Weekly Update: January 21

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

GOVERNOR YOUNGKIN’S MASK ORDER

Governor Youngkin issued an executive order this week that gives parents the final say on whether or not their children wear masks in schools, even if the schools have a mandatory mask policy in effect. Many school districts, including FCPS and Arlington County, are still requiring masks for now, and several parents have filed lawsuits in response to the order. The biggest impact we will see in our area will likely be at Catholic schools, as the Diocese of Arlington has opted to follow Governor Youngkin’s lead. With a child in one of those schools, I’m a Iittle nervous to see how this plays out…

MARYLAND UNIVERSITIES REQUIRE KN95 MASKS

Meanwhile, several colleges and universities in Maryland are requiring everyone on campus to wear high-grade masks. Johns Hopkins is requiring N95 or KN95 masks or two surgical masks, while UMD and Towson will require KN95 masks in classroom settings. 

“CALIFORNIA FOR ALL COLLEGE CORPS” LAUNCHES PILOT PROGRAM

Governor Newsom recently announced a pilot program that will cover $10,000 of tuition costs at 45 California colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA, for students who complete at least 450 hours of community service. Students can volunteer for one year to serve in high-need areas like climate action, K-12 education, and COVID-19 recovery. 

BOSTON COLLEGE MERGER WITH PINE MANOR

During the pandemic, many smaller colleges faced financial hardships that required school closures, including Pine Manor college in Massachusetts. Luckily, the school merged with Boston College and is now launching the new two-year Messina College, with the goal of recruiting, retaining, and graduating underrepresented and first generation students. The institute will have housing for students on its campus, and BC’s president said that he hopes students graduating from Messina will be able to transfer to Boston College. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We are picking up now with law school admissions for juniors in college this spring - this is really the time to start preparing to apply to law school! One myth that many students come to us with is the idea that law schools only care about GPA and LSAT score. While GPA and LSAT score are very important in this process - in fact, we’d argue that these numbers are more important overall in the law school process than for undergraduate applications - they aren’t the only factors. This article covers six important factors in law school admissions, including life experience, work and volunteer experience, and motivation. 

Of course, these factors definitely play a role in admissions. However, it is important to consider them in the context of your application. If you are applying to law school straight from undergrad, your GPA is going to be a very important factor. If you are applying to start a second career after 10 years in the working world, your work experience is going to carry more weight! 

Most of our students and families are familiar with Naviance - the software that helps two-thirds of American high school students with their college research. This article explores how Naviance collects data on applicants and allows colleges and universities to advertise directly to a certain pool of students, basing targeted ads on criteria like geographic location and race. This is definitely something that students and parents should be aware of - and be careful to think critically about the schools that Naviance suggests to them! 

This article takes a deep dive into the establishment of Florida International University, from its origin on an abandoned airfield to its recent receipt of a $40 million donation from MacKenzie Scott. The school now has the number 6 ranking for social mobility among all universities in the country, and jumped 22 spots in the U.S. News rankings in 2022 compared to 2021. If you are interested in the rise of a newer college to the public eye, it is definitely worth looking into FIU. Especially if you want to say goodbye to this awful weather!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We’ve used the space in the last few weeks to spotlight extracurricular and summer opportunities that students can use to improve their communities and their college applications. This week, we’re sharing an opportunity to become a student board member of McLean Community Center. There are two board slots available for teens who are residents of the MCC’s tax district (Small District 1A-Dranesville) and will be 15-17 years of age on May 21, 2022. One slot is for a student living within the Langley HS boundary, and one slot is for a student living within the McLean HS boundary, although neither student needs to actually attend the schools. Candidate petitions are due by March 11. For more information, check out the Community Center’s website. 

We have these opportunities in mind because we are spending a lot of time this month with our current juniors, discussing high school course selection, testing plans, extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations, and more! This is a perfect time to get started on the undergraduate or law school admissions process - for more information, book a Meet & Greet to chat with us. 

Lastly, we are also working on trying to reduce student stress and anxiety as much as possible. Just when everything felt like it was going back to normal again, the omicron variant came in with a fury and did a number on adolescent mental health. if you are noticing your student’s anxiety becoming an issue at home, you should check out this week’s parent workshop by the highly-sought-after Dr. Dan Shapiro. There are so many families who could benefit from some help in this area, and we think Dr. Dan is great!

You can register here for Thursday’s program.

Have a great weekend, and stay warm!

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Weekly Update: January 14

Happy Friday! A note that our office will be closed on Monday for MLK, Jr. Day. Have a great long weekend!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

TOP COLLEGES SUED FOR ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS

Sixteen top universities, including Yale, Georgetown, Penn, MIT, Brown, and Northwestern, are being sued for antitrust violations in response to the way that they work together when determining financial aid awards for students. The lawsuit was filed in Illinois this past weekend, and claims that over 170,000 students were overcharged in a financial aid system that amounts to price-fixing by the colleges. 

Though the schools do coordinate their financial aid processes, this system has been exempt from antitrust laws because all of the schools named in the lawsuit are need-blind, so financial need is not considered a factor in their admissions processes. But the lawsuit casts doubt on whether these universities truly do not consider need as an admissions factor. 

This is why we never recommend “applying just to apply” if you already know you won’t qualify for need-based financial aid! For more about this, check out our blog post on the FAFSA.

GO DAWGS!

On Monday night, the University of Georgia beat Alabama in the national football championship. This is the first title for Georgia since 1980. UGA’s campus as well as the city of Atlanta and other areas around Georgia have been celebrating the historic win!

ENROLLMENT CONTINUES TO DROP

This feels like a groundhog-day story at this point, but college enrollment nationwide continued to drop this fall, despite vaccine availability. The decline equals over a million students in the workforce rather than in the classroom, which we can expect to have an impact on the US economy moving forward, especially if this trend continues beyond the pandemic years.

UVA PROVOST BECOMES PENN’S NEXT PRESIDENT

Liz Magill, the Provost at UVA, has been selected as the next president of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, Magill became the first female provost at UVA. Magill will begin her new role at Penn on July 1. Ian Baucom, the current Dean of Arts & Sciences, will become UVA’s new provost. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

This week’s biggest story is that of Mackenzie Fierceton, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. Fierceton was admitted to Penn as an undergraduate, first-generation student - she wrote her senior thesis based on her time in foster care. After Fierceton was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, however, her story began to fall apart. 

An anonymous informant emailed Penn’s administration to reveal that Mackenzie grew up in an affluent suburb, with her mother, who was a college graduate. The email, sent to both Penn and the Rhodes Trust, included images of Mackenzie from her high school yearbook - skydiving, horseback riding, and whitewater rafting. Both organizations began extensive investigations into her story. Ultimately, Fierceton withdrew from the Rhodes scholarship. Penn is also withholding her diploma until their investigation is complete. 

In December, Mackenzie Fierceton filed a lawsuit against Penn for their handling of her case, and particularly the “unjust” withholding of her degree. The case also raises issues of how victims of child abuse are treated, and whether her essays and descriptions of her childhood are reflective of what she experienced. 

At the center of the controversy was Fierceton’s undergraduate admissions essay, detailing the severe child abuse that landed her in the foster care system. These events have brought to the surface the pressure that some students feel to write about trauma as the topic for an engaging college essay. But as we tell our students every year, you don’t need to have experienced hardship to write an engaging essay - and pretending you did can clearly backfire! Our Wow Writing Workshop process helps students tell THEIR stories in a clear, interesting, and exciting way.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

In our midweek blog this week, we covered your questions about summer opportunities. And yes, you should begin thinking about summer opportunities now! A couple that stood out to us this week were Vanderbilt’s Programs for Talented Youth, which serve students in grades 1-12. Applications are open now for the university’s in-person residential Summer Academy for 7-12th graders, as well as the Virtual Research Experience. 

If you don’t have the money to spend this summer on an impressive-sounding college program, don’t worry! There are plenty of free or even paid opportunities to specialize and develop your niche as an applicant. We’re excited about the course options available through FCPS’s High School Academies, which give the opportunity to specialize in a variety of areas for all FCPS students!

That’s it for today - enjoy the long weekend!

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Weekly Update: January 7

We hope you all had a fun and restful break, and we’re excited to be back with our first weekly update of 2022!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FCPS CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW

An FCPS snow day turned into a snow week as students in Fairfax County, Arlington County, and other local districts had an entire extra week of break due to the weather. We hope that our students enjoyed the extra week off and were able to catch up on some rest before heading back to the classroom next week!

CHICAGO SCHOOLS CLOSE  

In Chicago, it isn’t snow that is keeping the schools closed. Schools have now been closed for three days due to the standoff between the teachers’ union and city officials. Officials want the school year to proceed in person, while the teachers’ union is calling for more COVID-19 precautions and more widely available testing. As of this posting, there is no sign of a resolution to the difficulties, and we expect to see schools continue to be closed next week, leaving some families scrambling to find childcare. 

HBCU CAMPUSES TARGETED WITH BOMB THREATS

Howard and Spelman were two of the eight HBCUs that received bomb threats on Tuesday. The FBI and local police investigated the threats and found no bombs, but the targeted threats caused some anxiety for students and staff on campus. Howard students and staff reported that as one of two HBCUs in DC, they feel particularly vulnerable to these types of threats. 

NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Monday night’s championship game between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia will be the first game in what George Will calls the “name-image-likeness era.” The players in this game will be the first to benefit from the NCAA’s new NIL regulations that allow student-athletes to profit off of the use of their name, image, or likeness - a reversal of the NCAA’s strong commitment to not paying amateur players.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Jeff Selingo’s latest newsletter offers some ideas on how to make a big campus feel small. What they all have in common is building community. Having a “cohort” on campus is important, whether something formal like a sports team or club or just a group of peers. But building relationships with faculty mentors is also essential, and forced “mentorship” does not have nearly the same positive effect as genuine relationship-building. This was especially interesting to read during the pandemic, as online learning has made these types of connections more difficult to create for college students. 

A couple articles from The Atlantic this week underline this sentiment: that perhaps school closures cause more harm than good, at both the college and K-12 levels. Between struggles with mental health and the learning loss that comes from remote learning, both articles outline the risks that continued school closures pose to students.  

This was an interesting article about the benefits and drawbacks of taking dual enrollment classes during high school. If you are considering a dual enrollment class, we’d encourage you to think about it in the context of what is available at your high school. If you have maxed out your high school’s offerings, particularly in core subjects like math and foreign language, dual enrollment courses could be great options. However, as the article says, they aren’t necessarily a foolproof way to obtain college credits. Just note that most of this information applies to dual enrollment college courses that are taught at community colleges, rather than “college-level” coursework in high school such as AP and IB. 

Wondering what’s going on in your high school teacher’s brain during a typical school day? A high school English teacher sums it up for the Washington Post.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

As we check in with our 10th and 11th grade students in the next few weeks, a big part of our conversations is selecting summer plans. It seems early, but many summer program applications are open right now! If you are looking for enrichment opportunities this summer or even this spring, take a look at our summer opportunities database, updated today. One new opportunity we’re sharing is paid work as a referee for the Great Falls Reston Soccer Club - a way to earn some extra money and round out an activities list for an athlete who is an aspiring education, kinesiology, or sports psychology major! 

We have had a lot to catch up on after the break, and decisions keep coming in for our Class of 2022 students. We are so proud!! We are also working on initial research and application materials with the Class of 2023. To learn more about how we can help your student navigate this coming admissions cycle, book a Meet & Greet.

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Weekly Update: December 31

Happy New Year’s Eve! Our office is closed today for the holiday, but we’ll be back on Monday and look forward to starting the new year with you!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL GAMES CANCELLED

At the time of this writing, five college bowl games have already been cancelled, and two others have been rescheduled or rearranged due to COVID-19. As the coronavirus spreads among college football teams (in addition to impacting the wider campuses and holiday travel), we anticipate seeing even more cancellations and changes arise. 

COMMUNITY COLLEGE ENROLLMENT DROP CONTINUES

We all know that community colleges were hit hardest by COVID-related enrollment declines, and those in Northern Virginia are no exception. Enrollment has continued to decline this year at local community colleges, with Northern Virginia Community College enrollment down 5%, Prince George’s Community College down 10%, and Montgomery College down 19%! Statewide, enrollment is down 9% in Virginia and 14% in Maryland.

A strong market for job seekers could contribute to the continuing decline, but it may also be a result of students with limited internet access or caring responsibilities at home who are unable to attend classes remotely. Many schools are now working to up their recruitment and retention efforts.

COLLEGES DELAY SPRING SEMESTER STARTS

Howard and Vanderbilt are some of the latest schools to join Yale, Syracuse, and others in pushing back the start of the semester due to the coronavirus surge. The school is also requiring staff and students to receive booster shots by the end of January.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

I really enjoyed this Buzzfeed piece on secrets from admissions officers. Not only is it funny, some of the advice is EXCELLENT! I particularly liked #s 4, 8, 17 and absolutely, absolutely #19). But read it with a grain of salt if you’re applying to competitive or highly competitive schools - there’s some information that only applies to less competitive schools and could be misleading without that context (#s 3, 7, 21 in particular).

WHAT the heck is happening in Arlington County? I would have expected to read about their new proposed grading systems in the Onion, not the Washington Post! Some of the proposed plans “would, among other things, remove penalties for missing homework deadlines and prohibit grading of what is called formative work — daily assignments.” Another proposal involves unlimited redoes and retakes, according to WJLA. Trust me - this is not going to do anyone any favors from a college admissions standpoint.. it will totally destroy the district’s (quite strong) reputation.

While we’ve written extensively about the detrimental effects the pandemic has had on many two- and four-year colleges, there is one population that has seen a benefit: for-profit institutions. Many already had flexible schedules and online classes, and were able to advertise their business model as one that could meet the moment. After receiving years of bad press for unethical sales methods and disreputable courses, this was an opportunity for for-profit colleges to make a comeback. 

Miss some posts in 2021? Check out this Washington Post article for a recap of the best and worst education news of the year.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are closed today for the New Year’s Eve holiday, and looking forward to getting back to meeting with students next week. Enjoy the holiday, and happy New Year!!

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Weekly Update: December 24

A very merry Christmas Eve to all those celebrating today and tomorrow! Our office is closed today for the holiday, but we will be open on Monday and Shannon and Staci will be available to help answer any questions :)

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

MORE CAMPUS SHUTDOWNS

We covered the campus closures at Cornell, GW, Stanford, and others last week, and this week brought more to add to the list. Yale has moved finals online, while in Boston Harvard and Emerson have announced that the spring semester will begin remotely in 2022. Seven of the colleges in the UC system have also decided to begin next semester online. Meanwhile, several schools including UVA, Oberlin, and Northwestern have made COVID-19 boosters mandatory for students returning to campus. 

However, one medical expert disagrees with the decision to send students home, saying that the travel required to send students all over the country is more likely to increase the spread of COVID than keeping them in a quarantine situation on campus. We’ll be waiting to see whether more closures are announced in the new year. (P.S. If you are a parent worried about your high school or college student’s exposure over the holidays, check out this article for tips on staying safe)

NEW YORK’S CITY COLLEGE HAS A MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTOR

A physics professor at City College in Harlem received a package in the mail. Inside? $180,000 in cash. A letter included in the package explained that the goal of the gift was to help needy physics and math students at the college. The anonymous letter stated that the donation was from a former physics department student. 

After investigating whether the cash was the result of criminal activity, the college’s Board of Trustees formally voted to accept the gift last week.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Every year, there are always a few students who, despite being accepted into their early decision schools, want to know: Is early decision really binding? This article from the New York Times aims to answer that question - and the answer might surprise some families. The truth is that if you cannot afford to attend the school to which you applied early decision, you can back out of the agreement.

Now keep in mind - this doesn’t mean you can go back to the school and change your mind later if you don’t get a better deal from another school - you can’t. This is why families who want to compare aid offers may decide that early decision is not for them. But at nearly all institutions, no one would penalize a student who decides that they can’t afford to attend and wants to back out. That student would be able to withdraw the ED application with no issue. However, many schools leave this information in the fine print, or say that they will work with students on the financial aspect without directly saying that students can back out. 

You should also remember that this applies only to families who are not able to afford tuition - students and families who are simply not willing to pay the tuition cannot be exempted from their early decision agreements. 

And lastly, students can also ask for more funding to make attendance feasible (whether they are admitted early decision or not!). If you’re a current client, we encourage you to work with us on how to ask for more funding in a polite and respectful way. Negotiating is just one of the ways to hack your college tuition bill - check out this Forbes article for more. 

On a lighter note - after reading (and re-reading, and re-reading) their own college personal statements, we hope students enjoy these personal statements from Shakespeare characters as much as we did!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

This week we’ve been busy helping some deferred and waitlisted students regroup and write letters of continued interest - if you need to do this as well, check out our blog post for some examples (or book an essay coaching session!). We’re also wrapping up with some graduate school and MBA applications, and keeping our fingers crossed for students still waiting to hear from their schools!

Since the world seems to have shut down over the last several days because of Omicron, I’m hoping to take advantage of my time at home over the weekend to check out “Try Harder!” a NYTimes Critic’s Pick documentary about the pressures facing high-achieving high school students today.

“Try Harder!” follows a group of students at Lowell High School (think the TJ of the Bay Area - new lottery system and all) as they go through their senior year, and by all accounts it’s supposed to be great. It begins streaming on Netflix today!

Have a great holiday!

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Weekly Update: December 17

We are really thrilled with the good news from so many of our seniors, and look forward to hearing the rest of the decisions as they come out! Our office will be closed for the next two weeks during the FCPS break, but please keep us updated - we can’t wait to celebrate with you!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

OMICRON SPIKES START TO SHUT DOWN CAMPUSES

Cornell made headlines at the beginning of the week after needing to shut down its campus due to coronavirus spikes - the libraries are closed to students, and they will need to take finals online. All activities, including fall graduation, are cancelled. One by one, many other schools began to follow suit with a similar approach, including GW, Princeton, NYU, Tufts, and Middlebury. On the high school side, Georgetown Prep suspended classes until after winter break after 30 students were diagnosed with COVID-19. We expect to see more school closures this winter if Omicron continues to spike. Stanford, DePaul, and others have moved their winter quarters/J term equivalents online, and Penn State issued a statement today cautioning that the “community should prepare to alter plans in case the spring semester must start remotely at University Park.”

COLLEGES BEGIN REQUIRING VACCINE BOOSTERS

Given the closures, it is perhaps no surprise that some colleges have started requiring students to have vaccine boosters. Syracuse, UMass Amherst, Boston College, Northeastern, Wesleyan, and Notre Dame are just a few of the colleges that have started implementing a booster requirement. 

