It’s Not You, It’s Them

At this time of year, social media overflows with posts of X kid with XY stats who did not get into Z college. Ivy Day is filled with disappointment because, hello, the HUGE majority of kids do not get accepted to these colleges. Harvard’s acceptance rate last year was 3%, and more colleges than ever before have acceptance rates that are in the single digits. Kids are asking, “What more could I have done?”. 

We have spent a lot of time talking about all the things students can do to help their chances of admission to highly selective colleges. Today, we are going to say that after you have done those things, studied hard in rigorous courses, participated in activities you feel passionate about, worked to be helpful to others you care about, spent time preparing good applications, studying for, and excelling at your standardized tests, the answer is NOTHING. 

Yes, I said nothing. It is time to cut yourself a break and realize this is not all about you. It is about these colleges and their institutional priorities. Colleges are businesses and operate like such. They are concerned about putting together a whole class. Highly selective colleges have tons of qualified applicants and can literally fill their classes ten times over with incredibly accomplished, amazingly smart, kind, and wonderful students. At colleges like Harvard, the majority of applicants have perfect or near-perfect test scores and grades. This is the elusive part of college admissions that so many students and families find so upsetting. This is not a simple equation of hard work = reward. So what does this all mean? What are often some institutional priorities?
 
  

A) Colleges need to manage their enrollment.
   

1. Colleges have had a huge spike in applications since the pandemic. This year applications to the Common Application’s 834 returning member colleges increased another 7% for a total number of applications through February 1st of nearly 7.5 million. Since 2020, the number of applications to Common App institutions has risen by over 39%, and the number of applicants has risen by almost 28%. Today more than 1,000 colleges are using the Common Application compared to only 400 colleges in 2010. Additionally, since COVID, there has been increased virtual access to students, and tools like The College Board’s Landscape have provided colleges with important data about high schools they might not be as familiar with. This has allowed colleges to reach out to more underserved populations both domestically and internationally. Simply put, more students are applying to colleges through the Common App, and because of that and the ripple effects of dropped admissions rates, some students are applying to more colleges than their counterparts did 4 years ago.
   
   

2. Colleges are trying to have a set number of students in each class. Their class size is determined by many things, but among them might be: how much money they need to earn from tuition; how much space they have for students to live on campus; how large their other classes are; how many students they feel they can comfortably educate and serve. Hitting this exact number is tricky, especially these days. Colleges are making educated guesses on which applicants that they have accepted might actually attend and become part of their class. This delicate calculation is the job of a college’s enrollment manager. Some years, colleges do a great job predicting this number, and some years, they do not. Some colleges might have over-enrolled or under-enrolled last year or for more than one year, so they need to take fewer or more students overall this year. In the past two years American University’s application numbers dropped from 20,668 for the Class of 2026 to 18,624 for the Class of 2028. So roughly a 10% decrease in apps, but American’s acceptance rate rose by 17% because they took 29% more students, (10,243 this year vs 7,937 for the Class of 2026). Conversely, Johns Hopkins’ application numbers have been fairly steady for a few years. For the Class of 2025, 38,725 applications were received. This year, they received 38,100 applications, but their admissions rate was lower. That is because they have steadily been accepting fewer students to get roughly the same size class. For their Class of 2025, they accepted 2,476 students, and for their Class of 2028, they accepted 1,749 students or 29% fewer students than they admitted just 3 years ago.
   
   

3. So, why would a college take more or fewer students than in previous years? A college is managing its yield. Yield is the rate at which a college’s accepted students choose to enroll. When I see numbers like this, I think that American’s yield must be dropping and Johns Hopkins yield must be rising. Another example is Boston University. BU’s acceptance rate this year was 11%, pretty consistent with last year’s 10.7% acceptance rate but way lower than its 18% acceptance rate for the Class of 2025. BU received more apps this year and last year (78,634 and 80,792) versus 75,733 for the Class of 2025, but that doesn’t fully explain the significant drop in acceptance rates. The story here is how much their yield must have risen. They accepted 13,884 students to the Class of 2025 and only 8,414 students to the Class of 2028. That is a 39% drop in the number of admitted students in 3 years! According to Admissions Blog, Kelly Walter, BU’s VP for Enrollment and Director of Admissions, said last year, “ since we have been significantly overenrolled for each of the past two years, it was absolutely critical for us to plan for yet another increase in yield. As a result, we had no choice but to significantly decrease the number of students to whom we offered admission.”
   
   

4. Other things can come into play when a college over-enrolls - a college might not have adequate housing for so many students. The College of Charleston recently sent out a counselor communication stating that because of their enormous growth in applications, 157% overall since 2019, they are becoming even more selective than they anticipated. Last year, their yield increased more than they expected and they enrolled their largest class in history. Their first-year retention rate has also increased, and now they do not have enough on-campus housing. These three factors– increased applications, increased yield rate, and increased retention rate— have prompted them to enroll a smaller class.
   
   

5. To manage enrollment, a college might enroll a large percentage of their class EA, ED I or ED II. Last year, Middlebury admitted 70-80% of their class through their ED 1 and ED II rounds. (70% for Sept start, 80% if you include their Feb starts.) Emory admitted 70% of their class ED 1 and ED II. Penn State filled up their entire University Park campus with EA applicants this year, and the University of Maryland, College Park typically admits 90% of their applicants EA. At these colleges and many others, it simply becomes way harder to get accepted regular decision.
   
   

6. Colleges must balance their budgets.
   
   

• Some colleges may need to accept more full-pay students to help them balance their budgets and/or achieve other goals.
  
  

• Some colleges are prioritizing Pell-eligible or low-income students. Many highly selective universities are partnering with community based organizations like QuestBridge College Match Programs to find these students. This year Duke admitted 97 students ED through Questbridge, which is almost double the number they admitted last year.
  
  

• Some colleges prioritize letting in the majority of students with some type of tuition discount. This is the very concept of merit aid. An example is Lake Forest College, which offers merit aid to 100% of accepted students.
  
  

• Some public colleges must prioritize in-state students. For example, the state of North Carolina mandates that any UNC campus can only have a maximum of 18% of its incoming class coming from out of state. Some states auto-admit a large percentage of in-state students. A good example of this is the University of Texas, Austin.
  
