By UFit College Consulting The weather is warming, the snow is melting, and spring break is right around the corner. If you are the parent of a high school junior or senior, spring break has always been an ideal time to visit colleges. Like everything else in this crazy COVID year, visiting colleges right now is less than ideal. It is, however, doable. Although very few colleges are offering in-person campus tours, some are providing maps for self-paced walking or driving tours, and all colleges are making a plethora of virtual visiting opportunities available from the comfort of your home.
We have compiled a list of the colleges we are aware of that are offering in-person visits and tours. This list is fluid since colleges are modifying their policies every day. As always, we recommend that you check the colleges' websites or call their admissions offices to receive the most up-to-date information. Also, some colleges are only offering in-person visit opportunities to admitted students, so we have not included them in our list below. As summer rolls around, there will likely be more colleges offering in-person visits. Here are some colleges that are currently offering in-person visits and tours to high school students:*
You are not alone if the colleges your student is considering is not on this incredibly small list. Luckily, many colleges have gotten creative with virtual options. There are many other ways for you and your student to explore college campuses. Here is how you can learn about colleges that are not offering in-person tours:
0 Comments
By UFit College Consulting Now, more than ever, college admissions officers spend time evaluating a student’s potential to be an invaluable contributor to its campus community and beyond. To make this determination, admission officers look very closely at students’ extracurricular activities to create a picture of an applicant as a learner, peer, and leader. In addition to the interview and application essays, extracurricular activities provide an opportunity for students to showcase their personalities, character, curiosity, leadership, and passions outside of the classroom. So, when should students start thinking about extracurricular interests? How many activities should they pursue, and which ones should they choose? Choose activities that are truly of interest, not just those that look good on resumes. When selecting extracurricular activities, a logical approach is for students to pursue activities that they are truly interested in and will enjoy doing. If they choose activities because they think will look good to admissions officers, they will be doing themselves a disservice and it will be unlikely that they will be able to sustain participation or achieve steady accomplishments in those activities. Choose depth over breadth. While it is advisable for students to explore a variety of activities early on to find those they enjoy most, they should be careful not to spread themselves too thinly. Doing so will only result in greater stress and the inability to deepen their participation in their chosen activities. Following their initial exploration, it is better for them to have one or two activities with strong achievements than to participate in numerous activities where they are not able to display a trajectory of growth. No matter which activities they choose, they should strive to increase their accomplishments and actively seek out competitions, internships, and other avenues that demonstrate their passion and leadership. Find ways to be differentiated from everyone else. Not all the activities students choose in high school have to be conventional ones like high school sports, debate, Model UN, or Scholastic Bowl. Students can explore a myriad of ways to display their talents and interests that will create differentiation from their fellow applicants, including working part-time jobs, doing volunteer work, or getting involved in community engagement. While there is nothing wrong with participating in the typical student activities, students should try to take on leadership roles and keep track of their specific accomplishments in order to distinguish themselves. Get involved as early as possible. Ideally, students should start thinking about activities in middle school. Some activities, like sports, theater, music, research, and impactful community service projects, typically need a longer runway than others. Starting early will give students an opportunity to take classes, join clubs, or explore ideas prior to high school, to see which activities they possess a talent for and enjoy the most. Students need the benefit of time to find their passions and meet others who share similar interests; joining activities in middle school is a great way to make connections with peers and plan for high school extracurricular activities. It also allows students to start high school with some foundational direction that they can build upon and will position them to progress in their activities, perhaps win some awards, and create a path to leadership in their high school and community. Starting early also allows students to demonstrate length of commitment to an activity. Admissions officers look favorably upon activities or projects that have been pursued for multiple years. An activity a student joins in their junior year will usually not hold as much weight (it also depends on the activity) as something they embarked on in their freshman year of high school. Consider using a certified college consultant to help guide your student. With so many extracurricular options available to students these days, many parents don’t know where to start or how to best advise their students. At UFit College Consulting, our certified college consultants can be your guides. We assist with activity planning, as early as eighth grade and, through detailed conversations together, we help students choose activities to explore. We also actively facilitate brainstorming sessions to create unique, personal projects. Our first consultation is always free, so don’t wait to take this first step towards helping your students find their strengths and passions. By UFit College Consulting For most of us parents, applying to college didn’t require much more than a number two pencil. Deciding which colleges to apply to was mainly based on grades, test scores, cost, and proximity to home. If we had decent grades and a decent state school, the college decision was a no-brainer. If we visited a campus before applying, it was to see a friend. We didn’t spend months doing research, touring colleges around the country, and sitting in on classes. We didn’t have dozens of resources available at our fingertips and a visit to our local library just wasn’t worth the effort.
