Yesterday, the Supreme Court delivered its long-anticipated decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, in which it ruled that affirmative action in the college admissions process violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Colleges and universities will no longer be permitted to consider race in the admissions process.

What Does This Mean?

I have spent the last few months visiting with admissions officers at a variety of colleges, public and private, in anticipation of today鈥檚 Supreme Court ruling. While every admissions officer with whom I have spoken has communicated that their institution will follow the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision, I have not heard a single opinion that disagrees with Lawrence S. Bacow, President of Harvard University, who wrote to alumni, 鈥溾�o affirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences.鈥� Although historically rival institutions, on this decision, Yale and Harvard remain united; Yale President, Peter Salovey, upholds Yale鈥檚 belief that, 鈥淎 student body that is diverse across every dimension, including race, improves academic outcomes for all students, enhances the range of scholarship and teaching on campus, improves critical thinking, and advances the understanding and study of complex topics.鈥�

So, while the question of race may be removed from the college application, I do not personally believe that the decision process will be significantly altered. When I visited Tufts a few weeks ago, the admissions officer plainly stated that their team is not interested in rank ordering applicants by grades and test scores and filling their freshman spots with the top of the list. She explained that, once they know the student can thrive in their academic environment and has the ability to successfully graduate, they will turn their attention to the other ways students will contribute to the school鈥檚 community: talents, skills, curiosities, community impact, and personal experiences. In my opinion, these are influenced by a variety of factors, including geography, socio-economic status, gender identity, religious and political beliefs and, yes, ethnicity and race.

What will change?

Access: With a focus on 鈥渉igher quality鈥� students, meaning those with higher GPAs, tests scores and more competitive extra-curricular activities, colleges are more likely to admit a greater proportion of students who come from affluent families because they are the students who typically have access to better high schools, academic tutors, test prep partners, impressive internships, and costly extra-curricular opportunities. This growing chasm of access will be especially true of colleges and universities that practice 鈥渘eed-blind鈥� admissions decisions. Without knowledge of a student鈥檚 race or financial need, schools like Harvard and Yale are more likely to admit classes of homogeneous students, breaching the core educational philosophies and institutional values that Presidents Bacow and Salovey are committed to uphold for the benefit of all students, regardless of race or socio-economic status. For schools that practice 鈥渘eed-aware鈥� admissions decisions, the students who are not wealthy enough to pay the full sticker price of $300K across 4 years at a private college, but are also not poor enough to require full need, will likely be disproportionately disadvantaged as many admissions officers will begin to rely on financial need as a proxy for racial diversity. This 鈥渟quished in the middle鈥� scenario applies to the majority of students who are already feeling the burden of 鈥渢oo rich to be helped but not rich enough to feel no pain.鈥� Now, in addition to the financial burden of being squished will be the added challenge of the admissions squish.

Transparency: Without the ability to ask demographic questions in the application, transparency into the status of racial diversity will suffer. Although colleges may be able to ask and report demographic statistics after a student is admitted, they are prohibited from asking this question to applicants and therefore, will be unable to determine how effective DEI efforts are or whether or not to continue investing in them.

Applications: Although higher education is not typically known for its agility and ability to pivot in the face of changing environments, I do anticipate there will be a flurry of activity among admissions offices across the nation as they decide how to approach the 2023-2024 application season. With the removal of the race boxes from page one of the application, I expect we will see the addition or modification of supplemental short answer and essay questions that will attempt to uncover the diverse perspectives and experiences that colleges are still committed to embracing in their student body. And, coupled with the advent of ChatGPT, this may result in decreased reliance on college essays entirely. Instead, I predict we may see an increased importance of non-written submissions, such as timed video questions and interviews, where the admissions officer can see the applicant without the need to ask the student鈥檚 race and hear the student鈥檚 thoughts without interference from artificial intelligence that may 鈥渆nhance鈥� a student鈥檚 application.

How We Will Support Students?

At 黑料大事, we believe every student brings a rich set of experiences, talents and viewpoints that will inevitably add to the learning and growth of their future classmates and will enrich the elaborate tapestry of their future school communities. Simply put, nothing has changed in how we will approach the college application. We will continue to do what we have always done. We will find opportunities throughout the college application process to illuminate what makes each student unique, special, and different from every other talented student who is applying to their target schools and will communicate 鈥� emphatically — why any college would be lucky to have them join their incoming class and community for life.

