this week was that DC College Counseling was selected as a finalist for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. I’m so honored to be considered and looking forward to the interview process this month - I’ll keep you posted!

Have a fantastic weekend!

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Weekly Update: May 6

It’s a rainy weekend ahead, so we’ve got some good reads to keep you busy!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

ABA COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS THAT LAW SCHOOLS STOP REQUIRING LSAT

A committee from the American Bar Association has advised the organization to put out an official recommendation for law schools to stop requiring the LSAT (or other standardized tests) as a factor in admissions decisions. They are not endorsing test-blind admissions, in which the organizations cannot factor in test scores, but believe that the schools should instead have the option.

Of course, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC - the organization behind the LSAT) continues to stand by the importance of the test. It’s a tough decision, because higher LSAT scores are directly correlated with bar passage rates, so it’s easy to make the argument that they are important. At the same time, there are equity issues involved - test prep is very expensive, and under-represented groups traditionally score lower on the LSAT. Stay tuned on the final ABA decision!

FIRST WEEK OF AP EXAMS ARE OVER!

We have gotten a lot of panicked emails from families this week about the importance AP exams - I know they are stressful! I do think that these have become more important for students applying to highly selective schools now that the SAT Subject Tests are no longer. Unfortunately, students will not have scores for quite a while, but sometimes they feel less anxious after reviewing the free-response questions after the exams take place in order to get a sense of how their answers might stack up.

COLLEGE STUDENT SALARY EXPECTATIONS ARE WAY OFF FROM REALITY

The Class of 2022 is rather optimistic about the job market, believing that their average starting salaries will be approximately $104,000. Every single group of majors overestimated what they’d earn, with journalism majors overestimating by 139% and computer science majors overestimating by “just” 27%. It’s all about the power of positive thinking, right? :)

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

If you are a data geek like me and want to read more about how everything stacked up in the bloodbath that was the 2021-2022 college admissions cycle, don’t miss this CTAS Higher Ed Business report - it’s probably the most comprehensive piece I’ve read so far. They share that UCLA received more applications than any school in the country - just under 150,000. CRAZY!! Some of the other UC schools were next up in terms of volume, before NYU at 105,000 applications and Northeastern with 91,000. This represents increases of 30-40% for each of those schools since 2020.

But what I found most interesting were some of the schools that were specifically identified as having the most growth on a percentage basis rather than straight volume. Colgate is apparently the new hot school, along with other smaller schools like Macalester, Tufts, Dickinson, and Williams. As for the schools bucking the trends: Bowdoin, Tulane, and Pitzer. They had a particularly interesting theory about Tulane, so read the report!

That said, if you weren’t happy with your student’s 2021-2022 outcome - all is not lost! Check out this Washington Post piece about transfer admissions, which gives readers an inside look about the transfer process as well as the most recent statistics. It’s fascinating that some schools (like UVA, which this article covers heavily) are so much easier to get into via the transfer pathway and yet others are even harder than they were during the first-year admissions process.

Not quite an article, but I’ve been listening to a series on Freakonomics Radio that has been going viral in the college admissions world. First, What Exactly is College For?; then The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into; and yesterday, I Don’t Think the Country Is Turning Away From College. They are definitely worth a listen. Also, if you are a student looking for some summer reading, I HIGHLY recommend reading Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner. If I had a top ten list of books everyone should read, this would be on it - really makes you think about things differently!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

It was a relatively quiet week this week because of AP exams, although we had a lot of new client consultations! If you are considering services for your Class of 2023 student, we are very close to reaching capacity and will soon move to our Late Start Waitlist. Our services will be valuable up until the very last minute, but there’s no question that the entire process is more stressful for students who start later.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! One of my own mom’s favorite sayings is “Little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems.” The older my own kids become, the more I realize how true that is and how incredibly stressful and challenging it can be for moms of teenagers today. We hope that all of you are able to relax and let somebody else handle all the problems (and reminders!) on Sunday :)

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Weekly Update: April 29

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

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FCPS HIGH SCHOOLS RANKED AMONG THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY

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

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

COLLEGES STILL ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

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

UC SYSTEM WAIVES TUITION FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS

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

FACEBOOK OBTAINED FAFSA DATA

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

Enjoy the sun this weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 22

Happy Earth Day! Don’t forget to check out last year’s blog 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

50 NEW COMMON APPⓇ COLLEGES THIS CYCLE

We were THRILLED with the announcement that UT Austin will accept the Common AppⓇ this cycle. The change makes applying to UT Austing MUCH easier for so many of our students! Texas A&M is another school added to the list - for the full list of new additions for the 2022-2023 application season, click here.

COMMON APP STUDENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

In other Common AppⓇ news, the organization is assembling a 15-20 student group to provide feedback on the admissions process. This paid position allows students to meet with Common AppⓇ staff each month to share their views. The opportunity is open to high school juniors and seniors, as well as first and second year college students.

Applications are only open until April 26, so if you are interested in applying, check it out!

VA-10 VIRTUAL ACADEMY DAY

Planning to apply to one or more military academies in the fall? If you are seeking a nomination from Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (or even if you are considering beginning the process), you don’t want to miss Academy Day on Saturday, April 30. This is a great opportunity to get more information about the specialized admissions and nomination process for military academies. 