  

• Some public colleges may need out-of-state students or, moreover, need money from out-of-state student tuition. A good example of this is the University of Vermont. Vermont does not have enough students in-state to fill its flagship university.
  
  

• Some colleges prioritize certain groups like military families with things like yellow ribbon benefits and children of academic employees with tuition exchange programs. As an example, SMU offers full tuition scholarships to 100 students via yellow ribbon benefits.
  
  

• Colleges will often accept students with connections to VIPs or Development. 
  
  

• Some colleges will prioritize Legacy students. Duke has said it will continue to do this. Some colleges and/or states are banning Legacy admissions. John Hopkins, Amherst, Wesleyan, VA Tech, the entire UC System, and the State of Colorado among others, currently ban legacy admissions. Virginia is the most recent state to ban legacy admissions in its public universities. The state of CT has legislation pending to ban legacy preference in all of its colleges and universities, public and private.
  
  

B) Colleges have athletic teams, school bands, school choirs, debate teams, and theater productions. 

1. Colleges might need to fill an athletic spot.
   
   

2. Colleges might need a student who plays an obscure instrument.
   
   

3. College might need a student with all sorts of special talents.
   
   

C) Colleges want students in all of their different majors. 

1. This might mean that certain popular majors are much harder to get into than others. For example, Computer Science is one of the hardest majors in the country right now. Some majors, like Nursing, are not only popular but also constrained by the availability of clinical space.
   
   

2. Some colleges might need to consider that a department is understaffed or unprepared to take students at this specific time.
   
   

3. Some colleges will prioritize certain genders for certain majors. For example, male students might have a strong advantage in fine arts and fashion. We visited the University of San Diego last year, and they spoke proudly of their efforts to enroll more women engineers.
   
   

D) Most colleges want to have a diversified class of students. 

1. Colleges want students with diversified interests in and out of the classroom.
   
   

2. By now, you’ve probably heard about last summer’s Supreme Court ruling against the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (and, by extension, other colleges with similar programs). All colleges, except the military academies, currently ban affirmative action in admissions. Some words from the Court’s opinion that we believe are being closely followed by college admissions offices: "nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. But, despite the dissent's assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today." Because universities are free to consider “an applicant’s discussion,” we saw more application essay questions that aimed to learn about the ways in which a student’s race or background has shaped their experience. Most colleges are still committed to creating an ethnically diverse class.
   
   

3. Some colleges want a regionally diverse group from all 50 states and multiple international locations. Colleges might be trying to expand their footprint regionally, nationally, or internationally. They might prioritize one location over another. Every time I am on a college tour, I laugh at the requests for students from the Dakotas.
   
   

4. Some colleges might want students from more rural or underserved locations. Several top colleges including Yale, Harvard and Columbia have joined the Small Town and Rural Students College Network (STARS.) Many colleges are seeking out students by using databases like the College Board’s Landscape which gives colleges a breakdown of the demographics of a high school’s population.
   
   

5. Some colleges want a good gender balance and prioritize men over women or vice versa. This article shows how at Brown, men have an advantage in the admissions process because Brown simply gets way more applications from women. In general, for the highly selective colleges, we have seen men having an easier time than women. An exception to this would be the UC system, which does not consider gender.
   
   

6. Some colleges want a class that is diversified in sexual orientation, so they might prioritize underrepresented groups like LGBTQ students.
   
   

7. Some colleges prioritize first-generation students or students who are re-entering college. The UCs are a good example of this.
   
   

8. Some colleges, especially religious ones, may want a certain percentage of their students from their specific denomination/churches.
   
   

9. Some colleges prioritize students who were in the military. 
   
   

E) Some colleges prioritize their relationships with certain high schools. 

F) Some colleges are prioritizing rankings and making decisions to try and maximize their place on US News and World Report. This is part of a larger conversation and probably best left for another day, but when you have time, look into how US News and World Report ranks colleges. Much of that data can be manipulated through enrollment tactics, including yield protection. 

The true trick to acceptance for many students is when they fulfill multiple priorities of a college. For now, maybe when you start looking at colleges, you can also consider their institutional priorities. First, do those values line up with your own? Check out a college’s mission statement. Does it resonate with you? If you think a college’s priorities align with yours, maybe you are a good fit. If so, then yes, please do apply. Spend time on your applications and essays. Put your best foot forward, but realize you can only worry about what you can control. A college will consider the whole class. For those who have already applied and those who have yet to apply, please remember this: if the decision is no, it is often not you, it is them!

To Test or Not to Test?

I want to thank my colleague Meg Joyce for co-writing this blog post with me.

Test scores and test-optional admissions, which have been in the spotlight for several years now, are getting renewed attention as of late. Many colleges have still not decided if they will become permanently test-optional for admissions. Instead, they are tracking how their test-optional students do once they are on campus, and they will use that data to make a final decision eventually. Others have made big announcements in the last few weeks. This week,  Yale announced that they will require testing but that they are flexible on which type of testing, SAT, ACT, AP, or IB exam score. This is a new definition of the testing required and one we would love to see more widely implemented. That said, it is not without its challenges. For example, what if a student has some AP scores they want to disclose but not others? Yale has said if you want to submit AP scores in lieu of SAT or ACT scores they would like to see all of them. They do provide room for a student to provide an explanation of their scores. What if an IB student does not have any official IB scores yet? Yale has said they will not take predicted IB scores. February 5th, Dartmouth has reinstated a requirement for all applicants to have ACT or SAT scores. Both colleges will start their new testing policy with current high school juniors, the university class of 2029. 

Yale and Dartmouth both stated their belief, backed up by studies they have done, that scores are more predictive of academic success at college than high school GPA. In the past, Brown has referred to a similar study, so it will be curious to see if they also reinstate testing requiring. 

At the same time, other highly selective colleges have announced in recent weeks their intention to stay test optional. Among them are the University of Michigan and Northwestern. Yet both of those colleges according to their common data sets, have about 3/4 of all of their applicants submitting a SAT or ACT score. They also, in our experience, like applicants to have scores unless they fulfill an important institutional priority. For more on institutional priorities and how they affect admissions, please read our past blog post, The Admissions Process is Not Necessarily About You. Duke also came out with an announcement this week that said they will no longer assign a numerical score to standardized test scores, SAT or ACT or students’ essays. Yet 93% of Duke applicants submit standardized testing, and according to Duke, scores and the content of their essays will still be a part of their admissions review. 

