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Parents: Don’t Become Aunt Becky During Your Child’s College Admissions Process

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At the root of so many parents’ anxieties about their children going through the college admissions process is not dread over the eventual act of sending their children off to live on their own. Instead, what inspires some parents to cheat on behalf of their children is some parents’ frightful realization that their the children will actually earn what’s coming to them. This is another way of saying that maybe, just maybe, the children won’t get into a colleges the parents want them to get into unless the parents insert themselves into the process in order to “augment” the college applications of their children in some way, shape, or form.

With that in mind, parents, as we head into summer, and your rising seniors enter into the climatic months of the college application process, please watch the video below. I hope it saves you from the perils of not embracing whatever outcome may await your child in the college admissions process based on what your child – the student – is willing and able to put into the process without breaking any rules, cutting corners, and/or taking advantage of any unethical “application supplementation.”

 

To receive additional sage, and quite humorous, advice from the perspective of educator Gerry Brooks, click here.

Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough in College Admissions Either

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Earlier this month, I was trying to figure out what day it was.  Rather than look at the calendar, I simply looked at the College Admissions Facebook page on my computer screen.  There was one story about the record low admit rates at Ivy League colleges, four stories about how most colleges admit a vast majority of their applicants, and two or three reminders that it’s all about what you do in college, not where you do it.

“So” I said to myself, “it must be April 10th.” And I was right.

There is something equally comforting and disturbing about the college admissions grieving cycle. It begins in late March, when we all bemoan it’s easier to get struck by lightning than to get admitted to a selective school.  Even the recent admissions scandal, replete with movie stars and lots of cash, played right into the timing of the “ain’t it awful” phase.

Early April gives way to requests for help with aid packages and muffled cries for some kind of reform from the madness of the application process.  Mid-April begins the search for schools willing to accept great kids who somehow ended up with “nowhere” to go, and late April finds us back in the trenches, asking about colleges for really bright juniors who want to study Hungarian and elephants.

This is our version of thoughts and prayers.  Like legislators tackling school safety, we look at the misshapen blob college admissions has become long enough to be horrified, only to get swept away by the need to make the broken system work just one more time, if only for the benefit of next year’s hardworking seniors. Major changes are just too far out of reach, and minor changes make no palpable difference, so we sigh and carry on, hoping a thoughtful social media post or two will somehow turn the tide. Real change, it seems, is beyond our grasp.

It isn’t.  Like anything else that’s out of shape, moving in a new direction requires a little bit of time, and a ton of vision.  No one in this profession is short on vision; they’re stymied by how to bring that vision to life. Here are some starter ideas.

College Admission Personnel who want to open up college access have all kinds of small projects that, when regularly tended to, can take on lives of their own.

  • Buy lunch for someone on your student success team, and get an overview of their work.  What students are doing well once they’re on campus, and which ones aren’t? Is there anything your institution can learn from the success of Georgia State, understanding that student success is far more than a cut and copy endeavor? What does any of this mean about who you’re recruiting—and, more important, if they have no idea who’s succeeding and why, why not?
  • If you have two counselor fly-in programs, cut it to one.  Use the new-found money to hold a three-day College Counselor Workshop for any school counselor in your area with less than five years’ experience.  As a rule, counselor graduate programs teach nothing meaningful about college counseling.  You know the counselors who know their stuff, and you have a NACAC affiliate at your disposal.  Bring them in, and let them train your local rookies.
  • As long as you’re at it, have coffee with the director of your graduate counseling program, and ask them if you can have a three-hour class period to talk about college admission.  Most counselor educators will have the humility to admit they’ve been out of the college admissions game too long, so they’ll give you the time.  Bring along two of your favorite counselors, and the grad students will be begging for more.  If you don’t know what you’d do with those three hours, I have a program that’s in the box and ready to present, and you can have it.
  • Call a test-optional college that looks like yours and ask how it’s going. The argument that test optional is a ruse to raise average test scores means nothing to the bright kid heading to University of Chicago this fall who can’t even spell SAT.  If colleges that look like yours have figured out test scores mean nothing in the application of a straight A student– and they have– maybe your school could open things up, too.

High School Counselors  have eight bajillion kids on their caseloads and duties that have nothing to do with counseling.  That said, find a way to get to work twenty minutes early once a week, and pick one of these projects to work on:

  • Shoot an email to the professional development chair of your NACAC affiliate and volunteer to be a mentor.  Less than thirty graduate programs in the country devote a course to college counseling, and it’s showing.  What you know about this profession will be an oasis to a new counselor, and most of the mentoring can occur through email and phone calls.
  • Look at your messaging about college options.  Do you tell students and parents about test optional colleges, community colleges, or state colleges with amazing residential programs?  Use this time to bring yourself up to speed on the paths your students aren’t taking, then put together a plan for spreading the word to parents and students.
  • When’s the last time you talked college with your middle school and elementary mental health partners?  Opening up postsecondary options is as much a matter of changing the mindset of parents as it is presenting options to students—and if that’s starting in ninth grade, forget it.  Ask your NACAC affiliate for grant opportunities to strengthen your K-8 postsecondary curriculum, and build the partnerships needed to make it work.

No one in this business was surprised last month to discover the wealthy have an advantage applying to college. What may come as a surprise is how much we can change that dynamic by throwing our hearts behind that change with twenty minutes a week, giving tangible shape to our thoughts, prayers, and deepest hopes for this profession.

UVA now offers an alternative route to Charlottesville

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While not exactly a “side door,” a new gate has opened to some Virginia students deferred from University of Virginia’s Class of 2023 – as long as they are willing to spend a year in rural Wise, Virginia.

Joining the ranks of colleges offering “alternative” routes to admission, the University of Virginia is proposing that a select group of students postpone starting in Charlottesville and spend a year at UVa-Wise, a small liberal arts college located not far from the Kentucky border.

