Attention all WA seniors:
College Signing Day 2021 is upon us, and it’s not too late for you to join the celebration!
Register HERE to join on May 1 at 2:00 pm ET for a live streaming event with Michelle Obama and friends. Don’t forget to join the conversation online using the hashtag #CollegeSigningDay.
Be sure to follow Reach Higher and Better Make Room’s social media feeds for student stories and memorable moments.
Join College Guidance Network for a live event about college visits on May 6th at 7:30 PM ET. This episode will be a deep dive into what’s most important for campus visits and how to show demonstrated interest.
During this event, students and families will learn about:
Event Details:
Topic: Tools of Engagement: College Visits with a Purpose
Speakers: Brennan Barnard, Director of College Counseling, Derryfield School; Joy Denomme, Founder of College Tips and Trips; Peter Hagan, Director of Admissions, Syracuse University
Date: Thursday, May 6th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Location: Zoom
AMP students learn the power of visual storytelling by creating videos, short films, webcasts, and more. This dynamic online experience provides the opportunity to interact and collaborate with like-minded students from around the world, live and in real time. Be part of the show and demonstrate what you can do.
Program Dates: July 5 - 31, 2021
For Students entering the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade in Fall 2021
Program Info & Application Materials: bu.edu/amp
Questions? Contact the program at buamp@bu.edu
Hi WA students! Please take a look at an exciting opportunity below:
In an effort to spotlight the incredible women in cybersecurity and encourage all #STEM ladies to reach their career goals, we’ve launched a new #WomeninCyber event series.
We’re thrilled to announce that the first virtual panel features:Holy Cross will be hosting a series of webinars that they hope will make the college search process less overwhelming. All current high school juniors are invited to join Holy Cross for a weeklong series of Junior Advisory Seminars, where they will offer advice, tips, and insight into the college search to help you get started in finding your best fit.
During the week of April 19, admission counselors and current Holy Cross students will lead seminars on the following topics:
| Monday, April 19 | 5 Things I Wish I Focused on During My Senior Year in High School |
| Tuesday, April 20 | First Things First: 4 Tips for First-Generation College Goers |
| Wednesday, April 21 | 3 Tips to Nail Your Admission Interview |
| Thursday, April 22 | The 4 Keys to Writing a Killer College Essay |
| Friday, April 23 | The Inside Scoop: How Applications Are Read and Admission Decisions Are Made |
Register for one or more Junior Advisory Seminars here. Please note all seminars are scheduled for 2 PM Eastern Time. Live closed captioning will be available, and all seminars will be archived on our website for later viewing.
If you are unable to access the online webinars, we can request a Junior Advisory Seminars viewbook on your behalf. The viewbook will serve as a comprehensive recap of each installment in our series and include panelist information, FAQs, and highlights from each seminar. Holy Cross can provide either a PDF version of this viewbook after the series concludes. Holy Cross can also print a limited quantity to be mailed to you upon your request. Please reach out to your counselor if you are interested in either of these formats.
Source: https://money.com/collection-post/wait-list-odds-what-to-do-accepted/
When college acceptance letters are mailed out this month, tens of thousands of students will open a mixed bag.
They won’t be denied outright but instead relegated to the limbo known as a “wait list.”
The practice of wait listing—where colleges defer an admissions decision until accepted students have either taken or declined a spot in the freshman class—is essentially a school’s way of saying, “We like you, but we just can’t commit right now.”
Colleges often use a wait list to round out how their class looks. If there aren’t enough students in a certain major or from a particular region, the school will give wait-listed applicants who can help it meet those goals a higher priority. That makes it nearly impossible to predict your chances of getting off a wait list with any certainty, since it all depends on who applied in the first place, who chose to enroll, and how your characteristics compare to theirs.
Being wait listed is especially common for students applying to selective colleges, but some 550 colleges use them. More than 150,000 students accepted a spot on one in the fall of 2015.
Common as they are, however, wait lists remain one of the least transparent parts of the college admissions process. There are no rules for how many students can be put on a wait list, how long applicants can remain there, or even how long those who are accepted off the wait list have to decide whether they want to enroll.
Despite all that uncertainty, there are a few things you can control.
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“Most colleges will be as upfront as they can be, if you ask questions,” says Jake Talmage, director of college counseling at St. Paul’s School in Maryland. Here are the steps to take and questions to ask.
1. Consider your odds
Between 2007 and 2010, colleges admitted less than a third of wait-listed students, on average, according to a study from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC). But that percentage drops considerably at more selective schools. At colleges where fewer than 50% of applicants overall were admitted, just 17% of students got in off the wait list.
