Fisk Educational Consultants

Great school for boys! And now offering 6th grade!

Hargrave is launching a 6th-grade Program for day students this August! Local families interested in ALL grades can visit campus on Tuesday, July 23rd, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. to learn more about Hargrave. RSVP by emailing [email protected] or calling 434.432.3187.

This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about our programs and meet the team supporting your son during his Hargrave journey. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Hampden-Sydney College has unique bragging rights - it is the tenth oldest institution of higher learning in the United States (1775), and is the oldest of the country's few remaining private colleges that specializes in educating and developing young men.

Not to mention strong alumni!

Kirk ’72 Pledges $1 Million for Athletic Facilities Improvements Bill ’72 and Shireen Kirk have once again invested in the future of athletics at Hampden-Sydney College.

AP scores are out!

2024 AP Score Distributions – AP Students | College Board 2024 AP score distribution tables show the percentages of 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s for each AP subject for all AP students.

Interesting opinion piece about the shortage of SAT testing sites all while most of the highly selective colleges are reinstating test requirements. These schools along with College Board are flush with resources to add more testing options yet push it to local underfunded high schools.

https://jonboeckenstedt.net/2024/06/12/sat-problem-solved/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2QnleTnUbKWGKOwqqZb7WRhRiv2ifC9C93pvoE3Ktw-2eMmNaz0A6ZSTg_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

The growth of micro schools continues even after the pandemic. Parents are discovering these schools offer "mastery-based learning," a far cry from the "factory model," where students of a single age group march through the same curriculum together.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/rise-micro-schools-parents-opt-alternative-learning-kids-public-education-concerns

Breweries are so popular and popping up in towns all over the country. Check out this cool major for a growing industry!

B.S. in Fermentation and Food Science We challenge you to understand the biology, biochemistry, and microbiology of fermentation from a food and beverage perspective.

Summer Opportunity: Boston College's Ever to Excel program provides an opportunity to make friends, engage in Spiritual Exercises led by Boston College staff and undergraduate Mentors, and explore the beautiful city of Boston.

It is also an opportunity to spend time at a premier Jesuit university and engage with the school’s mission. https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/centers/iajs/programs/ever-to-excel.html

To all the parents whose babies are graduating.. I join you this year.

Big changes for Michigan application process!

Undergraduate admissions changes coming for fall 2025 | The University Record The University of Michigan is changing its first-year application process, with prospective undergraduate students now able to apply directly to two more U-M schools and colleges, bringing to 10 the number of first-year admitting schools and colleges.

Summer is for play!! Make sure your child isn’t over scheduled and has time for free play, getting dirty, and exploring in the outdoors!

https://mailchi.mp/schoolhouseofwonder.org/expansion-sites-summer-2024?e=73aff4aa52

Fisk Educational Consultants are accepting new clients for college planning. Enroll before the end of May and save $500.
The offer is good for current 8th through 11th graders.

Contact us at
www.fiskeducation.com.

W&M’s success preparing students for careers draws national praise University receives Congressional funding to expand internship program; W&M president honored by national organization for university-wide effort.

I have been asked by ABC-11 to invite families tocomment on their challenges with FAFSA this admission season.

If you’re interested in sharing your experience, send me a message and I will connect you. This is a fun opportunity to be on tv!!

Everything Families Need to Know About University of Florida Admissions
_______________________________________

The writer of this week’s blog, ErikMcLeod, a Director of College Advising at International College Counselors shares his expertise with us. Erik has 13 years of success helping hundreds of students gain admission to the Florida public universities. In addition to touring their campuses extensively and attending the State University System Admission Tour annually since 2012, he has an in-depth knowledge of what makes each Florida school unique and special.