“We are offering Virginians who were placed on the wait list for the College of Arts and Sciences the opportunity to enroll at the UVA College at Wise located in Southwest Virginia for one year before automatically enrolling at UVA in Charlottesville. Students in this program must complete 30 hours of transferrable credit post high school graduation at UVA-Wise with a 3.0 cumulative GPA or better to transfer into the College of Arts and Sciences at UVA.”

UVa has always had a great relationship with Virginia’s community college system and annually admits students earning two-year associates degrees through a guaranteed admission program. The UVa-Wise transfer offer is something new and wasn’t announced until notices went out to students wait listed for fall 2019 admission to UVa.

But not everyone was excited by the prospect of spending a year in rural Virginia, even if it meant an automatic transfer to the University of Virginia. Students posting on College Confidential had mixed reactions. One noted that UVa-Wise is “very much in the middle of nowhere,” while another pointed out that “it also seems to be a very small school, but maybe that would just mean more a more personalized education for the first year?”

One Fairfax County Public School student didn’t know much about UVa-Wise, but thought his offers at William and Mary and Virginia Tech made better sense for him. While he’s opting to stay on the UVa wait list, he has no intention of beginning his college career in Wise, Virginia. He added, “I don’t know anyone considering the offer.”

A member of the UVa-Wise Class of ’90 was quick to respond, “Is it small? Yes. Is the Town of Wise small? Yes. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a freshman. The classes are much less overcrowded, but the professors have very high standards and the academic rigor is there. The education is top notch.”

And the underlying message was clear, “If a year in Wise got you a ticket into Charlottesville and that’s your dream school, why not take it?”

Founded in 1954 as the Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia, UVa-Wise first offered four-year degrees in 1966 and officially changed its name to the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, in 1999.

Since reaching a peak enrollment of 2,420 in 2012, UVa-Wise has steadily decreased in size to the point that the website reports a current enrollment of 2,021.

But having made a significant investment in new facilities, the Commonwealth is not about to let the university fail. Last week, UVa-Wise announced a rollback of the three-percent tuition increased planned for 2019-20, to $11,154—a bit less than the $14,094 in-state tuition (not including UVa’s substantial fees) planned for Charlottesville next year. In return for eliminating the tuition increase, UVa-Wise will receive an addit­­ional $235,000 from the Virginia General Assembly.

In addition, the General Assembly recently approved legislation allowing the college to offer reduced tuition to students who live within the Appalachian Regional Commission territory, which stretches from rural New York to Mississippi.

According to a press release, “The law is seen as one way for the liberal arts college, a division of the University of Virginia, to counter the same enrollment drop that is affecting most higher education institutions across the nation.”

But aside from some possible enrollment benefits for UVa-Wise, the University of Virginia is experimenting with a growing trend in higher education, which has created an underground network of alternative admissions offers. And these unexpected options contribute significantly to the confusion and stress faced by college applicants at this time of year.

For example, without apparent regard for harm done to freshman retention rates at other institutions, Cornell University admits students as sophomores, as long as they spend freshman year at another college or university and meet certain academic requirements. Northeastern University admits some freshman provided they study abroad for the first semester, while the University of Maryland admits students for the spring semester and encourages those students to take part in a fall program on campus where they could only take classes late in the afternoon or evening.

At Hamilton College, second semester admits may participate in a “gap” semester or enroll in courses at Arcadia University, at their London campus. The University of Southern California offers the “Trojan Transfer Plan,” through which students are provided with “a clear and predictable path to enrolling at USC for sophomore year” by attending a community college or one of four colleges in Europe. The University of Vermont, Middlebury College, Brandeis University, Rochester University, Michigan State, as well as the University of Tampa all offer second semester admission. And the list goes on.

On the plus side, these alternative admission plans offer students the possibility of attending their dream schools, even though they may not have been admissible as freshmen for the fall semester. On the other hand, these plans provide ways for colleges to dodge reporting lower scores or GPAs for the incoming class and to fill vacancies left by students traveling abroad or transferring out.

But the UVa-Wise offer seems to have a broader objective and could potentially benefit both schools. According to Kathy Still, UVa-Wise communications director, “Accepting students from the deferred list would further strengthen the relationship between Campus and Grounds,” which administratively share UVa President Jim Ryan and the UVa Board of Visitors.

While the College at Wise is unsure how many prospective UVa students will opt to take advantage of the new program, Ms. Still advises that “…interest is high and calls to our admissions office are brisk.” She goes on to add, “The students who enter the program would find an engaging faculty, rigorous academic classes, and they would leave after one year with 30 credit hours under their belts. It’s a win-win situation.”

Washington D.C. Internships Distinguish American University’s Gap Program

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American University Gap Program, also known as AU Gap

Not all college-bound students begin their journey into higher education a few months after high school graduation. Some may be eager for a new, non-classroom experience, or want to explore the working world before settling in for years of study. Others may not have planned to take time off, but were admitted to their top-choice college not for the upcoming fall, but for the following spring; and want to spend their break, or gap semester, productively.

One distinctive possibility for any student interested in a productive gap experience is American University’s School of Professional and Extended Studies Gap Program in Washington, D.C., also known as AU Gap. Leveraging the resources and relationships of its unique location, AU Gap Program offers high school graduates an internship experience in the capital city for one or two semesters, as desired, with up to seven credits per semester.

“One semester can be a great option for students spending part of the year overseas,” says Terrell Austin, AU’s GAP Program Advisor. “It can also be ideal for students admitted to college for spring term.”

Alternatively, students who want to spend the full academic year with AU’s Program can either intern at two distinct sites, or continue with their first semester site. “Most students who choose to stay a second semester — about 20 percent of participants — choose a different internship experience,” says Austin, “just to try another field and gain some different experience and insight.”

AU’s deep and growing database of more than 3000 potential internship sites, actively managed by Amy Morrill Bijeau, Director of Experiential Education, offers job experiences in a student’s career field interest — including business, communications, international affairs, journalism, justice, politics, psychology, and the arts and sciences.

It is important to note that students are not placed into an internship; instead, just like in the real world, they must secure their position themselves, with guidance and support from the AU Gap team, who work closely with the student to get them prepared. “We focus,” says Austin, “on giving students professional development right from the start.”