HARVARD ADMISSIONS WILL BE TEST OPTIONAL THROUGH 2026

Harvard announced yesterday that it will continue with test-optional admissions through 2026. We suspect that such an announcement from a leader in higher education will reverberate, with more schools deciding to follow suit. But we don’t expect to see a change from Georgetown - traditionally a huge proponent of testing, they confirm their decision to require tests in order to evaluate students without the risk of grade inflation that accompanies GPAs and transcripts. 

THE RETURN OF THREE YEAR DEGREES

More than a dozen schools, including Harvard and Georgetown, have joined a pilot led by the University of Pennsylvania to create a three-year bachelor’s degree program. The idea is not for students to take the same number of credits in three years, but to include more credit options for summer programs, internships, experiential learning, and other non-traditional opportunities, creating a new and more flexible curriculum.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FROM FCPS

FCPS students have many different opportunities to take advantage of this year - including Nova’s Early Online College program, which allows FCPS juniors and seniors (and those in neighboring counties) to take up to two tuition-free college courses online this fall. Applications are due January 14. This is a really great way for students to explore their area of interest in-depth, and get some college credits under their belts. 

Freshmen and sophomores can look into other Summer Learning opportunities available to them through FCPS. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Does your child have a mindset that will set them up for success? This article explores four factors - Education, Accountability, Self-motivation, and Company kept - that are apparent in childhood and linked to adult success. The good news is that these skills and characteristics are teachable, so young students can start building habits now that will set them up for success later. 

The strict vaccination requirements in New York City prevent high school athletic teams from competing in tournaments that allow unvaccinated athletes - meaning that they cannot compete against local teams from Long Island or Westchester County, as well as students from Catholic or private schools within the city.

This article explores the precautions - including masked practices - that schools are currently implementing for sports like wrestling, and considers whether these policies do more harm than good for young athletes.  

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

One question that comes up for us again and again from prospective clients is “But do you work with students like my child?” - and the answer is likely yes! We work with a wide range of people, from Ivy-League-bound high fliers to recruited athletes and more. If you are wondering if our services are a good fit for your student, check out our new “Who We Work With” page for some examples of typical client profiles that we see here at DC College Counseling!

We have been trying hard to keep up with the ED statistics from as many schools as we can, and sharing our information to help clients make good decisions about ED II and RD applications! UVA, for instance, published a blog with early stats, including a 38% ED admit rate for in-state students and a 25% ED admit rate for out of state. Just over 1,000 students received defer decisions. For more results, check out this list of early admit rates from College Kickstart.

And of course, we have seen so many decisions from our clients come out this week. But keep in mind that whether you were accepted, deferred, or denied, your responsibilities do not end with your decision letter. Deferred or denied students should read our blog from last year for next steps. And for those who got good news, check out this blog post on what to do after your ED acceptance. 

We hope you all have a great holiday, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for those still waiting on decisions!

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Weekly Update: December 10

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

PSAT AND NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CUTOFFS

After many Class of 2022 students were unable to take the PSAT during COVID-19, we expected to see numbers go up for the Class of 2023 - after all, nearly 50% more students took the test! The prediction for the cutoff for commended students is 208. Here in Virginia, we expect to see National Merit Semifinalists in the 220-223 range, in keeping with the past three years of cutoffs. For a more detailed state-by-state breakdown, this article has some helpful charts and graphs. 

NATIONAL RECOGNITION PROGRAMS APPLICATION REOPENS AFTER ELIGIBILITY ERRORS

Speaking of Class of 2022 students who took the PSAT, it turns out that a number of students were not notified about their eligibility for National Recognition programs. In recognition of this error, College Board has reopened the application until December 15. If you believe that there is any chance that you are eligible, PLEASE go ahead and apply!

• Class of 2023 students with GPAs of 3.5+ and either attending school in a rural area/small town OR identifying as African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, or Indigenous are eligible to apply today if either one of the two bulleted statements apply:

  • Scored in the top 10% of their state in the winter or spring of sophomore year (students scoring in this range on this past fall’s PSAT will be able to apply later)

  • Earned a score of 3+ on two or more AP exams during 9th and/or 10th grade

• Class of 2024 students with GPAs of 3.5+ and either attending school in a rural area/small town OR identifying as African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, or Indigenous are eligible to apply today if they earned a score of 3+ on two or more AP exams during 9th grade (students scoring in the top 10% of their state on this past fall’s PSAT will be able to apply later).

Again, if there is any chance you believe you might be eligible, go ahead and apply. Other counselors have estimated that the “top 10%” number on the PSAT would be around 1200+ depending on the state.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS CONTINUE TO SOAR ABOVE PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS

We expected college application rates to stay high this year, compared to before the pandemic, and so far that is playing out. Already, applications are up 22% from pre-pandemic levels. As we saw last year, most of the increase is from affluent students applying to a longer list of schools (perhaps as a result of the increased unpredictability in admissions decisions), rather than more students applying. And we expect to see an additional spike as we get closer to those early January deadlines!

VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT’S TRAGIC DEATH

A Fairfax County student at Virginia State University has died after a shooting at a university apartment building last weekend. Daniel Wharton, of Alexandria, was nineteen. As of this writing, a suspect has not yet been identified. 

TRANSFORMATIVE, RECORD-SETTING GIFT TO HOLLINS UNIVERSITY

An anonymous donor just set a record by donating $75 million to the Hollins University endowment. This is very significant - not only is it the largest-ever donation in history to a women’s college, it equates to more than a third of their existing endowment. I visited Hollins back in April 2019 on the way back from Virginia Tech, and I will admit that it did not strike me as a place that many of our students would be interested in - simply because of the size (800 students), rural location, and the fact that it’s a women’s college.

But for a girl seeking a very small, tight-knit community, it could be a great option! They have always offered generous merit aid, and I bet that it will get even better now. Anyone interested should check out the accelerated three-year undergraduate program, as well as the impressive partnerships with institutions ranging from Carnegie Mellon to UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Future students interested in the UVA Batten partnership should also make sure to read up on Hollins’ own Batten Leadership Institute, which offers an undergraduate certificate in leadership studies.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

While many students in our area are continuing to pursue their college goals during the pandemic, a large number of students across the country are putting off college - overall, college enrollment has dropped 8%, with community college bearing the brunt of the decrease. Many in the education space are afraid that with students putting college off for a few years, they are much less likely to return to pursue higher education.

But this New York Times article provides some hope - it’s never too late to go to college! Devon Simmons, who served 15 years in prison for crimes he committed as a teenager, later graduated from Columbia and is now working on a program to help “jailhouse lawyers” become paralegals and create a path to law school after incarceration. 

Shon Hopwood’s book, Law Man, is a great read for those interested in these types of stories. Shannon worked with Shon on events at Georgetown and highly recommends this as a great book for students interested in criminal justice to read over the break (and include in college applications)! 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Now is the time when decisions are rolling in! If you are a current client, make sure to keep us updated over the weekend and next week as more and more of those early decisions roll out. And if you are anxiously checking your email, we recommend checking out College Kickstart’s list of application notification dates, which is updated regularly with new information. 

I mentioned in the mid-week post that I had the chance to go see Wash U last weekend. I will admit that I was actually in St. Louis to see the James Taylor concert but it was so much fun stopping by campus while I was there. I met up with a current freshman and really enjoyed hearing about the similarities and differences between our experiences.

It’s crazy how much has changed since my last visit just four years ago - which is a good lesson about the importance of revisiting schools that your student may have seen a few years back with an older sibling. At the rate that new buildings are popping up and new initiatives are rolling out, so many of these schools are completely different places in the span of a few years. And right after I left, they announced the construction of yet another new building, which will create a whole new quad.

Things that have not changed: Ted Drewes!!!

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: December 3

December already! We are excited to have heard some good news from our early applicants and are busy wrapping things up with the last of our late-late-start seniors.

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

NC STATE ENGINEERING INCREASES ENROLLMENT

Good news for engineering applicants! NC State is planning to add 2,000 more undergraduate students to its engineering program over the next five years. The College of Engineering at NC State offers sixteen majors, including computer science. Thanks to a state initiative called “Engineering North Carolina’s future,” the school will receive $20 million to hire new faculty and $30 million to upgrade facilities. 

UGA RELEASES EARLY APPLICATION DATA

Congrats to our students who received early acceptances from UGA last week! It was a competitive cycle, with applications up 3% over last year despite the fact that the Georgia system was one of only a handful in the country that required test scores this cycle. 8,900 students were accepted, 9,300 were deferred, and 2,000 were denied. If you received a defer decision from UGA, let us know ASAP so we can help you strategize for next steps. The admissions office notes that “We want to be able to have a more in-depth review of you, including short essays, activities, recommendations, etc.” - so send those requested materials!

CORNELL PRECOLLEGE WINTER COURSES

If you are looking to add to your activities list and take an enrichment course but don’t have the time to spend on it during the summer, Cornell’s Precollege Program has you covered! This is a really great program that we recommend to our clients, and applications are open now for winter courses that run January 3-21. Students can apply here by December 6 (or book an appointment to work on this or any other enrichment opportunity applications!). If you’re not already a current client, use this link instead.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We all know that students have been through a lot this year. And while most students are now back in school, they may still struggle to adjust to in-person learning after so much time away. This article provides some helpful guidance for parents who want to help their students make the adjustment back to in-person school. In addition to learning loss, students are struggling to develop age-appropriate social skills after being out of school for so long (just think - the last time seventh grade students had a completely normal school year was fourth grade!). 

