Weekly Update: June 5

Good luck with finals for those of you taking them this week!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUNY ACCEPTS 125,000 STUDENTS

The State University of New York is sending out 125,000 acceptance letters to graduating high school seniors. No, they aren’t students who applied - the acceptances are automatic, with the goal of encouraging more high school seniors to enroll in college. We’ve discussed here before how the pandemic exacerbated a decline in enrollment that has been happening over the last decade, and this is the latest attempt by the SUNY system to enroll more students in local community colleges. 

GW JOINS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES

The Association of American Universities, an invitation-only organization that comprises the country’s top research institutions, recently gained six new members - including GW. This expansion brings the AAU to its largest-ever membership of 71 schools, also welcoming Arizona State, the University of Miami, and Notre Dame. UC Riverside and the University of South Florida were admitted as well.

This prestigious organization was founded in 1900 by schools including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and UC Berkeley. 

VIRAL VIDEO LEADS TO FULL-RIDE SCHOLARSHIP

Just a few months after going viral for his video response to his Morehouse College acceptance, Amir Staten got more good news - he was named one of Morehouse’s Bonner Scholars, earning a four-year full-ride scholarship. Morehouse College’s dean said that the selection panel had not seen the video before selecting Amir for the scholarship, though he was personally moved by the student’s excitement over attending Morehouse. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The rise of ChatGPT and other AI models has led to a lot of speculation about the future of the job market - and maybe we should be worried! Two University of Washington students recently won UW’s startup competition and $25,000 with their AI college counseling platform. The platform takes in data from students’ high school performance to offer advice on course selection, strategies for extracurricular activities, and help with the college search. Right now, the platform is maxed out at 30 users, as the college-student founders are doing some 1:1 counseling work themselves while they work on automating the entire process. This isn’t the first time a startup has tried to automate college counseling - for now, we think that a real-life counselor is the way to go! 

We are potentially just days away from the Supreme Court rendering a decision on the use of affirmative action in college admissions, and the expectation is that the conservative Court will abolish or limit affirmative action. We’ve seen a lot of articles speculating on what the ruling will ultimately mean for college admissions, including this one from David Brooks. He argues that the current admissions process creates an “elite” educated class, and that the race-based affirmative action programs at many schools should be replaced by class-based affirmative action in the admissions process. We will be eagerly awaiting the decision and tracking the impact it has on the admissions process moving forward.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

My top tips for parents who are sending their students off to college in the fall were featured in U.S. News’ Parents’ Guide to Freshman Year this week - the whole article is a great read if you are saying goodbye to your senior! While I know it can be challenging as a parent, sometimes the best thing you can do for your student is allow them to advocate for themselves and make mistakes - while always serving as a sounding board and supporter as they navigate this next step. 

Our juniors are starting to finalize their lists and several have 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 work behind them. 

Have a great week - the last week of school for some of you!

Academic Planning for Middle School Students Part II: Public or Private High School?

A few weeks ago, we published a post about academic planning for middle school students, where we delved into course selection for your middle schooler, and how the courses they take in middle school may affect what is available to them at their high school. 

This week, we are going to focus on public vs. private high schools. Many eighth graders may be in the process of completing those private high school applications, and plenty of parents are wondering - is it worth the time and money?

The answer is… yes and no. Now, we know that may not be exactly what you want to hear, but the truth is that this is a very personal decision, and your ultimate choice will depend on what works for your individual student and family. However, we hope that these considerations can shed some light on the factors at play!

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Will a public or a private high school help my student more during the college process?

The fact is, top private schools tend to send a larger percentage of their students to highly selective colleges than public schools. But it is important to remember that private school applicants are a self-selecting pool - often more affluent or more ambitious (or both!) than the pool of students at public schools. So whether this is the case because private schools prepare students better for college, or simply because the students who attend private schools are also more likely to attend a certain sub-set of colleges, we can’t say for sure. 

However, private schools do typically offer smaller class sizes and extracurricular activities that enable students to get to know their teachers and school counselors better. This often results in more personalized attention than one would have at a public school where teachers and counselors have many more students to support. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, though, so make sure you do your research when it comes to school selection!

So, you’re saying my child will have less support at a public school?

Maybe. Private schools often have smaller class sizes, as we mentioned, and some have certain religious and social supports in place that are certainly not available at a typical public school. These are all great reasons to look to a private school education for your child. 