The process requires some introspection and self-knowledge. “Students first need to articulate who they are and what type of job experience they are looking for,” says Austin. They also get help with their resumes and cover letters, as well as interview preparation and assistance with navigating the internship database.

Once students have selected 10-15 potential sites from the database, they begin the job-hunting process — sending out their resumes, making contacts, scheduling interviews. “In almost all cases,” says Austin, “students find their internship position within two weeks.”

Students work at their job site three days a week, mentored by their site coordinator, and earn up to four college credits. In a few cases, they may also be paid. “It happens occasionally,” says Austin, “as an unexpected bonus.”

Gap Program students also participate in an interactive weekly seminar led by an AU professor, with graded assignments and class presentations; prominent guest speakers; and field visits that could only be possible in D.C. — to embassies, congressional hearings, the Supreme Court, government agencies, non-profit organizations, conferences on a topic they have been studying, and more.

Besides enhancing the internship experience by helping students build communication skills, develop their network, and gain insight on world issues, the three-credit seminar keeps study skills fresh. It is also an exclusive offering that participants share only with their fellow interns (approximately 10-20 students).

“We think it’s important to foster a cohort experience for the AU Gap Program students,” says Austin, “where they are getting encouragement from each other and can also talk out any challenges they may be facing.”

To further facilitate the cohort relationship, AU Gap students live in the same residential hall (among full-time AU students), making it easier to build social relationships. As with all AU students, they have a meal plan, metro pass, and access to all campus facilities. Expenses are estimated at $18,000 per semester.

Who is a good candidate for AU Gap? “High-achievers looking for a real-world work experience before college,” says Austin. Students also need to be enthusiastic about the program, because although there is a lot of support, it requires a lot of initiative, too.

The application is rolling, so students may apply any time during their senior year of high school. A 3.0 GPA is required (exceptions may be made in unusual circumstances), as well as two letters of recommendation, two essays, and a phone interview Austin conducts with both the student and parents.

One further point for any student considering a gap experience with college credit: if you will be applying to college later, you may be regarded as a transfer student at some colleges (rather than as an incoming freshman), depending upon the number of credits you have earned, so it would be wise to inquire about this ahead of time at the specific institutions you are targeting. If you have already been admitted and either plan to ask for a deferral or are starting in the spring, make sure to receive permission for your specific gap program to avoid jeopardizing the original admission decision.

Desperate Parents: Celebrities, Others Amorally Acquire Admission to U.S. Colleges

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Felicity Huffman allegedly went from a Desperate Housewife to a desperate parent in search of USC admission for her daughter.

At least one Desperate Housewife, Felicity Huffman, allegedly became a Desperate Parent in search of selective college admission for her offspring. Letters of admission usually come at a price ($70,000 per year tuition at many private American universities these days), but for those who don’t want to play by the rules of the current college admissions game at America’s status symbol colleges, the price was reportedly even steeper!

According to the Associated Press, “fifty people, including Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, were charged Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents allegedly bribed college coaches and other insiders to get their children into some of the nation’s most elite schools.”

The sordid details, none of which are particularly surprising nor likely to change the perverse state of the college admissions process at America’s most selective colleges, are detailed from various angles by clicking on links below. Below these news links, the full affidavit, with all of the ugly details, is reproduced for our readers.

While colleges themselves are not implicated in this particular scheme, the smoke and mirrors admissions system that selective American colleges and universities have created and perpetuate daily certainly allowed this alleged scheme to go on as long as they did.

The Latest: UCLA soccer coach RESIGNS for ‘taking a $100,000 bribe to put a real-estate developer’s daughter on the roster so she would get accepted – even though she had never played competitively’ (DailyMail.com)

The Full List of those Charged (The New York Times)

College Admissions Scandal Uncovered (AP)

Feds find large-scale cheating plot (NBC News)

Mastermind Photoshopped students’ faces onto athletes (New York Post)

Actresses, Business Leaders, Wealthy Parents, Coaches Caught (Inside Higher Ed)

Celebrities charged (Hollywood Reporter)

Lori Loughlin paid $500,000 to get her YouTube ‘star’ daughter into USC – who then boasted she was going to college to party, cashed in with sponsored posts and is now being trolled mercilessly online (DailyMail.com)

The Wynn executive, vineyard owner and youth branding expert: The non-Hollywood parents busted in college bribery scheme (DailyMail.com)

Sasha and Malia Obama’s tennis instructor and the former Yale women’s soccer coach are among those indicted in sprawling college bribery scheme (DailyMail.com)

CHARITY THAT ALLEGEDLY TOOK BRIBES TO GET MILLIONAIRES INTO COLLEGE CLAIMED TO BE ABOUT HELPING THE UNDERPRIVILEGED (DailyCaller.com)

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Best Summer Programs in Europe for High School Students

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High school students in Barcelona with Columbia University

For many high school students, summer is a time to disconnect from school year stress. For many parents of high school students, summer is a time fraught with anxiety over whether their teens are “making the most” of their time away from school. How sad! Whether your are a student or a parent, please don’t sweat summer.

Even if you are a student or parent who has no money to your name, there are plenty of ways high school students can stay active and engaged over the summer while developing their interests and building important life skills.

Yet, if you do have some dollars to spare, there are some wonderfully enriching summer programs for high school students out there – and I mean way out there – in Europe. My five favorites are detailed below.

These programs will give curious, adventurous, intellectual, and inquisitive high school students the chance to burst out of the often-banal high school classroom and into the “old world” in order to engage in an amazing experiential learning opportunity that will be both perspective-expanding and a chance to take a deep dive into preexisting interests. This is so important because no matter what a student does over the summer, it should present value added to both the student and to colleges the student may want to apply to later.

Before we start the countdown, an important disclaimer: exploring pre-existing interests deeply over the summer in Europe seems like a win-win to me; however, the following list won’t be for everyone, and it shouldn’t be. The most important thing for students and parents to remember is that students should pursue their passions deeply over the summer. If they can’t afford to take part in the programs below, that’s fine! They still should develop skills and knowledge over the summer that can only come through some sort of immersive summer experience. Again, I detail some closer to home and dirt-cheap options here.

