January 2025

The ringing in of a new year is a time when we reflect on all our students, especially our seniors who we know will graduate high school and embark on a new significantly transformative chapter in their lives. Many have already been offered admission to great school, but the majority of decisions are still awaited. Ultimately, students land at universities that are the right fit where they grow and thrive becoming their own selves.

At Index, we continuously seek opportunities to grow professionally and redesign our services by listening and incorporating client insights. 

This year Sabrina is joining a group called Counselors Connect. This group of counselors, both independent and school-based, largely based in the US yet with some internationally-based ones, too, is a give-and-take group with monthly meetings. It was started by Mark Stucker of the amazing podcast, Your College Bound Kid. We're looking forward to all the knowledge we will share to help the entire group.

Anu will present at the Annual IECA Conference in Michigan this May, alongside a distinguished panel in the session "Communicating with Parents: Strategies for Independent Education Consultants." The IECA Annual Conference is a premier event that brings together hundreds of IECs, admission leaders, and vendors, offering a range of educational sessions, networking opportunities, and campus tours. The session will equip Education Consultants with strategies to build strong, professional relationships with parents, especially those new to the educational process. She will share tools for navigating cultural nuances, managing demanding situations, and maintaining professionalism. Attendees will gain practical insights for effective communication, fostering trust, and collaborating with parents. Additionally, Anu will also be going for post-conference campus tours.

The University of California published a fantastic article about how they evaluate applications, which you can read here.
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Did you know that there are more females applying to college than males? That can make it harder for girls as they are 16% less likely to be offered admission than boys. Generally, girls are higher performers overall and colleges aim for a 50/50 gender balance; another example of an institutional priority that can affect you and your application.

The highly rejective schools have similar admit rates simply because of the number of applications they receive, but there are other big school like University of Vermont where this is a serious issue. It's so obvious that instead of being located in Burlington, Vermont, a new moniker of "Girlington" has become commonplace vernacular. You can read more about that here.

Here are other time worthy articles:
--WSJ's Elite Colleges have a Looming Money Problem (behind a paywall)
--Brown Faces $46 Million Budget Deficit
--Thoughts on 20 years of college teaching (at Duke)