These statistics can swing wildly from year to year at any given school, but it’s still worth asking your target college these questions:
You can also look up the college at bigfuture.collegeboard.org. Many schools have wait list statistics under the “applying” tab.
2. Solidify your plan B
No matter how confident you feel that you’ll be admitted off the wait list, you should submit a deposit to another school to ensure that you have a spot somewhere in the fall. Most colleges require a deposit by May 1.
That deposit—typically $100 to $500—is money you won’t get back if you ultimately enroll at the other college where you were wait listed.
Bear in mind that if you aren’t accepted off the wait list, your Plan B college could be where you end up on come fall. So note when its freshman orientation starts and whether you need to send a separate deposit for on-campus housing, too.
3. Show you’re still interested
When Muriel Chase was put on the wait list for Marist College, she wasn’t too upset. The college wasn’t even one of her top schools. But when she went for a visit after she’d been wait listed, she fell hard.
Within about a month, she’d visited again, talked regularly on the phone with her admissions counselor, and ultimately, got accepted. She’s now a student employee in the admissions office and talks to prospective applicants about the process.
Colleges want to close their wait list—that is, fill all their open spots—as soon as possible, so they like to make offers to the applicants who are most likely to accept. In fact, at some schools, such as Vanderbilt University, the wait list is the only time where demonstrating your interest matters.
It’s important to go the extra mile—but not the extra five miles. Kent Rinehart, dean of undergraduate admissions at Marist, says reaching out every two or three weeks to update the admissions staff and ask about the status of the wait list is fine. But don’t call every other day. Also avoid more elaborate ploys, such as sending baked goods or gifts to the admissions staff.
But do consider writing a letter to the admissions officer explaining why that school is still your top choice (or one of them, if that’s the case). Update the office on your academics, too, by sending in recent grades and anything noteworthy, such induction into an honor society.
Finally, parents: Don’t do your child’s bidding here.
“It shows a lot more when you’re the one who’s taking initiative,” Chase say to students.
Be sure to heed any directions the college gives with its wait list notification. Some will ask for specific follow-up information, such as additional recommendation letters.
4. Figure out if you can afford it
When you’re asking colleges about their wait list admission stats, ask about financial aid for wait-listed students, too. Chances are, getting in off the wait list will be more expensive than regular admission.
Nearly four in 10 colleges that have a wait list are need aware, which means they’ll consider how much students can afford to pay in deciding which ones to admit. That’s good news for families who can afford the college without extra help, less good for those who need aid.
Even if a college doesn’t favor students who can afford to pay, you may not be in line for the same aid as students accepted during regular admission. Some colleges, such as Miami and Villanova universities, don’t offer any merit aid to students admitted from the wait list. At many colleges, whether you receive any grants or scholarships will depend on what’s left in the financial aid budget.
(Use our calculator: How much should I be saving for college?)
Almost half of the colleges in the NACAC study said they provided grant aid to all students admitted off their wait lists. But some of those colleges may have chosen students who needed only limited aid, or they may have awarded some aid, but not enough to make the college truly affordable for the family.
To get a better idea of where you’ll stand, ask the college:
5. Prepare to make a quick decision
With regular admission, students have at least a few weeks to evaluate colleges’ offers, weigh what they like about different schools, and ultimately decide which one they want to go to.
That’s not the case with wait lists. NACAC recommends that colleges give applicants at least 72 hours to decide whether to accept their offer, though there’s no binding rule. You may have even less time to evaluate the financial aid package, which doesn’t always come with the initial offer of acceptance.
One way to make your decision easier is by setting the ceiling price you can afford to pay ahead of time, says Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admissions at Georgia Tech.
6. Be positive but realistic
The optimists like to say that the bright side of being wait listed is that it’s not a downright denial. True enough, but the harsh fact is that at most colleges, the majority of wait-listed students will eventually be denied admission anyway.
We get it—a wait list designation from your top college makes it hard to move on. There’s always the “what if” scenario in the back of your head that keeps you from fully committing to the college you sent your deposit to. Clark writes in a blog post that it can be especially tough for wait-listed students to hear their friends talking about who they’re rooming with or what activities they’ll join freshman year.
Most colleges don’t turn to their wait lists until after May 1, and many will still be offering admission to students on wait list through June, well after some high school graduations.
Clark suggests students in that position focus on why they’re excited about college in general, regardless of which school they end up attending. That will let you enjoy the spring of your senior year even as the exact details of your future remain unknown.
The University of Hartford and the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) are launching a new, exciting program for students considering a rewarding career in the architecture field while gaining valuable college experience. This pre-college program offers a unique three-week experience in architecture and design for rising high school juniors and seniors. The program is taught in the well-equipped architecture studios at the University of Hartford with additional opportunities outside of the studio including field trips, architecture firm visits, and more.