Stef Mauler

President, 黑料大事

The post Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College appeared first on 黑料大事.

I was the first in my family to attend university. My father was a migrant worker who joined the military to get out of poverty, and my mom was a teen mom who loved my dad for the almost fifty years they were together.

My father was a strong advocate for education as he saw it for what it was, a way to move up in the world. In elementary school, Satan was my first-grade teacher. She told my parents that I was 鈥渙mitted鈥� (a term we no longer use because it is offensive) because I struggled with reading. Unbeknownst to her, largely because she did not care, I had not attended kindergarten, so the skills my peers had, I had not been exposed to yet.

My father did not take kindly to what Satan had to say. From that day on, I had homework every day regardless of whether work had been assigned. In second grade, I had an angel for a teacher, Mrs. Pringle. My parents still have her picture in one of our many photo books. Through her, I learned to love to read. By the end of second grade, I had passed my peers in reading ability and was reading at the sixth-grade level.

This focus on studying and learning continued throughout high school. When I was told in high school that because I was Hispanic and female in a military town I would not graduate, I was astounded. Regardless of this counselor鈥檚 opinion, I still managed to graduate in the top 10% of my class. Largely because my parents expected my siblings and me to do well.

When I was accepted to The University of Texas at Austin and then, subsequently, realized that my family and I could not afford to attend. I resigned myself to following my father鈥檚 footsteps in joining the military. Until my mom received a call from a private, Christian university.

This call changed my entire family鈥檚 future.

As the first in my family to attend university, I did stumble in my undergraduate coursework. I changed majors and it took me five years to graduate. But I graduated. What my struggle did for my family is immeasurable. My parents learned the process of what was needed for my siblings to attend university.

To date, my three siblings and I have all earned advanced degrees. When I stopped my PhD coursework at the dissertation stage, my parents were appalled, but I no longer wanted to be a school administrator. They did not agree with my decision, but they recognized that education does not disappear because a degree was not completed.

Education for my family is about opportunity. My three siblings and I, the children of a migrant worker turned career military and a teen mom turned store manager, all have our master鈥檚 degrees. Statistically, at least one of us shouldn鈥檛 have earned a degree, but we learned early that education is what you make of it. What will you choose to do with your education? Opportunity is knocking.

Rebecca Orona

College Coach and Educational Opportunist

The post Education is Opportunity appeared first on 黑料大事.

鈥淢iss, why you makin鈥� us read this old book? I haven鈥檛 read a book since elementary school!鈥� 鈥淢iss! Why do we have to read EVERY DAY?!鈥� My inner sigh is profound. Where did we go wrong? When did reading books become a chore?

In my 26 years as an educator, I inevitably have students who share this sentiment in some form or fashion every single year. They wear it proudly as if it is a badge of honor. I often respond with, 鈥淭his is NOT something to be proud of.鈥� The respective students often shrug and then look to their peers for affirmation. I鈥檝e even had students high-five one another as if they just scored the winning touchdown.

I share a personal story of how my political science instructor my first semester in college assigned 400 pages on a Tuesday to be discussed on a Thursday. I explain that I was able to complete this task because I am a voracious reader. In my experience, I am seeing young people unable to complete 10 pages in 10-15 minutes on a non-academic book they selected to read.

There is research that shows that teens are reading less. An article from the American Psychological Association states that, 鈥溾�ess than 20% of teens report reading a book, magazine, or newspaper daily for pleasure, while more than 80 percent say they use social media every day鈥︹�� As an English teacher and a lover of reading everything, this is alarming. The article points out that, 鈥渙ur young people aren鈥檛 less intelligent, but they do have less experience focusing for longer periods of time and reading long-form text. Being able to read long-form text is crucial for understanding complex issues and developing critical thinking skills鈥︹��

Reading is a muscle. It must be exercised daily. Growing up, my father, a migrant worker to a decorated Vietnam Vet to a retired US Army SSGT, required that my siblings and I read at least 30 minutes a day, regardless of if we had homework or not. We could read any genre, as long as there were more words than pictures. We all now have advanced degrees. I don鈥檛 have empirical evidence to prove that this practice had any effect on our academic success, but I firmly believe that it played a huge role.