Having worked with many college applicants over the years, the two letters I’ve heard most often are “UF”! Florida’s flagship university continues to be a wildly popular addition to seemingly everyone’s application list, and for good reason–it’s a solid value, it has great name recognition nationwide, the academic offerings are vast, and it promises the chance to become a member of “Gator Nation.” That said, there are several admissions factors that prospective students and their parents need to know:

Recent Application Changes

The biggest update in Gainesville is the move from one application deadline to two. Traditionally, UF has had one November 1 deadline…if you missed it, you were out of luck. Beginning in Fall 2024, however, UF will instate a November 1 Early Action deadline followed by a January 15 Regular Decision deadline. Early Action applicants will know their decision by January 24, while Regular Decision applicants will know by March 14. Why the change? UF has stated that the move will align them with their peer institutions, allow more time for parents to make decisions about cost, give students more time to secure freshman housing, and help increase yield (the percentage of admitted students who enroll). Applicants need to remember only one thing: Apply before November 1, and you will maximize your chance of acceptance.

Additionally, UF will be implementing a “direct admit” admissions process for students applying for engineering or education. Unlike general applicants who are reviewed for overall academic performance, direct admit applicants will be reviewed for their demonstrated ability and interest in either engineering or education. UF states that the new process will match what their peer universities are doing as well as give UF’s schools of engineering and education better ability to control how many students enroll.

UF’s Review Process

Compared to many other highly selective universities, UF’s review process is a bit different. For starters, UF still requires either the SAT or ACT, and they use this score as a critical component in determining decisions. So students, do your test prep, submit your scores in advance of the deadline, and you’ll be increasing your odds of being admitted. When it comes to GPA, UF “recalculates” the GPA that appears on the high school transcript. This simply means they create a new GPA based solely on one’s academic courses. Like scores, UF places a heavy emphasis on GPA, so whatever students can do to maximize grades, the better. For the last several years, UF has asked applicants to complete a supplemental essay elaborating on their most meaningful activity outside of the classroom. This essay may be a little more fun to write and more insightful for the admissions office to read. Finally, UF continues to neither accept letters of recommendation nor look at demonstrated interest, which means that your favorite teacher’s academic praises, your school counselor’s character assessment, and that recent UF tour will very sadly go unconsidered.

By the Numbers

Because UF is so selective, students often try to predict their chances by looking at the raw admissions statistics. While this gives a general idea of acceptance chances, know that UF remains far more unpredictable than other FL schools. Being admissible on paper does not guarantee admission to UF! That said, the following will give number crunching readers an idea of UF’s selectivity as well as the stats typical admits possess:

Application Number for Fall 2024: 74,000

Published Admit Rate: 23%

SAT/ACT Average: 1420/31

Recalculated GPA (academic classes only): 4.57

Different Acceptance Pathways

Finally, UF offers several enrollment options for new freshmen depending on the applicant’s strength of academic profile:

PaCE Program: PaCE, or Pathway to Campus Enrollment, requires students to complete 60 hours of UF credit online before enrolling in on-campus classes. Applicants admitted to PaCE generally have high school GPAs and/or test scores well below those of non-PaCE admits.

Summer B: Summer B admits move to UF and begin classes in early July. These students often have GPAs and/or test scores slightly below those of traditional admits.

Innovation Academy: This program offers a limited number of majors and requires students to take courses in the spring and summer (fall classes, if taken, are online only). Like PaCE and Summer B, IA admits generally have lower GPAs and/or test scores.

As Florida’s flagship institution, UF continues, UF continues to be one of the most popular choices for ICC families…the more students know about the admissions process, the more likely they’ll one day become Gators!

To learn more about UF and other universities in Florida, join us for our free webinar, Applying to Four-Year Universities in Florida on Wednesday, May 29th at 7pm EDT.

https://niffnscab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001EkqwEGIGP_IXsTO5CsM77gSBJ3OSfE5GM-t9R54sw7MXqXH4Ux7zjDygkEuoz2_2d3x_JVLLBkxXf4B-WsRDSHc1TX4aUK5pjdfc51OFgP8p9sSivmtt0hxKpcaZsQuj8YC0nAsXFzZyP-_hI4JGsXpg6SzmqHE0&c=09m9TgnMpFhevRq0DJzZjTxohpVRcTHvBfECaf67p6pXz6OlqVxZuQ==&ch=YPFzWlEB4MW7taS2AydvF5adjCdV4FwZNYNxUanw4ijU_bJjW8Zsqw==

“Why The Fiske Guide and More”
Hear from the guide's creator and author, Edward Fiske (Ted) shares how the guide is composed, how the student questions are created, the meaning of ratings and how colleges are selected for the guide.

https://www.cyndymcdonald.com/why-fiske-guide

Separating "Good" and "Bad" Info, hear from the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Duke University and Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University,

The Internet is filled with information—some good and some not so great. And in the age of TikTok, the challenge of finding good information has ballooned. In this short video, Christopher Guttentag, the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Duke University, and Frank Bruni, Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, discuss how to separate the good information from the not so great.
Watch the short video

https://vimeo.com/926647282/960e854473?share=copy&utm_campaign=CGN%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_R19dZtA1tV_2d0wuKMaxKyu9eD-9eYryBnz7MBSlmtfXvUY_ZXHBRcRENgCjfNY3sP6mQGjiV0XGCKEnw5BhxfGll62nf7sRdbQB3T5hmkgeBi_E&_hsmi=303094475&utm_content=303094475&utm_source=hs_email

Parents - I highly recommend this webinar. Lisa Damour is an excellent speaker, author and parenting expert.

Lisa Damour, Author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, explains why teens do what they do, when parents should be concerned, and what we can do to support their healthy development.

Register for the live event

https://cz-pq04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RI+113/cZ-pq04/VWDKyw1sG4vtN4GHGHGdf-ljW2jjqKJ5d071cN6hnppx3qn9gW7lCdLW6lZ3mwW7bm0ty19dxp8W23fx_v5Bh6KBMl_PClvywPXW4vWvwY2WG6l6W2Mvb8z6dkgjwMBmZVjP4JxcW3-wB2v372ylcW2qFfp28Zq_7dW1h2xkZ5vPK-fW7rlW9k3n99-0W7j_swk14cxlWW7BTxql4vSkzhW97wqzG8Dk_JZW7FK_H61Kb-ffW7NQQLB2_cKlCVRQFkm7vdmZSN2d52M8PN5V-W4Vdzlk8z4RGyN3xSK75DCp6KW59TDnk92m_n9N372xv7jCzfGW78mLGr93_BSyV257zc6KV-msW4rlj5J8k_nwYf1_XjM804

https://www.ednc.org/in-first-round-13511-opportunity-scholarship-offers-sent-to-low-income-families/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=traffic&utm_campaign=040224+LAL+%2B+NC&utm_content=Rash&fbclid=IwAR3WwgOxaL88Zq_02e-8KeDu7jvCFaU8aBmqbyYFaDqYst3Kj1e-O1jR9ts_aem_AStkQ8ekUYNY39MAg2__WkMk2NpIjPq3ctBi6kxjuOC9gIU75HCrLRN5dsSbj3OwFL4

In first round, 13,511 Opportunity Scholarship offers sent to low-income families 13,511 new students from low-income households have been offered a voucher to an eligible private school for the 2024-25 school year.

https://www.wral.com/story/unc-schools-could-make-it-more-difficult-for-students-to-be-admitted/21350488/?fbclid=IwAR24eaZvp-UZ1cldA4-p-RZ1yGUCpnOi8bO2gQzXwsh2NgdwkTIEzFpAjb0_aem_ATbADFj0ibS3ppj98831G4fVVsiSeuvLnhjC1emfRbVw_HiIS_xtnxVFeKAnk8d8I08

UNC schools could make it more difficult for students to be admitted The University of North Carolina System is considering raising the minimum requirements for admission to its 16 schools.

College admissions then and now… TRUTH🤣

College Admissions Then vs Now Let's be real, if we applied today we wouldn't be accepted 🙃 Not ready for college? Watch Wife During Back To School: https://ww...