New UC data dashboard sheds light on admissions for each academic discipline

New UC data dashboard sheds light on admissions for each academic discipline

By Brittany MaschalNov 15, 2024

This is very cool! 

From the University of California:

Our researchers collect and analyze all kinds of information about the world. We also track all kinds of UC stats, many of them available on detailed public dashboards in the online UC Information Center.

This fall, UC published a new data dashboard that shows how many first-year students apply to and are admitted at each campus by academic discipline. Until now, UC published the overall first-year admission rates for each campus. The new dashboard expands that by providing additional detail on admissions by academic discipline. For each broad area of study, you can see the admit rate, along with how many students applied, were admitted and ended up enrolling. The dashboard lets you see the admission rate for a discipline versus the overall campus admission rate. You can look at just one campus, or you can compare disciplines across UC’s nine undergraduate campuses. (A separate dashboard shows transfer admission rates by major.)

The goal of the dashboard is to offer the public more transparency into UC admissions. Being able to compare the selectivity of disciplines and campuses gives applicants an additional piece of information in their process and a more refined understanding of the competition. That said, the dashboard shouldn’t be used to assess any particular student’s chances of admission.

Continue reading about the new data dashboard in this October 18 article and explore the dashboard yourself.

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Fall College Admissions Pathways via Summer Programming

Fall College Admissions Pathways via Summer Programming

By Brittany MaschalNov 13, 2024

Colleges are starting to market their summer programming as a special pathway to fall admission—guaranteed admission in some cases. Expect to see more of it as schools continue to get creative about their enrollment management tactics.

Read more about Guaranteed Orange here (Syracuse).

Read more about UChicago’s Summer Student Early Notification here (University of Chicago)

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Born This Way Foundation – Youth Advisory Board Application

Born This Way Foundation – Youth Advisory Board Application

By BMC BloggerOct 23, 2024

The information below is from the Born This Way Foundation:

Born This Way Foundation, at its core, is an organization informed, shaped, and led by the young people with and for whom we do this work. Young people want to build a kinder and braver world, and know how to do so, and it’s up to us to connect them with the platforms and resources they need to make that future possible. Apply to join a visionary group of leaders ages 15-24.

Our 2023 Youth Advisory Board cohort showed kindness is action, and that action is undeniably linked with our mental health and wellbeing. This group of global leaders launched their own nonprofits, community projects, media platforms, technology solutions, and more; all in service of mental health advocacy and building kinder environments where young people can thrive. They teach us every single day that there is no one way to be kind, to show up for your own and others’ mental health, but each path you take is valid and necessary for our collective wellbeing.

We hope you’ll consider clicking here to apply by our deadline of Tuesday, November 26, or sharing this link with a young person in your life so they can be part of this incredible experience: bornthisway.foundation/advisory-board-application.

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Why Extracurriculars are Essential, Not Extra

Why Extracurriculars are Essential, Not Extra

By BMC BloggerOct 16, 2024

Sharing a JHU CTY Online Event (that applies to everyone!). Your extracurriculars are very, very important when it comes to applying to college, not because you need a laundry list of interests and accomplishments, but because they show admissions officers what you care about, how you engage with your community, and what excites you intellectually and academically.

We place so much emphasis on what advanced learners learn in school, but what they learn outside of school is also important. Join CTY executive director Amy Lynne Shelton, PhD, as she talks about why learning outside of school is critical and how families can make the most of this time to help their advanced learners develop skills, explore new interests, and learn what they love.

More information and register here.

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2024-25 Merit Scholarship Deadlines

2024-25 Merit Scholarship Deadlines

By Brittany MaschalSep 12, 2024

College Kickstart compiles a sampling of schools with explicit deadlines, along with some stats to help you gauge the size and breadth of the institution’s merit offerings. In some cases, like Boston University and USC, there is a hard deadline. At other schools, like Indiana University and many other public institutions, it’s a “priority” deadline.

Important Note: There are many schools where an RD app must be received EARLY to be considered for merit. This is why it is so important to keep making progress on your application essays after your first set of deadlines in October or November. Read the application institutions for every school on your list to see if there is a merit deadline that is earlier than the application deadline.

Read more on the College Kickstart blog –> https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/keeping-vigil-on-2024-25-merit-scholarship-deadlines?idU=1

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Insights on Test Optional Admissions

Insights on Test Optional Admissions

By BMC BloggerAug 27, 2024

In an op-ed published in Inside Higher Ed, David Blobaum, the director of outreach for the National Test Prep Association and the co-founder of tutoring company Summit Prep, argues that it is in college hopefuls’ best interests to submit test scores, even if a school does not require them.

