20% of Harvard first-year students are opting to defer their admission this year according to the Harvard Crimson. Amidst the Covid pandemic, many students decided to take a gap year rather than start their university experience online.

According to the Boston Globe, at MIT, 8 percent of first-year students deferred, up from normally around 1 percent, according to the university. At Williams College in Western Massachusetts, 90 students took a gap year instead of the usual 25. And at Bates College in Maine, 10 percent of students have requested deferral, up from 4 percent. Beyond…

Fall is here, and many families have heard the news that their schools will be conducted 100% online or will take a hybrid approach where each portion of the student body will attend school 1-3 days a week. A compilation of reopening plans from Education Week, a trade publication focusing on K-12 education, shows that more than 80 school districts including Los Angeles, Houston, Fairfax VA, and Montgomery MD are reopening or have reopended with remote learning only. Families that were incredibly disappointed (an exhausted!) by the spring distance learning experience are looking for…

COVID-19 has forced schools to venture into remote learning through online instruction, with varying degrees of success. We all know that the quality and execution of instruction this spring varied greatly, and understandably, not all schools were able to successfully adapt to remote instructions. However, the experience certainly gave many families a taste of what possibilities lie with online schools, and there has been a significant interest in already existing virtual schools. Online high schools were created for the purpose of online learning. The teachers have years of experience…

By: Emily Cho

Decades of rising  tuition costs have made college education largely unaffordable for most families without financial aid and merit scholarships. However, for many families, even financial aid and merit scholarships may not be enough. For those that do not qualify for any financial aid, many are left with a smaller set of schools to consider that is affordable. Scholarships are a great way to help reduce the cost of school, and every student should consider applying as there are thousands of scholarships in every category that students can apply for.

From…

By: Valerie Erde

As an ACT/SAT/AP tutor and college essay advisor who has worked with dozens of families over the past several years, I often hear from parents who are very concerned about their children getting into top colleges. This is natural — we all want what's best for our children, and we know that a high-quality education plays an important role in their future success. I've been through the college application process with my own two children, and I know just how intense that can be.

But all too often, parents of eighth and ninth graders  - or even of younger…

By: Emily Cho

There are two types of financial aid that a student may receive: merit and need based.

Merit scholarships are scholarships and financial aid universities will offer students based on their academic performances or specific skills. These awards are outright grants that the students do not have to repay.

Need based financial aid is awarded strictly based on a student’s financial profile, which takes into account the student’s family assets and income, with no consideration of the student’s academic merit. Federal government provides the bulk of the…

When students get to college, they are always amazed by the number of students that have started their own businesses in high school. Some of these businesses are truly amazing, beyond what adults could have started, while others are small businesses that are nonetheless impressive in that a highschooler started it. Just within our Versed advisor families, we have had a student that started an organization to teach music to underprivileged children - he organized student musicians in his school to provide free lessons, procured instrument donations from various sources, raised funding and…

By: Emily Cho

1. Engage in meaningful summer activities

Covid-19 has upended many summer plans, including summer internships and jobs that are cancelled. While the Common App will have space for students to explain how their summer plans got cancelled or altered, colleges still want to see how students used their time during the summer. Whether it be taking care of family members, volunteering to help the community, or taking the time to learn new skills, students should devote time to making the summer meaningful and productive to the extent that their circumstances allow…

This week, as part of the Turning the Tide in college admission initiative, Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, released a collective statement, endorsed by 315 admissions deans, to communicate to students and families what colleges value in applicants during this unprecedented time. For those looking for guidance on what students should focus on, this document is a much welcomed affirmation of what is truly important: self-care, service, and contribution to others.

Signatories include Deans of Admissions from every Ivy League institution,…

By: Sohini Surapaneni

Summer doesn’t mean your child has to stop learning. Even during these upcoming months of  social-distancing, our digital world provides a platform for students all over the world to continue their education online. We compiled a short list of online resources your child may use to learn or expand their skills in:

Reading and Writing Math Science Coding Languages Public Speaking Visual Arts Performing Arts

You may also scroll to the end for a section on virtual museums and tours.

This blog post. will specifically be geared towards…