But, without further ado, for the purposes of why we are here today, let’s hop on the plane to Europe!

#5. TASIS: The American School in Switzerland Summer Programs

Student taking part in TASIS summer program in Lugano, Switzerland

In 1956, M. Crist Fleming founded The American School in Switzerland, the first American boarding school in Europe, in order to apply the American independent school tradition to Europe. All these years later, the school has grown leaps and bounds, and other TASIS schools operate in England and Puerto Rico. TASIS’ summer course options in Switzerland really wow me.

Students pick one class from a diversity of options, which means that a diversity of students will be intermingling on this lovely southern Swiss campus for the duration of your stay. Class options offered in 2019 include English as an Additional Language (EAL), EAL Academic Writing (1st session only), Intensive Italian (1st session only), Intensive French, International Baccalaureate Preparation Course (2nd session only), Fine Art Portfolio (new for 2019, 1st session only), Lean Startup Masterclass (1st session only), Musical Theater, Digital Photography, Architecture & Design (1st session only), and Fashion & Textile Design (2nd session only). My favorite option, however, is La Cucina Italiana: Italian Cooking (2nd session only), in which students learn to cook authentic Italian food after choosing ingredients at local Italian markets, touring Italian cheese and meat factories, practicing knife skills, and learning how to perfectly balance spices.

Why I love this program: As a former “undecided” student as I began my college career, TASIS’ diverse offerings speak to the undecided teen in all of us, and the overall program certainlys attract a diverse mix of summer students from all over the world. Students need more opportunities to simply try something new and meet peers with diverse interests, and TASIS’ Switzerland summer program certainly allows for that in a location that can’t be beat. If you can’t get inspired to learn more about yourself and the world around you while on TASIS’ Lugano campus, you can’t get inspired anywhere. Another upshot of this program is that all high school students, no matter their grade level, are able to take part.

Who it’s perfect for: Students taking part in this program should have the desire to immerse themselves in one course and maybe one sport (sports cost extra but include Milan Academy Scuola Calcio, Olimpia Milano Basketball, and Crossfit) in the unsurpassed setting that is Lugano, Switzerland, which is also a wonderful jumping off point for educational European excursions near and far. Students who are undecided on their path in college and beyond will find something to try at TASIS over the summer and have the chance to do so in an environment that seems almost too perfect and made for life-long memories. Students whose interests align with one of the course offerings are in the unique position to build upon this preexisting interest in the company of peers who may have very different academic and personal interests but who share an interest in spending time in the pre-Alps over the summer.

Cost (in 2019): Payment is quoted in Swiss Francs, but for 2019 the exchange rate with the dollar is roughly 1:1; therefore, depending on the session, standard costs range from $6,700 to $8,200, and participants should expect costly add-ons including flights and special bonus programming.

Learn More: Click here.

Alternative worth considering: TASIS also has intriguing summer options for high school students in England, France (see more below), and possibly in the future again in Puerto Rico (recent hurricanes have led to the suspension of those summer programs for the time being).

#4. University of Notre Dame: Pre-College Program in Ireland

High school students taking part in Notre Dame’s pre-college program

It shouldn’t be so surprising that the Fighting Irish run a summer travel tour seminar worth one college credit for rising high school seniors in Ireland. Notre Dame’s Pre-College Program in Ireland allows rising high school seniors to explore “bustling Dublin,” “bucolic Connemara,” edgy Belfast, and so much more during a twelve-day jaunt through the Emerald Isle.

“Guided by Notre Dame faculty and local scholars, students will embark on an exploration of Irish culture, history, and landscape through what Notre Dame’s O’Connell House calls ‘learning through the soles of your feet.'”

Why I love this program: It’s pretty immersive in terms of ground covered and it’s pretty cool that students live and learn at the Kylemore Abbey Global Center, which is right next to a castle, during the last leg of the program.

Who it’s perfect for: Students taking part in this program should have demonstrated academic achievement in high school and some sort of preexisting interest in Ireland, Irish Heritage, Irish History, Catholicism, Protestantism, place-based learning, European culture and/or History, 20th Century History, European History, the British Isles, castles, and/or the Northern Ireland Peace Process in order to get the most out of this experience and in order to have it align with other activities they’ve pursued in the past.

Cost (in 2019): $7,075 (including application fee cost; does not include cost of passport)

Learn More: Overview and More Details

Alternative worth considering: Notre Dame also has a summer program for rising high school seniors in Rome.

#3. The New School: Parsons Paris Pre-College Studies

Sunset in Paris, France

If you are an artist, there are few better places to visit for inspiration than Paris, France. Did you know that Parsons School of Design, part of The New School in New York City, has a campus in Paris where rising high school juniors and seniors – they must be sixteen by the time the program begins – have a variety of summer art course options from which to choose? The immersive courses of study at Parsons Paris last just over three weeks in July and cover topics ranging from “Explorations in Drawing,” “Fashion Design Process,” and “Fashion Photography: History and Process” to “Graphic Design Workshop,” “Introduction to Design and Management,” and “Fashion Illustration.”

Why I love this program: This program is for serious artists; each class meets daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., so it’s for those who are energized by developing their craft. All Parsons Paris Summer Intensive Studies courses are not only educational in their own right; each course counts for three college credits and may also be used by students to develop a portfolio for their upcoming college admissions process. Students also have the chance to take part in excursions, including crepe tastings.

Who it’s perfect for: Students taking part in this program should have demonstrated artistic achievement in high school and some sort of preexisting interest in Art generally or specifically fashion, fashion merchandising, drawing, graphic design, photography, and/or art history in order to get the most out of this experience and in order to have it align with other activities they’ve pursued in the past.