Reading, even fiction, helps build vocabulary and exposes readers to correct grammar. In elementary school, I was a huge James Bond fan. Not the movies, the books. I read Ian Fleming daily. Since he was a British author, I was exposed to words not common in the American vernacular. A book report assignment put me in hot water. She was certain that I had plagiarized as I used the term, 鈥榩erambulator.鈥� She pulled me to her desk to scold me and asked me what a perambulator was. In my naivete, I thought she didn鈥檛 know. Shocked, I whispered, 鈥淢iss, it means a baby carriage,鈥� as I didn鈥檛 want to embarrass her in class. My parents had already been contacted by the school as to my impending punishment, and when she called them back to apologize my dad explained his policy. Needless to say, I didn鈥檛 get in trouble.

Help your children put the phone or tablet down. Turn the Wi-Fi off and go old school. Have everyone in the family pick up a book and read for twenty minutes. Get lost in a story. In my opinion, it will help your child鈥檚 future academic success.

Rebecca Orona

English Teacher & Book Lover

The post Reading Matters appeared first on 黑料大事.

“How is a teenager supposed to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives?”听This question really applies to/impacts everyone. How does anyone go about finding their professional passion?

I can think of three ways:

1. Wing It

Try a bunch of things and hope to one day figure it out. Adults give students this advice all the time: 鈥淥h sweetie, don’t worry about it. You’ll figure it out someday.鈥�

Looking at what has been termed 鈥淭he Great Resignation,鈥� which refers to the droves of people leaving their jobs, I’m not so sure that this 鈥渃onventional wisdom鈥� is working out. Something like 55% of people surveyed are unhappy with their careers and are considering a change in the next year, so this platitude about falling into work you love may be simply that鈥攁 platitude.

2. Talk to People

A more targeted approach might be talking to people who seem happy in their chosen careers. Ask 鈥渟uccessful people鈥� about what they do, how they got into it, and how they feel about it.

You can gain powerful insights from questions such as:

• What do you actually do on a daily basis?
• What do you like about it?
• What do you wish were different?
• How did you get to where you are?
• What do you think makes you successful in your role?
• If you had it to do all over again, what would you do differently?鈥�

College and career counselors can be wonderful sources of insight, as well, which leads us to our third method of finding your professional passion:

3. Take a career assessment听

Warning: not all career assessments are created equal, and sometimes the results depend heavily on your frame of mind when taking the assessment.

For example, when I was in high school, I thought I wanted to go into the healthcare field. I took a career assessment and tried to answer all the questions the way I thought that a doctor would. The test recommended that I become an interior decorator, so that鈥檚 probably not a great approach.

In college, I didn’t fare much better. For some reason, I waited until my senior year to make my way over to the career services center. After spending around an hour and a half on an assessment, I eagerly awaited my results. When the career counselor came to me, she simply shrugged, held up her hands, and said, “I don’t know what to tell you. You don’t match anything.鈥�

Wow. Talk about encouraging. Minus the encouraging part.

With no direction and no guidance, I graduated nine months later and proceeded to spend the next eight years slogging through various low-paying, stressful jobs that I hated.

In recent years, I’ve discovered an assessment called , which gives me hope for career assessments (the assessment pegged one of my least favorite jobs, technical writing, as a 鈥渧ery weak fit.鈥�).

Many career assessments ask subjective questions about the kinds of things you like. “Do you think you like this, or do you think you like that?” The challenge is that most people have no idea what they like. High schoolers, especially, have limited career exposure and related preferences.

YouScience is different because it primarily focuses on a person’s aptitudes, or natural talents and abilities. It then matches users with over 500 career fields based on the mix of aptitudes required to succeed in each.

and surveys are both based on methodology, which uses personality types to suggest careers and clusters that might be a good match for a student.

Organizations like conduct an in-depth series of assessments, often across multiple days, to help students identify their aptitudes. Through a series of 鈥渨ork samples,鈥� students are able to identify the speed and accuracy of different series of tasks in order to identify the academic and professional fields where they are likely to be more successful and, ultimately, more satisfied.

So, what do you do with all of this?

