Weekly Update: March 12

It’s finally starting to feel like spring in the DC area, and we’re wishing a happy Ramadan and easy fast to those who are celebrating this month!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FIRST DIGITAL SAT ADMINISTRATION TAKES PLACE

The first official (non-pilot) nationwide administration of the digital SAT took place on Saturday, and reports from students have been pretty positive so far! In addition to being online, the test is now adaptive — meaning that the difficulty of students’ questions will be impacted by their performance as they proceed through the exam. The new version is also significantly shorter than it was in the past, coming in at just over two hours with only two sections. I’m so glad it went well!

BROWN, PENN, AND UT AUSTIN ANNOUNCE TESTING POLICY UPDATES

Last week, Brown announced that they will reinstate the standardized testing requirement for the Class of 2029 (current high school juniors). The announcement also reaffirmed their decision to continue offering early decision and recognizing legacy applicants — for now, anyway. The University of Texas at Austin made a similar announcement about reinstating test scores yesterday, citing strong data-backed evidence pointing to the predictive power of standardized test scores on undergraduate performance. Penn, on the other hand, has chosen to buck this testing trend: the university will remain test optional for the upcoming admissions cycle.

LEGACY ADMISSIONS OFFICIALLY BANNED IN VIRGINIA

We knew it was coming, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills on Friday to ban legacy admission in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a move that is expected to impact applicants most at UVA and William & Mary (read the article’s quotation from William & Mary carefully, as it’s misleading, in my opinon — while everything stated is technically true, it seems to suggest that they haven’t historically given legacy applicants special treatment. I’m not even a critic of legacy admissions, but if that’s what they are suggesting… well, it’s just plain inaccurate). In other news, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Todd Young are now embarking on a bipartisan effort to ban legacy admissions on a national level.

PROVIDENCE COLLEGE STUDENTS SEND CAMPUS SECURITY GUARD HOME TO VISIT FAMILY

Such a sweet story out of Providence College! A group of students learned that one of their campus security guards had not returned to his native country, Nigeria, in over 11 years — and had not seen his son since he left. They organized a GoFundMe that raised money for him to take a trip home, and ended up with over $15,000!

SPELMAN LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE PROGRAM TO CREATE FUTURE BEAUTY INDUSTRY LEADERS

Did you know that Black beauty brands only make up a tiny 2.5 percent of the cosmetics and personal care market, despite the fact that Black women spend billions of dollars each year on those items? Spelman College did, and administrators and faculty are stepping up to flip that script. The Atlanta HBCU just announced a significant expansion of their cosmetic science program, including a minor in cosmetic science and a special concentration in “cosmetic chemistry” for chemistry majors. SO COOL!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

I really enjoyed last weekend’s New York Times piece entitled “We Tried to Create a Diverse College Class Without Affirmative Action,” in which researchers presented interactive visual models depicting the differing impacts of various policies on admitted student diversity, in an effort to create a diverse class without traditional affirmative action policies. The findings were interesting: giving low-income students an admissions advantage resulted in a significant amount of economic diversity, but a very small increase in racial diversity. Giving an additional advantage to students from low-performing schools helped some, but not much. So what worked best? A two-part process that (a) identified “outlier” students that performed significantly better from their peers in the same environment, no matter what that environment was; and (b) an expanded recruiting strategy that targeted students who may not have otherwise chosen to apply to highly selective colleges.

We’ve shared a number of recent articles about why certainly highly competitive schools have made the decision to reinstate standardized testing, but this piece from The Atlantic does a great job of delving more deeply into why test-optional admissions policies hurt disadvantaged students in particular. Some of the analysis here aligns closely with the findings mentioned in the New York Times article above, too - especially the Michigan example.

