College Readiness Series Recap!

Science Club for Girls just wrapped up our 3-part College Readiness Series for Junior Mentors and their families. This series included information on paying for college, applying to college, and experiencing college.

In November, our first installment, How to Pay for College, we heard from Gail Holt, the Director for Financial Aid at Amherst College. She led discussions on the various forms of financial aid, how financial assistance varies from different types of schools, and support for First-Generation/Low-Income students beyond tuition & fees.

In December, we held the second session: Applying to College. We were joined by 6 panelists–Margaret Cote, Maddy Kidd, Nena Kotsalidis, Megan Rabin, Ananya Reghupathi, and Nicole Rosenfeld–all current college students and SCFG mentors, with many majoring in STEM. During this session, Junior Mentors and families had the opportunity to learn from current college students and ask questions about the college application process. Topics ranged from when to start the application process and campus visits and interviews, to applying to all-women’s and military colleges, to the common application and the ACT vs. the SAT, to being a college athlete and the recruiting process.

Our last session took place earlier this month on the topic of The College Experience. Participants had the opportunity to learn about the college experience and ask questions on a variety of topics like networking, affinity groups, being a woman in STEM, and more. Our panelists included Ashley Cooper, Elida Kocharian, Sara Omer, Shreyaa Raghavan, Grace Rahman, Kaitlyn Webster, and Zapporah Young–all of whom are SCFG Mentors!

A big thanks to all of our generous panelists and presenters; with your help, our girls will be able to better navigate the many factors of college and continue to thrive in their academic careers!