10 trends to watch as testing reopens (short version: ACT/SAT tests still matter).
Why January application deadlines are just a bad idea.
Advocates say a comprehensive approach is required to address mental health challenges on college campuses, but more information is needed about what does and doesn’t work. Bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress aims to find that information out.
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Summer program alert!
As a BOA Student Leader, you will participate in an eight-week paid internship at a local nonprofit organization where you will learn first-hand about the needs of your community and the critical role nonprofits play. In addition, you will learn valuable civic, social and business leadership skills. Each Student Leader will attend the Student Leaders Summit held in Washington, D.C. where you will learn how government, business and the nonprofit sector work together to address critical community needs. Note: in-person events will be in line with local and national guidelines around gatherings and travel and may be subject to change.
To become a Student Leader, you must:
*In-person events will be in line with local and national guidelines around gatherings and travel and may be subject to change.
Click here for FAQs on our Student Leaders program.
Applications for the 2022 program will be accepted from Monday, November 1 through Friday, January 28. Apply Now for the 2022 Student Leaders program.
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The non-profit My Friend Abbey is awarding grants for peer-to-peer projects. The Fall 2021 grant cycle is now open to youth and young adults! The application deadline is November 15, 2021. The theme for this season is “Share Your Light.”
Here are some suggested ideas for grant projects:
Sharing your talent and teaching someone else your craft! For example, gardening is good for your mental health, so if you garden, buy some bulbs and teach your friends how to plant them and care for the plants. Or if you knit or sew, show a group of friends how to make something for the holidays that they can give as a gift.
You can always find a way to #37HelpOthersInABigWay or highlight the good in others.
You could complete a ‘compassion project’ in which you and/or a group agree to raise awareness in the area of mental health and wellness through kindness. You can document this project by performing a short play, blogging, researching and joining an existing group you never knew about (for example, an LGBTQ group, cultural group, or volunteer group like a soup kitchen.)
Or start your own group! Spread your kindness and compassion for all to see!
These are just a few suggestions. What will YOUR project be? Don’t forget to tell your friends and family, and request an application!
To request a grant application, email Gillian@myfriendABBY.org.
Click below to read about recent grant recipient’s projects:
Remember, applications must be received by November 15th!
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New NCAA eligibility guidelines released!
Admissions as a Game of Chance? New Research Says Lotteries Could Decrease Diversity.
High School Students and Counselors Are Burned Out. We feel this.
One response: “Our kids are really burnt out. Their usual ability to persevere is significantly lower. They are needing schools to come to them not the other way around. Doing virtual events is NOT helpful as they don’t even want to look at a screen.”
Another response: “Students are experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety with being back in person. Even the brightest students are struggling with completing homework and being present.”
And another: “Our students are markedly less mature this year, and moving through the college application process slowly. I don’t know that Ursinus can help, but the pandemic definitely hurt the students’ development and maturity.”
This article is definitely worth a read as we all need to keep mental health and wellness at the top of our to-do lists with our students.
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To all our seniors: just submitting applications is a huge accomplishment!!!
Take 7 minutes to listen to Kelly Corrigan’s case for celebrating the litany of accomplishments that a completed college application represents.
There’s so much more to applying to college than where you get in or don’t. Listen here!
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College Kickstart helps you track those merits $$ deadlines. Students: yet another reason to get apps in EARLY! We suggest submitting as many RD apps as you can by 12/1.
To help you stay on top of free money opportunities for your students, they’ve compiled a list of popular schools with hard merit deadlines for the 2021-22 cycle.
For each school listed, they’ve included the stated deadline, as well as the percentage of students receiving merit aid, the average amount of aid awarded and a link back to the school’s merit scholarship page.
Get there now!
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The start of junior year is the perfect time to determine your story for applying to college. What majors are you considering? What have you done to explore those majors? Where will you add value in college both inside and outside of the classroom? Is your value add clear on your resume?
It might seem early since you won’t be submitting apps until this time next year, but those apps are much easier to write if you’ve done some work ahead of time.
