Hi there First name / friend,
I'm excited to share my (bonus-sized) latest newsletter with you!
As is usual at this time of year, college admission is a hot topic, and there is a lot of material out there to filter through. For this very full edition, I chose some timely highlights as well as some classic reference points. With holiday travel around the corner, and maybe some family road trip or airplane time, I share three podcast links, each of which is a source of numerous interesting conversations and interviews beyond the episodes I have singled out.
In this edition I highlight:
- The latest counseling calendar for high school students.
- An interview with the delightful Cuca Acosta, Associate Director of Admission at U California- Santa Barbara. Cuca talks with the folks at Cialfo about the UC application, which has a final submission date coming right up on November 30.
- The Common Application's first preview into trends for this application year based on the first round of applications submitted through that platform in early November.
- Apropos of Thanksgiving in the US, U Penn's thoughtful Dean Whitney Soule on gratitude in the admission process, and the prompt she added this year to gain insight into students' relationship with it.
- A look at Loper, an app for 11th grade students to do some initial sorting of college search priorities and to find potential matches, making clever use of the dating app format and lots of data.
- An interview with Dartmouth's admission Dean Lee Coffin, a veteran of several admission offices, on the crucial role of the high school transcript, and how colleges understand it in context.
- For those juniors getting started on research, and seniors still making sense of their choices, an essential read on the six factors that shape a worthwhile college experience.
- Finally, a look into the most popular college rankings…
The end of the calendar year will be here before you know it!
It has been highly rewarding for me to work with my “first” group of seniors as an independent college counselor. They've gotten off a first round of applications, and are making plans to finalize their next rounds so that everyone can enjoy their time off around the end of year school break and holidays.
In September, I attended the
NACAC National College Admission Conference in Houston. It was great to reconnect with many admission and counseling colleagues after the disruption of the last couple of years. See
my instagram post for more on that.
Looking ahead, I'm excited to be getting into deeper conversations with students in 11th grade. This is the ideal time to do some self-assessment and begin to identify values and priorities for the college search-- and then to begin researching schools!
In the spirit of the season of thanks, I am so grateful for my early-adopter clients this year, and the many friends in the admission and counseling profession who have referred folks to me for support. I couldn't do it without you!
-If you know anyone looking for guidance in the college search, I still have room for a few 11th graders to get on board with a comprehensive counseling package, and to begin the process of reflection, initial list building and research.
-Likewise, families with students in grades 8-10 can begin an advising package now to do some exploration of interests, and check in with me as questions arise on course selection, extracurricular engagement, test prep, and other topics related to making the most of high school and preparing for a low-stress college search.
As word gets out and demand for my counseling spots increases, this is a great way to ensure a space in a future grade 11-12 cohort, while also allowing the student to get to know me and help me support them in their eventual application process!
Follow the links above to get into the good stuff! By the way, please feel free to share this newsletter with anyone you know who might be interested in college admission insights.