But the article encourages parents to focus on support, rather than solutions. I know this is tough - after all, as parents, we want to be able to solve problems for our kids! But it is even more important for them to know that we are in their corner and supporting them during a difficult time. 

If you are one of the students who has already received an ED acceptance and knows where you are headed next year, you might be excited to share your plans with family over the holidays! But for most students, hearing “What are your plans for next year?” at every holiday gathering can cause a lot of stress. If that’s you, check out this article for tips on how to deal with this stress-inducing question. 

We’ve written before on the blog about some of the graduate degrees that don’t offer a return on investment - remember those masters students in film at Columbia? Even so, it is still generally accepted that professional degrees, like JDs and MDs, will offer students the opportunity to earn significantly higher salaries.

Surprisingly, the Wall Street Journal found that this is not always the case anymore - even professional degrees in essential fields like dentistry and veterinary medicine are leaving students with high debt that is not relieved by high salaries. The debt is bad news, particularly for medical fields like chiropractic medicine and optometry where practitioners are carrying a lot of debt. 

Everyone in higher ed right now is wondering about the impact of the omicron variant on campuses this spring. While things will certainly change, this Slate piece on the ways that various top schools handled Covid this fall is worth a read. Keep in mind, though - this is written by a student at Yale, and that perspective shines through. I got a laugh at the idea that by limiting the size of on-campus parties, Wash U “forced drunk college students” to go to bars with unvaccinated people from Missouri and therefore “exposed [the students] to higher chances of getting COVID.” I guess that’s one way to think about it… 🤷‍♀️

Finally, an interesting article in New York Magazine this week explored the possibility of “socializing” college sports. We’re not sure we agree with the idea, but it is interesting to explore, particularly the author’s assertion that colleges put caps on coaching salaries, arguing:

“A system like that would mean college football and basketball would no longer be able to compete for coaching talent with the pros. It would instead have to draw from coaches who just want to mentor college students. Would that be worse?”

This is worth considering particularly in light of the news about Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly, who reportedly received compensation packages in the range of $100 million to coach football at USC and LSU, respectively. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

November 30 was the deadline for the UC and CSU system applications - and yes, the application sites crashed. Luckily for applicants, the systems extended the deadline until midnight yesterday - but they had been glitching for quite a while in advance, so even with the deadline, students lost valuable time to work on their applications.

This goes to show that YES, crashes happen! In fact, this kind of issue happens on application websites all the time - just one reason why we encourage all of our students to submit their applications as early as possible (at least two weeks before the deadline!). In case you are wondering, none of our students were impacted - because they all submitted their apps early!

Not surprisingly, Common App is experiencing a similar issue this week - the image below was posted online just before the 12/1 midnight deadline.

Hard to believe it is already December, but we’ve been working this week on holiday cards for all of our amazing clients - we are so grateful for you!!

Plus, some surprises in the works for our very hard-working colleagues in local school counseling offices ;) We love partnering with you to help students achieve their dreams!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: November 26

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and was able to spend time with family and friends!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

VIRGINIA COUNCIL ON WOMEN’S 11TH ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST

The Virginia Council on Women has opened up the 11th Annual Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Healthcare essay contest. Virginia high school seniors who identify as women are eligible for these scholarships and should apply by Monday, January 3 (P.S. Need help with scholarship essays? Book an essay coaching session!). 

2022 RHODES SCHOLARS ANNOUNCED

Check out where this group of Rhodes Scholars are from! A lot of Harvard, Yale, and service academy representation, but some great other schools too - Alabama, Indiana, Clemson and more! This is just proof that ‘best fit’ is really important when it comes to choosing a college - and that students who make the most of their opportunities can end up in the same place after graduation. 

CLEMSON LYCEUM SCHOLARSHIP

Lots of scholarship news today! Clemson’s Lyceum Scholars program was founded by the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. Lyceum Scholars receive $10,000 over their four years at Clemson. The application deadline is December 11, so students planning to attend Clemson next year should apply now!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Our students are ALWAYS looking for the “secret sauce” when it comes to letters of recommendation. Some subscribe to the “more is better” approach, while others wonder if teacher recommendations really have that much bearing on the admissions process. This article from Forbes gives a nuanced perspective on recommendations, particularly those optional personal recommendations from coaches, counselors, mentors, or other people that know a student well but have not taught them in the classroom.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to optional recommendations is that they should contain NEW information about the applicant. Admissions officers are reading a LOT of applications this time of year, and they don’t want to read the same thing twice! If you are considering asking for a personal recommendation, make sure it comes from someone who can give a new perspective on you that the counselor won’t get from your teacher and counselor recommendations, essays, or activities list. 

Second and most importantly, PREP YOUR RECOMMENDERS. Most recommenders will appreciate information from you that helps them to put together an effective recommendation - they want you to succeed, after all! Current clients can book a meeting for help with this, or check out the resources in the Membership Vault to help your recommender write the best possible personal recommendation. 

More and more colleges are moving to get rid of legacy admissions, and this article takes a critical look at what that really means for the admissions process. I wrote a few weeks ago about the misconceptions that the general public has about legacy admissions. The bottom line is, the student must already be academically qualified for legacy status to make a difference. From the article:

On hard measures such as G.P.A. and SAT scores, those admitted as legacies already fit within the larger pool of qualified applicants...the benefit they receive works within the softer, holistic section of the college application. Having an alumni parent is less like magically winning several hundred SAT points and more like writing an essay that the assistant dean really admired. Accordingly, the legacies will be replaced not by a clearly smarter bunch of applicants but by ones who were better at getting the admissions readers to like them.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Colleen attended a virtual session last Friday with the "Metro 5" - liberal arts schools in city settings. Lewis and Clark, Macalester, Rhodes, Richmond and Trinity are all great options to consider for students who seek a "close connection with peers and faculty, but are looking for something a little bit bigger - [the opportunity] to engage in the community in a larger way." The combination of a close-knit liberal arts community and an urban environment really does offer a best-of-both worlds opportunity that some students absolutely love. Our summer intern (and former client!) Tyler wrote a blog post this summer about his experience at Richmond, which is a great read for any students interested in Richmond or any of the Metro 5 schools. Students can download the recording of the student program here.

We wanted to highlight one piece of advice from one of the college representatives about essays. As a whole, the group agreed that they were seeing more and more pieces of writing that clearly weren't written by students or were heavily over-edited. We see these too, when we ask students to turn in an assignment and it's clear that they didn't write it. But please, parents - don't fall into this trap!

"We are professionals, like, this is what we do on a regular basis! We read thousands of essays, we've been teenagers, many of us have teenage children... we have an idea of what a teenage voice is like, and that's what we're looking for!"

We know the feeling - we’ve seen a lot of essays that have been over-edited by well-meaning parents! That’s why we use the Wow Writing Workshop method with our students, to make sure that all of their essays are “seventeen-year-old perfect” - great essays that clearly retain the voice and perspective of a teenager. 

We have been so excited to see some acceptances this week, including our first ED acceptance - yay! That student is so happy to be done and know where he is headed next year :) We love hearing from our clients once they receive their decisions, so if you are a current client, make sure to keep us updated!

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: November 19

We can’t believe we’re already more than halfway through November - hope everyone stayed warm this week!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

GEORGETOWN LAW RECEIVES APPLICATION INCREASE

As we’ve mentioned before, we expected the COVID-19 pandemic to lead to more students attending graduate school. And right in our backyard is a great metric - Georgetown Law receives more applications than any other law school in the country. And for Fall 2021, applications went WAY up - 41%! As a result, the admit rate dropped from 21% to just 12% last cycle. This is reflective of an increase in law school applications overall, which were up 26% around the country. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY CHANGES GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

Soon, students in Montgomery County Public Schools will have to take 0.5 fewer elective and PE credits - bringing the total number of required credits down to 22.5, just half a credit above the state required 22 credits to graduate. PE teachers are opposing the change, arguing that with the mental health implications of COVID-19, physical activity is more important for students than ever. 

CDC INVESTIGATES FLU SPREAD AT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

In just over a month, over 500 cases of the flu have been diagnosed at the University of Michigan - an extreme level of spread. Due to the unusual size of the outbreak, the CDC has stepped in to provide support and evaluate vaccine uptake. The university is urging as many students as possible to get their flu vaccines, especially before traveling home for Thanksgiving break and potentially increasing the spread. 

HOWARD PROTESTS COME TO AN END

We’ve been covering the ongoing student protests at Howard University, and now, a month after the student occupation of the Blackburn Center began, the students have reached an agreement with the school administration. The changes promised by the administration include a revision of the school’s sexual assault policy, a review of campus policing, and a food bank for students on campus. 

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Colleges around the country have been dealing with worsening mental health of students, an issue that the pandemic has brought to the forefront. A Fairfax County student, now a junior at UNC, was an integral part of developing the student response to the two suicides at UNC earlier this year. Ethan Phillips was helping to implement “postvention” strategies, to help avoid “suicide contagion” in the wake of campus suicides. This article covers some of the essential steps of postvention, and how students and schools can support their communities after tragedies. 

We mentioned the creation of the University of Austin last week - a new school spearheaded by conservative founders who hope to change the way that colleges admit students and champion free speech on campus. The Washington Post published an op-ed this week that dives into how the school will function. Notable changes include the idea of an entrance exam graded by professors in lieu of a traditional admissions process, which the university’s founders say will increase the role of merit in college admissions. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Now that many of the early deadlines have passed, we are keeping our fingers crossed and our eyes on the list of decision release dates for our class of 2022 students. This time last year, UGA and Tulane decisions were rolling out! While we’re not sure we’ll see such early releases this year, students should expect to start receiving these notifications in early to mid-December - so keep an eye on your email! 