We have also seen some highly selective colleges that were more open to applicants without scores in the first year or two of COVID have shifted in the most recent admissions cycles, increasingly seeming to favor applicants who submit scores. Last year, for example, 60% of Tufts’ admitted students had submitted scores, compared to 40% who had not. At Boston College, 2/3 of admitted students submitted scores. Some other schools that are admitting disproportionate amounts of test submitters are Colgate, Emory, Davidson, Notre Dame, UVA, Boston University, and Wellesley.

Perhaps not surprisingly, demand for SAT and ACT testing has been rising. It is not back to pre-COVID levels, but it is up 10-20% from previous years. For starters, students have adapted to the new normal. They are booking seats well in advance, sometimes as soon as testing registration opens up online, and they are prepared for last-minute cancellations at testing centers. Students are factoring disruption into their testing plans. But it is more than that. We are moving to a dual world, where often geographic location and the selectivity level of the schools on students’ college lists is driving their testing strategy. 

Public universities in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee have started requiring scores (or they never stopped requiring them). Large public flagships continue to see applications soar; it is significantly more difficult to gain admission to many of them without a score, even if tests are not technically required. Some of this has to do with an underlying preference for test scores, and some of it is the practical need to make blunt cuts based on grades, rigor, and test scores so they can process tens of thousands of applications. Notable exceptions to this are the UC and Cal State systems, which are test blind. In general, far fewer students submit test scores to colleges on the West Coast.

Some popular public universities in the Southeast, including Tennessee and Auburn, base their merit aid awards on test scores, often with a matrix that families can view on their websites. Students with these schools on their lists are financially motivated to take the SAT or ACT and to do as well as they can on them. At the Ivy Plus colleges (the Ivies plus University of Chicago, Duke, Stanford, and MIT), approximately 85% of students who apply are submitting very high scores. To see what percentage of students submit scores, check their most recent Common Data Set, which you can usually find easily with a Google search. You can find this information under section C9, but remember this information, like all information from the National Center for Education Statistics, can have a year or sometimes even two year lag. 

Currently, MIT, Georgetown, Dartmouth, and now Yale, to some extent, require scores. At these and other most selective colleges, every piece of the application matters. To truly do well on these exams, students have to spend a lot of time preparing. Depending upon the schools on their list and how they have fared on the PSAT or practice tests, it might be better for some students to prioritize their time elsewhere. Certain colleges are more committed to test-optional admission than others; these are typically colleges that have been test-optional for a long time and not just because of the pandemic. Some of our favorite colleges admit the vast majority of students who are not submitting scores. 

We have heard admission directors at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Rochester, and the University of Miami state that 80% of test scores are just affirming their decisions, 10% of scores give students a boost, and 10% hurt. In this day and age of grade inflation, our goal is for our students to land in that top 90%, and not the bottom 10%. How does a student know whether to test and whether to submit their scores? Like everything in college admissions, the answer is: it depends. 

We advise everyone to take a mock SAT and a mock ACT – using real tests. Set up an appointment with your guidance counselor to discuss the results and how they relate to the colleges you are thinking about applying to. For example, students who are applying to highly selective colleges where the vast majority of applicants submit high scores and to state flagships in the southeast where scores are required should prep and test. Everyone else should seek help evaluating if it is worth the time to prepare and test. Some students do not need to go through the process and emotional stress of testing. Questions these students should be asking: 

• Is my high school transcript strong on its own? 
  

• Will it add undue stress and emotional toll on me to stress? ( We are very cognizant that one in two high school students have experienced some mental health challenges, and student well-being must be our top priority.) 
  

• Do I have the time to really prepare? (This is a test that is proven to benefit those students who prepare.) 
  

• Do I think I will get to a score that is high enough to be additive to my high school transcript and overall profile? (Many colleges score ranges have increased to very unrealistic numbers for the vast majority of applicants because only those with top scores are submitting them. Keep in mind you only need to be in range; sometimes even a score in the bottom 25% of the score range is additive.) 
  

We would really like you to read The Misguided War on the SAT. This article does a great job exploring what the role of standardized testing could/should be in the college application process, especially in light of grade inflation (according to the Higher Education Research Institute’s Freshman Survey in 2020, 68.10% of first-year students at 4-year universities had an A or A- average in high school, and we have heard that number has climbed to over 80% in 2022) and the desire to enroll diverse classes. We have all heard a lot about unequal SAT scores according to race and class. Is it the tests that are biased, or are the tests reflecting unequal circumstances? If scores are used as one factor among many, they could help identify qualified applicants from a variety of backgrounds, especially when considered in light of access to activities and academic supports.

We believe most schools will remain test-optional, and admissions offices will decide what role scores will play in their admissions processes. Currently, over 80% of colleges are test optional or test blind for SAT or ACT tests. Check out the list here at Fairtest. I make that distinction to say test blind/free for SAT or ACT because many colleges still consider AP or IB scores even when they are test blind. Test scores were at the heart of the Supreme Court case banning race conscious admissions, application volume tends to soar, and colleges can more flexibly fulfill college needs when scores are not required. These are reasons we think many colleges will be cautious about requiring them again. Remember, the majority of colleges accept most applicants, and with thoughtful planning, every student should have several colleges to choose from that they are excited about.

Lastly, at the end of last year, Aly recorded a podcast for Tests and the Rest with Rob Alexander, the Vice Provost and University Dean of Enrollment Management at the University of Rochester. If you are weighing the decision to apply with or without an ACT or SAT score, you might want to listen. What do Truly Test Optional Colleges Focus On?

There is Something About A College Campus Covered in Snow…

February and spring breaks are great times to visit campuses. For northern colleges, if you love them in the snow and cold, you will always love them. If you are visiting down south or out west, it is a great escape from the rough weather.

Here are some things to consider when planning college visits: 

1) Always try to book an official tour and information session. 

2) If all of the official tours and/or information sessions are filled but you still decide to visit somewhere, please, at a minimum, stop by the admissions office and sign in. It is important for a college to know that you have made the effort to visit. Demonstrated Interest is very important to colleges, and a visit is a great sign of demonstrated interest.