It might make sense to approach the process in reverse from the way I’ve laid it out above:

First, take a combination of the assessments mentioned to gain a better understanding of how you’re wired. Begin exploring the career recommendations laid out by YouScience. They provide all kinds of helpful information about each career such as “a day in the life,” common tasks, how each career fits your own aptitudes, recommended college major, and even a heat map with projected job openings around the US and salary ranges. As you explore this information, imagine yourself working in each role and ask yourself if you think you’d be happy doing so.

When you find a few options that seem like a good fit, save them to your “saved careers” list.

Next, find people working in the roles you’re considering. Talk to family friends and acquaintances, find highly rated companies on and locate employees of those companies on . Reach out via LinkedIn or get employee email addresses from the company website or from a site like RocketReach.co. When you message them, be courteous and let them know that you’re a student interested in their career field. Ask if they’d be open to having a twenty-minute conversation about what they do on a daily basis, what they like and don’t like about their jobs. Ask them how they got there or what path they would recommend to a student in your position. Be sure to ask them something along the lines of, “If you had it all to do over again, what would you do differently?” Perhaps they know of a similar role that involves less stress and better pay.

Lastly, try out a handful of these prospective fields via job shadowing or summer internships. Perhaps the contacts you’ve made in the step above can give you a foot in the door or can at least let you know who you might talk to in order to see if any internships are available.

Whatever you do, don’t wait around hoping for things to fall into place. You’re here for a reason. When you discover your purpose and get to live it out daily, you can experience less stress, greater joy, and more fulfillment than the many dissatisfied adults who are seeking a career change or are comprising the “Great Resignation” and leaving the workforce altogether.

It will take some work to figure it out, but your efforts now can dictate how you spend the bulk of your waking hours for the next 40 or 50 years. The investment of time and energy (and even money) is worth it.

Ben Marley

College & Career Coach

The post Pursuing Your Professional Passion appeared first on 黑料大事.

Years ago, at Thanksgiving, I was chatting with my niece, a junior in high school, about college. When I suggested she check out a particular SEC school that we had recently come to love, she said. 鈥淗mmm, I don鈥檛 think I look good in purple and gold.鈥� Huh? Who thought colors were a factor when deciding your next 4 years?

Well, I guess it鈥檚 fair. When you choose a college, you choose the colors. You will be receiving lots of spirit items for graduation, birthdays, and Christmas. You鈥檒l buy knick-knacks from the bookstore when you fall in love on that college tour: sweatshirts, coffee mugs, flags, decals, stationery, and so on. And if you have a positive college experience, you鈥檒l not only sport these colors in college, you鈥檒l hold those colors dear for the rest of your life.

When you explore a university鈥檚 website to find their acceptance rate, cost of attendance, and mascot, you鈥檒l also see the school colors. But HOW those hues were chosen is another story. When you search the history, you鈥檒l find many interesting stories, some legend, some truth, some a little bit of both. According to , LSU鈥檚 鈥減urple and gold鈥� has its roots in Mardi Gras:

鈥淯pon his arrival to Louisiana State University in 1893, Coates noticed the lack of athletics and hastily helped assemble a football team to play Tulane that year. When searching for colors, he went to Reymond鈥檚 on the corner of Third and Main in Baton Rouge to buy colored ribbons to adorn the uniforms. The store had plenty of purple and gold, but the other Mardi Gras color, green, had not arrived.”

Harvard鈥檚 famous crimson started at a regatta back in 1958. The crewmen wanted to distinguish themselves from the other teams, so Charles W. Eliot, a tutor and oarsman, decided the team would sport red handkerchiefs, knowing the color would stand out. 鈥漌hen these handkerchiefs were drenched in sweat, they took on the color of blood. The true color of blood is crimson,鈥� says Professor Peter J. Gomes. Thus, Harvard Crimson were born! (Harvard Explained, thecrimson.com)

So, students, when you go on that college visit, ask your tour guide how the university selected its colors. Some will give you the facts but many will give you the legend, which is often a more gripping tale. University of Pennsylvania, one of the original Ivy League Schools, was competing against Harvard and Yale at a track and field event. When the Penn captain was asked what color their team wanted to be, he said 鈥渁 combination of the two teams we are about to beat: Harvard Crimson and Yale Blue.鈥� Thus, Penn became the Red and Blue. However, when I did a little research on , I found no such story. But does it really matter?