In the meantime, we’ve enjoyed working with our class of 2023 students to start their college lists and plan their research for the holiday breaks (we’ve had some eager class of 2024 students planning visits as well!). This is a great time to spend looking at colleges, so take advantage of it! If you or your student are feeling overwhelmed by putting together a list and completing research, book a Meet & Greet to hear more about how we can help set you up for success over the holiday break. 

Our office will be closed next Thursday - wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving! 

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Weekly Update: November 12

Good luck to everyone submitting in advance of the November 15 early deadline on Monday!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

EARLY APPLICATION NOTIFICATION DATES

College Kickstart has released their list of notification dates for early decision and early action applications. If you submitted an early application, you may want to bookmark this page - they keep it updated regularly with statements from the schools, as well as information on last year’s release dates. Keeping our fingers crossed for those of you expecting mid-December decisions!

UNIVERSITY OF AUSTIN ESTABLISHED

No, not UT Austin - a group of scholars and activists have set the plans for a new college, the University of Austin, which they say will be dedicated to free speech. A soft opening is planned for the new institution next summer with a non-credit discussion course on censorship at institutions of higher education. And this is no online-only university - the plans allow for in-person classes and a campus in Austin. Still, the university aims to reduce tuition costs below the national average. 

But the University of Austin isn’t the only new college opening even as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on older institutions. Some of these new colleges, like the Roux Institute in Portland, Maine, focus on in-demand disciplines like computer science and technology. Others are aiming to serve underrepresented populations in traditional colleges, or to keep costs down by avoiding the traditional structures of higher education. 

JILL BIDEN KICKS OFF VACCINE CAMPAIGN IN MCLEAN

The first lady and the surgeon general visited Franklin Sherman Elementary School to offer a message to students and parents at the school’s vaccine clinic. So far, over one million children have received the COVID-19 vaccine! 

LOUDOUN COUNTY HIRES FIRM TO INVESTIGATE SEXUAL ASSAULT

Two weeks ago, we wrote about the student walkouts at Loudoun County schools in protest against the school’s handling of sexual assault cases. Now, the school system has hired a firm to provide an independent review of their response to the situation. We will see whether the review leads to any changes in how these events are handled in the future.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We’ve covered the change in TJ’s admissions policy on the blog before, and this article from NoVA magazine dives deep into the two sides of the argument when it comes to admission. The Coalition for TJ argues that the new admission policy discriminates against Asian American students, and also that it could lower academic standards and lead to deserving students being denied admission. On the other side, the TJ Alumni Action Group believes that broadening the admissions pool will combat inequity and a lack of diversity at the school. And while this issue is salient to those of us in Northern Virginia, it may also set an example for other elite schools around the country. 

Even as new colleges are being created, many liberal arts colleges continue to suffer in the wake of COVID-19 changes. This article explores whether the liberal arts model can survive - especially in a world that rewards research and innovation over teaching, discussion, breadth of knowledge, and other key attributes of the liberal arts. But all hope is not lost - the article lists several ways that liberal arts colleges could innovate in order to stay relevant post-pandemic and beyond. 

Finally, as schools continue to be the focus of political battles, school board members have been facing threats. The threats come as a result of everything from objections about the way children are taught about race in the classroom to COVID-19 restrictions like mask-wearing. While clashes between parents and school board members are not new, the escalation of threats of violence demonstrates just how contentious school-related issues have become.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We are so excited that Staci has started full time with our team this week! Our students already know and love Staci from all of their essay work, and we are thrilled that she will be able to continue working with our students and helping them to achieve those “17-year-old perfect” essays! Keep an eye out for more from Staci on the blog next week :) 

Right now, our juniors are really focused on the college search process, and we are so excited to get their feedback! It really is like a puzzle, finding a great list for each individual student, and so much fun to hear about the schools that our students feel would be a perfect fit. 

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the choices or unsure how to research schools, book a Meet & Greet to learn more about how we can help!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: November 5

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

ELECTION DAY IMPACTS

The results of this week's elections will definitely have an impact on the local educational landscape. First, the 2021 School Bond Referendum was passed, providing Fairfax County Public Schools with an additional 360 million dollars to fund a number of projects. One of the most controversial of these projects is the acquisition of land for the new "Western High School" that may impact the boundary lines for Langley HS. The good news for the Langley-zoned families reading this blog is that your children will likely not be impacted, even if the Langley boundaries change - we're looking at a solid decade before the high school would open.

On the other hand, we'll likely see the impacts of the gubernatorial election very soon, as Youngkin's commitment to education reform played a major role in his win. NBC4 put together an easy reference list of the changes we can expect to see.

NEW COLLEGE COMPARISON TOOL

The Gates Foundation released a new tool, called the Equitable Value Explorer, which will allow users to compare colleges on factors such as the percentage of students who receive Pell Grants, cumulative net price, completion rate, and even percentage of STEM majors. While the tool still has some gaps, the foundation hopes that it will enable students to make better choices about where to attend colleges - and help college leaders and administrators strive for more equity at their institutions. 

JMU LEAVES THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

JMU is moving up to the Sun Belt, leaving the CAA conference. JMU is one of the league’s founding members, and is the latest school to leave for a higher-level conference. Unfortunately, the CAA has ruled that JMU’s athletes will not be able to compete in conference championships this year as a result of the change. This article explores the impact that decision will have on student-athletes who have been working hard to compete. 

UNEMPLOYMENT DOWN, WAGES UP FOR NEW GRADS

The Fed released new data today on the labor market for recent college graduates. The unemployment rate for new grads fell to 5.4% in September and wages are up too. This is great news in our office, because it means less competition with grad school applications!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We wrote in a recent blog about registering for college courses (and how college experience coaching can help!), but what about law school? This article contains some advice from law school professors at the University of Virginia on which courses students should take - a great read for any future lawyers out there!

Not a ton of great articles this week (maybe everyone was focused on Election Day!)… stay tuned for more next Friday!

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

November 1 deadlines may have passed, but things are still busy over here! We are focusing on wrapping up applications for our late-start seniors, as well as law school and MBA applications. We’re also getting started on military academy applications (remember to start these early!) and brainstorming college lists with our class of 2023 juniors.

Finally, we are continuing to finalize course selection and scholarship applications with our college experience coaching students. UVa freshmen enrolled in spring courses today and it was like the Hunger Games of course registration... even the fourth and fifth backup choices were full for some students! If ever log into SIS again, it will be too soon! But everyone has a solid spring semester planned now - phew! One of these days we will take a vacation ;)

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: October 29

Happy Halloween!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

LORI LOUGHLIN PAYS TUITION FOR TWO COLLEGE STUDENTS

After being released from prison for her role in the Varsity Blues scandal, Lori Loughlin paid more than $500,000 in tuition for two college students. There haven’t been any details released about the students yet, but the amount is roughly the same as Loughlin and her husband paid to have their daughters admitted to USC as recruits for the crew team. 

HOWARD’S PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO STUDENT PROTESTS

As the student sit-in at Howard University’s student center entered its third week this week, the president of the university released a letter calling for an end to the “occupation” of the Blackburn center. The president called the sit-in a health and safety risk that impeded essential student services on campus. Students insist that they will continue to occupy the center until their demands are met for improved housing on campus.

SCHOOL CURRICULA AT THE CENTER OF VA GOVERNOR’S RACE

As election day for the Virginia governor’s race draws closer, the issue of public school curricula has become central to the campaign. After Youngkin’s campaign released an ad this week featuring a mother who fought for parents’ rights to veto certain books after her son read Toni Morrison’s Beloved in his AP English class, parents’ rights and curriculum decisions have become notable issues for both candidates. 

STUDENTS HOLD WALKOUTS AT LOUDOUN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

On Tuesday, students at several Loudoun County schools held ten-minute walkouts on Tuesday to protest the schools’ handling of sexual assault cases. The walkouts were a response to two incidents allegedly perpetrated by the same student at two different high schools, one in May and one in October. Parents and students are demanding more transparency from the school district when it comes to sexual assault cases.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

A controversial piece in The Atlantic explored Amherst’s decision to end legacy admissions, and the “fairness” of college admissions. The author doesn’t believe that ending legacy admissions will suddenly make the process fair for under-served populations, but it’s a great start, he feels. “Amherst took one step closer to it this week. And for that, I’m happy to light a sparkler.”

One note about this article and legacy admissions in general: I personally believe that the general public has a TON of misconceptions about the impact of being a legacy candidate. Whether you’re for it or against it, it’s important to recognize that the student must already be qualified for legacy status to make a difference. This is just fact.

So nobody’s getting into a school because of legacy status if they aren’t qualified, I promise. To the dismay of their parents, they are rejected just like everybody else that’s not qualified! Development legacy cases are different, but those kids are being admitted because of the development part, not the legacy part. Where legacy can make a big difference, though, is when it comes to narrowing down a pool of highly qualified applicants. Especially when it comes to those who choose to apply to the school through a binding Early Decision plan.

Speaking of qualified applicants… according to a Washington Post poll, about half of high school students said the pandemic had a negative impact on their academics. That is by far the largest group, with a third of students saying that there was no impact, and ⅙ who felt that the pandemic actually improved their academics. Some of the positive impacts that students saw were a closer relationship with their parents, as well as less stress and a less intense workload than during in-person classes. 