For students who have an interest in design, art, architecture, construction, graphics, or related interests, we encourage you to apply by May 1 for scholarship consideration.
Through master classes and hands-on project learning, rising sophomores through recently graduated seniors in high school learn the art and craft of songwriting. In the mornings, you will work with professional producers and engineers to learn the basics of song construction, demo recording, and the process of mixing and mastering. In the afternoons, you will attend master classes and workshops that focus on the basics of copyright regulations, music marketing campaigns, and other highlights of the industry. One impactful week allows you to earn your first songwriting credits, meet passionate peers from all over the country, and learn how you can pursue your own career in the music industry.
SMTI Preprofessional fosters excellence, artistry, and a love of musical theatre in performers age 14–20. Our 2021 program will focus on themes of individual empowerment and self-creation, and engaging as a community of learners through art-making, observation, discussion, and reflection. From 9am-5pm, students will work during technique classes and in small group labs to explore scene and song text, comedic improv, on-camera technique, and vocal health, as well as creating movement variations on given choreography. Each day, students will present individual content based on the new skills they are learning. Students should come to class in clothes that allow them to move easily. They should be prepared to participate in class sessions in a place that is well-lit and free from distractions, and should have a means to take notes during class sessions. Our final pre-recorded showcase performance is developed, and the material chosen, with each specific participant in mind. This video showcase will serve as the final performance of the Intensive, with viewing links distributed to students, and a group watch-party!
This remote two-week intensive is designed for students in grades 7–12 who are passionate about writing music. Learn composition techniques, approaches to media scoring while actively developing music for film, TV, and/or video game scenes. The online program includes synchronous instruction (approximately 1.5-3 hours per day) and supplemental online content for students to watch on their own. Students will participate in remote classes, small group breakout sessions, and 1:1 mentoring. Additional, Asynchronous material will be provided for students to watch on their own.
For over 30 years, WPI's Frontiers program has delivered innovative and life-changing STEM programs that empower students while giving them a glimpse of college life. Right now, students need unique ways to learn, socialize, and continue to explore their passions and prepare for college. WPI is excited to announce they will be offering both credit bearing and non-credit bearing online experiences for 11th and 12th graders.
Rising 11th and 12th grade students can earn college credit WITH additional support services for tutoring, college planning, career exploration, social activities and connecting with peers from around the globe. Courses range from introductory courses in physics, CAD, robotics, and biotechnology to courses in literacy and global system of pandemics. Checkout the full course offerings and apply today!
Rising 11th and 12th grade student can explore a STEM major and Humanities and Arts minor in a two- or four-week online program in July. Students will learn in tandem with other students in this synchronous program and get the chance deepen their knowledge alongside WPI faculty and likeminded students. Check out our course offerings and apply today!
NCAA EC Spring Webinar:
Join the NCAA team on Thursday, May 6 at 2 p.m. ET to learn about the latest initial-eligibility news and requirements for college-bound student-athletes with their dreams of studying and competing at an NCAA Division I or II school. Click here to register.
The NCAA Eligibility Center is also hosting a separate webinar for student-athletes and their families on Thursday, May 13. Please see here for more details.
The learning experience, which we call CS106A - Code in Place, will be an introductory programming course using the Python language, using material from the first half of Stanford University's established intro course, CS106A. It assumes no prior programming experience. You should expect to be working 15 to 20 hours a week and you will need an internet connection strong enough to stream video.
This experience is different from typical free online courses in that, in addition to using online resources, you will meet (via videoconferencing) in a small group, once a week, with someone on the teaching team. The course is centered around engaging assignments and includes an optional final project. You won't receive a grade in the course, and completing the experience doesn't earn university credit. Instead, the main outcome is that you will have acquired a new and wonderful skill: how to program.
Enrollment is subject to availability, although we have space for hundreds (or even thousands) of students. To apply, you complete a short, fun, learning exercise before April 8th, estimated to be 1 to 2 hours of work. Finishing the exercise will give you an idea of whether this course is good for you.
If you are an educator who knows Python, apply to be a volunteer instructor. Every volunteer teacher means more students can join.
As a disclaimer, this is a first-of-its-kind offer from Stanford. We are seeking students who are up for being part of an experimental education experience. If you have any questions please email codeinplace@cs.stanford.edu. We are limiting the course to students and teaching team who are at least 18 years old.
Course Dates: April 13th until May 22nd
Where: Anywhere with internet.
Who: Learners, with no programming experience, and time to dedicate to learning.
Student application deadline: April 8th, Anywhere on Earth.
Register here