The point is that the colors help create the family where you鈥檒l belong the next four years and, hopefully, for the rest of your life. You want to feel proud of the spirit that your colors evoke.

Back to my niece. She ended up wearing orange and black in college but married purple. So, it turns out, colors are important enough when choosing a college but not so important when choosing a life partner. Now her year-old daughter wears both of her parents鈥� colors and looks really cute in both.

Paige Naughton

Expert College Coach & SEC Lover

The post What’s In A Color? appeared first on 黑料大事.

There is a famous art project titled, 鈥淭he Castle鈥� by Mexican artist Jorge Mendez Blake which shows what a book, in this case, Franz Kafka鈥檚 The Castle, can do to the foundation of a brick wall.

The metaphor invoked resonates as I am asked to attend book challenge committees. Yep, in 2022, people are calling for the banning of books. Why?

The reasons are many. Ultimately, it鈥檚 about control of thought and this should alarm everyone.

The singularity of thought not only in modern political movements but also in the entertainment that invades many aspects of our day-to-day routine is slowly eroding the critical thinking that should be supported in classrooms, college lecture halls, and family dinners. The impact of social media is profound, but we can鈥檛 lay all of society鈥檚 problems at social media鈥檚 door as the degradation of education started long before the impact of TikTok and Snapchat.

When students brag about getting to their last year of high school and having never read a book? No, that鈥檚 not social media鈥檚 fault.

Uncomfortable conversations need to be had. Books often bring to light issues society faced and how society has overcome or let the problem fester. We read the classics because they highlight universal truths that generations before us faced. These issues should be analyzed and discussed for generations. Books should not be banned because they highlight bad behavior in a country鈥檚 past or hold uncomfortable discussions about behavior, but rather we should challenge ourselves to read and discuss each uncomfortable topic. If nothing more than to knowledgeably say, no, to an idea or concept that is unacceptable in modern society.

The adage, 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it,鈥� is stated often but people aren鈥檛 listening nee thinking. The book burning that occurred in Nazi Germany in 1933 where tens of thousands of books were burned because they didn鈥檛 hold with the Nazi one true ideology is mirrored today, much more politely, but occurring, nonetheless.

As a teacher of English, asking if I have a certain book in my library and calling for its removal in 2022 is alarming. The slippery slope that I am asked to be part of is appalling. Am I really being asked to ban a book?

I challenge those that call for the virtual burning of books to grab a copy of every book on the (high school) and read them for yourself. Decide what your family reads. If this hue and cry for the banning of books continues, we may lose the opportunity to do so.

Rebecca Orona

English Teacher & Book Lover

The post The Impact of a Book appeared first on 黑料大事.

A huge portion of students have no clue how to choose the right college.

How do I know this? Because on average, around one-third of students drop out before the start of their sophomore year. Another third transfer at some point (which adds an extra one to two years to their “four-year degree”).

Let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes:

Mistake #1: Basing Decisions on Short-Term Factors

A student once told me that his final college decision came down to the simple fact that the freshman dorms had Tempur-Pedic mattresses.

Another student seriously considered attending an out-of-state program far less prestigious than an in-state school he had been admitted to because he thought it would be nice to get away from the cornfields of the Midwest and fun to live with his sister (while saving a bit of money on rent).

I’ve seen students choose a college because their friends were going there, only to tell me after the first year or two that they’ve 鈥済rown apart鈥� and don’t even hang out with those friends anymore.

I’ve seen students consider full athletic scholarships to schools they don’t want to go to for sports they’re not particularly interested in playing. When they get hurt or decide to transfer, or when the coach leaves and the program changes, everything they based their decision on goes out the window (and sometimes the scholarship goes with it).

The major challenge with basing a college decision on any of these factors is that, while these short-term circumstances are subject to change, where a student attends college can have a long-term impact, influencing not only where they spend their undergraduate years but even the trajectory of their lives far beyond graduation.

Mistake #2: Not Owning the Decision-Making Process

Sometimes it’s easy to let other people, life, etc. make big decisions for us. High school juniors and seniors are already busy. Choosing where to spend the next four years (and tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars) can feel overwhelming.

鈥淲hat if I make the wrong choice?鈥�

Up to this point, a lot of students haven’t had a ton of decision-making ability while living under Mom and Dad’s roof, so it might be easy for Mom and Dad to have perhaps too much influence on college selection (especially if they’re the ones paying for it). Some students choose to attend a certain school (or to attend college at all) simply because it’s what is expected of them.