Undergraduate college enrollment is still down due to COVID-19, particularly when it comes to low income students or non-traditional students with children and families. Unfortunately, it seems like last year’s huge decline in enrollment wasn’t just a blip - and we may soon be faced with a large population of students who did not complete their college degrees. Especially now that the labor market is strong and wages are going up, it is likely that low income students may choose to enter the workforce rather than go to college. 

In the past two years of the pandemic, college enrollment has fallen a total of 6.5% - the largest two-year decrease in fifty years. But the decline is not spread equally - selective schools are bouncing back, while community colleges are continuing to see declining enrollment.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

It’s that time of year again - lots of speaking engagements! Shannon had the opportunity yesterday to speak at a College Selection webinar through the office of the DC Student Loan Ombudsman. The Ombudsman’s role is to help make higher education available and affordable for all DC residents, and Shannon was really excited to participate and talk to students about what they should consider when selecting a college, essay preparation, and application timelines. And timehop reminded me that I spoke at a junior parent night at Marshall HS two years ago today!

The shift to online events has presented a challenge for a lot of organizations during COVID-19, but it’s been almost 20 months and we’re virtual presentation pros at this point! From moms’ groups, to school-sponsored presentations, to community and religious organizations, to sports teams - we’ve done it all! If you have a group whose members could benefit from our (free!) guidance, please reach out and we’ll do our best to fit you into our calendar for the upcoming year. 

I also wanted to mention that the office of the Student Loan Ombudsman is an excellent resource for DC families with questions about paying for college. College Access Fairfax provides resources for Nova families as well - if you need help with the FAFSA, CSS profile, or other financial aid issues, I really recommend attending one of their free virtual seminars. These events are open to anyone and can be really helpful in figuring out financial aid questions. 

CONGRATULATIONS to all of our seniors who have submitted their early applications! We are so proud of all of you. Enjoy the Halloween weekend!

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Weekly Update: October 21

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

AMHERST COLLEGE DOES AWAY WITH LEGACY ADMISSIONS

Amherst is the one of the first highly selective colleges to announce that it will no longer take legacy into consideration during the college admissions process. Other top-tier schools that do not consider legacy include MIT, Johns Hopkins, and CalTech. 

If the announcement has left you with questions about what exactly legacy is, which schools consider legacy, and how it might impact your college process, check out our blog post on the topic!

MIZZOU SUSPENDS FRATERNITIES ON CAMPUS

After a freshman at the University of Missouri was found unresponsive following a frat party, the university has announced that all fraternity activities on campus are suspended. The school also intends to complete a review to determine if any changes need to be made to Greek life on campus. The last such review at the university took place in 2016, after a hazing incident. 

HOWARD UNIVERSITY PROTESTS CONTINUE INTO A SECOND WEEK

Last week, we covered the student sit-ins in protest of living conditions on campus at Howard. Students have now entered a second week of sit-ins in the student center, with some even sleeping in tents overnight. The students are complaining of issues like rats, roaches, and mold that make university housing unlivable. 

The protest is making even more of an impact as this is Howard’s homecoming week. Gucci Mane, who was scheduled to perform at homecoming, canceled his appearance in support of the protests.  

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

After financial hardships for many colleges and universities during the pandemic, this article explores how colleges might use their endowment funds to help students and faculty during times of crisis. Traditionally, the role of the endowment has been to sustain colleges over the long term, not to respond to immediate needs. Even in the height of the pandemic, only 8% of colleges and universities had any intention of changing how they used their endowment funds. But those that did draw on endowment funds were able to absorb some of the worst impacts of the pandemic, by reducing layoffs for faculty and staff and sending more money to student services. 

UVA clinched the second spot on the Princeton Review’s list of best-value public colleges, right behind UC Berkeley. We always say that those of us in Virginia are so lucky to have such great in-state options! For private institutions, Princeton and MIT were top for ROI. Return on investment for the schools was calculated using the average amount that students spend in tuition compared to the salaries they were making shortly after graduation.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Merit scholarship deadlines are coming up quick, and for students that do not complete their applications early, it may be difficult to even find deadlines you are missing! We love this list from College Kickstart, which keeps track of the hard scholarship deadlines at popular schools. If you are applying for merit scholarships, bookmark this list!

As I’ve mentioned before, I find it very gratifying to work with last-minute students because we are able to restore order in their lives so quickly. Here's some feedback I received this week from one of their moms!

This student worked with us for six weeks and was able to submit his first round of early applications this week! We have been working with a lot of students who are just beginning the process, and it was great to hear this positive feedback. If you are interested in working with us for those regular decision deadlines (they are coming up faster than you think!), please book a Meet & Greet.

Have a great weekend?

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Weekly Update: October 15

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

NEW ASPIRE RESIDENCE HALL AT ST. JOSEPH’S UNIVERSITY

Students on the autism spectrum will have the opportunity for a typical college living experience at St. Joseph’s University. The new Aspire Residence Hall will assist students with personal care, problem-solving, and the social skills necessary for dorm life. If you or someone you know are looking for this level of support in college, the hall is now accepting applications for next year’s class!

SIT-IN AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Howard students staged a sit-in and protest on campus this week. They were protesting the lack of COVID-19 testing on campus in addition to other residential safety concerns, including mold in the walls of residence halls. The students’ current demands include an improved housing plan for incoming freshmen, as well as representation on the university’s Board of Trustees. 

TENURE CHANGES IN THE GEORGIA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

The concept of tenure for college professors is an often-controversial one - with some arguing that it is necessary to protect academic freedom, while others argue that it is an outdated method of retaining professors. Now, the Board of Regents for the Georgia university system has given its universities, including UGA and Georgia Tech, the power to fire tenured professors without faculty input. 

Faculty argue that the move limits academic freedom, and may also prevent the state university from attracting and retaining top professors, given the higher risk of termination under the new policy.  

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Considering going back to school for a graduate degree? This article explores the master’s degrees that give the biggest increase in salary. Topping the list is a master’s degree in biology - professionals with the graduate degree make on average 87% more money than those with a bachelor's degree! Other top master’s include business, education, and communication. Surprisingly, finance and accounting were at the bottom of the list - professionals with a master’s in accounting make only 4% more on average than those with a bachelor’s degree. 

On a much more difficult note, UNC gave students a day off for mental health this week following two suicides and at least one attempt on campus this semester. The tragedies and UNC are just an example of the mental health challenges that many students are encountering during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has only exacerbated what was already an issue of limited mental health resources on many college campuses. 

Note: if you are struggling with mental health, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We’re wrapping up the last of those early applications this week, and crossing our fingers for all of our readers with 10/15 deadlines - UNC and UGA early action applications are due today! SAT results from the October test were also released today, and we have been excited to get some good news from our students - especially since some of those applications, like UGA, require test scores this cycle. 

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: October 8

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS VIRTUAL COLLEGE WEEK

Fairfax County Public Schools are continuing with a virtual approach to college fairs this fall. They will have live virtual sessions from Monday, October 18 - Thursday, October 21. There will be three sessions each evening, and students should take a look at the schedule to see which sessions they may be interested in attending - there are sessions available for everyone from ninth graders to high school seniors. 

COVID-19 JOB MARKET BOUNCES BACK

As you may have noticed from all of the “help wanted” signs, the job market is coming back as more people are vaccinated. While class of 2020 students graduated into a very difficult market, the class of 2021 is finding a much easier time when it comes to the job search. On campus recruiting has begun again at several schools, helping to connect these students with employers. Part-time work and internships have also been picking up.

If you are (or you know!) a local college student looking for an internship, we are hiring! Interested students should send us their resumes via email. 

FIRST VARSITY BLUES TRIAL WRAPS

Lawyers delivered the closing arguments in the first Varsity Blues trial on Wednesday, and the jury is deliberating as we write this blog. The lawyers for the two fathers facing trial argued that they did not know the methods that Rick Singer was using, and believed they were making legitimate donations. We’ll be watching closely for the outcome of this trial, which will likely set precedent for the upcoming trials of parents and others involved in the scandal.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We liked this post from Akil Bello (featured in the Varsity Blues documentary!) a lot, and wanted to share it because it has a lot of helpful information in terms of making the decision to take a standardized test. However, there were two pieces of information from Akil that don’t align with the advice that we’d give students, so we want to also provide a clarification. Keep in mind that all advice is subjective and dependent on many factors such as geographic location, etc.! 

1. We believe that students should take their first SAT/ACT during the fall of junior year if possible, and finish testing by the end of junior year. This empowers them to make final decisions about their college list after they know their scores. Otherwise, they'd be making these decisions based on guesses about what their scores might look like. That can lead to overshooting or undershooting in terms of selectivity, and we prefer to work with actual numbers.

2. We really agreed with everything in the test prep section and found that to be very valuable. For example, the 6-8 week span and the potential for improvement. The one part we didn't agree with is about potentially making the choice NOT to prep if a student scores above the 90th percentile with no prep after the fall of 11th grade. This is accurate from a national standpoint, but not at the schools to which most of our students hope to attend. 90th percentile scores are not going to cut it at their schools of choice - even UVA's 25th-75th% range reflects the 97th-99th percentile of ACT-takers. This means that only a quarter of UVA's admitted students who sent ACT scores came in lower than the 97th percentile (depressing, right?). So don't be lulled into a false sense of test prep security if you reach the 90th percentile and hope to attend a highly selective school.

