I’ve been slacking on article suggestions and reposts, so here we go!
Doctors, lawyers and engineers make great societal contributions, too. Still, we will always need our poets and artists, our teachers and storytellers, our misfits and dreamers, contrarians and risk-takers.
A great read for parents, students, and college counselors.
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Shero’s Rise virtual Summer Series features fun and developmentally appropriate engagement opportunities for girls to strengthen their path to self-actualization.
Rooted in their 12 foundational pillars, participants will explore the cultivation of self, character and value development, self-sufficiency, personal wellness, and preparation for the future, so that she may become her own Shero!
Topics to be covered include:
We believe every girl should feel confident about money matters. At IIG’s Summer Session 2021, students will meet like-minded girls and get to hear from inspiring women working in finance so they can start building their own networks and invest in themselves.
Know a teen girl or two who you think would want to know about IIG‘s Summer Session?
The best summer programs are the ones that help you explore your academic interests. As part of your college application, they help demonstrate your intellectual curiosity and commitment to an area of study (typically, the one you might pursue in college).
Below are some great options for female-identifying students!
Participants will attend lectures by Carnegie Mellon faculty with expertise in various aspects of computing. They will also attend two academic seminars focused on programming and higher level mathematics. Project-based learning will supplement classroom experiences and offer students an opportunity to apply learned concepts to real-world challenges. Outside of the academic experience students will engage virtually with industry leaders to learn about the vast opportunities in the field of computing. Students will have an opportunity to be mentored by industry leaders throughout the country. At the conclusion of the program students will receive a comprehensive evaluation which can be integrated into their academic portfolios for college admission purposes.
Women’s Technology Program – MIT
The MIT Women’s Technology Program (WTP) is a rigorous four-week summer academic experience to introduce high school students to engineering through hands-on classes, labs, and team-based projects in the summer after 11th grade. WTP is designed for students who are excited about learning, have demonstrated their ability to excel at math and science in their high school classes, and who have no prior background (or very little) in engineering or computer science, with few opportunities to explore these fields. WTP is a women-focused, collaborative community aimed at empowering students from groups historically underrepresented and underserved in engineering. We especially encourage students to apply who will be the first family member to attend college, who come from high schools with limited access to STEM classes and activities, or who are African American, Hispanic, or Native American.
Experience Summer in New York City at Barnard. With distinct programs to choose from, ranging from entrepreneurship to STEM, you have the unique opportunity to explore an area of interest on a deeper level through both in-class discussions and city exploration. As part of the learning experience at Barnard, you will get a taste of both college life and the city that never sleeps!
Leadership adventure programming! Tuition-free multi-day expeditions for high school girls that interweave science, art, and backcountry travel. Expeditions are led by professional women scientists, artists, and wilderness guides. Throughout each expedition, the team engages in scientific and artistic inquiry about the environment around them. In small groups, participants design and conduct scientific projects, which they present to the public on the last full day of their expeditions.
Clubs, summer immersion programs, and college loops!
Events and programs vary from year to year. Check their site for more information.
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What we like about this list is the range. It’s not all Ivy-bound or nowhere, which makes sense given our counseling philosophy and approach. Congrats to all of this year’s graduating seniors!!!
Boston College
Brown University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Chicago
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Elon University
Duke University
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Harvard College
Indiana University, Kelley School of Business
Lehigh University
University of Miami
University of Michigan
New York University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Syracuse University
Tufts University
Tulane University
Vanderbilt University
University of Virginia
Villanova University
Wake Forest University
Wesleyan
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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While we are unsure all 11 of Brandon Busteed’s changes in Pandemic-To-Permanent: 11 Lasting Changes To Higher Education will be permanent, the article is worth a read if you want to understand some of what is going on in higher education that directly impacts admissions. Four points that stand out:
1. The test optional movement will become permanent. Although many colleges and universities announced such policies as temporary during the pandemic, these will become lasting changes to the world of college admissions. One of the big reasons relates to #2 below.
2. Higher education institutions will be increasingly and lastingly held accountable to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) metrics. This will be most prominent in ensuring the student population is more diverse, but it will show up in faculty and staff hiring priorities for diversity as well. Pre-pandemic, higher education institutions paid more lip service to these priorities. Going forward, they will need to make real commitments to DEI because many constituents will begin holding them accountable to their progress.
10. There will be a new kind of price war in higher education. Instead of ever-increasing tuition prices and expenses, universities will now compete to launch lower-cost online degrees to serve a growing market of value-oriented prospective students.
11. Elite colleges and universities are no longer role models. Despite a history characterized by Harvard-envy – and a lingering obsession among parents, students and the media with top-ranked institutions – their relevance to the rest of higher education is headed toward zero. A lack of willingness to grow enrollments and serve more students in innovative and non-traditional ways – along with a dismal record admitting poor students and minorities – will make elites oddities in and of themselves. Make way for the new role models in higher education: the public flagships and up-and-comer privates that innovate on many dimensions, find ways to freeze or lower costs, and dedicate themselves to being student- and employer-centric.
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Don’t subscribe to Jeff Selingo’s NEXT newsletter? You should!
Here’s his recent download on test-optional. As predicted, many colleges are NOT releasing an admit rate breakdown regarding submitters versus non-submitters, but he’s managed to gather a few data points. He notes in NEXT:
With less focus on standardized tests scores in admissions for at least another year, high school counselors and next year’s seniors are already asking what the lack of required test scores had on admissions decisions this year. Good luck finding out—at least from the selective schools that ditched required test scores because of the pandemic. Many of them aren’t releasing detailed numbers.
Context: Before COVID-19, 77% of students self-reported a test score, according to Common App. This past year it was 46%.
What’s happening: One vice-president for enrollment at a top-ranked school said that in the rush to go test-optional last year, the admissions staff never had the chance to discuss how they would talk about the results of test-optional admissions. “Just releasing numbers of how many applied and were accepted test-optional misses the nuances of the overall pool,” the official told me.
By the numbers: In general, my discussions with deans at about a dozen selective colleges over the last few weeks found that about half of their applicant pools applied without test scores.
Bottom line: For students from the Class of 2022 who are applying to schools without a long history of test-optional admissions, it’s best to have a test score if it will help your overall case.
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Linking to a post by Lynn O’Shaughnessy on The College Solution blog that introduced us to the spectacular term highly rejective college.
The term highly rejective college was coined by Akil Bello, who is an expert on standardized testing and senior director at FairTest, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing standardized testing.
Highly rejective schools focus on turning away nearly all applicants. Rather than use their considerable financial might and prestige to expand the number of students they educate on their own campuses or through satellite campuses, they cling to the status quo.
More higher-ed observers, including Jeff Selingo, the former top editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, are using the term highly rejective colleges because that accurately defines what these institutions are all about.
Lynn’s article also features some insights from Tuition Fit’s Mark Salisbury. Here is what Salisbury said about this 2021 phenomenon is impacting popular universities and colleges:
Read the whole article here—it’s a must-read!!!
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