Some students fall into the trap of choosing the “good school” based on name recognition (鈥淗ey, I鈥檝e heard of that school, so it must be decent!鈥�) or its ranking on some list.

But these rankings can be somewhat arbitrary and self-perpetuating (when they are based at least in part on the acceptance rate, and better rankings lead to more applications for the same limited number of slots, the acceptance rates dwindle each year, driving up the rankings).

Mistake #3: Making Assumptions

Other students may base their decisions on financial assumptions, only applying to schools that they assume will be most affordable.

I fell into this trap myself. My parents and I assumed that they earned too much for me to qualify for any financial aid, so we didn’t even fill out the FAFSA.

The only problem was that my mother quit working at the beginning of my senior year.

We knew that the FAFSA looked at the prior two years’ income, but what we didn’t know was that we could ask for certain consideration based upon the recent change in my family’s financial situation and that even without that consideration, we should鈥檝e filled out the FAFSA for each year of college, which would鈥檝e meant that I would have qualified for significantly more aid starting with my sophomore year.

Because I didn’t know this, despite having straight A’s and top test scores, I applied to almost no top-tier schools. And even when I did get accepted to the few top-tier schools I applied to, I didn’t seriously consider their offers, even the scholarship offers waiving 50-75% of tuition, because they paled in comparison to full-ride scholarships from other schools (or so I thought).

Without filling out the FAFSA, I couldn’t compare my offers accurately and instead based my decisions on misinformed speculation.

Takeaway:

When we have limited information, making good decisions can be difficult and unnecessarily stressful, especially when those decisions have significant and long-lasting impacts.

It can be helpful to start with a simple question: 鈥渋s this something that can be known?鈥�

If the answer is yes, then I have good news: the necessary information for making a good decision is probably out there.

Focus on the long-term, own the decision-making process, try to cast assumptions aside, and seek it out.

Ben Marley

College & Career Coach

The post 3 Biggest Mistakes When Selecting a College appeared first on 黑料大事.