Cost (in 2019): $7,650 (including application fee cost; does not include cost of flights or passport, but does include Metro pass for getting around Paris)

Learn More: Overview and More Details

Alternatives worth considering: If you don’t need to be in France, but want a lot of what Parsons Paris’ summer courses offer, Parsons also has a pre-college/intensive summer programs for high school students at its main campus in New York City. Meanwhile, if you would love to spend several weeks intensely pursuing your passion for art in France but don’t need to be in cosmopolitan Paris, TASIS (mentioned more above) has an intimate one-of-a-kind at program in the south of France called Les Taipes, which accepts an extremely limited number of students each summer.

#2. Columbia University: Summer Immersion in Barcelona

Students exploring Barcelona, Catalonia

While this three-week Columbia University pre-college program run in partnership with the venerable University of Barcelona won’t earn you any official college credits (only a Columbia University Statement of Completion and evaluation letters from University of Barcelona teachers), it will still immerse you into a kaleidoscope of knowledge pertaining to Barcelona, Spain, and Europe and allow you to gather this knowledge in the company of earnest and thoughtful peers as eager as you hopefully are (if you choose to apply) to explore Barcelona and its slice of European culture. All student participants take all four of the following courses:

~Barcelona in Historical Context: Roman Origins to the Spanish Civil War
~Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and the European Union
~Modern Architecture, Urban Development, Art, and Design in Barcelona
~Spanish Language Workshop

This ain’t no teen tour; open to rising high school juniors, rising high school seniors, and rising college freshmen, all those attending will take part in rigorous study while doing some serious place-based learning. Students live at the University of Barcelona’s modern Sant Jordi residence hall, which is located in Sarrià and only one block from Avenida Diagonal, a major thoroughfare that runs right through the city.

Why I love this program: Side trips to Figueres and Tarragona are nice, as are the variety of extracurricular activities available to students in and around Barcelona, but the biggest reason I promote this program is because my students who have taken part in it all come back appreciably more thoughtful, worldly, and mature individuals.

Who it’s perfect for: Students taking part in this program should have demonstrated academic achievement in high school and some sort of preexisting interest in Europe, European History, Spain, Spanish History, Catalonia, Catalonian History, Latin cultures/heritage, Mediterranean History, the European Union, Architecture, Urban Design/Development/Planning, Art, and/or Spanish language  in order to get the most out of this experience and in order to have it align with other activities they’ve pursued in the past.

Cost (in 2019): $11,208 (this does not cover flights or passport, but does cover the application fee); and Columbia recommends that students bring $900 in spending money to boot!

Learn More: Click here.

Alternatives worth considering: Brown University offers short “On-Location” pre-college programs for high school students in Segovia, Spain and Rome, Italy.

#1. University of Dallas: Study Abroad for High School Students in Rome

University of Dallas summer high school students on a excursion to Capri

Simply put, the most college-esqe of the courses you will find available to high school students in Europe over the summer are offered by none other than University of Dallas (go figure!). No matter which of the three course options you complete, you will earn three college credits, and the course content is pitch-perfect to study while in Rome. Italian cooking (see TASIS above) is fun, if not a bit trite and short on academic heft; nobody who takes one of UD’s courses can be accused of being unoriginal or an academic push-over.

Why I love this program: I love Italy, I love Rome, and I’m all about ROI (return on investment). If you are interested in the content of one of these courses, this pre-college program represents a really great deal and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study on location – though the formal campus is just outside of town – with passionate University of Dallas professors doing what they love. The three course options are “Shakespeare In Italy” (did you know a full third of his plays were based in Italy? It wasn’t by accident), “Latin in Rome” (learn about Roman history, politics, art, and architecture while engaged in advanced study of Latin and the people who spoke it), and “Rome and the Catholic Church” (again, this is not fluff course by any means, as it “explores the truth, goodness, and beauty of Catholicism as manifested in great theological texts, lives of saints, artistic masterpieces, historical landmarks, and miracles connected with the Eternal City”).

Who it’s perfect for: Students taking part in this program should have demonstrated academic achievement in high school and notable preexisting interest in at least one of the subjects covered in one of the courses on offer in order to get the most out of this experience and in order to have it align with other activities they’ve pursued in the past.

Cost (in 2019): $3,500-$3,900 depending on exact course (there is no application fee, participants will need to budget roughly $2,000 more for a round-trip flight, and a bit more for a passport if not already in possession of one)

Learn More: Click here.

Alternative worth considering: As I mentioned, I love Italy. I love it so much that I decided to move my annual summer college application completion colloquium for rising seniors to Italy a few years ago. Known as Bellagio Apps, this program, which takes place in northern Italy, will help you craft amazing applications to the colleges on your list – all before the first day of senior year. Luckily, you don’t have to choose between Bellagio Apps and any of the other options mentioned above because Bellagio Apps doesn’t start until August, while the programs mentioned above take place in June and/or July.

Yet, it’s also important to note that you can’t put Bellagio Apps on your extracurricular resume like you can put any of the other programs mentioned above. I mention Bellagio Apps here because there’s really nothing else on Earth like it and because if you’ve gotten this far into this article, you probably love Italy just as much as I do. Bellagio, on the shores of Lake Como, is about as close to a hybrid of Italy and heaven as one could imagine, so if you want to ensure that all you have accomplished during your high school years is conveyed in a manner most likely to get you into the colleges on your list and you could use some time in a stunning European locale, consider Bellagio Apps this summer.

Top 10 Cheap Summer Extracurricular Activities for High School Students

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A high school student’s personal wellness and college admissions prospects are best served when a student is being authentic. This is as true during the summer as it is during the school year. Sadly, many students don’t know where to begin when it comes to being authentic, no matter the time of year. In addition, many students suffer from the misconception that the most impressive extracurricular accomplishments in the eyes of admissions officers at highly selective colleges and universities are extracurricular activities that cost an arm and a leg. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me use an example to make my point.

If a student is truly passionate about lacrosse and American History and his family has the financial resources to support these twin passions, a family shouldn’t be shy about paying for the student’s advanced lacrosse training, his appearances on the lax tournament circuit, and his spot in one or more pre-college programs that will allow the student to immerse himself in American History over one or more summers. Yet, just because a family with financial resources can pay for all of those opportunities does not mean that the student should only pursue his passion for lacrosse and American History with pay-for-play endeavors.