I have worked with teenagers for my entire career — well before I had children. Yet as my oldest inches closer and closer to her teenage years, it’s been so interesting to see how my experiences as a parent have impacted my professional perspective. I really felt torn as I read “The Parents in My Classroom”, a Slate piece written by a teacher who complains about parents trying to maintain constant contact with her high school students during the school day. She writes that “increased parental surveillance has blurred the boundaries between home and school so much that students are not developing into independent thinkers,” and the professional in me knows she’s absolutely right. But the mom in me … well, I see the other side too — in a way that I probably wouldn’t have before. I guess the best we can do sometimes as parents is to educate ourselves about the “right” thing to do while still keeping practicality in mind.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

There’s been a ton going on in our office lately - from RD decision releases to college essays to hiring a new counselor (more on her later!). And the ACC tournament is in DC this week! Is anybody going?

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: February 13

Happy (early) Valentine’s Day!

If you’re interested in learning about some college-specific Valentine’s traditions, don’t miss our post from last year: Schooled in Love: Fun Valentine's Day Facts From College Campuses

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS HUNGER STRIKE TO PROTEST CONFLICT IN GAZA

Campus debates and protests related to the war in Gaza continue. Last week, American University imposed a ban on indoor protests at the school in the wake of ongoing campus conflict. This week, Brown University is in the spotlight, with eighteen students on day seven of a hunger strike (at the time of publication), calling for the school to “‘divest from the genocide in Gaza,’ and allow them to make their case to the university’s governing board,” according to The Washington Post. Brown’s president, Christina Paxson, maintains that the university should not be making decisions about its endowment in response to political issues.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES RESPOND TO NEW TIMING OF FAFSA DATA

Problems with the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) have been widely reported, and have created major problems not just for students and families, but also for colleges and universities around the country. Once the delayed information reaches colleges, the schools will still need to scramble to put financial aid packages together. Some colleges have already extended their commitment deadlines from May 1 to June 1 in response, so that students have enough time to make educated decisions once the delayed information reaches them. The University of California system has moved their deadline to May 15 for all nine UC campuses, with the exception of out-of-state and international students accepted to UC Berkeley.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RESPONDS TO FAFSA DEBACLE

Now, the U.S. Department of Education (which oversees the FAFSA) has established a $50 million fund to help schools deal with the backlog—and backlash. The Department will also provide a “concierge service” for schools. “A senior department official said all historically Black and tribal colleges will have the opportunity to get direct support from the agency,” the article says. Colleges seem pretty underwhelmed by the response so far. The article quotes Kiely Fletcher, Vice President for Enrollment Management at the University of Illinois at Chicago (and the first institution to extend its commitment deadline to June 1) as saying “While we appreciate the secretary providing an updated timetable, the partial measures do little to alleviate the burden and anxiety expressed by students, their parents and higher ed professionals.”

CONGRESS RESPONDS TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OVER FAFSA DELAYS

Today, the leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce responded to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s announcement that the department will provide additional supports for high schools as they work with students and families to complete and submit the FAFSA and for colleges as they prepare financial aid packages. In addition to committee leaders Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), 106 senators and representatives co-signed the letter, which asks the Secretary of Education to clarify how the department will minimize the impact of these delays — especially for those students most in need of financial aid. The letter poses a set of seven questions that Congress wants answered. The letter concludes by asking if there are any “specific requests that Congress can respond to in order to help address related issues moving forward.”

LOCAL EFFECTS OF FAFSA DELAYS FELT AT DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

One of the largest impacts in our local area will be felt at the DC Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program. DCTAG is administered through the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education and provides scholarships to D.C. residents to offset the cost of attending one of 300 participating colleges and universities. The aim is to help D.C. families with the cost of college as there is not an in-state option for D.C. residents. Because of the U.S. Department of Education's announcement that programs and schools will not receive the data from the FAFSA until mid-March, DCTAG has delayed opening the application until March 11, 2024.

VANDERBILT AND CORNELL EXTEND TEST-OPTIONAL ADMISSIONS

On the heels of Dartmouth’s announcement last week about reinstating standardized testing in the admission process, Cornell University and Vanderbilt University reported that they will each extend their test-optional admissions policies established during the pandemic. Cornell extended their policy for one more year. Several of Cornell’s schools have already adjusted admissions policy to “test free,” meaning they will not consider standardized test scores at any point in the admission process. Vanderbilt has extended their policy for three additional years in order to conduct internal research before making a permanent decision.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Following Dartmouth College’s aforementioned testing announcement, Inside Higher Ed interviewed Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Lee Coffin. Coffin makes the point several times that the decision came after an internal study of admissions data for the last few years at Dartmouth. It was a decision made for Dartmouth using data from Dartmouth and is not intended to be a bellwether decision in the standardized testing controversy. Of course, though (as Coffin acknowledges), when an Ivy League university makes an announcement like this, it draws attention from all constituents.

