New This Month – May

During April, the highlights for UniVarsity were working with juniors on their college lists and the opportunity to participate in a group which read essays and interviewed scholarship candidates for UC Berkeley’s Achievement Award Program. We started by scoring essays from a pool of 2,500 candidates, both freshman and transfer students. The list was then narrowed down to 100 candidates which were all personally interviewed by Cal alumni. It was a very rewarding process to hear their stories and meet the candidates and something we will definitely participate in future years. Aside from giving back to the community, it allowed us to gain additional insight into how college application essays are scored and evaluated.

Although we are getting close to the end of the school year, May can be a stressful month for high school students. For seniors, they can just about relax and enjoy their final month of school now that their college choice is made. For juniors, they are probably in the midst of AP tests, state testing, and SAT/ACT testing. Will it ever be summer? For sophomores, they may be taking their first AP test and their first SAT subject tests along with state testing. Parents, if you are getting more eye rolling or shrugs than usual, don’t worry, summer will be here soon!