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK

If there is an FCPS teacher who has made a big difference to you or your student, let them know! Submit either a video or written story using this form and it will be shared during the first week of May, Teacher Appreciation Week, to thank teachers for all that they do.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

At a certain level of selectivity, particularly when you get into those single-digit admit rates, college admission becomes less about the student’s record and experiences and more about factors outside of their control. We tell families this every year, but there are always going to be some disappointed Ivy-League hopefuls who want to know WHY they didn’t get admitted. What could they have done differently? As hard as it is to hear, sometimes the answer is: nothing. As this Wall Street Journal article so powerfully illustrates, “‘extraordinary’ isn’t always enough” to gain admissions to these super selective (and highly rejective) schools. 

This article provides an interesting take on legacy preference in college admissions, arguing that not only do specific schools or lawmakers need to eliminate the practice, but social norms around legacy admissions need to change as well. There is some interesting information here about the history of legacy admissions, and worth a read for anyone interested in how legacy admissions has evolved and will continue to do so in the near future. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are busy this week and next helping Class of 2022 students make their final decisions! Current clients, if you need help with this before the deadline of May 1, make sure to let us know soon so we can squeeze you in. And if you are not a client, we still have some of our favorite strategies on the blog for students and parents when it comes to making that final college choice. 

Good luck and enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: April 15

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

DAVIDSON MAKES TEST-OPTIONAL PERMANENT

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

WILLIAMS LAUNCHES ALL-GRANT FINANCIAL AID PROGRAM

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

A CRITIQUE OF SCHOOL RANKINGS

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

RUTGERS BUSINESS SCHOOL ALLEGEDLY FAKED JOBS FOR GRADUATES

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

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

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

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

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

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

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

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

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

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

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

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Weekly Update: April 8

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

MY DREAM CAME TRUE!!!!!!

UT Austin will be on the 2022-2023 Common App!!!! Yay!!!!!

If you have ever dealt with the nightmare that is ApplyTexas, you will understand why I am celebrating!!!🎊🤠👏🌮

UCLA JOB POSTING FOR $0 SALARY

Yes, you read that right - UCLA posted an adjunct position for a Ph.D.-holding biochemist and offered no compensation. While UCLA removed the posting after backlash, the unfortunate fact is that arrangements like these are not uncommon in academia, which often expects Ph.D. students and adjunct professors to work for little or no pay. And right now, 70% of college faculty are untenured, part-time, or adjunct faculty with little job security. This is a concern not only for those working in academia, but for undergraduate students taught by overworked and underpaid professors who usually cannot give them the mentorship and relationships that they need.

THE TEEN DC COUNCIL CANDIDATE

Henry Cohen, an 18-year-old student at Jackson-Reed high school, is running for representative on D.C’s council. Cohen argues that young people do not have enough representation in local government, and is actively campaigning in Ward 3. Kind of cool to see young people getting involved in local politics at this level!

VARSITY BLUES CONTINUES WITH MARK RIDDELL SENTENCING

Mark Riddell, the “proctor” in the Varsity Blues scandal who was accused of taking SAT and ACT exams in the place of students, will be sentenced in federal court today in Boston. He is expected to serve a lighter sentence, as he has been cooperating with authorities since pleading guilty in 2019. 

MASK MANDATES ARE BACK

Following the latest spike in coronavirus cases, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins both reinstated their indoor mask mandates this week. Students returning to Georgetown after Easter break later this month will also be required to test negative before returning to campus. Having struggled with this ourselves as we’ve contemplated returning to in-person work with students this summer, we hope that the mask mandates are no longer necessary very soon!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

MIT made the argument last week, when it reinstated standardized testing, that the tests actually made the process more equitable, rather than less, for students that have not had as many academic resources. In an Atlantic article this week, the author explores this argument, concluding that MIT is correct to say that rather than causing inequity in the admissions process, the SAT merely reveals educational disparities that are already there. 

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - a top tier university is not the right fit for every kid! While we love helping our academic high-flyers pursue their Ivy League dreams, we also know that the ultra-competitive process isn’t for everyone. This article explores how parents can help their students revise their expectations and focus on the college that is right for them - not just the one with the biggest reputation. This is so important for kids to hear, especially now after receiving their decisions!

Finally, we are starting to see how the students who spent much of their high school careers learning remotely have been performing in college. The answer is - not great. Especially in classes like math and science, where material is directly built off of what students have learned in high school, college students are struggling. In addition to the challenges of online learning, pass-fail grades at many schools meant that students were able to “pass” challenging courses without actually mastering the material. We expect that we will continue to see these types of issues as students make the transition from high school to college over the next few years. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Know a teen of “outstanding character” in McLean? Nominate them for the McLean Citizens Associations’ Teen Character Awards. This award is meant to recognize teenagers who have made an impact on their community, whether by leading a service project or caring for a younger sibling or elderly relative at home. A nomination application is available here - Application - Outstanding Character Award for Teenagers. Make sure to get those nominations in by the Friday, April 22 deadline!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun!

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