When the College Board got rid of the SAT II earlier this year, many of us speculated that AP exams would come to be more significant in the college admissions process. This article in Psychology Today explores why that may not be such a great idea for students. In fact, the way that many AP classes are taught - “to the test,” to prepare students to take the AP exam - is the exact opposite of how many actual college classes are designed. In college, it will be far more important that students learn to think critically than that they memorize facts (that they promptly forget!) in order to score well on a standardized exam. 

While we agree with much of what this article says, the fact is that for many students, AP classes are part of setting themselves up for success in the college process. And until schools stop offering them as part of the curriculum (as many private schools have!), it is important for students to take a rigorous curriculum based on what is offered by their high school. So we are sorry to say that our general advice is, take the AP class! Of course, this is also particular to the student, and there are certainly students for whom the cons outweigh the pros when it comes to managing an AP course load. 

While we like to think that the work we do is pretty important, we wouldn’t have said it was a “matter of life and death” - until this interview! Angus Deaton, a Nobel prize winner and professor emeritus at Princeton, suggests that four-year college graduates are less likely than those who did not attend college to succumb to “deaths of despair” - suicides, drug overdoses, and the like. The gap between people with a bachelor’s degree and those without when it comes to these tragedies is only growing in the United States.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

I was so honored and excited to co-host a roundtable session on “The Joys and Challenges of Being a Female Entrepreneur” today for IECA, the professional organization to which Shannon and I belong. Here’s a snapshot of some of the attendees! I’m on the top row to the left with my co-host, Dr. Pat Smith, to my right.

October is National Women’s Small Business Month, and this roundtable was a great way to celebrate. It was heartwarming to see how all of these individual consultants run very different businesses, yet we all care immensely about providing our families with the best possible experience.

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: October 1

Happy October!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

THE FAFSA IS OPEN

Finally, the moment some of you have been waiting for… the FAFSA opens today! If you intend to complete the form, I encourage you to do it as soon as possible. If you are unsure whether or not you should complete the FAFSA, you can check out my earlier posts here and here to help make the best decision for you and your family. There are a lot of myths about the FAFSA that circle around every year, so if any of our current clients have questions about the process, make sure to reach out to us so we can help you make this decision.

WILL STUDENT-ATHLETES BECOME EMPLOYEES?

At the very least, they are a lot closer this week than ever before! On Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board released a memo classifying some college athletes as employees and allowing them to petition to unionize. Some experts think that students will make the push to unionize this year, which will definitely complicate the relationship between the school and its students (now employees).

NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS PROTEST GREEK LIFE

In the wake of reports that students were drugged without their consent at fraternity parties, protestors at Northwestern are asking the school to abolish Greek life on campus. In response to the allegations, the university has suspended social events and recruitment activities at its fraternities for at least the next two weeks. 

FORENSIC SCIENCE STUDENTS AT GMU WILL USE REAL HUMAN BONES

GMU is launching a new, five-acre research center where forensic science students will learn how to find and recover human remains, using real human bones from donors to recreate actual crime scenes. Students will begin being able to use the center next semester. 

SCHULER EDUCATION FOUNDATION DONATION TO THE LIBERAL ARTS

In an effort to promote equity in the liberal arts, the Schuler Education Foundation plans to donate $500 million to 25 liberal arts colleges, including Bates, Tufts, and Union. The donations are intended to expand access for underserved students to these institutions, which the foundation selected because of their historic support for underrepresented students.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

Now that it is already October, it seems that students have had to transition rapidly back to going full steam ahead at school. But after so many months off, this transition can be tough!

This New York Times article explores the effects of the pandemic on students who are now returning to the classroom, many of whom need to catch up on academics (and the college planning process!). It is sobering to read the statements from these students. And if your student is one of those seniors wondering how to move forward with college planning or how to ask teachers they barely know for recommendations, book a Meet & Greet with us and we can talk with you more about getting back on track. 

In college admissions, one of the most unpredictable movements of the year is “melt” - students who have made a deposit to the college over the summer, but for one reason or another, do not ultimately matriculate in the fall. This is the reason why some colleges will pull from waitlists as late as the first week of classes! This podcast from NPR explains more about melt and why it has been so much more difficult for colleges to calculate during the pandemic. 

U.S. News put together this helpful guide for planning college visits in the DC area. We are so lucky to live in an area with so many different (and excellent!) colleges and universities. A good strategy for current sophomores and juniors is to take day trips to nearby schools on weekends to start to figure out their preferences before they start traveling around the country. If you know the difference between the way GW and Georgetown feel, for instance, you also have a pretty good understanding of how it might feel at Boston University versus Boston College, or NYU versus Columbia, and will be able to prioritize your list for out-of-state visits. 

This expose on sexual assault at Moody Bible Institute is a difficult, but important, read. Moody is the most prestigious evangelical bible college in the country, and eleven alumnae who were assaulted at Moody have recently decided to speak up about their experiences. The pressure on women to stay “pure” in the evangelical tradition often translates to school administrators placing blame on the women who were assaulted rather than the perpetrators. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We’re so excited that local events are (slowly) coming back for our students to attend! On Monday, the deans of admission from the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, and Brown University will be holding an information session on the admissions process at highly selective institutions. Interested students can register here. 

Shannon really enjoyed presenting as part of Illuminos Academic Coaching & Tutoring’s “Less Stress Parenting” webinar series this week - if anyone knows the stress that the college application process can bring for parents and families, it’s us! Shannon is currently booking presentations for school and community groups for the rest of the school year and can speak on a variety of topics, including:

• Finding the Best College Fit for Your Child

• Top Tips to Avoid Parenting Stress during the Admissions Process

• Academic Planning for Middle School Students

• Demystifying College Admissions

• College Selection

Shannon can also tailor a presentation specifically for your school or organization. If you are interested in getting on our calendar for this school year, reach out to her directly at shannon@dccollegecounseling.com. These presentations are completely free to organizers as a service to the community, and your organization can either charge a modest fee for attendance and use the profits as you see fit, or offer an event to participants at no charge.

And after some heavy news and articles this week, if you need a laugh, check out this Daily Princetonian article!

Have a great weekend - I hope everyone has a chance to get outside and enjoy the weather!

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Weekly Update: September 24

The official start of fall is here - hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

LIVESTREAM LEARNING BEGINS FOR FCPS STUDENTS

Students in Fairfax County Public Schools will be able to stay on top of their coursework even when they are quarantined or exposed to COVID-19. Students who can’t make it to class will be offered livestream instruction (via Zoom or Google Meet) and interactive check-ins with teachers during the period in which they are out of the classroom. 

COLLEGE RANKINGS FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

As we always say, it is good to take college rankings with a grain of salt - and one way to do that is to look at a variety of different rankings systems (there are many out there beyond U.S. News!). We’ve already shared on the blog the rankings from Forbes and our personal favorite, the Princeton Review rankings. 

Different ranking systems use different criteria, and the most important factor for the WSJ is one we think is super important too- career outcomes and ROI! This ranking measures where they work, how much they earn, and how much debt they have. So it's not shocking to learn which schools topped the list: Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, and Duke. Keep scrolling down, though - there are some surprises. For example, Carleton College is #35 while UVA is #55.

COLLEGES ADD NEW PROGRAMS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

As the workplace shifts, so do college programs, and many schools have added new programs in response to the major changes brought by the pandemic. New offerings include options in health communications and health law, for obvious reasons, and those in e-sports and cybersecurity respond to our increased time in the virtual space. NYU has also added a masters’ program in health law & strategy. 

PENN CHANGES RECOMMENDATION LETTER REQUIREMENTS

The University of Pennsylvania announced this week that they will be changing their requirements when it comes to letters of recommendation - starting this cycle! In the past, Penn has required a counselor letter and two teacher letters of recommendation. Now, they will continue to require letters from counselors and one teacher, but the third letter can be from any adult you choose: it might be a teacher, but may also be a coach, employer, mentor, or even just an adult who knows you well. If you are a student who has already applied to Penn, don’t panic! Two teacher letters are still perfectly acceptable, and in fact that is still our strong recommendation.

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

The Wall Street Journal published a great article this week about how Rick Singer’s “side door” worked - examining the Varsity Blues scandal in depth as trials continue this week. USC’s assistant dean of undergraduate admissions testified that the eleven students who were admitted after using Rick Singer’s services would not have been accepted without their (fabricated!) athletic experience. At USC, the admissions rate for recruited athletes is 85-90% - compare that to just 15% for all applicants! In the wake of Varsity Blues, USC plans to audit team rosters and to implement increased scrutiny in reviews of academic credentials. 

Our colleagues at College Kickstart released some of their latest admissions data in a private session for members that Shannon attended yesterday. To recap, some of the major trends we noticed last cycle were:

• An 11% increase in applications across the board (Virginia Tech, for example, saw a 39% increase! 😬)

• Schools relying more on early decision to fill their classes

• Smaller schools (like Williams and Dartmouth) having the inability to absorb gap year deferrals and admitting smaller classes as a result.

These factors combined to make for a very competitive admissions cycle, particularly for regular decision applicants!

This cycle, we are probably going to continue to see these elevated application volumes, as well as a widening gap between ED and RD acceptance rates. That means that schools like Colgate and BC, which would have been targets for many of our students a few years ago, are now reaches; same goes for flagship public schools like UGA and UC system schools, which are becoming more competitive. We always encourage our students to take advantage of early decision options where possible, and that just became easier thanks to the new ED II plans available at Carnegie Mellon, Emerson, and Loyola Marymount. 

