We hope your 2024 is off to a great start! As we enter February (does anyone else think January flew by way too fast!?), we wanted to pass along some notes to keep you on track in your admissions process!
Foundry Admissions Successes: We first want to send a huge congrats to the high school seniors we've been working with this year! To date, our seniors have been accepted to more than 80 different colleges across the US (and Canada and the UK) and received more $2.5 Million in merit aid awards! And it's still really early in the decision season, so we expect both numbers to continue to climb as we move towards spring!
Current High School Seniors: At this stage, you have likely finished submitting most of your applications and are waiting for decisions. This is a notoriously difficult period of time (sometimes waiting is more stressful than actually working on the apps!). Hang in there!
Additionally, the Department of Education provided an update on this year's FAFSA form…and it's not good. More than 3.1 million FAFSA forms have been successfully submitted with the belief that processing would begin this week. Today it was announced that the Department won't begin transmitting forms until "the first half of March." Furthermore, students who need to make corrections won't be able to do so until the first half of March. This means students will need to wait potentially until mid April to receive accurate aid packages from schools. We don't have all the answers yet, but don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions!
Current High School Juniors: Spring semester of junior year is a super important time to do well in the classroom (these will be the final set of grades colleges see when you initially apply to colleges this fall). Additionally, the college admissions process really kicks into high gear this semester. Our recommendation would be to build an initial college list of 15-20 colleges, begin developing your high school activities list, consider which teachers you might ask for teacher recommendations to colleges at the end of this semester, prep for the SAT/ACT, and brainstorm for the personal essay (I know…it's a lot! We are here to help with all of it, so send us a note!).
For February, we challenge juniors to develop a strong list of colleges you are interested in.
Current High School Sophomores and Freshman: As we move into the new semester, we still advise freshman and sophomores to focus most of their time and energy on achieving strong academic grades and exploring extracurricular interests. However, there are many things students can begin doing to prepare for the admissions process: research colleges of interest and conduct virtual campus tours, begin developing a college interest list, and begin developing an extracurricular list.
For February, we challenge freshman and sophomores to conduct virtual tours of at least 3 colleges of interest - just google the name of the college and "virtual tour" to find them!
Upcoming Free Webinar on 21 February: Later this month we will hold our second free college admissions webinar of the year. This webinar will focus on actions sophomores and juniors should take to prepare for the admissions process. Make sure to grab your free ticket (and even if you can't attend live, grab a ticket and we will send you the recording) here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/getting-a-start-on-college-admissions-as-a-hs-junior-or-sophomore-tickets-756358186697
Upcoming 4-Part Admissions Series with Albert Einstein HS PTSA: Next week, Kenny (Foundry Admissions CEO) will begin a 4-part college admissions virtual series sponsored by Einstein HS' PTSA. As part of the series, all Einstein HS students and parents are able to attend the sessions for free (and grab a bunch of resources that will be useful in the admissions process). Would you like Kenny to do something similar with your high school? Send a note to your PTSA leaders and Cc us - we are happy to discuss further with them!
Free Consultation Calls: Interested in discussing how we might partner to navigate the college admissions process? Don't hesitate to sign up for a free consultation call with us here: https://calendly.com/foundryadmissionsstrategies/consultation-call
Thank you for choosing Foundry Admissions Strategies. We look forward to being a part of your educational journey and helping you achieve success.
Comentarios