1. MLA Reference Guide:听Help your students ace their papers with this听听that details all the rules on punctuation, citation and proper structure.
2. Water Bottle:听We all know that college students survive on coffee, Red Bull and, well, some other unhealthy liquids. Help yours stay hydrated by giving them a water bottle, like the听, which measures daily water intake and offers inspirational quotes.
3. Face Mask: In this new world of COVID-19, the face mask is the latest accessory. Send your student to college with a mask that is equal parts function as it is decorative by having one made in or some other .
4. Book Light:听College students need all the sleep they can get. Help yours study at night without waking his or her roommate with a small but powerful book light.
5. Crock Pot:听Make your student a star in the kitchen with this easy-to-master cooking appliance. Imagine their delight when they come home from a long day to the aromas of a delicious and healthy meal that simmered all day without burning the house down.
6. Cook Book:听Help your student flex their culinary muscles by giving them a great cookbook. Whether it鈥檚 a bible of cooking basics like听听or something a little more exotic like a guide to mastering Thai or Indian cuisine, this gift will be well used long after they graduate from college.
7. Flip Flops: Anyone who has been to a college residence knows that showers are a prime source of fungus and bacteria. Help your student keep clean and safe with a pair of fashionable
8. Personalized Note Cards:听It鈥檚 time for your student to learn that, sometimes, a text just doesn鈥檛 cut it. Make traditional note writing more fun by giving your college student personalized notecards.听 Then, wait for the thank you note!
9. Words to Say:听Now that they have the cards, what should they write? Give them the right words for every occasion from declining a job offer to offering support to a friend whose parent passed away with a book like听.
10. Gift Card Basket:听Help your students make the most of their college town by offering a selection of gift certificates for restaurants, cafes, shops and entertainment venues in their area.
11. 窜补驳补迟鈥檚:听Make your student the cool kid on campus by giving them a guide to hot spots and hidden gems they can discover with their friends.
12. A New Language:听Language instruction, such as the self-paced , will help your student satisfy college language requirements, prepare for a semester abroad and become more globally competitive when they enter the job market.
13. Public Transportation Card:听Provide your students with a 3- or 6-month public transportation pass to help them get around town.
14. Massage Membership:听Keep your student balanced 鈥� mind, body and soul 鈥� by offering a monthly membership to a wellness spa such as听听辞谤听.
15. Biography:听Inspire your college student by gifting a biography of someone who has achieved success in their chosen field. Try Katherine Graham鈥檚听听for aspiring journalists,听听for techie enthusiasts or听听for financial whiz kids.
16. Nostalgia: Recreate your student鈥檚 childhood holidays by sending them candy, a favorite toy or hobby from years ago.
17. Ring Light: Help your student shine. In the “Zoom” world of online classes and meetings, having the right changes “drab” to “dazzling!”
18. Tickets to Cultural Event:听Sure, your student probably goes to a lot of concerts, but how often do they get to the theater or symphony? Expand their world by offering tickets to a cultural event they may not otherwise explore.
19. Fancy Restaurant:听College students are not strangers to eating out. However, another dinner at Chili鈥檚, Pizza Hut or Chipotle won鈥檛 rock anyone鈥檚 world.听 Instead, a gift certificate to a 5-star restaurant will be an experience your student and a special friend will remember. It doesn鈥檛 have to break the bank, either; many white glove restaurants offer reasonably priced lunch menus.听 And, in my humble opinion, a fancy lunch is way more indulgent than a high-end dinner.
20. New Talent or Hobby: A new hobby or talent, such as guitar lessons, glass blowing classes or SCUBA certification, is a gift that will continue to give for years to come.
21. Laundry/Maid Service:听Keep your student clean and stress-free by offering to pay a for a month of laundry or maid service. Who knows? They may decide they like to live in sanitary conditions and may even keep it up on their own long after the service ends.
22. Airline Miles or EuroRail Pass: There is no greater gift than the gift of travel. Encourage your student to explore new countries and cultures by providing access to a flight or train pass for them to use when travel restrictions ease.听 And, then, watch them go!
23. Cashmere Sweater:听EVERYONE loves cashmere. It鈥檚 like a hug from mom.
24. First Aid Kit: Help your student prepare for any emergency by outfitting them with go to essentials like Bandages, Neosporin, Aspirin and Antihistamine.
25. A Personal Letter: There are few things more powerful or more cherished than writing a thoughtful letter to express how proud you are of your student’s accomplishments, character and impact they have had on you and everyone around them.

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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems we wake up every morning, holding our breath, to see what changes are occurring around us. That is nowhere truer than in the state of college admissions. This morning, I attended a web conference with admissions officers from American University, George Washington University and University of Maryland and they tried to help us navigate this unprecedented time. While many admit they are currently focused on the class of 2024 (current high school seniors) and don’t yet have the answers for our current high school juniors, the one big take away was to remember that admissions officers are staffed by human beings who have hearts and are empathetic to your plights. They are doing their best to serve your needs, along with the needs of their respective institutions. Right now, we are in a mode of “wait and see.” While that may not offer too much comfort to understandably anxious students and their understandably anxious parents, I hope you will take some solace in the number of institutions who have announced a test-optional policy for the 2020-2021 application cycle. As of April 14, 2020, here is the current list (please check with individual schools for the most up to date information):