However, if your child has a diagnosed learning difference that requires more extensive support, your best option may actually be a public school. Accessibility is more carefully monitored and provided at public schools, which usually have more structures in place to support students with learning differences. 

Where will my child have better teachers?

Again, it depends. As we said above, students at private schools often have the opportunity to bond more with their teachers, and teachers have smaller classes to manage and can give more individual attention to each student. However, public school teachers are required to have a teaching credential, while private school teachers are not. Are there good and bad teachers at all high schools? Definitely. But at a public school, you know that every teacher has a teaching credential. 

My student is an academic high-flier. Won’t she do better at a private school?

We’ll say it again - maybe. Some students who are academically successful LOVE to be in an environment with other smart kids. Seeing other people around them working hard pushes them to perform to their max academic potential - they thrive on that friendly competition. 

Other students like to be the smartest kid in the room, and would much rather be the big fish in the small pond of their public high school than be surrounded by other (maybe more!) successful students at a selective private school. Only you and your student know their personality best and have a sense of which which environment is going to help them succeed.

Another factor to consider is that private schools are sometimes limited in the high-level classes they can offer. Public high schools often have a larger variety of courses, and almost always offer more specialized options for students who want to pursue engineering, entrepreneurship, or another particular academic pathway in high school. And certain school systems go way beyond that - did you know that FCPS offers options ranging from veterinary science to fashion marketing (held at a mall - how cool is that!). This chance to specialize can definitely be helpful in the college application process!

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The bottom line is: do your research. The above are just some of the things you’ll want to consider, but the available curriculum and level of support for students varies from school to school. Look up the course progression and opportunities available at your local public high school, so you can directly compare with any private schools you are considering. 

You may also want to consider an important factor we haven’t mentioned here: social influence. This is heavily specific to each individual school community and less about whether the school happens to be private or public. For example, public schools aren’t the only ones with drug problems - certain private schools struggle with substance abuse much more than their public school counterparts!

So as you weigh all of the options, don’t forget to carefully examine the culture of every school on your list to try to get a better sense of what your student’s peer group will look like. This is often the single most important factor that will influence your student’s choices relating to risky and undesirable adolescent behavior.

If you want more help in the high school search, book an 8th grade strategy session with us and we’d love to talk more about you and your family’s goals. And if you are interested in a presentation about academic planning for middle schoolers for your club or group, email Shannon to get on our calendar!

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Independent School Admission Tips for Success

In my last post, I briefly discussed the two top considerations that independent school admission officers use to evaluate a candidate’s fit. This time around, I’d like to share some practical tips to help families achieve success in this process:

• Do your own research and keep an open mind. It can be really easy to make decisions about the right school for your child based on information from your friends or even friends of friends. However, you will receive the best information about a school from the school itself. Scour their website (i.e., go beyond the admission page). Have conversations with not just admission professionals, but also current parents, students, and faculty (many schools can make these connections for you if requested). It is important to keep an open mind when considering the “best fit school” in which your child will thrive.

• Visit schools, and visit early! I encourage you to schedule tours at a wide variety of local private schools with your child. This will enable you both to determine what you are really hoping to find in a school, and to ensure that you are applying for the right reasons. Most tours include conversations with not just admission officers, but also teachers, coaches, and administrators, making them a great opportunity to learn about schools’ communities and values. I suggest visiting schools the spring before your child applies so that you know exactly where you will apply as you enter the fall admission season.

• Be aware of admission deadlines. Most local private schools require that applicants complete all steps of the admission process by mid to late January for admission the following year. Many won’t even consider an application if even a small part of it is submitted late.

• Attend school events.  A great way to get to know a school is to attend its events. Admission events are effective for learning the nuts and bolts of a school, and spending quality time with the admission team and some administrators. However, even more valuable to truly understanding a school is attending community events--homecoming, sports games, arts events, etc. This will enable you to observe and interact with students, parents, and teachers in an authentic environment. Also, attending multiple events, admission or otherwise, sends the message that you are serious about the school and helps admission committees remember your child come decision time.

• Schedule a shadow visit. If you move forward with submitting an application to a school, most private middle and high schools will offer you the opportunity to schedule a “shadow visit.” This means that your child will have the chance to actually attend classes at the given school for a half or full day. You should take this opportunity, as it will help your child determine if he or she can see themselves in each school environment. On the other hand, passing on a shadow visit suggests to the admission committee that a family might not really be interested.