3) Is there a particular major or extracurricular that you are interested in? Reach out to a professor for a certain class or the head of the club you like. Maybe you can meet with them or sit in on a class while you are on campus. Maybe you like a certain sport and have time to watch a game. If food is very important to you, maybe the college allows outsiders to eat in the dining hall. It is a great way to check out current students and see how good the food is.  

4) Don’t be afraid to stop and ask current students questions. Mom and Dad, sometimes it is helpful if you do this for your child. I know it is not always “cool,” but it is usually a very valuable way to get information. Is the food good? Are the dorms nice? How hard is it to get the classes you want? Is the campus overcrowded? Are students living in triples or waiting in line for an excessively long time to eat in the dining hall? What are the hot topics on campus right now? What do you wish you knew about this college when you apply? Let the conversation take you anywhere. Asking for directions is always a great way to start a conversation. 

5) Make sure to explore not just the campus but the surrounding community as well. Check out College Trips and Tips for ideas on what to see and where to eat. 

6) Take time to explore any other colleges that might be close by. You never know when you will like something totally different than what you expected. 

7) Most importantly, take notes on every college you see. Keep your top priority questions in mind when you do this. You do not have to write things down while you are in the middle of your tour, but when you sit down for lunch or get back in your car, jot down a few notes on your phone. It will help you to remember what you liked and did not like about each college. You will also really appreciate having those notes when you have to write your  “why us?” supplement for that college. 

Questions to ask tour guide/students: 

•What do you like best about your college? 

•When did you last meet individually with a teacher? Is it easy to get help from your professors?  

•What is the glue that binds social life and students together (sports, Greek life, academics, outdoors?) 

•Can you tell me more about the advising system? And how does this college support undecided 

students as they explore possible majors? 

•How large was the biggest class you have had? Have you had many of that size? 

•Do you do a lot of group projects? 

•Do you have trouble getting into the classes that you want or need for graduation? 

•Is it common to interact with students from different backgrounds? 

•What clubs are the most popular; is there one type of activity that dominates? 

•What kind of events draw a crowd?  

•What do students do at night - parties, games, performing arts, what are parties like? 

•How many nights/week do students go out? 

•Can you tell me something about this college that really surprised you when you got here? 

•If you could change anything about your college, what would it be? 

•What are the big issues on campus these days? 

•How is the housing? Is it a stressful experience figuring out where you're going to live each year? 

•If the school was given a pot of money, what would you like the school to do with it? 

•Do you need to apply or interview for clubs, or can anyone join? 

•Is this an intense place or more laid back? 

•Is this a strong community? Is there a lot of school spirit? 

•Have you worked with alumni or the campus career office to get internships? 

Please remember that visits are the best way to decide if you like somewhere, and they are a great show of demonstrated interest. ENJOY!

It Takes A Village

The early results for the AV Class of 2028.

Before we get to the results, I want you all to realize that everyone will experience some disappointment and heartache in this process. For colleges it is all about creating a class and who fits what they need for their class. For more about this please read our blog post on institutional priorities from last year. Best fit makes it often hard to predict which college will say yes and which will not. This year we had incredible students offered spots in highly impacted majors like Computer Science at top programs, who were deferred from slightly less selective places. It can also be about the best fit to major. Another student was offered a spot at a highly selective public flagship with a single-digit acceptance rate for out-of-state students in a highly sought-after major, but that same student was denied or deferred at similar, less selective institutions. This process is not for the faint of heart, and we want everyone to realize they are not alone.

At this point in the process, slightly more than half of our class have decided where they are enrolling next year. Every student in our senior class has been accepted to at least two colleges they would be happy to attend, with many more decisions still to come. Our students have been accepted to approximately 100 colleges, and they have received over $5,000,000 in merit aid.

We are SO PROUD of our special Admissions Village class of 2028! These incredible young people researched each college on their list and really focused on finding their best-fits. This college list is as diverse as the students themselves and represents a lot of hard work. 

Thank you to all who helped make this early round such a success. It takes a village!

Appalachian State University - Auburn University - Belmont University - Bennington College - Bentley University - Binghamton University - Boston College - Brandeis University - Brown University - Case Western Reserve University - Claremont McKenna College - Clemson University - Colby University - Colgate University - College of Charleston - College of the Holy Cross - Colorado School of Mines - Colorado State University - Cornell University - Dartmouth College - Drexel University - Duke University - Elon University - Fordham University - Furman University - George Washington University - Georgetown University - Georgia Institute of Technology - High Point University - Hofstra University - Indiana University - Ithaca College - James Madison University - Lafayette College - Lehigh University -Lewis & Clark College- Loyola Maryland University - Loyola Marymount University - Loyola University New Orleans - Macalester College - McGill University - Miami University, Oxford - Michigan State University - Montclair State University - Muhlenberg College - NYU Shanghai - Northeastern University - University of Notre Dame - The Ohio State University - Pennsylvania State University - Purdue University - Reed College - Rhodes College - Rice University - Rutgers University - Sacred Heart University - Santa Clara University - Savannah College of Art & Design - Southern Methodist University - SUNY Binghamton - SUNY Purchase - Texas Christian University - Temple University - Texas A&M - Tulane University - - Union College - University College London - University of Alabama - University of Chicago - University of Colorado, Boulder - University of Delaware - University of Denver - University of Georgia - University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign - University of Iowa - University of Kentucky - University of Maryland - University of Massachusetts - University of Miami - University of Michigan - University of New Hampshire - University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - University of Oregon - University of Pennslyvania - University of Pittsburgh - University of Puget Sound - University of Richmond - University of San Francisco - University of South Carolina - University of St Andrews, Scotland - University of Tennessee - University of Texas, Austin - University of Vermont - University of Virginia - University of Wisconsin - Wake Forest University - Wellesley College - Western Connecticut State University - Williams College

Fall in love with your classes for next year!

Happy Valentine’s Day. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your course selection for next year.

What classes should I sign up for next year?

A student's classes are often a big factor in college admissions decisions. 