When accepting – or rejecting – applicants, admissions departments cite often-clandestine “institutional priorities” having to do with students’ backgrounds or areas of expertise. According to Mr. Blobaum, however, “Rhetoric and reality often diverge.”

He contends, unequivocally, that “test-optional institutions have a preference for students with high test scores” and that students applying to test-optional colleges and universities are less likely to be admitted if they do not submit test scores. “If a college does not value SAT or ACT scores, then the college would not use those scores.”

Citing data from Dartmouth’s watershed report, which led the institution to return to test-mandatory admissions, Mr. Blobaum argues that traditionally marginalized students have the most to gain from submitting test scores: “a disadvantaged student with an SAT score between 1450 and 1490 is 3.7 times more likely to get admitted if they submit their score than if they withhold it.”

To support his argument, Mr. Blobaum explores a few key examples of elite institutions that recently were or currently are test-optional:

  • Yale had a three times higher admit rate (6 percent vs. 2 percent) for students who submitted test scores over the past several years compared to those who didn’t.
  • According to Cornell’s internal research, “submitting test scores significantly increases the likelihood of admission (to its) test-optional colleges.” The institution labeled it “prudent” for students to include test scores with their application package.
  • Even though Duke claims that choosing not to submit SAT or ACT scores “will not impact (a student’s) admissions decision,” 81 percent of newly enrolled students at Duke submitted some combination of SAT and ACT. Furthermore, Duke’s admission website goes as far as advising students to “buy a study guide and begin taking practice SAT or ACT tests.”

These examples are compelling, and make clear that standardized test scores can certainly act as key differentiators between candidates who are otherwise qualified for limited class seats. These differentiators are particularly important for hyper-selective schools where the ratio between applicants and enrollment offers is especially stark.

Mr. Blobaum approached this topic with an eye toward the most elite institutions; his observations, therefore, despite their potential relevance at Ivy Plus schools, may not capture the admissions landscape at less selective—but still excellent—colleges and universities. Furthermore, Mr. Blobaum’s argument sometimes strays from hard data; he, perhaps controversially, claims that admissions departments “often outright lie” and bases some of his reasoning on the fact that “it is just common sense.”

Source: Denied? That Top College Lied (Inside Higher Ed)

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Colleges That Are No Longer Test Optional – Updated

Colleges That Are No Longer Test Optional – Updated

By Brittany MaschalAug 20, 2024

Colleges have continued to roll back test-optional policies. We will update this post as more policy changes are made.

You’ll need competitive test scores to apply to the following schools:

Auburn (testing STRONGLY preferred; required with under a certain GPA)
Brown
Cal Tech
Cornell (2026 start, require, 2025 recommended for certain colleges)
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard
JHU (2026 start)
MIT
Purdue
Stanford
University of Georgia
University of Florida (state-wide)
University of Tennessee (state-wide)
UT Austin
Yale

We have also found it beneficial to send high scores to most other test-optional schools in the top tier, especially if you are applying to a selective major (engineering, comp sci, data science, business, hard sciences) or attend a high school where the majority of students test and test well:

Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Duke
Rice
WashU
Notre Dame
Carnegie Mellon
Tufts
Emory
USC
Boston College
Boston University (exception: General Studies)
NYU
Clemson
Case Western
Villanova
University of Chicago
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin
University of Virginia
University of North Carolina
University of Illinois
University of Maryland

Reach out to us if you’d like help with your application strategy and deciding if you are a good candidate to apply test-optional.

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Registration for the 2024-2025 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition is now open!

Registration for the 2024-2025 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition is now open!

By Brittany MaschalJun 18, 2024

Don’t miss your chance to compete in the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition.

Important details, dates, as well as helpful resources and tools can be found here: https://globalyouth.wharton.upenn.edu/investment-competition/

The competition is a free, English-based, experiential investment challenge for high school students and teachers that includes an online trading simulator. Participants compete with other students from around the world and learn about finance, teamwork, strategy building, analysis, communication, and the stock market.

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What Makes an Effective Personal Statement or Common App Essay

What Makes an Effective Personal Statement or Common App Essay

By Brittany MaschalJun 14, 2024

Your personal statement should uniquely reflect who you are, what you value, and how you think—while also engaging and even surprising the reader.