If a student needs to have his mommy or daddy pay for every extracurricular activity he pursues, has the student really demonstrated his passion for such endeavors? If the student in this example is truly passionate about lacrosse and American History he will also likely join and contribute much to his school’s lacrosse team, donate to or start a fundraiser to support local lacrosse players or teams with few resources, coach younger or weaker lacrosse players during the school year or summer, start a history or politics club at school, go above and beyond in school History classes, take the most rigorous History classes at his school, and maybe even submit a research paper on American History to a journal for publication.

If a student is truly passionate about lacrosse and American History, he will pursue both free and fee-based opportunities in order to demonstrate his true interests. If he isn’t really that passionate about lacrosse and American History, it’s likely that he will only pursue fee-based opportunities related to lacrosse or American History because there are myriad fee-based organizations, camps, and more happy to take money from parents who have a stronger interest in having their children pursue lacrosse and American History than do the children themselves.

Therefore, it goes to figure that while a student who doesn’t come from money won’t be able to engage in an expensive pre-college program over the summer or take part in expensive regional or national lacrosse showcases, he still has a path forward through which he is able to pursue his passions deeply and demonstrably; the path forward just has to be cost-conscious.

A poor teen shouldn’t try to act like a rich teen if he can’t afford to; it won’t be good for his self-concept, his college admissions prospects, or his parents’ bottom line. For instance, a teenager who has a true passion for lacrosse and American History, but who doesn’t have a sugar daddy or mommy to act as his personal ATM, can still join his school’s lacrosse team (or start one somewhere if his school doesn’t have one), donate to or start a fundraiser to support local lax players or teams with few resources, coach younger or weaker lacrosse players during the school year or summer, start a history or politics club at school, go above and beyond in school History classes, take the most rigorous History classes at his school, and maybe even submit a research paper on American History to a journal for publication. The student gets fulfilled by pursuing his passions and colleges will be impressed that he pursued his passions within the context of what was possible for him to pursue given his resources. In fact, he could probably do more still – especially over the summer – in order to demonstrate his deep and unbinding passion for lacrosse and American history if he reads and thinks very carefully about the top ten list below.

Colleges want students to reach for their potential. If you don’t have money, colleges can’t and don’t expect you to take part in a $5,000+ pre-college program this summer. Yet, while the vast majority of teens don’t have much in the way of financial resources, even fewer teens have the twin passions of lacrosse and American History.

Consequently, below, please find my top ten cheap extracurricular activity ideas for any high school student looking to make the most of summer and impress college admissions officers – all without spending much (if any) money. Always remember that no matter the size of your family’s wealth or your unique interests and passions, you should be able to demonstrably pursue your authentic priorities in one or more of the following ten ways during the summer and do so for dirt-cheap (or, in the case of #2 below, you can even make money). As an added bonus, with creative balancing and multitasking all ten of the suggestions below can also be pursued during the school year itself. After all, if you have a good thing going for yourself during the summer, why end it just because school starts again in the fall? So, here they are, my top ten cheap summer extracurricular ideas for savvy high school students:

1. Volunteer: If you have any sort of interest or passion, there are ways to volunteer your time in order to pursue this interest or passion more demonstrably and immersively than you are doing today. Want to help others? Volunteer at an organization whose mission it is to do just that. Want to get a sense of what life is like as a dentist? Volunteer at a dentist’s office. Fascinated by art museums and want to be a curator when you grow up? Volunteer at a local art museum or art gallery. You get the idea. Don’t let volunteering get a bad rap in your mind just because so many students are doing it either in what you deem to be boring environments or in order to accumulate community service hours; try to volunteer in a way that speaks to your values, character, and priorities. Also, keep in mind, from the perspective of college admissions officers, the quality of your volunteering is more important than quantity of your volunteering. Finally, always remember that the hardest step is the first step: asking for the chance to volunteer. Once you start asking around, you may be surprised by how many organizations are looking for free labor.

2. Get a Job: It’s not as easy today for teenagers to find jobs as it was for teenagers in the 1950s or 1960s; however, both year-round and seasonal jobs for teens still exist. Jobs are a great way to make money and develop important life skills. No job should be “beneath” a teen whose main focus should be developing work-ethic a perspective on life that one can only gain by getting a paying job. So, whether the job is camp counselor, grocery store shelver, ice cream stand cashier, restaurant host, dishwasher, babysitter, tutor, or computer technician, be proud to get and maintain any job. Ideally, if you have options or can afford to be picky, you want to pursue a job that most aligns with your pre-existing interests, but any job is better than no job for what it says about you as an increasingly mature contributing member of society. Also remember that some colleges allow job supervisors to write a supplementary letter of recommendation on your behalf when you apply to college; therefore, even if you feel like the only thing you get out of a job is money and experience, remain close to and respectful of your boss; he or she could act as a wonderful and important reference for you sooner than you think.

3. Start a Business: Whether an online business (drop shipping seems to be all the trend in 2019) or a good old lawn cutting business or lemonade stand, there are a lot of people out there with needs waiting to be met (in the summer people are always looking for their grass to be cut or their thirst to be quenched). Find a niche that interests you, and run with it the best you can. I’ve had students start everything from T-shirt businesses to cookie delivery services. Remember, that starting a business will necessarily involve trial and error and even failures, but I can think of no better learning experience for a teen than taking the steps necessary to transition an interest into a business whether the business makes money or not because the budding entrepreneur is going to learn a lot. Last year was the first time I had a student invite a client of his to act as a recommender on his college applications. It was such an effective testimonial that I am convinced because of this unique recommendation he was able to edge out similarly qualified students to get into his dream reach college. Not to mention, his essay devoted to explaining the peaks and valleys of starting a business was a humorous and insightful standout piece of writing.