1. All students should take a challenging course load. This is especially important to do in subjects you are considering pursuing in college. While colleges like students to take rigorous courses, they also want you to show maturity and not take on more than you can handle. In general, challenge but do not overwhelm yourself. Take classes where you can get a B or higher. 

2. Colleges like you to continue to take classes in all 5 core subjects all 4 years. English, Math, Science, History, and Foreign Language. Highly selective colleges expect you will take all 5 subjects all 4 years. These days, they want poets to be physicists and engineers to write poetry, even better if they write poetry in a foreign language or two. 

3. Take classes in subjects that interest you. Colleges like to see you dive deep into areas of interest, especially if you are considering them as a course of study in college. Also, you will always have better results in classes you want to take. 

4. This is a general guide and you should adapt this as it is right for you. 

So what does this really all mean:

• Most colleges would prefer to see a B in an AP or Honors class versus an A in an easier class.
  

• The more selective the college, the more rigorous your course load should be when applying. For example, highly selective colleges like to see students with at least AP Calculus AB and Physics, even those students not studying STEM fields. Business Schools want students to have taken Calculus and Statistics.
  

• Highly selective and selective colleges expect students to take the most rigorous course load their high school offers. That means a lot of APs if they are offered at your high school. Colleges usually get a school profile from your high school and they will realize if your high school limits how many APs a student can take and when they take them. Or for that matter if your high school does not even have APs. That said, to give you an idea, the middle 50% of accepted students at the University of Georgia have taken 7-12 APs. We have heard at some even more selective colleges the average number of APs for accepted students is even higher.
  

• Foreign language is better if it is the same language all 4 years. For highly selective colleges, it is good if you can get to at least the AP level of your foreign language.
  

• Sciences with a lab component are more rigorous than Sciences without.
  

• If you really hate language and are terrible at it, most colleges only require 2 or 3 years of a language.
  

Please keep in mind that classes you decide to take earlier in high school often determine what courses you will take as you progress through the years. It is hard to jump from all regular classes freshman year to all AP courses senior year. Try and think of your long-term goals at the beginning of high school and plan accordingly. 

Lastly, remember all of these rules can be broken. Colleges want to see you excited and engaged in what you are studying. it is Valentine’s Day; PLEASE take classes in subjects you love and are curious to explore more.

Please reach out with any questions and also check out this podcast I recorded with Tests and the Rest on course selection for highly selective colleges.

The One Thing We Can Be Certain Of Is Continued Uncertainty

Today’s blog was written by my colleague and good friend Meg Joyce. Please see our “About Us” page if you want to know more about Meg.

By now, you’ve probably heard about last week’s Supreme Court ruling against the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (and by extension, other colleges with similar programs). This ruling was anticipated, and colleges have largely remained silent over the past several months as to what they were planning to do if/when the judgment came pass, other than to confirm their commitment to diversity. It’s worth noting that nine states - California (1996), Washington (1998), Florida (1999), Michigan (2006), Nebraska (2008), Arizona (2010), New Hampshire (2012), Oklahoma (2012), and Idaho (2020) – already had bans on affirmative action in place. Military academies were exempted from the change on the grounds that they need a diverse group of leaders graduating because they will be leading diverse groups of soldiers.

Until this Supreme Court ruling, the idea was that in states where affirmative action had been permitted, public and private colleges and universities that receive federal moneys had an interest in the educational benefits that a racially diverse student body provides. That interest was justified only if race operated as a plus and as one factor among many being considered by admissions committees. A time limit meant to correspond with how long the country would need affirmative action was in place as well. 

So what does the end of race-conscious admissions mean for college admissions? The Supreme Courts ruling really only affects selective college admissions. The vast majority of the almost 4,000 colleges in our country admit almost all students who of apply. For selective colleges, it is too soon to know, but I want to review some of the possible differences I have been hearing about. 

First, some words in the Court’s opinion that I believe will be closely followed by college admissions offices: "nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. But, despite the dissent's assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today." Because universities are free to consider “an applicant’s discussion,” we can probably expect to see more application essay questions that aim to learn about the ways in which a student’s race has shaped their experience. We won’t have a complete list of college-specific supplemental essay prompts until August 1, when the Common App goes live for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle, but a few weeks ago, Tufts announced their (new) essay questions (choose one of the following three): 

·       How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?

·       It’s cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity?

·       Using a specific example or two, tell us about a way that you contributed to building a collaborative and/or inclusive community.

Likewise, students may want to write about their own very personal experiences with race in their personal statements. In a professional association group, I heard the term “pain Olympics” used with concern to refer to the way students may feel compelled to address how race affected their life. I do not intend this email to be political; that is not my job or role. But I do want to report on important events and the impact they may have on students. When students write about their experiences and the impact of those experiences, admissions committees are able to understand nuance and the student better, and this is at the heart of holistic admissions. At the same time, I am worried about the “pain Olympics” and the effect that could have on students, especially as we find ourselves in the midst of a teen mental health crisis. I want students to understand that writing about the sport that they love or the summer they spent playing board games with their grandparents are still great essay topics. Students should not feel advantaged or disadvantaged because they have suffered more or less. I hope students feel reassured by something an Assistant Director of Admissions at a large state university stated over the weekend: that the burden should rest on the professionals, the high school counselors who write school profiles and letters of recommendation, the admissions professionals who visit high schools, review applications, and make admissions decisions. He went on to say the burden should not be on students to lay out the particulars of how they were impacted by racism so that admissions teams can understand.

We could see creative solutions where colleges strive to foster diversity and inclusivity while maintaining high academic standards. For example, universities may increase their outreach efforts into areas with high socioeconomic needs, the theory being that attracting high socioeconomic needs students can aid ethnic diversity. Recruiting and enrolling these students is expensive and, therefore, more viable at some universities than others. 

Published rankings (USNWR in particular) use metrics that weight factors, such as graduation rates, which are at odds with having diverse student bodies. We’ve seen several law and medical schools drop out of the rankings this year on the grounds those metrics devalued schools where many students went on to public service jobs, so it is possible we see undergraduate institutions either drop out of the rankings or pressure the publishers of those rankings to change their formulas.