2020 New Test-Major Optional Colleges or Other Major Testing Changes as of April 2020-in alphabetical order.

• 础尘丑别谤蝉迟听is now test optional for the 2020-2021 admissions cycle.They are no longer considering SAT subject tests or taking admissions deposits. They no longer require SAT or ACT scores for transfer applicants.
• Babson College听goes test optional for one year. It will review its policy next spring.听
• Boston University听is now test optional for next year, and will reconsider its decision next year.听
• Case Western听becomes test-optional for 2020-2021. “We are test-optional for students entering in the fall of 2021. We will determine policies for future classes in winter 2020/21. Students who want to submit their scores may self-report by completing the form on their applicant portals.听
• Center College听releases three year test optional policy.听
• Chapman听is now tested optional for 2020-2021. Those who were home-schooled or attended a high school that provided a narrative transcript will be required to submit a standardized test score with their application.听/ In addition, all applicants听who are non-native English speakers must submit proof of English proficiency. Students who score at least a 600 on the SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section, or a 24 on both the ACT English and Reading sections, will automatically have this requirement waived. For more information, visit our听.
• Colgate College听goes test optional for one year听
• College of Wooster听goes test optional permanently.听
• Davidson College听announces its own 3 year test optional policy.听
• Haverford College听launches three year test optional policy.听
• Indiana University-January 22, 2020-Indiana University goes test-optional for Fall 2021.听.听See Indiana University listing for details.
• Lawerence University听goes test optional.听
• Middlebury College听announces three year test optional policy.听
• Northeastern University听announces one year test optional policy. The new policy does not apply to admissions requirements for the Northeastern University School of Law juris doctor program.
• Northern Illinois University听becomes test-optional.听All applicants with a 3.0 GPA or higher in a college preparatory program will be guaranteed admission with no need to submit standardized test scores. The exception: applicants to the Nursing program must submit scores.
• Oregon State University听is going test-optional. More details to follow on their site.听
• Rhodes College听announces it will go test optional for the next three application cycles.听
• St. Mary’s of Maryland听becomes test-optional.听听All applicants except (1) who have been home-schooled; (2) who were taught in a non-traditional academic setting (i.e. without course-specific grades, pass/fail only grading scales, or narrative transcripts); and/or (3) who must demonstrate English language proficiency (i.e., are required to take an English language proficiency examination). All applicants will submit scores after admissions for institutional research purposes.听
• Santa Clara听goes test optional for the next two years.听
• Scripps College听is now test optional.听
• TCU听goes test optional for next year: a temporary decision. Read more.
• Tufts University听pilots 3 year test optional policy.听
• Vassar听goes test optional for the next application cycle and then will re-evaluate.听
• The听University of Washington听announces one year test optional policy听. International students are required to submit English proficiency exam scores that meet the听. In recognition of the COVID-19 pandemic鈥檚 global impacts, the UW will also accept the听听for any summer/autumn 2021 applicants.
• Williams College听launches one year test optional policy.听

The best advice I can offer to you now is to focus on the things you can control – your grades, your activities, your families – and leave the rest to the college experts. I have no doubt they will figure it out before the next application cycle begins.

List courtesy of All College Application Essays听

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Your first semester at college can be a bit overwhelming.听 You are trying to figure out where your classes are located, how to get your prescription filled and that concept your swore you understood in AP Calc now looks like gibberish when 鈥渆xplained鈥� by your college professor (at least it did to me; intro calc is the lowest grade on my college transcript, even though I got an A in my high school AP Calc class).听 Your roommate may not be your forever best friend that movies led you to believe he or she would and you are probably missing your parents, your friends and your dog (or cat or lizard).听 You鈥檙e just not sure you made the right decision with this college.

When I interview college freshmen at campuses large and small, urban and rural, about what advice they would give to future freshmen, they all say the same thing: GET OUT OF YOUR ROOM!听 Here are a few things you should be sure you do in the first few weeks of school:

Academic Activities:

• Go to professor office hours, even if you don鈥檛 think you need help
• Get your paper reviewed by the writing coach, even if you earned the English prize in high school
• Attend a quant lab, even if you are a math genius
• Form a study group
• Get an old-school, paper-based academic planner (this was the #1 piece of advice college freshmen shared 鈥� I promise)

Social Activities:

• Attend all orientation activities, even if they are cheesy, because you will bond with people who also think they are cheesy, and you鈥檒l get free stuff
• Attend a sporting event
• Join a club
• Study in public (caf茅, library, college green) instead of shoring up in your dorm room
• Put as much energy toward your social plan as you do toward your academic plan

Personal Activities:

• Make a plan for physical fitness
• Identify location of resources (health services, mental health, registrar, IT, financial aid)
• Open bank account
• Do laundry
• Take public transportation
• Explore the surrounding area

College is not high school.听 Your mom is not going to knock on your door to make sure you come down for dinner.听 It鈥檚 time to put your big pants on and get to know your world and you can鈥檛 do that while hiding in your dorm room.

To maximize the likeliness that your college-bound student will be successful, be sure to explore the other parts of The Complete Candidate’s College Transition Playbook:

Part 1: The College Roller Coaster

Part 2: College Success Framework

Part 3: Selecting the Right School

Part 4: Go Beyond the Beach

Part 6: The Parent鈥檚 Role

Part 7: Transferring Out

Part 8: The Legal Stuff

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