Archive November 27, 2018

Giving Tuesday: College Access

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It’s Giving Tuesday, and I wanted to share some non-profits that help increase access to college for a wide variety of students. Please consider donating to one of them:

Support For Underrepresented Students:

HALI (High Achieving Low Income) Access Network:

The members of this network help low-income students throughout Africa prepare for, apply to and succeed in colleges and universities in the USA and worldwide. HALI works to increase scholarship opportunities for these students and to provide pathways to employment in their home countries upon graduation. Find a member organization to support directly via their directory. http://haliaccess.org/directory/

National College Access Network:

NCAN member organizations work to support underrepresented students, including students of color, low-income students, and those who are the first in their families to attend college, in their goals to attend and graduate from college. They provide mentorship, coaching, scholarship counseling, ongoing social and emotional support, as well as career guidance. Find a member organization to support directly via their directory. National College Access Network Members

Questbridge

Questbridge provides free college counseling to underrepresented students, as well as coordinates a “college matching” process that helps students find schools interested in helping them succeed. Questbridge universitiy partners offer full tuition scholarships and often additional financial, academic and social support to ensure matched students persist through graduation. https://www.questbridge.org/donate

Support for Foreign Service Students:

AAFSW

The Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW) offers several scholarships for both students of academic merit and students with IEPs or other academic support programs. Contact them directly to donate to their scholarship funds. Read more at: https://www.aafsw.org/services/aafsw-awards/aafsw-youth-merit-scholarships/

AFSA

The American Foreign Service Association offers merit scholarships to children of FS employees and an art scholarship contest to all high schoolers interested in foreign affairs. Many of these scholarships are endowed through generous donations from members of the FS. Inquiries about donations can be sent to capps@afsa.org.

FSYF

While the Foreign Student Youth Foundation offers a merit-based scholarship and art and writing contests to members, the FSYF also helps college-bound FS youth with programs in the DC-area and online. FSYF hosts an annual college-planning workshop for teens, as well as a Facebook group and newsletter with information helpful to FS teens. Support their work with a donation at: https://www.fsyf.org/Support

FEEA

The Federal Employees Education and Assistance Fund supports the dependents (both children and spouses) of US government employees by offering over 200 merit scholarships of between $1000 and $5000 each year. FEEA’s activities are funded entirely by donations from USG employees. Support via https://feea.org/support/ or sign up to participate in their Run/Walk Fundraiser in April.

I’d love to hear about other great organizations that support college access for all students. What are your favorites?

Pitfalls that can come from early responses

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November 1 marked the start of the college application deadline season. Some students who applied for November 1 Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) deadlines may start to see acceptances, rejections or waitlist responses as early as the end of the month.

This raises two important obstacles that applicants tend to be blindsided by every year:

  1. Early Success: Accepted EA before December, and so you slack off pursuing all your options. Early acceptances should be motivating. They are a sign that you’ve got something that colleges want. However, unless your EA acceptance has also offered you a 100% scholarship on tuition, room and board, there is still room for you to get a better aid or scholarship offer from your potential December 1 or 15 EA or regular decision (RD) applications. Don’t let early success make you complacent. Get those applications in, get them done with the same high level of quality that your first application was, and get the chance to make the best-informed choice among a pool of acceptance offers.
  2. Early Rejections: Rejections at this early stage discourage some seniors from being optimistic about their other applications. Many students send ED and EA applications to schools well outside their match profile, treating selective admissions like a lottery, where everyone who buys a ticket has the same chance to win. When that super-selective school rejects them, they lose confidence even in their applications to the more appropriately matched college choices. They might stop actively tailoring their essays to the rest of the schools on their list, and ignore demonstrating how well matched they really are in their applications. They may flub their way through interviews, or shut down academically and give up on their first term grades (one of the main tools used by admissions officers in their assessments of RD applicants). That early ED or EA rejection from a super-selective school causes them to self-sabotage the rest of their college list.

So, how can you avoid these pitfalls?

If you approached ED/EA like the Powerball® lottery, try to see the rejection letter the same way. It’s just a losing lottery ticket, pure chance. It is not a reflection on your worth, likelihood of college success or chances of admission elsewhere.

If your ED rejection was from a school that you and your counselors feel you are actually a strong match for, then take a hard look at your application materials and see how you can adapt them to better showcase your strengths and your match for the remaining schools on your list. Is your essay authentic and revealing? in your own voice? is it engaging? honest? Hire a professional to give you advise if it might be too formal, too choppy, or even just too typical. Work on your activity summaries to make them about YOU and not about the whole group. Get strong first term grades and submit them with your RD apps. Call or email the admissions office and confirm your interest personally. In other words, even though November can feel like the end of the push towards admissions, it’s really just another step along the way. Approach December and January deadlines as enthusiastically as you did the early deadlines. Be Strong!