Finally, we are still encouraging our students to take a standardized test if it is available to them - but talk to us before sending the scores, because we can’t emphasize enough that this is a very individual decision. Some schools, like Georgetown and all of the Georgia public universities, are back to requiring tests this cycle, but even for those that don’t, testing still seems to make a positive difference for most (not all!!) applicants. At very selective schools, applicants were nearly two times more likely to be admitted with test scores than without! At Emory, for example, students who submitted test scores were 2.3 times more likely to be admitted. Colgate and Boston University showed similar results. Meanwhile at other schools, like Boston College, Vanderbilt, and Harvey Mudd, there were very slight difference in admissions rates between those with test scores and those without. 

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon will be presenting at a free event next Wednesday at 12:00 pm as part of the Less Stress Parenting webinar series. Great concept, right? We are all about less stress parenting here! If you feel overwhelmed by the college admissions process, you can register here to check out the event!

I was so surprised and excited to be featured in the Tysons Reporter this week by the amazing Realtor Laura Schwartz (alongside Emily of Tangible Designs - she did all of our branding and logos a few years ago and was so great to work with)!

And yes - I’m transitioning back to my maiden name! (From one hard-to-spell name to another, but at least this one is mine 😀)

Lastly, our earlier blog covered a variety of virtual info session options this fall, but we are so excited that there are also some in-person events coming to our area! Notre Dame will be coming to the Tysons Corner Marriott on Wednesday, October 6 - this is an excellent way to learn more about the school and to demonstrate interest. Students can register here to attend!

Have a great weekend!

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Weekly Update: September 17

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

OPERATION VARSITY BLUES TRIALS BEGIN

The first trial for parents implicated in the college admissions scandal began on Monday. In opening statements, their lawyers blamed not only Rick Singer for duping the parents, but also the college admissions process as a whole for being susceptible to this type of manipulation. 

In other Varsity Blues updates, Georgetown’s former tennis coach was the latest to plead guilty on Wednesday, in advance of his scheduled trial in November. 

WANT TO START A 529? GO TO SCHOOL IN NYC

Starting this fall, every public school kindergartner in New York City will receive $100 in a 529 account. The new initiative is aimed at closing the wealth gap in NYC. In addition to the initial deposit, students will have the opportunity to earn up to $200 in rewards. With the initial deposit as well as rewards and donations, the program is expected to yield $3,500 per student on average by the time the children reach 12th grade. 

While New York is the largest public school system, it isn’t the first to start this type of initiative - in 2011, San Francisco began opening accounts with $50 for every student entering the public school system. 

Though these amounts may not seem like much, studies show that students with at least $500 in a savings account are three times more likely to enroll in college and four times more likely to graduate than students with no savings

WHAT IS THE BEST COLLEGE TOWN IN AMERICA?

ESPN’s new bracket hopes to determine America’s best college football town! Vote every Wednesday for your favorite team, current college, or (hopefully!) future college town as they work to determine the winner this fall.

And if you’re attending a game in a college town, you might want to avoid staying at an Airbnb! This Wall Street Journal article shared information from a study showing that Airbnb hosts “jack up their prices” for their biggest rival teams because of “affiliation bias”—in other words, the hosts just can’t stand the visiting team’s fans.” And many of the units end up going unrented, which ultimately hurts the owners because they lose money - but at least they know they were loyal!

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

I loved this article from the New York Times about raising resilient children. If the past year and a half has taught us anything, it is that resilience is key! As we know firsthand, resilient kids are more likely to bounce back and even to thrive when they are faced with disappointment (like a waitlist decision from their dream school!), and this article lays out some actionable steps that parents can take to increase their children’s resistance. I know that I’ll take advantage of these tips, and I encourage every parent to think about how they can model resilience for their kids.

The Wall St. Journal article we covered last week about the widening gender gap in higher education has received a lot of attention in the past few weeks, spawning several response articles. This one from The Atlantic explores the history of this gap, and the role of ideas about masculinity in discouraging boys from seriously pursuing higher education. Not only do boys enroll in college at lower rates than girls, but in middle and high school, girls tend to spend more time studying, get in trouble less often, and get better grades across all subjects. The article suggests that the answer to this issue doesn’t happen in college admissions - instead, we need to address the gap that appears in early adolescence to control the ripple effect for higher education.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Shannon attended a networking event this week with so many amazing professionals from the DC area! We love being able to make connections and refer our students to people that we trust for tutoring, testing, evaluation, and more. Stay tuned for some collaborations and events that we have in the works!

We are busy with so many virtual tours and information sessions. We had hoped for some in-person tours this year, but you can’t beat the convenience of the virtual options! For a list of upcoming virtual fairs, tours, and information sessions for students and parents, see our latest post, and bookmark it for later - we’ll add new events as the dates are released. Let us know what you think of these virtual events!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Weekly Update: September 10

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

UC BERKELEY IN NUMBER ONE SPOT ON FORBES’ COLLEGE RANKINGS

Forbes released its college rankings this week, with Berkeley as number one! Berkeley is the first-ever public school to top the list. Forbes cites the world-class education that Berkeley students receive, many of them at a fraction of the cost of top private schools, as the reason for the UC school’s number one ranking. The new rankings represent a change in Forbes’ criteria - they now consider schools that “educate the greatest number of students from the broadest range of backgrounds” - something that large schools like the UCs can do more effectively than schools like Harvard, which dropped to number seven on the Forbes list. 

HARVARD DROPS FOSSIL FUELS FROM ITS ENDOWMENT

Harvard is not the first campus to divest from fossil fuels, many thanks to the pressure from students and faculty. But with the largest endowment of any school in the U.S., Harvard's withdrawal may have a big impact for activists. The student activist group that pushed for this decision was Divest Harvard, which in 2019 staged a protest by interrupting the Harvard-Yale football game. Yale has also recently adopted what it calls “ethical investing principles,” in which several major oil and gas companies are considered ineligible for investment by the institution. 

AMAZON COVERS COLLEGE TUITION FOR US EMPLOYEES

In a newly competitive market for hourly employees, large companies like Amazon have been working to provide more incentives for employee retention. Amazon recently announced that it will pay 100% of college tuition, including books and fees, for hourly employees beginning in January 2022. Employees can begin to take advantage of this benefit 90 days after employment.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY CLASSES CANCELLED AFTER RANSOMWARE ATTACK

On Friday, officials at Howard University discovered a ransomware cyberattack that took the school offline for the entire holiday weekend, with online and hybrid classes cancelled on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Students headed to nearby stores and restaurants off-campus in order to access wifi during the week. Without internet, professors have also been confused about how much work to assign and what to expect from their students. The university is still trying to figure out whether student data was accessed during the attack.  

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We posted on social media earlier this week about this Wall Street Journal article, which illuminates a widening education gap between men and women across the country. We’ve talked before about the decline in college enrollment over the past five years, but this article highlights that men have been responsible for 71% of that decline. Women now make up nearly 60% of the college-age population in the U.S.

That 60-40 split is a scary line for colleges - it usually marks the point at which both women and men are reluctant to attend a school with an imbalanced population. But given that women are more likely to apply to college, more likely to complete their applications, and more likely to enroll and stay enrolled, it is becoming increasingly difficult for colleges to maintain close to a 50-50 split. 

The efforts to do so mean that men are more likely to receive offers of admission than women, which the article calls a “tacit affirmative action for boys.” There are definitely schools, both public and private, where we see this happen - and often have to remind young women with whom we work that there is this additional chip stacked against them - one which is usually not discussed. The article suggests that people aren’t talking about this difficulty because it is unpopular to work toward support for men in higher education - particularly white men.

The New York Times also published a response this week, noting that despite the fact that women have outnumbered men with college degrees since the 1970s, men are still more likely to have leadership roles and to make more money in the corporate world. Rather than asking about why boys aren’t enrolling in college, this article asks us to consider why girls need additional education to get the same jobs that boys are getting without attending college. 

College disability services offices are contending with a new population of students this year: COVID-19 long-haulers. There are still a lot of questions about long-haul COVID, but we know that many sufferers experience physical symptoms of dizziness or difficulty breathing, as well as brain fog and difficulties with memory and concentration. President Biden announced in July that long-haul COVID cases could qualify as a disability, and colleges will need to continue to consider how their disability services can assist these students. An increase in accommodation request may illuminate existing challenges and lack of resources that colleges face when it comes to accommodating students with disabilities.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

We’ve found out about a lot of cool student opportunities this week and are excited to share them with you!

The Girl Scouts are partnering with PepCo to offer a panel of early career women professionals in STEM careers, particularly in the energy industry. This event takes place next Tuesday and is open to all Girl Scouts - it could be a great opportunity to hear about young women’s experiences in STEM! 

Next, the Daughters of the American Revolution are launching a High School Essay Contest. Students are asked to write about a person, famous or unknown, who contributed to the founding of the nation, and to use primary source material. DAR will be providing first, second, and third place awards. This is exactly the type of award that looks fantastic in the Honors section of the Common Application. 

And finally, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has another really great opportunity for local high school students. SOY is a seven-week fundraising challenge focused on helping 9th-12th graders develop their communication, project management, and presentation skills while raising funds and awareness for LLS’s mission of curing blood cancers. So for everyone who complains about how they can’t find activities because of Covid - here is your chance to add some leadership to your resume :) One of our client dads is hoping to find five more potential candidates to participate, so please let us know if you are interested (whether you work with us or not) and we’ll send you his way!

• Hear from Past SOY Candidates & Parents

• How SOY Impacts Your College Application

• SOY Behind the Scenes

Have a great weekend! 

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