4. Launch a Website: Whether or not you want to make money online, starting a Website is a great way to develop entrepreneurial skills, build something from scratch, and express yourself. While most of my students who have created sites have done so in order to blog, some use their site as an online portfolio of sorts, while others use their site to sell a good or a service. Websites are also great to develop for the purposes of showing college admissions officers what you’ve been up to during your high school years. You can and should include your site’s URL in your college applications, which will allow those individuals deciding whether or not they want to accept you to their college to see what you’ve created online.

5. Create a Community Initiative/Fundraiser: Is there an intersection near your house that is in desperate need of a four-way stop sign? Are fans leaving a lot of beer cans outside a local minor league baseball stadium? Was there a fire in a nearby apartment complex that has left three families homeless and in need of funds to get back on their feet? All of the above examples are calling out for someone in the community to create local change. Get signatures from neighbors to present to your town council in order to get stop signs for that intersection. Organize a group of friends to clean up around the minor league baseball stadium after the fans go home. Door knock to see who is willing or able to donate money to the families in need of funds in order to restart their lives after the fire. Creating initiatives are another great way to help others and they are a great way to demonstrate for others – including colleges and future employers – what causes or issues that are important to you.

6. Organize/Lobby: Are you passionate in one way or the other about a political issue at the regional, national, or international level? Make your voice on the matter heard. You can either join a pre-existing organizing/lobbying group or start one yourself in order to effect positive change in this world. You can organize a group of friends to discuss a matter important to you with your local councilperson, delegate, or senator. Some of my students have even delivered oral testimony in their state capitol. Even if you don’t get politicians to vote in your favor or your bill doesn’t pass, but especially if they do/it does, you should be able to communicate to colleges how you organized and/or lobbied, what you learned, what you did achieve, and why it was important enough for you to get involved in the first place and stay involved. This will give colleges a sense of the priorities of the person they are considering for admission.

7. Invent/Pursue Art: While the World Wide Web is an increasingly popular canvas one which to create for many students, many others still like to invent or create art in the real world. If you are someone who likes to invent new gadgets or create your own art, do it with gusto. The summer is a particularly good time to dive deeply into time consuming projects that you just don’t have the time or attention span for during the school year. Just make sure that whatever you create is documentable or provable. You can say you spent your whole summer creating wall art in your city or inventing a new style of mouse pad in your basement, but for colleges, or anyone really, to take you seriously, you need to provide some sort of evidence of your accomplishments. This is another reason some students like to create online portfolios, blogs, or YouTube channels: to document their creative processes or produce a visual record of what they have created.

8. Help your Family: Depending on your family situation you may not have the luxury of spending very much time at all away from your grandparents, parents, or siblings. In fact, you may be a primary caregiver for one or more of them. A few years ago I had two students in one year who were severely limited in terms of pursuing any outside of the home extracurricular activities because of their responsibilities back home. In both cases these students got into amazing colleges because they took the time necessary to communicate to colleges the depth and breadth of their responsibilities within their families. Don’t be shy or embarrassed that you have major responsibilities that keep you close to home because if you do keep this under wraps, colleges will wonder what you are really doing with what they perceive to be a lot of free time. Again, this goes back to the so very important point made earlier in this article: you need to be authentic. You can’t be authentic if you keep secret a huge part of your daily life. So, if you need to care for your siblings for five hours each weekday or have to do the grocery shopping for your family each week, make sure you keep track of how much time you are spending on these life-sustaining endeavors and communicate about them on your extracurricular resume and on the extracurricular portion of your college applications.

9. Read: Far too few students (and people generally) these days are taking the time to read. Reading not only can help you learn about what you are reading; reading can also help you learn more about topics and ideas you make connections to in your mind while you are reading. Another hugely overlooked reason reading is important: it helps you learn how to more effectively communicate. This is important in all aspects of your life, but especially so in the college application process when you will likely have to write at least a couple of essays and a resume and possibly take part in one or more interviews. Reading in your spare time is a win-win. I am particularly fond of actual books instead of reading online because too much of what is readily available online is short-form writing; reading long-form writing is most likely to help you think deeper and clearer, and this will help you improve your overall communication skills.

10. Learn: While reading good old-fashioned books is great, there is also so much knowledge waiting to be absorbed online and in the real world. Increasingly, students can take whole online courses for free, and while many such courses are incredibly educational, there are also some that come with a certificate of completion, which is a nice form of verifiable evidence that you did in fact complete the course you claimed to take online. Yet, even if you are not so interested in formal courses online, there is also so much free information online and around us that can help you learn to be a better version of yourself. I had a student a couple of years ago develop and implement an entire workout and weight loss regime not with the help of a personal trainer, doctor, books, or other paid support but with only YouTube videos. He loss thirty pounds, got ripped, feels great, and is happier and more confident than ever before. At the end of the day, that’s much more important than getting into any particular college or getting into college at all; though, being healthy, happy, and confident sure doesn’t hurt anyone’s chances of getting into college either.

Vanderbilt Class of 2023 Early Decision Stats Released

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John O. Gaines, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Vanderbilt University, announced some interesting tidbits of information that should be of interest to students and others who want to learn more about the selectivity of Vanderbilt’s overall Early Decision first-year student admissions process for its Class of 2023. The highlights include:

  • The middle fifty percent of students accepted into Vanderbilt’s Class of 2023 via ED I and ED II who reported their SAT scores had SAT Evidence Based Reading and Writing scores of between 710 and 760.
  • Meanwhile, The middle fifty percent of students accepted into Vanderbilt’s Class of 2023 via ED I and ED II who reported their SAT scores had SAT Math scores of between 770 and 800.
  • Of those students accepted to Vanderbilt’s Class of 2023 ED I or ED II who reported their ACT scores, the middle fifty percent had ACT composite scores of between 33 and 35.
  • No statistics were given regarding GPA averages of accepted students, which is not surprising because GPA scales different from school to school and some schools are ditching GPAs all together. A significant percentage of high schools also do not rank students, and an even greater percentage of high school counselors severely guesstimate students’ ranks in their counselor evaluation reports to colleges; yet, that didn’t stop Vanderbilt from reporting that of those students accepted ED I or ED II this admissions cycle who attend high schools willing to give a decile rankings for their students, ninety-seven percent of accepted students were in the top ten percent of their graduating classes.
  • Overall, Vanderbilt’s average ED acceptance rate for its Class of 2023 was 19.8 percent.