Today, parents and students have access to a multitude of information about colleges. More importantly, students are more invested and interested in making informed decisions about their future home and want to play a more active role in this important milestone. While some students are lucky enough to be able to scour the country, or even the world, in search of their perceived pinnacle of higher education, having so many options can make the task quite daunting. As parents, we are likely to place our own aspirations, experiences, and opinions upon our children as we help them make their college list. The resulting list may not align with our students’ ideas and could potentially exclude colleges that we are not familiar with but might be a great fit for our students. This is where college counselors, like me and my partners at UFit College Consulting, can help. We guide students as they navigate the crowded, competitive, and often confusing college marketplace and we help them develop a customized and strategic list of great-fit colleges to which they can confidently apply. When we work with students, we spend time really getting to know them and asking them a carefully constructed set of questions. If you and your student are putting together a list on your own, discussing the following topics together will help your student determine what types of colleges should and shouldn’t be on their list:
These are just a few of the many factors to consider as you and your student begin to create a college list. If you feel that your student would benefit from the help of our experienced and nurturing college consultants, please email us at info.UFitCollegeConsulting.com. Our first consultation is always free. By UFit College Consulting What students choose to do during the summer most certainly can improve their profiles during college admissions. Students should use these breaks to explore their interests and gain experience outside of the high school classroom. Whether students spend their summers earning money for college, taking care of younger siblings, doing volunteer work or research, or attending competitive summer programs, they will be elevating their uniqueness and demonstrating that they are responsible, reliable, and driven. What students do during the summer months will add depth to their applications and help admissions officers understand who they are and what they are passionate about.
For students that do not need to work full-time over the summer, there are many activities they can participate in such as academic exploration programs at universities across the country, internships, independent projects, volunteer work, part-time jobs, self-learning, and research. These activities can help students showcase their leadership, creativity, dedication, and collaboration skills. Many of these activities can be done part-time, so even if a student has family responsibilities, they can be considered. Please note that many summer programs open their summer applications in December or January, so now is the perfect time to start exploring these options. Some summer programs are competitive and some simply fill up on a first-come-first-serve basis. The more competitive programs will require strong grades, essays, and recommendations. Applying to these programs can be similar to applying to colleges. Many of the competitive programs are also free, or charge comparatively lower fees than other programs, which is one of the reasons for their low acceptance rates. There are an incredible number of programs to choose from that are geared towards students in different years of high school, and students should choose programs that will highlight their passions. If students start early in high school, they can take a summer program to explore their interests, and, in later years, they can build upon an existing foundational interest to create a deep-dive into this area of interest. Sometimes, summer activities can extend into the school year or over multiple summers. And, of course, they can help students determine what they will choose to pursue in college. Not all things in life have to be structured. Students can also create their own summer activities, such as a self-directed research or passion project, self-learning, or volunteering within their community. No matter the chosen path, it is imperative to be involved in an activity that is impactful and measurable, along with being memorable. It is important to note that students who do not have the luxury of taking several weeks over the summer to attend a summer program or time to do volunteer work or a self-directed project are not at a disadvantage. Those who need to work or have family responsibilities, such as taking care of siblings, should communicate this in their college applications. Doing these things exhibits a tremendous depth of character, commitment, and responsibility. Admissions officers do not expect students to attend expensive programs. They want to understand the many ways in which students are spending time based on their circumstances. With so many summer options available, it may seem like a daunting task to find the best fit for your student. Ufit College Consulting can help. Our certified college consultants can provide guidance on summer activities, including finding the best programs or activities for your student, helping with self-initiated projects, developing strong applications for competitive programs, and creating an overall strategy for meaningful things to do each summer. We also believe it is extremely important for students to take time for themselves to