The practice of advantaging legacy applicants at many colleges is likely to feel the heat. Already, Amherst, Johns Hopkins University, and the State of Colorado, among others, have moved away from considering applicants’ legacy status. Many people feel that if we are going to remove any special consideration for race, we have got to do the same for legacies. Legacy admissions and other institutional priorities, such as admissions advantages for large donors and faculty children, are known to advantage white students. If those policies remain in place, minority applicants lose the one advantage they may have had while white applicants keep theirs. 

With race off the table, socioeconomic status may play a larger role as colleges look to enroll diverse classes. Therefore, early decision (ED) plans may also come under fire (though universities rely on them to help with enrollment management and to fill their institutional priorities). If admitted, early decision applicants lose the ability to compare financial aid packages. When large percentages of classes are filled in the ED rounds, diversity suffers.

Test-optional admissions could be here to stay. Literally overnight, colleges shifted to test-optional admissions during COVID, and most of those colleges have continued with the practice, either on a trial basis or permanently. Test scores were at the heart of the case before the Supreme Court, and it is therefore unlikely that colleges that are committed to diversity will return to requiring scores. In fact, more colleges may adopt test-blind admissions, where they do not see applicants’ scores so that future lawsuits cannot bring in test scores (we do expect there to be more lawsuits in the future as there is ambiguity because students are allowed to write about their race). When the University of California system went test blind in 2021, there were huge jumps in applications from underrepresented minorities, Black and Hispanic students in particular. For colleges that still accept test scores, minority applicants may feel pressure to submit high scores to support their applications. 

There is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen to race-based scholarships. Some of these scholarships were set up long ago, and the original donor is no longer here to advise on them. 

More public universities may establish auto-admit policies. Some states – Texas and California, in particular - automatically admit all students in the top X% of their high school’s graduating class to the state’s public university system and/or the state’s flagship (though oftentimes excluding popular majors). This can help get students from majority-minority high schools into the state’s top universities and add to diversity. More states may add similar mandates.

The bottom line is that we are all guessing and will be watching how things unfold over the coming months and years. Nine states have already been operating under a system that disallows race-based admissions. The diversity of Michigan and California’s colleges really suffered in the first ten years after they banned affirmative action. In California, test blind admissions really boosted their numbers, but they are still inconsistent with the state’s overall numbers at the most selective universities, in particular for Black students. A lot has been learned from those states’ experiences, and colleges will be better equipped today to attract and enroll diverse classes. Colleges are committed to diversity, and students say they, too, want diversity because everyone learns more/better in diverse classrooms.

The one thing we can be certain of is continued uncertainty, which is something we have been feeling acutely since the start of COVID. I will continue to advise students to apply to a range of colleges, to demonstrate interest, and to apply to more colleges than they would have a short time ago. I will advise some students to write about their experience as it pertains to race but not to engage in the pain Olympics. I will continue to put students’ well-being at the forefront of the process. The process is broken, but we can do our part to retain sanity and even some growth and joy in it.

Meg

P.S. - There was another big decision this week when the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s plan to forgive at least $10,000 of federal student loans for eligible borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year. I wish college in the US didn’t cost so much, this is another broken system. I hope to write more on this in the near future.

P.P.S.  Monday afternoon, after I finished this, three groups led by an activist group called Lawyers for Civil Rights, filed suit to end Legacy admissions at Harvard.

Some articles related to the Supreme Court’s decision

Five Ways College Admissions Could Change, The New York Times

How the Supreme Court Ruling Will Change Admissions, The Chronicle of Higher Education (you may need to sign up for a free subscription to access)

The Problem with Elite-College Admissions

https://apple.news/AOjgy-aIiRW6fzKdxb6A9ew

Supreme Court strikes down Biden's student loan relief plan and limits LGBTQ rights, NBC News

Some Schools See Opening in Affirmative-Action Ruling, Wall Street Journal

I Teach at an Elite College. Here’s a Look Inside the Racial Gaming of Admissions, The New York Times

Can Colleges Be Racially Diverse Without Affirmative Action? Experience Suggests No, Wall Street Journal

A Presentation to Professional Consultants on Institutional Priorities

We have been busy here at Admissions Village. Aly recently presented to the Independent Educational Consultants Professional Member roundtable on Institutional Priorities. We have included a recording of the presentation for all of you here. (You must download the presentation to get it to play.) Please listen. The big takeaway is that institutional priorities, particularly enrollment management, were at the heart of who got into many selective colleges last year. The difficulty is we can not predict what institutional priorities will be for each institution next year or beyond.

As we wait to hear from the Supreme Court about affirmative action in college admissions, the big question is, how do we fix a broken college admissions process to serve our students better?

Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor

We moved four years ago, and the house we bought has several flower beds. I have gotten the gardening bug. I like that it gets the dogs and me out of the house early every morning to water and see how everything is doing. I joined our town’s Facebook page for gardeners, and I enjoy the constant stream of fresh flowers in the house. We also inherited a vegetable garden. Long story short, the veggie garden needed an overhaul this year. We put in a new fence, brought in new soil, spent hours and hours of sweaty physical labor, and so far, we have produced four beautiful small strawberries! Ok, I know it is a bit much to do all of that work for four little berries of sweetness, but hopefully, this summer, we will have lots of fruits of our labor. The gardens are beautiful to look at, and a LOT of hard work. Two small things have made a big difference to our efforts. First was a small metal rake perfect for organizing all the new soil. It was shocking how long it took me with a shovel and how much I sweat trying to comb it all with our old plastic rake.

The next life-changing tool was a special nozzle for our hose. It popped up on social media as one of those must-have deals. I usually ignore them, but I had just come in from hours of watering, and my hand hurt from holding my thumb on the end of the hose. Amazon Prime to the rescue. Watering now takes me half the time it did before, and my hand and arm aches are gone. The past few weeks reminded me how much we need the right tools for any job. And because my mind is never that far from my students and the college process, I wanted to discuss the right tools for good college research and list building. 

There are almost 4,000 colleges and universities in this country alone. It is essential to keep an open mind as there are so many wonderful schools you might never have heard mentioned. To start, I like to tell students to visit an example of different types of schools. 

• A large public university
  

• A smaller private college 
  

• A mid-size university
  

For this first exercise, I do not want anyone to spend money but just visit what is close to where they live. For example, if you are a Connecticut resident, I might start by visiting the University of Connecticut, Connecticut College, and Quinnipiac University. Seeing these three different schools will give you a feel for the many factors that are important to you in the next phase of your college search.

