Author: ethan

Over the course of two days in February and May, the Hormel Inspired Pathways program team hosted a series of eight instructional sessions with 100 employees at the Jennie-O facility in Barron, Wisconsin before and after their shifts. The goal of the virtual visits: help employees utilize the company’s Inspired Pathways Scholarship and Advising Program, and better understand the ins and outs of college applications and financial aid.

Some of the topics the Inspired Pathways team covered: 

• Community college scholarship details
• Navigating FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
• Wisconsin-specific financial aid questions
• The difference between a college’s “sticker price” and final costs
• The many ways families can utilize the Pathways program to help their student get into and afford 4-year colleges.

If you would like to arrange a virtual visit for your facility, reach out to advising@hormelinspiredpathways.com or call/text 507-481-0142. 

With students able to easily apply to 15-20 schools at a time, demonstrated interest has become a key tool for colleges to gauge applicant engagement.

Effective ways to demonstrate interest:

• Attend virtual events or in-person tours.
• Attend information sessions, either remotely or in person, especially those tied to specific majors.
• Email admissions reps with thoughtful questions about your fit and interests.

At public universities, these touchpoints help admissions officers differentiate among similarly qualified students and can essentially serve as a tie-breaker. At private colleges, interest can have a much bigger impact on being admitted. For private schools it is critical to admit the exact number of students they need, and students who make their interest clear help that process.

Bottom line: It never hurts to reach out and to demonstrate your interest in a college. To have the most positive impact, make sure you’re doing so in a way that allows your potential future college to track it. Events you have to register for are best, and even things like opening their emails can help. 

In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic and the many challenges that came with it, the majority of colleges instituted Test Optional and Test Blind admissions policies. These policies significantly reduced the role of standardized testing in the admissions process. 

However, colleges quickly realized that with only grades and essays to look at, differentiating between tens of thousands of students was much more difficult. After 5 years of these policies, and many attempts to find alternative evaluation methods, many colleges have concluded that they need standardized tests to evaluate large applicant pools consistently. 

The following colleges have reinstituted testing requirements:

Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, MIT, Caltech, Georgetown, University of Texas, all Florida public colleges, Georgia Tech, and Purdue.

This list is expected to grow, so it’s important to plan early. We recommend using the SAT prep program offered by Khan Academy. It was created in collaboration with College Board (owners of the SAT), is completely FREE, and the program’s algorithm tailors practice tests to your needs as you go. 

Supplemental Essays: What’s New

Beyond the Common App essay, also known as the Personal Statement, many colleges utilize  “supplemental essays” designed to help students demonstrate their abilities in and outside of the classroom. The more selective the college, the more weight these supplemental essays carry.  

Here are examples of the most common supplemental essays in recent years, and what they are designed to help colleges understand:

• Essay Prompt: Describe a community you are a part of and your role within it.
  • Goal: To understand the sort of campus community member you will be. 
• Essay Prompt: Why do you want to study your chosen major, what are your short and long term goals?
  • Goal: To understand what really motivates you. Is it passion, prestige, or pay? (hint: you probably want to demonstrate passion)
• Essay Prompt: Tell us why you are applying to our college, what makes it a good fit for you?
  • Goal:To understand how thoroughly you’ve researched the college and how comprehensively you’ll take advantage of its resources. 
• Essay Prompt: How has your background shaped you?
  • Goal: To understand the context of your achievements. (A student who babysits their siblings 20 hours a week won’t be expected to have a long extracurricular resume.)
• Essay Prompt: Tell us about an extracurricular activity that is meaningful to you, and why?
  • Goal: To demonstrate a broad set of activities. Colleges want diversity of all kinds, including diversity of interests.

Looking ahead to the 2025–26 season, some schools have indicated that they will be getting creative with prompts like “design your own course,” or “explain what’s commonly misunderstood about you.”

These prompts are designed to help colleges understand:

• Your ability to think creatively, abstractly, and intellectually.
• Who you are as an individual, and what you value about yourself.

Tips for success:

• DO YOUR RESEARCH and tailor each answer to the school. Generic supplemental essays do not impress.
• Tell unique stories. Avoid reiterating ideas you already covered within your Common App essay.
• Set up a meeting with a Hormel Inspired Pathways advisor to discuss essay ideas. The earlier, the better (but it’s never too late).