Nour Kanaan started a college consulting project to provide guidance for Palestinian high school students in Lebanon in their application process to American colleges. The project includes SAT training and CommonApp guidance. The project will hopefully continue in the next years.
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Hi Nour,
It sounds like both a deeply meaningful and useful project. Congrats.
All best, Karin Shapiro
Thank you, Professor Shapiro!
This is a great project! I was wondering how hands-on/how focused the project is on developing strong CommonApp essays?
Hi Michael,
That’s a good question.
I would say developing a strong CommonApp essay is our main focus.
Most of our students don’t have many extracurriculars because they don’t really have opportunities for it so the commonApp essay is their only way of telling their story.
We are a small team of five and two of us, including me, are responsible for reading the students’ drafts and making comments. It’s a tricky job because you don’t want to interfere with the student’s writing style and how they present themselves but rather let them know whether what they’re trying to communicate is clear to the reader.
I hope that answers your question.
This is an amazing project, and the fact that you’re giving back to the same program that helped you is remarkable. Considering getting into a US college in itself is not so easy, not to talk about helping other people get in, I was wondering what were some of the challenges you faced?
Thanks, Edem! I appreciate your comment.
I guess the biggest challenge we all faced this summer is having to do everything virtually. For college consulting programs particularly, it’s very important to know the people you’re working with very well before you help them communicate who they are in their applications and it’s difficult to have this kind of connection behind screens.
Our team was very accessible at most times, but it still wasn’t ideal.
As I mentioned to Prince in the comment below, another challenge is that many forms/documents that colleges ask for cannot be obtained in the camp, so we have to work together to find alternatives. I mostly drew on my own experience, but different colleges have different policies and some are more understanding than others.
Things weren’t ideal and there was a lot of trial and error, but we learned how to better deal with these challenges in the coming years.
Thank you for your question!
Did you build the project from the ground up? If so I applaud the planning and preparation involved. Did you consider supporting them in the non-academical side of the application as well? I was lucky enough to be part of a similar programme in the UK and I remember that, although the essay and ACT preparation were amazing, where I needed the most help was with the rest. The programme managers really drilled down the importance of ED and helped us with the financial aid application and I am not sure I would be here if they hadn’t. As the cohort started working on their applications in the summer, I am assuming they are nearly finished by now. I would advise to emphasise the importance of ED to them and maybe consider helping them with financial aid (or similar applications specific to refugees), of course if you have the time/resources to do so.
Hi Prince,
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I think you’re absolutely right. The non-academic part of the application is tricky on its own and unfortunately, our students have to face extra complications. About the FA application you brought up, for example, it’s hard to obtain official statements on salary or expenses in the refugee camp. Ideally, we guide the students through the whole process, with a lesser focus on academics and more on how to deal with these complications by drawing on my own experience.
Great and helpful work Nour!
Thank you Pentsok!
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