A debate about the value of a college degree versus technical, vocational, and other skilled labor and career training has been going on quietly for the last several years, because leaders are struggling to assess the value of CTE programs. Unfortunately, standard ways of tracking outcomes and collecting data don’t apply, as it’s hard to match up workforce data with protected student records. This week, The Washington Post weighed in on the struggle. “States that do connect school and work data, such as Florida and Maryland, have found that taking career courses in high school can lead some students to earn higher wages after graduation,” Wall writes. But with data hard to come by, and some of it contradictory, it seems as if the debate will carry on a while longer. For now, as the College Board makes clear, getting education beyond a high school diploma is crucial to economic success, and a college degree is one of the best investments a family can make.

In “Legacy Admissions May Not Be at Odds With Diversity,” Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley addresses an aspect of the debate over legacy admissions that has attracted comparatively little attention: the negative effects ending the practice might have on minority students. Riley argues that “ending the practice might undercut the left’s campus diversity objectives.” He writes: “Affirmative-action policies have been in place for a half-century. Hundreds of thousands of black students have matriculated at selective colleges and universities across the country, and their children stand to benefit from legacy admissions. Now that race-conscious admission policies have been banned, legacies are one way for schools to maintain a racially mixed student body without violating the Supreme Court’s decision.” Riley also notes that some leaders at HBCUs have expressed anxiety about legal bans of legacy consideration. He quotes Brenda Allen, the president of Lincoln University, a small black college in Pennsylvania, who notes: “People have generations of folks who go to these institutions. My school is like that. We recruit family members … Being able to recruit legacies is important, especially at HBCUs.”

Snowplow, bulldozer, helicopter — we have all read the various research, news coverage, and parenting advice columns that discuss the pros and cons of super involved parenting. The New York Times published a story this week about two new surveys which suggest that there is more to the story when it comes to this style of parenting. In fact, the surveys show that “nine in 10 parents rate their relationships with their young adult children as good or excellent, and so do eight in 10 young adults.” Many past researchers have studied the negative effects of intense parenting on the child — they are less self-reliant, more frequently live at home, and continue to be financially dependent on their parents well into their late twenties; however, these surveys indicate that closer relationships between parents and their adult children can be beneficial to both. In some families with young adults living at home, three-quarters of them contributed to the family expenses and one-third of adult children helped support their parents financially.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

In recognition of President’s Day, our office will be closed on Monday, February 19 and will reopen on Tuesday, February 20. Wishing everyone an enjoyable long weekend!

CATCH UP ON PAST BLOGS BELOW!

Finding the Best Common App Ⓡ Essay Topic

The Common ApplicationⓇ recently released their essay topics for the 2023-2024 application cycle, and we’re already getting started with our juniors on the writing process. Yes, we know it’s only March, but this is actually a great time of the year for eleventh graders to begin their main essay. After all, writing is a PROCESS (your high school English teachers are right!), and you’ll want to make sure you dedicate enough time to this very important, very personal writing assignment. 

Of course the hardest part of any essay assignment is getting started. And for the Common ApplicationⓇ essay, that means choosing your topic and the story you want to tell the admissions committee. So how do you sift through seventeen years of memories and experiences to find the best topic? Keep reading to find out. 

What is the best topic?

The Common ApplicationⓇ essay doesn’t come with a big list of rules or restrictions. The prompts are so broad that almost any topic goes–as long as it’s important to you. The best topics are those that are honest- don’t go making up stories or exaggerating to make yourself sound more exciting- and reveal something about you beyond your test scores and grades. Most importantly, the best topics are those that actually have personal meaning. Your essay will be much easier to write and much more compelling to an admissions committee if it has heart. Trust us, we’ve read thousands of essays over the years, and it’s very easy to tell the difference between a student who’s invested in their topic and one who’s just writing what they think others will want to hear. 