You may be thinking, “Nothing much has happened to me! How can I surprise the reader?” Well, one of the biggest myths about the personal statement is that you can’t write a good one unless you have a “big” or tragic story to tell: “I was on my way to becoming a professional skater before I shattered my ankle,” or “I overcame a life-threatening disease then founded my own nonprofit to fund research on that disease.” While an experience like this could make for an excellent (though painful) personal statement, it could also make for…a really boring essay. Though it’s sad to say it, admissions officers have read many of these stories and so aren’t surprised or even moved by them.

Just think about it: admissions officers read thousands of essays every year, year after year. To get through them all, they have to read quickly, stopping once they figure out which “pile” you belong in (yes, no, or maybe). Your goal is to force that reader to slow down, even stop—to make them want to read your essay, to make them think, “I’ve never seen this before!” Admissions officers are more likely to have seen the “big” stories before—every year, they read thousands of essays about sports injuries and divorces, about Eagle Scout projects and difficult classes. Often, the best way to surprise the reader is to think small—to write about an unusual hobby (Sample Essay 6 in The Complete College Essay Handbook) or passion (Sample Essay 5 in The Complete College Essay Handbook)—or to write about a more common experience in an unexpected way, like discussing your parent’s divorce in the context of a violent protest (Sample Essay 4 in The Complete College Essay Handbook). Surprise can also be contextual. A varsity soccer player writing about varsity soccer? Not surprising. A varsity soccer player writing about his passion for cooking? That’s surprising!

A note: not all surprises are not created equal. There is the pleasant, gentle “surprise party” kind of surprise, and then there is shock, which can be invoked through violent images or vulgar confessions, and which produces negative emotions—fear, disgust, anger, and more.

Finally, a word on style and structure. The personal statement has two central elements: scene and reflection. Scene shows the reader what happened in an exciting way, and reflection explains its relevance. At the same time, your personal statement shouldn’t be all scene, but a balanced mix of scene and reflection. Reflection enables you to place the scene into its larger context and to show you thinking through the story.

Grad a copy of The Complete College Essay Handbook to keep learning more!

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What is a Personal Statement (Example: The Common App Essay)

What is a Personal Statement (Example: The Common App Essay)

By Brittany MaschalJun 13, 2024

It’s June, which means it’s time to start working on college admissions essays. This month, we’ll share some excerpts from our book, The Complete College Essay Handbook, starting with some personal statement tips!

First, what exactly is a personal statement like the Common Application essay?

A personal statement is a creative essay of 650 words or less that reads like a short story, memoir, or novel—not like an academic essay, textbook, or newspaper article. The best personal statements tell a story that culminates in a meaningful realization and offers the reader a glimpse of a mind in the process of thinking.

The personal statement is not the place to brag about accomplishments (student body president, team captain, founder of a schoolwide service project), or about how amazing you are (“I’m a world-changing revolutionary!”).

Although people you don’t know are going to read it, the personal statement is not a public form, like a school-wide speech. The personal statement is an intimate form, like a secret. It is the place to be honest, vulnerable, and raw, to reveal mistakes and weaknesses, to open up about an experience you’d only tell someone you were really close with, to explore what you struggle with and what scares you.

The personal statement is not “about” an event or achievement. It is about the psychological and emotional processes that occurred “behind the scenes.”

The same story, told from one angle, can be impersonal whereas, from another—told with a focus on the process rather than the outcome—can become deeply personal. Here are a few examples to help explain what I mean.

  • NO (Impersonal): The story about how you got elected student body president and a detailed account of everything you plan work on once in office
  • YES (Personal): The story about your internal struggle to overcome a crippling fear of public      speaking in order to run for student body president
  • NO (Impersonal): The story about how you changed lives by raising money for an orphanage in Africa
  • YES (Personal): The story about how you decided to start raising money for an orphanage because you yourself had been adopted and always struggled with the fact that your birth parents had abandoned you
  • NO (Impersonal): The story about how tearing your ACL was hard because you couldn’t play football or see your friends for a few months
  • YES (Personal): The story about how tearing your ACL gave you the time to reflect on who you are and you realized you didn’t want to just be an athlete so you started writing poetry and made new friends at school

Notice how all of these negative examples focus on the superficial event: I was elected; I raised money; I tore my ACL. By contrast, the positive examples explore the story behind the event—what was going inside of the writer that either led to this event (the student body president and orphanage examples) or the internal change that resulted from it (the ACL example). They also explore intimate, potentially difficult topics.

Since the personal statement is a creative essay at its heart, there is no set formula for success—however, our process and essay samples will give you the tools and examples you need to write your own singular personal statement.

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