January 2021

(from Inside HigherEd)

(from CollegeBoard)

The increasingly difficult access to testing combined with the rise of test-optional policies have led to the reduction of SAT’s testing suite including the removal of Subject Tests effective immediately and the removal of the elective SAT Essay as of June 2021. Anyone registered for these tests will be refunded.
College Board is instead going to Invest in AP Exams and Virtual SAT offerings.

(from Inside HigherEd)

Summary: Application numbers were increased at highly selective schools including the Ivy league. However, it is likely that admission rates will decrease overall at selective schools given these rises in applicant volumes. Unfortunately, schools that service low-income students saw declines in admission rates.

(Blogger JR Stephens)

Summary: The 2021 Admissions Season will be unlike prior years with some stark contrasts - there are already rises in application numbers to elite schools causing declines in admission rates that were already extremely selective, perhaps driven by test-optional policies. In contrast, schools that serve lower-income students are seeing enrollment and application uncertainty.

(Forbes)

What does all of this news mean for Class of 2022 & Class of 2023 college applicants?

Be the best student that you can be! As always, your high school transcript and recommendations are central to your application. They show long term progress, ongoing academic choices, and how you behave in a classroom/academic setting. Subject matter mastery can still be demonstrated in coursework selection (at school and/or enrichment) and/or AP exam scores, while writing mastery will be shared through application essays and/or graded writing samples.

You must show schools that you are interested in them! Given that applicants lack access to campus visits and personal interaction with schools, it has become more important to create virtual “demonstrated interest” and impactful “Why My School?” essays based on research. Trust me when I say that colleges are tracking your interactions electronically!

In talking about COVID impacts, Admissions officers valued community engagement & contributions - ways that you helped others and how you managed genuine hardships.

Test optional policies will likely continue, and become mainstream. Here is an intersting read on this topic.

I predict that for those students opting to submit SAT/ACT testing, there is the potential for test averages to rise at selective schools given that, in a test-optional world, only the strongest test-takers will elect to submit scores thus inflating averages.

Admission Officers, who are traditionally overworked and often spending only minutes on each application, may now have even less time with each case….this is an unfortunate reality for all applicants.

As always, please contact me with any questions. Happy reading!