300+ Students Apply to Jóvenes Adelante for Higher Education Support

By Don Krim

It is only 48 hours before we hit the deadline for applications and the numbers are making me nervous: only 45 high school - prepa - applicants, only 35 university (those already attending.)

“Where is everybody?”

I know the goal of any non-profit (NGO) should be obsolescence, to be no longer needed. But the question runs through my mind: “Are more and more local Mexican youth abandoning bachelor’s study (licenciatura) in favor of technical degrees(TSU) or just vocational training?”

It makes no sense: In a process change, Jóvenes Adelante already conducted 15 minute initial interviews with almost 200 high school (prepa) applicants, and 150 or so were invited to continue the process. Close to 200 applicants and 100 of their parents attended our Congress 3.0 and orientation.

“Did we scare them off? And where are the university applicants?”

We have history and data to draw upon. We know the trends: early-birds, and then a burst of last minute applicants.

“Maybe that is what we are seeing - but because we changed our process a bit this year, perhaps the way that shows up is different.”

Breathe, Don. At this point, we only know what we know – not what we don’t. The process change had been driven by previous poor results of prepa applicants at the conclusion of our robust 6 month application and selection process. The main cause: lack of career clarity and maturity. “Could we reach that conclusion sooner?”

This is where data collection becomes important for an NGO. Data that only illuminates who follows through with an offered service, is inherently incomplete data – it is evidence of what in scientific research is called  “selection bias.” It tells us nothing about all those who did not follow through.

So we hit the phones. Every prepa applicant is called:

“Are you having any technical problems with the application, or online? Is there anything that is unclear?”

Slowly the data reveals a different story:

This class of applicants are being more diligent than in the past, they want to be clearer, to do their best, not just guess. And they are struggling with the software for budgeting. Another day goes by. We are now only 7.5 hours away. It is 4:35pm, the deadline is ll:59pm. The numbers are rising: 104 university applicants, 78 prepa. Our selection process coordinator is not concerned.

The clock ticks and the deadline passes. The final results: 314 applicants: 203 university, 111 prepa.  Those are great numbers, assuming the quality is high. To meet our selection goal of supporting over 50 2026 students (that includes up to 10 of our graduates pursuing a master’s degree,) we will need to select around 15% of these, not including backups who might be wait-listed. That is higher than our average intake which is closer to 10%, but if the quality of the prepa students overall is higher, then all will be well. The prepa students seem to be stronger this year, defying the previous stats.

How well did we really do this year? We will not know for another few months. If prepa students again are rejected in a later stage of the process, we would have to ask ourselves different questions. “Have we been actually rejecting prepa applicants at the end-stages of the selection process for a different, still unidentified reason?” More likely, the larger pool that includes more experienced university students alters the equation - things become more relative. This phenomenon occurs for individual interviewers, only “seeing” 20 out of 200 finalists. My internal ranking is just that: internal to my 20. I don’t have the full picture. That is why we have a final selection team that is separate from the interviewer team (except for last minute interviewer absences.)

Then there is the best case scenario: year-after-year of setting higher expectations is yielding ever-better results, better applicants.

At the end of the day, the only thing more painful for Jóvenes Adelante (or any NGO) than not reaching our constituents successfully, is having to turn some away for lack of capacity. That pain runs deep. We never select a student without financial commitment from a sponsor in place. Stay tuned.

Don Krim is the President of Jóvenes Adelante and Development Director. For more information on how to support a 2026 student, he can be reached at donkrim@jovenesadelante.org.

Our website: www.jovenesadelante.org