In addition to being honest, revealing, and meaningful, the best essay topics are also normal. And by normal we mean that you don’t have to have done something extreme or crazy like curing cancer! It’s perfectly okay to write about typical teenage experiences, like getting cut from the soccer team, performing on stage for the first time, or running for class president. In fact, the most successful essays are usually those focused on small, seemingly-insignificant moments. What makes them memorable (and anything but boring) is the way the writer gives meaning to the experience, whether it’s a trip to Costco or a game of Solitaire with grandma. It may sounds hard to believe but sometimes essays about huge accomplishments actually end up to be less successful, because the focus becomes more about what happened and less on the impact and meaning of it.

How to find the best essay topic

Ignore the prompts… FOR NOW

The very first step to uncovering the best topic is to put the Common AppⓇ essay prompts away. Yes, you heard us right! Ignore the prompts. Don’t even look at them right now. We know that sounds counterproductive, but here us out. First of all, the prompts are intentionally broad, so just about any topic you choose will align with one of the options. No worries there! Secondly, if you start fixating on the prompts now, you’re likely to restrict your brainstorming process. You might eliminate ideas before you ever really consider them. So ignore the prompts for now and move on to the next step. You’ll get back to them later!

Take stock of yourself

The Common AppⓇ essay is NOT the kind of assignment you’re probably used to writing in English class. You’re not analyzing symbols in The Great Gatsby or scribbling a timed AP response. You’re writing about you! And let’s face it, you probably haven’t taken much time to actually reflect on yourself- your personal qualities, the experiences that have shaped you, the things that mean the most to you, etc. So it’s time to take stock of yourself. Spend a few days, maybe even weeks, reflecting on your life.

What are some of your most positive qualities and characteristics? For example, are you a really curious or creative person? Are you someone who’s learned to stick with something, even when circumstances are tough? Think about the qualities that your friends or family would immediately list if someone asked them about you. Then consider the events in your life that have helped shape these personal qualities. 

If you’re stuck, start small by listing your behaviors and habits. For example, you might think “I always get my work done.” So what does that say about you? That you’re persistent? That you’re committed to your responsibilities? 

Interview others

In addition to taking stock of yourself, get others to take stock of you, too. Ask your friends and family, maybe even your teachers, to help you reflect on your qualities and experiences. Here are some questions you can pose to those you think know you best:

• How would you describe me to someone?

• What makes me different from other people?

• What do you think are my strengths? What about my weaknesses?

• How do you think I’ve changed since…. (fill in the blank with the appropriate time frame)? 

• What memories or moments stand out when you think about me? 

Assess your application materials

Another great step toward finding the best essay topic is assessing your application materials. Sit down and take a close look at your transcripts, your test scores, your list of activities, etc. What will the admissions committees learn about you from these materials? We’re guessing that they’ll see a clear picture of you as a hard worker. But what won’t be so obvious from these facts and figures? Is there a story lurking beyond your activities and grades?

Avoid judgment

Ask any inventor, business owner, or famous writer, and they’ll tell you that they probably went through hundreds of ideas before finding the right one. Same goes for you! It’s going to take time and a lot of brainstorming to discover a great essay topic. Don’t judge or discard ideas along the way. Even if an idea seems silly at first or you think there’s no way you could write 650 words on that topic, consider it. You never know how one small thought can potentially lead to an amazing essay.

GOOD LUCK!

Whether it’s the Common App Ⓡ Essay or the many, many supplemental essays that students will have to write over the next few months, essay writing can be really, really hard on the parent-student relationship - much more so than picking a school or a major. From arguing about getting started, arguing about the topics, arguing about the wording, arguing about finishing it up - conflict and stress are there at every turn, and emotions are on high because so much is at stake. Life is too short for that! Book a Meet & Greet session to learn how we can step in and restore peace in your home right away :)