• Prepare your child, but don’t overdo it. Most admission processes for middle and high school require a student interview. It is important to talk to your child about what that will be like. Share that they will have a conversation with a member of the admission committee, and that this is an opportunity for them to get to know him/her as a candidate “off paper.” The admission committee will ask questions about the student’s interests, educational habits, home life, etc. Parents should also encourage students to be themselves and relax. Over-preparing your child will often lead to anxiety, a robotic conversation, or excessively rehearsed responses.

• Follow through on the little things. Encourage your child to write handwritten thank you notes to tour guides, the interviewer, any coaches/teachers who met with him/her, etc. You as a parent should also do the same, either with a handwritten note or email. This may seem like a small gesture, but these personal efforts are remembered.

Cognitive Dissonance and the Check-Listed Childhood

How many parents out there have read Julie Lythcott-Haims’ How to Raise an Adult, or watched her Ted Talk on the concept of what she defines as a “check-listed childhood”? I am starting to think that everyone in America must have, because her views seem to come up in conversation constantly. If you are not familiar, you can find the video of the Ted Talk here and it’s definitely worth watching if you can’t make time to read the book.

When I first watched her Ted Talk, I was mildly horrified. I agreed with everything she said, of course, and thought about her message during my first rodeo in the world of competitive parenting this fall. I have a first grader, and she took the NNAT on November 13 - my birthday (oh the irony!). I know that many other parents prepped their children for the test; I did not, and I felt really great about my clearly-superior parenting skills. I was going to do this the right way!

As mid-December moved into late-December and we still hadn’t gotten her score back, I turned into a crazy person. I checked SIS like a maniac. Or would it come in the Wednesday folder? In her backpack? Finally, I learned that the letters had been mailed and that I would receive the score on Christmas Eve through the mail. What first seemed like bad timing was actually incredibly well-played, because then parents couldn’t contact the school with questions and would have to wait two weeks to simmer down. Smart.

I spent most of Christmas Eve waiting obsessively for the mailman to come. I wanted it to be high, so she would have a good shot at the AAP program. I saw him come from an upstairs window and made my husband run out to grab it, and stood in the kitchen opening the envelope with my heart pounding, like a complete and total idiot. She is six years old. She did well, by the way, probably not high enough to be in-pool for AAP, but it was a good score. She is a smart kid. Still, I was disappointed (don’t worry, she was not home and she has no clue that this score even exists). Clearly, my decision to forgo test prep was not in line with my goal of a high score.

The entire experience helped me identify with my clients on a deeper level in terms of the concept of cognitive dissonance - particularly in relation to our goals for our children and the effort that it takes to achieve those goals. At the core, we all want our kids to be happy and fulfilled, right? I don’t think that there are many of us that want to push our children over the edge. We all realistically know that test prep for a first grader is probably not a great idea, just as we know that pushing high school kids to overwhelm themselves with coursework that requires studying until 3:00 a.m. each day is not a good idea.

Yet, and this is especially timely at this time of year with course registration on the horizon: how many of us actually modify our goals for our children in response to the decisions we make as parents? It was easy for me to say that I wasn’t going to prep my first-grader for the NNAT, but it was harder to feel fine with the eventual outcome. It’s easy to say that we shouldn’t force twelfth graders to take AP Calculus or continue with a slate of activities that they no longer enjoy, but it’s so much harder to truly feel fine with the idea that UVA may not be in the cards anymore because of those decisions.

I don’t have a magical solution to solve this problem (I wish I did!). It would be so much easier if my daughter just scored perfectly on her own and if all the kids with whom I work are naturally Harvard-bound without any kind of intervention. Ultimately, though, I think that there is a balance between a check-listed childhood and free-range parenting, and that balance may look different for each family.

I would urge parents to consider these types of dilemmas while acknowledging the consequences in the context of our ultimate goals for our children. This doesn’t mean that we should necessarily adjust our goals or adjust our parenting decisions, but we do have to come to terms with the idea that decisions lead to consequences, so that there are no surprises down the line in terms of an inability to achieve goals. There may be situations when we as parents decide that a little pain now is worth the end result, and there may be situations where we decide it isn’t.

As for me, I have a lot of strategy and planning sessions on my calendar this month and will be discussing course selections at length. I will continue to tell everyone that I highly recommend AP Calculus to students that hope to be competitive applicants to highly selective schools, if AP Calculus is an option on the table. Yes, even for the kid that’s not interested in math. And yes, a fourth year of a foreign language (not to be confused with level four) is equally important… IF the goal is UVA. But it doesn’t have to be!