Before researching specific schools, consider what appeals to you for college. 

• Do you want to be close or far away from home?

• Do you want a specific type of weather or area of the country?
  

• Do you want a particular major or area of study? 
  

• Do you want an urban, suburban, or rural campus? 
  

• Do you want a school with big games and lots of school spirit?
  

• Do you prefer Greek life, or would you rather attend lots of cultural events? 
  

• What activities do you want to partake in at school?
  

• Do you want to be near off-campus stores or restaurants?
  

• Do you want students that are competitive or collaborative?
  

• Do you want an intense environment or a more relaxed one?
  

• How do you feel about a core curriculum or distribution requirements?
  

• Do you want a lot of diversity, racially, geographically, socioeconomically, religious, etc.?
  

• Are opportunities for job experience/internships significant?
  

• What about study abroad options?
  

• Do you want a school with a great sense of community?
  

• Do you want relationships with your professors? Small or big classes?
  

• Do you need/want a school that provides extra academic support?
  

• Do you want a politically involved student body? Liberal or conservative?
  

Now that you have some idea of what you might want for yourself, it is time to talk about your college tuition budget as a family. The best way to do this is to figure out what your Student Aid Index (the new FAFSA terms for Expected Family Contribution) would be according to the FAFSA-based Federal Methodology (FM) and the CSS-based Institutional Methodology (IM). More on this for another time, as it is quite complicated, especially this year as we are transitioning to a new FAFSA. For now, families should come up with a budget of what they can afford/want to spend and run net price calculators for all colleges they are interested in. They should also check out this fantastic chart by Big J Consulting that gives us stats on merit and need-based aid for many colleges. 

Once you have an idea of what you might find important in a college and have a rough college budget, a great place to start your college search is College Navigator. Use the “more search” options button to create more school selection parameters. There are many different ways to search, so you need to play around with this site. You can search by Geography, Major, Type of degree and Institution, Undergraduate Student Enrollment, Tuition, Campus setting, % of applicants admitted, Test Scores, Varsity Athletic teams, Religious Affiliation, and more. Once you have a basic list, let’s discuss other places I like to do more research from here. 

First is The Fiske Guide to Colleges. You can get the new 2023 version from Amazon, or if you prefer, you can get an e-book version. This book is a great way to get a quick 5-10 min feel for a college. 

Next, I would suggest going to sites like Induck. Induck is a student-focused college guide providing a "detailed rendition of what happens socially, how different types of students navigate the social scene, and how they feel about it." Social fit is very important, and not finding the right social fit is the leading cause of why students choose to transfer. 

I also really like Campusreel, which is free to join. Check out 15,000 real videos, tours, and experiences from 300+ college campuses. Use them for further research on any school that excites you. 

After these three sites, you should have narrowed down your college list to a broad list of approximately 25 colleges or less. This is your first broad list. Your final college list should probably get narrowed down to between 10-14 schools that are a mix of chances of getting admitted and staggered decision dates. To narrow your list, you need to visit in person, if feasible, or virtually. You should take campus tours and attend information sessions. This is the MOST IMPORTANT way to learn about a college. If you have any questions, reach out to your regional admissions representative. Each school assigns an admissions representative to your area of the country or, specifically, to your high school. You should find this on the Admissions tab of each school’s website. Obviously, you do not want to be annoying and contact your representative a lot, but asking a couple of thoughtful questions about a school is an excellent way to gain better insight and show a school good demonstrated interest. 

One last critical point about college list building. This is not about finding the hardest schools to get into or the most prestigious schools. It is about finding the best academic, social, and financial “fit” list for you. Schools that you will be proud to attend, that your family will be happy to invest in, and, moreover, one where you will be successful.  List building is part art and part science. There is no way to generalize it for all, but there is one vital thing to remember, ENJOY this. Thinking about where you might want to attend college should be fun. 

How Did We Get Here? - Part 3

Part 3: This Process Is Opaque

In the first part of this series, we discussed the role that the rise of test-optional (it is now optional to submit standardized test scores, SAT or ACT, at most colleges) has played in opening up the applicant pool to highly selective colleges. What can we say about test-optional admissions policies today? 

•      According to Higher Ed Dive, “Just 43% of applicants submitted entrance exam scores to Common App member institutions for the 2022-23 academic year. This is nearly the exact same share as the previous year but far lower than prior to the pandemic. In 2019-20, nearly three-quarters of applicants sent colleges assessment results.”

•      Also, according to this article, “These trends follow a significant number of colleges switching to test-optional policies, which is reflected in the Common App data. Just 4% of their member colleges in 2022-23 mandated admission test scores, down from 55% in 2019-20.”

•      In recent weeks, Columbia University, Vassar College, and all of the State Universities of New York (SUNYs) have announced that they will be permanently test-optional. 

•      Many colleges that are temporarily test-optional are tracking the academic success of their test-optional enrolled students, and that may be why they have not made a permanent decision yet. 

While fewer students across the board are reporting scores, those that are reporting them tend to have high scores. This has caused the middle 50% of average test score ranges at many colleges to increase over pre-pandemic levels by about 100 points for the SAT and between 2 or 3 points for the ACT. So, should you even be trying to test? Is it worth it to submit scores? Like in most things for admissions, the answer is that it depends. 

•      Most colleges are not very transparent about the percentage of students they accept with or without scores. Compass Prep did an analysis last year, which showed that at many places, you are advantaged by submitting a good test score. In reviewing our students this year, many did well applying without test scores. That said, we still think it is very institutional dependent and, moreover, comes down, like most things in college admissions, to institutional priorities. 

•      Duke was transparent in their Early Decision release this year. They said 60% of applicants applied without test scores, and 70% of admitted students had test scores. Of those admitted to Duke that took the SAT, the middle 50% had scores of 1520-1570. So again, this begs the question, would you submit a score below the middle 50% band of scores? Again, the answer is that it depends, but I would be hard-pressed to find a situation where I did NOT recommend that a student submit a 1500 SAT. In fact, we had a student admitted to Duke who submitted an SAT score below the middle 50%. 