Juniors, right now you can:
Speaking of essays now would be a great time for juniors to grab a copy of our book, The Complete College Essay Handbook!
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Even in a pandemic, Forté’s mission of #MoreWomenLeading remains the same. Please join us in encouraging undergrad women to invest in their future selves by helping us spread the word about Forté’s upcoming virtual Fall College Conferences!
Forté Undergraduate Campus Leadership Summit
This is an opportunity for undergrad women to maximize their personal strengths and develop their unique leadership style. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are collegiate chapter student leaders, women in business club student leaders, and Forté Undergraduate Campus Ambassadors.
Sept. 30 – Oct. 1, 2021
Registration Deadline: Sept. 23
College Fast Track to Finance Conference
Open to sophomores and juniors of all majors interested in exploring the many career paths in finance. First-year students who are business majors or have previous experience and seniors that have not accepted full-time employment may also register.
Oct. 14-15, 2021
Registration Deadline: Oct. 1
Partners: PIMCO, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Evercore, Greystar, Guggenheim Partners, Hines, J.P. Morgan, PNC, and Vanguard
Candid Conversations for Black, Latinx, and Native American Undergraduate Women Conference
Open to college women from historically underrepresented groups in business and diverse academic backgrounds — with a focus on the experiences of Black, Latinx, and Native American women.
Oct. 28-29, 2021
Registration Deadline: Oct. 15
Partners: PIMCO, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, DaVita, Deloitte, The Dow Chemical Company, Evercore, Hines, Liberty Mutual, UBS, and PNC
If you know a woman who would benefit from attending our virtual conferences, please send her this link: http://bit.ly/fortecc. You can also post the following on your social channels to help spread the word:
The business world needs more women leaders. Registration is now open for undergrad women to build leadership skills, expand their network, and develop their personal brand at Forté College Conferences this fall. Let’s get #MoreWomenLeading! http://bit.ly/fortecc.
Thank you for spreading the word about these events and Forté’s mission to get #MoreWomenLeading!
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Making Caring Common’s Youth Advisory Board is a diverse group of high school students from across the country who are committed to making schools more caring and respectful places through everyday interactions. Members guide our understanding of and help devise solutions to the most pressing moral issues and social challenges of their peer groups, such as bullying and exclusion. They provide feedback on our ideas, share their thoughts on current events, and make sure we’re on the right track when communicating information to young people.
We are looking for young people with the following characteristics:
We are particularly interested in including young people who are not typically identified as leaders in their schools, those who may be socially marginalized, and those who represent minority groups within their school community.
The deadline to apply is October 4, and you can submit your application here.
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Though more and more colleges are dropping their ACT and SAT requirements, test scores still count in the closely watched college rankings many folks love to hate. But that might not hold true for much longer.
U.S. News & World Report, which published its latest Best Colleges guide on Monday, once again factored incoming students’ average test scores into its measure of “student excellence” at each ranked college despite recent calls for the publication to remove the ACT and SAT from its methodology. This year, standardized test scores were weighted at 5 percent of an institution’s overall ranking, the same as last year (down from 7.75 percent previously).
But U.S. News did change one part of its methodology in an acknowledgment of the growing number of test-optional colleges. It’s known as the 75-percent rule. Previously, the publication reduced the weight of the ACT and SAT by 15 percent for test-optional colleges with fewer than three-quarters of incoming students submitting scores. “The lack of data, for 25 percent of students or more, likely means the ACT or SAT score is not representative of the entire class,” Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, explained in a 2016 blog post. Some enrollment officials have said the policy — which can lower a college’s ranking — penalizes institutions that don’t require standardized tests.
This year, U.S. News lowered the threshold to 50 percent: Colleges received “full credit for their SAT/ACT performance” if at least half of their incoming students submitted a score. Just 4 percent of nearly 1,500 ranked colleges did not meet that 50-percent threshold. But “many” colleges, Morse wrote in an email, fell somewhere between 50 percent and 75 percent, though he and a U.S. News spokeswoman declined to say how many “many” was.
Read the full article here. [Source Th Chronicle of Higher Education]
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