recharge and have fun over the summer. At Ufit, we will help your student achieve this balance, while helping them select activities that will result in a fun, interesting, and meaningful summer. Here are some examples of various summer programs (please note there are MANY more out there): STEM: Research Science Institute at MIT, Simons Summer Research Program, Vanderbilt Center for Science Research, Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR), Penn Summer Research Initiative, UIC CHANCE STEM Academy, Ross Mathematics Program at Ohio State University, Stanford University Mathematics Camp (SUMaC), Summer Science Program (SSP), WYSE High School Summer Camps at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering, UIC Engineering Experience Camp, Georgetown Medical Academy, Forensic Science Academy, etc. HUMANITIES: Telluride Association Sophomore and Junior Summer Programs (TASS and TASP), Carleton College Liberal Arts Experience, Yale Young Global Scholars, National Institute of American History and Democracy Pre-Collegiate Summer Pre-College Program in Early American History, Field Museum in Chicago Internships, Speech and Debate at Northwestern University through National High School Institute (Cherubs), Governor’s School Residential Program offered in various states, etc. ARTS: Carnegie Mellon Summer Music Programs, Juilliard Pre-College Programs, NYU Summer Theater and Music Programs, MPulse Musical Theatre Workshop at U Michigan, and National High School Institute at Northwestern has Theater, Film, and Video Programs (Cherubs) etc. INTERNSHIPS: local companies, high school STEM internships, internships with local and national politicians, etc. VOLUNTEER: local libraries, hospitals, nursing homes, animal shelters, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, forest preserves and organizations such as American Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, Turnout Nation, Project Linus, etc. By UFit College Consulting December is the time of the year that students find out whether they have been accepted, rejected, or deferred from the colleges they applied to during the early application process. It is a stressful time for students, as they focus on their first semester grades, while trying not to think about decision day. If you received an acceptance, congratulations! An acceptance needs no further discussion other than remembering that if your acceptance is to an early action (EA) school, you can still choose to apply to additional schools during the for regular decision process. If you have been accepted to an early decision (ED) school, you will be attending that school, barring any extenuating circumstances. Now, let’s talk about the difficult news of receiving a rejection letter from your early decision or early action school. Is it going to feel devastating? Yes. No one likes to receive a rejection, but don't lose hope. Even though receiving a rejection from a school can be demoralizing and make you feel that you are not going to receive an acceptance anywhere else, we want to remind you that colleges reject strong candidates all the time. A college decision is often about your fit with the college. Perhaps it had too many similar candidates and had to make the difficult decision to accept only a few of these candidates. Remember that you will be a good fit at many colleges and receiving bad news from one is not a litmus test of your future college acceptances. You should not let this rejection discourage you from continuing on your college journey. Keep your chin up, apply to more schools during the regular decision round and soon you will likely have multiple options from which you can choose your home for the next four years. What if you are deferred? Unfortunately, it may feel like you are in no-man’s-land. However, the good news here is that the college did consider you a strong candidate for their school, but they likely want to see more. They might be interested in your first semester grades to confirm your academic trends and get a full picture of you as a student in order to re-evaluate your application during regular decision with the rest of the applicant pool. Remember that colleges are looking to fill a class that is diverse and they will sometimes need to reconsider your application in the regular round to ensure they achieve this goal. Every year, colleges accept students who are deferred in the early round, so finish your semester strong and continue to excel in your activities. As a deferred candidate, there are many things you can do to stay visible. You can communicate with your regional admissions officer by reiterating your interest in the school and sending an update on your first semester grades and any awards or honors you have received or activities you have started since your early application was submitted. Your high school guidance counselor will be sharing your first quarter grades with the school as well. Most schools will require you to send these updates, but you can also connect with your regional admissions officer to express your continued interest. Here are some suggestions for when and how should you correspond with your regional admissions officer after a deferral decision:
If you would like help writing a letter of continued interest or polishing your applications for the regular decision round, please reach out to our certified college counselors at UFit College Consulting. |
AuthorsUFit College Consulting Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|
|
© COPYRIGHT 2020- 2022. UFit College consulting. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |