BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY BANS TIKTOK
Clemson University announced today that students will no longer be able to access TikTok through the campus network. Students, faculty, and staff can still access TikTok on personal devices using their cell networks, but the app will not be accessible on campus Wi-Fi. The university says the decision was made in order to maintain campus security.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY PAUSES PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH
On Friday, Florida Atlantic University’s Board of Trustees received a letter from the Florida State University System Board of Governors, alleging that there were anomalies in the university’s presidential search. The university argues that the anomalies were a result of a questionnaire sent out by an independent search firm, AGB Search, and were not authorized by the university. Anomalies in the questionnaire included asking a male candidate if his sexual orientation was “queer” and whether he was a “male or transgendered male.” The university is cooperating with the Board of Governors’ investigation.
LSU MAKES HISTORY IN MLB DRAFT
The MLB draft began Sunday night, and LSU made history when its players went numbers one and two overall, the first time two college teammates have been selected for the top slots back-to-back. LSU also had four draft picks total on Sunday, the most of any team in the first night. The big wins in the draft come on the heels of LSU’s national championship win last month.
BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
We’ve been anticipating the effect of the recent Supreme Court case on legacy admissions since long before the decision was handed down, and we’re starting to see the impact play out. Last week, a legal activist group filed a complaint against Harvard University, arguing that the school’s legacy admissions preference discriminates against Black, Latinx, and Asian students. This interesting opinion piece from a Princeton professor argues that in fact, the presence of legacy students at elite colleges benefits underprivileged students, because they can network with students that have more “cultural capital” and useful connections.
Another group with a clear admissions advantage? Recruited athletes. This opinion piece argues that it is athletic preference, not legacy admissions, that should be the first practice to go in an effort to make admissions more fair. Over 1,000 Harvard students, for example, are recruited athletes, and they receive significantly more preference in the admissions process than even legacy students. The author, who was a recruited athlete at Princeton, argues that the number of athletic recruiting slots a school offers is a “de facto quota,” which goes against the decision by the Supreme Court. We will have to see whether legacy admissions, athletic recruitment, or any other aspects of the admissions process change in the next few months and years after the decision.
For students looking for less selective schools that have great name recognition and on-campus recruitment opportunities, public state flagships are a great option! This article lists the state universities with acceptance rates over 50%, and features well-regarded schools like the University of Alabama, Penn State, and Virginia Tech. While it is important to take the acceptance rates at state schools with a grain of salt, as they are often much lower for out-of-state students than for those applying in-state (or vice versa, depending on the state!). I would not include Virginia Tech as a less selective option for Virginia residents, unfortunately, But this list could be a great starting point for students who are beginning to build their college lists!
And for college students heading off to school in the fall and looking for tips, check out Forbes’ top five financial tips for college kids to follow. This summer is a great time to start building credit, creating a budget, and getting familiar with the perks offered to you as a college student, which can range from free museum or movie tickets to free public transit in your college town to discounts at local businesses. I will add my own tip here: return your library books, and when you get a letter in the mail about library fines, DO NOT ignore it. In one sense, it’s kind of funny that the biggest mistake I made in college was failing to return library books, but the consequences were a lot less funny. The library reported me to the credit bureaus, it impacted my credit score, and when I bought my first home in my early 20s, I had to pay a higher mortgage interest rate as a result. I was never so happy to see that fall off my credit report!
OFFICE HAPPENINGS
If you didn’t catch my FAQ on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, posted at the end of last week, check that out here.
Speaking of the Supreme Court decision, I think that it is impacting some of the timing around supplemental essay prompt releases for the current admissions cycle. Schools which have had the same essay prompts for years have now indicated that they are considering making changes as a result of the ruling - because of increased dependence on essays. And from other schools that have always released prompts by this point in the cycle, we’re just hearing crickets…
If you want to know which schools have released prompts already, we keep a running pre-8/1 list here: 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts. As a reminder, our goal is to help our students complete as many essays as possible before August. This gives them plenty of time to get a lot of it out of the way before the school year starts, so they can focus on their classes (and enjoying senior year) in the fall!
Have a great week!