In recent years, Vanderbilt has filled more than fifty percent of its first-year classes with students accepted Early Decision. Also in recent years, Vanderbilt has become a college that has an ED acceptance rate that is at least twice as high as its Regular Decision acceptance rate. With that in mind, it would not be surprising to see Vanderbilt announce later this spring that its Regular Decision acceptance rate has fallen to seven percent or below. We’ll keep you updated.

In closing, we know we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all, but what’s up with colleges combining their Early Decision I and Early Decision II admissions statistics for public dissemination? What we didn’t learn today is how students accepted to Vanderbilt ED I compared to students accepted to Vanderbilt ED II. If Mr. Gaines would like to fill us in on how Vandy’s ED I admits compared to Vandy’s ED II admits, he is respectfully invited to contact us here, and we will happily and thankfully share his response with our loyal audience.

In the interim, congratulations to Vanderbilt and to those students accepted to Vanderbilt ED I and ED II during this admissions cycle.

Washington University in St. Louis sees 70 percent increase in applications

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Ronné P. Turner, Washington University in St. Louis’ Vice Provost of Admissions & Financial Aid, informed counselors on Thursday, February 13, 2019 that inclusive of the university’s two Early Decision rounds and its QuestBridge rounds during this admissions cycle, the selective private Missouri university, “reviewed over 3,000 applications – a 70 percent increase from years past.”

For more clarity and context, last year during its one Early Decision round of admission, Wash U. reviewed 1,850 applications.

Wash U. has been selective for a long time, but this was the first year that Wash U. offered ED II. With the university accepting 250 students on Thursday when its ED II decisions were released, Wash U. anticipates that 60 percent of its first-year class – the Class of 2023 – will be populated by students who were accepted before Regular Decision. Last year only 40 percent of students enrolling in the university’s Class of 2022 were accepted ED. Turner did not provide any specific breakout information regarding Questbridge applications or acceptances.

This year, as in past years, students who applied Regular Decision will get their decisions by April 1, 2019.

Interestingly, despite being a hyper-selective university with an overall acceptance rate in the mid teens, some of those students accepted to Wash U. so far in this year’s admissions cycle will be required to attend the university’s First-Year Summer Academic Program from June 8, 2019 through July 13, 2019. According to Turner, “this is solely to help with the transition from high school to college. Their admission is contingent upon attendance/successful completion of this five-week program.” The First-Year Summer Academic Program “gives a select group of students the opportunity to ensure their readiness for STEM and pre-med coursework as well as to improve their critical reading, writing, and study skills. Students attending FSAP may be among the first in their family to attend college or coming from high schools with limited AP/IB offerings,” according to the university.

College Applicant Stress and the January 1 Deadline

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The world of college admissions ended 2018 with a rash of articles focused on student stress and the college application process.  The themes were familiar—the pressure of applying is great, the expectations are high, the effect of rejection is too extreme—but this recent spate of articles differed in the sheer number of them.  In a year when even the federal government felt compelled to examine the role of mental health in student safety, it seems the world of college admissions may be willing to rethink some of its most cherished beliefs, all in the interest of supporting the sanity and healthy growth of the students.

If that’s really the case, I’d like to suggest a pretty easy jumping off point for change—end the January 1 college application deadline.  I’m not exactly new to the world of college admissions, and this deadline has never made sense to me.  High school counseling offices aren’t open on January 1, so we can’t send any documents to support applications.  Even worse, high school counseling offices aren’t open from December 24 through at least the first of the year, so we can’t offer students any meaningful help with essays, activity lists, or other application logistics during crunch time.  That may matter little to applicants whose parents started an Ivy League college, but to the students we say we’d like to create more opportunities for, this last-minute help is a big deal.

This deadline also gives counselors the annual moral dilemma of offering to check email during the holidays, or coming in and holding application workshops on their days off, but that puts their mental health at risk—and if you think that has nothing to do with the well being of students, you clearly haven’t seen a high school counselor working on their last nerve.

What’s even more mystifying is that college admissions offices themselves aren’t open on January 1.  Stories float up here and there about a handful of admissions offices requiring their junior staffers to come in for a few hours to take phone calls, but by and large, students waiting until the last minute to apply are left to their own resources.  If it’s really so important to have applications in by January 1, why aren’t any of the applications that meet the deadline touched in any way until at least January 2?

This is where the old school, nudge-nudge-winkery of college admissions comes into play.  The only response I’ve ever received from colleges that could be considered a defense of the January 1 deadline is a logistical one: the reason we ask for the materials by January 1 is so we know we’ll have them when we really need them, which is more along the lines of January 10. 

This argument made tremendous sense in the days when college applications were mailed (even though the US Post Office is closed January 1), but the digital age assures us that anything needed at the end of the day on January 10 can be sent an hour before the end of the day on January 10, and get there.

The only argument left for this “send it before we really need it” strategy is the vagaries of a 17 year-old’s understanding of deadlines—colleges argue they are doing students a favor telling them they need applications before they really do.  But if high school seniors don’t know it’s OK to be late—and what high school counselor in their right mind wants to ever send that message to a student—this “favor” becomes a major source of stress, where students sacrifice the last long December holiday of their youth to meeting a deadline that doesn’t really exist.  Wouldn’t their stress level be better served gathered ‘round the big screen, imbibing in the traditional family ritual of watching that penultimate holiday classic, Die Hard?

It’s easy enough for a high school counselor to point out all the things colleges can do to support the mental health of applicants, and there’s plenty we high school folks should be doing as well.  Still, when I think about the low-hanging fruit that can dramatically change the tone of the college application process, the January 1 deadline is the first, but not only, thing that comes to mind.  It’s worth a review.

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