The BranchOut! Blog

On November 16th, 2023, Columbia University was gracious enough to bring their Essay Writing Workshop to BranchOut! friends and families. One of the Assistant Directors of Undergraduate Admissions at Columbia University, Mr. Benny Rivera, led this workshop and Q&A session. Attended by high school seniors fine-tuning their essays and high school juniors just beginning to brainstorm essay topics, the event was marked by key insights to the purpose of the college essay. Flyer fr

This year, BranchOut! was honored to host admissions officers from 14 different colleges and universities for two informative College Admissions Webinars. Most recently, admissions officers from Stanford, MIT, Rice, Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, and Dartmouth joined us on September 26th, 2023. A testament to the wealth of knowledge each of these admissions officers possesses, they were able to answer over 50 audience questions! These questions included topics ranging

Calling all BranchOut! members: past and present! You and your families are invited to celebrate BranchOut!'s 8th Anniversary on Saturday, October 7th at 7pm - 9pm ET. Join us as we celebrate all the new growth and success you have helped BranchOut! achieved over the past year. Join us as we celebrate you! This virtual event will function as both a Celebration for current BranchOut! mentors and an Open House for those interested in joining next summer. This event features...

BranchOut! hosted its summer 2023 picnic to celebrate the end of a successful summer on Sunday, August 13, 2023, at the Cabin John Regional Park in Bethesda, Maryland with 60+ students, alumni, and parents in attendance. We want to thank the student leaders who worked very hard to make the event happen. Below are their post-event reflections. "The BranchOut! Summer 2023 picnic was incredibly moving as I got to see how much we’ve managed to accomplish across all of BranchOut!’

BranchOut! hosted its summer 2023 picnic to celebrate the end of a successful summer on Sunday, August 13, 2023, at the Cabin John Regional Park in Bethesda, Maryland with 60+ students, alumni, and parents in attendance. We were excited to see many of BranchOut!’s mentors at the picnic, meeting other mentors and students whom they have worked with online this summer. Mentors made quick friends with each other, bonding in discussions and playing games like frisbee and mafia. T