•      Let’s break this out a bit. Some consultants would advise you not to submit a 1500 SAT to specific colleges or in certain situations or breakdowns. I disagree, and here is why, 1500 is a great score. It is just a few questions from perfect. At some point, we need to be the voice of reason. So many students are struggling with mental health, and now we are going to say near perfect is not submittable! Admissions officers are looking for reasons to admit students, not deny them. Do we think Duke is denying a student based on a couple of errors, and if they are, do you really want to go there?

In the end, here is my short answer about submitting a test score or not. Are you proud of the score you received? Is it reflective of hard work and effort on your part? Do your scores provide good evidence that you are a great candidate for what you want to study? Is it close to the middle 50% test score range of the institution you are applying to? If the answer to these questions is yes, submit your test scores. 

So, how many students a college accepts test-optional is not the only statistic colleges don’t necessarily publish. Some colleges publish all their admissions statistics. Some colleges publish some or none at all. What we know, though, is that even for those colleges that publish admission statistics, admit rates are not always what they appear. 

•       Examples of in-state vs. out-of-state are obvious, but major also plays a significant role or sometimes your gender. The acceptance rate for the University of Washington (U Dub) is 56% if you are from in-state and 50% if you are from out-of-state. The acceptance rate for Computer Science (CS) at U Dub is 23% if you are in-state and 3% for CS if you are from out-of-state. 

•       Getting into U Dub for CS from out-of-state is harder than getting into MIT!

•       Gender can play a significant role in admission rates. In this article from the Brown Herald, they say, “In the 2021-22 application cycle, 6.73% of male applicants were accepted to Brown, while only 4.06% of women were.” 

Demonstrated interest (DI) is crucial, even sometimes to those places that say they do not count DI because many colleges prioritize accepting those students who they believe will enroll.

•       Colleges are using AI algorithms to determine whether a student they accept will attend.

•       We saw super strong students this year waitlisted at places like Case Western, American, and BU who had stronger profiles than those students who were accepted. This is not new. It is the essence of holistic admissions. 

Waitlists are being utilized more than ever before. 

•       Consider a waitlist a polite “you are qualified, but we do not have room for you.” This year we saw way fewer denials and a LOT more waitlists.

•       Boston College put 4500 students on their waitlist last year for a class of only 2050 students, and they took no one off the list! 

•       Two years ago, Babson offered 3,015 students a spot on the waitlist for a class of only 650 students. 1,210 accepted their spots. They admitted one student off of the list!.

•       We also saw a significant trend of deferring an early application student to the regular round and then waitlisting them.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: THIS PROCESS IS NOT ABOUT THE STUDENTS; IT IS ABOUT Colleges and their needs. Waitlist movement is not predictable year to year. It is all about how well a college has predicted its yield for that individual year. The college wants a HUGE waitlist because it allows them to continue to shape their class. Maybe the tuba player for the band that they accepted has chosen to go elsewhere; the college simply needs to go to their waitlist and look for another tuba player. The debate kid they accepted chose to go elsewhere; the college gets out all their debate kids and decides whom to take. They have too many kids with financial needs, so they decide to accept a few more full-pay kids. Again, this is not about individual kids; this is about WHAT THE COLLEGES NEED. 

I highlight all of this because not being admitted can cause students a lot of anxiety. This whole process has just gotten to be too much, and I worry a lot about kids and their mental health. Sometimes knowing this is NOT about you can lessen the load. Kids are going to get some disappointing news in this process. Our students who were accepted to the most selective colleges in the country were also NOT admitted to many others and waitlisted at a bunch.  That is this process, but I promise that students who apply to a well-balanced list will always have really good choices in the end. If you want to avoid disappointment and stress, apply to less selective colleges. The VAST majority of colleges in this country are not very selective. If you do your research and find one that aligns with your priorities, I promise you will still receive a FABULOUS education. If you have not read it before, please read Frank Bruni’s book “Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania.” 

Selective colleges are often disheartened that they need to turn down so many amazing kids every year, so what can they do? More colleges are getting creative. They are offering admittance to additional campuses, or for different start dates, or guaranteed transfers. THIS IS A POSITIVE THING. Colleges are trying to accommodate more students, but it can be super confusing and frustrating to students and families because colleges are not always very transparent. 

•       A good example of this is Northeastern University. We have heard that Northeastern accepted 20,000 students to its different NU and Global Scholars programs. That is again because admit rates are not always what they seem. Northeastern does not include these programs in their 6.5% acceptance rate.

•       The University of Florida even has a program where you get admitted to do your first two years online while living right across the street from campus. 

•       Colleges like these creative solutions because they can service more students and don’t need to include those admits in their acceptance rates. 

•       The University of California colleges came out a few weeks ago with its first guaranteed transfer system for qualified applicants. 

•       Colleges where we have seen guaranteed transfer options: GA Tech, University of Rochester, Boston University, Cornell, USC, Loyola Marymount University, and Northeastern. 

•       The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is telling students they can get off the waitlist if they are willing to do their first semester abroad with Verto Education and then start on campus in January. 

More colleges are releasing offers in batches or sending likely letters to entice top candidates. 

•       St. Lawrence started releasing decisions to some of their favorite candidates as early as late January. William & Mary sends likely postcards. The Ivies have sent likely letters for years. 

•       The University of Delaware released in batches all fall. They got so many applications in the regular decision round that they have denied a huge amount and are not even letting some know until mid-April because they simply can’t get through them. 

•       What can students do about this? Be prepared; you might not hear your decision when your friends and classmates do, and that is super stressful. 

More colleges are going to direct or closed majors for very popular/impacted subjects. What does that mean? You must apply to these majors as a first year, and you cannot transfer into them from another major at the college. There are only so many spots for those popular subjects, and so many students want to study them. 

•       Some of the most impacted majors are Computer Science, Engineering, especially biomedical engineering, Business, Nursing, Film, Architecture, and certain performing and studio arts. 

•       Some examples of direct computer science majors would be Carnegie Mellon, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the University of Texas Austin, the University of Michigan, and our example above, the University of Washington. 

•       These direct, impacted majors and where it is harder or easier to switch can take a lot of work to decipher.

The admissions process has become incredibly challenging to navigate. This is where it is essential for students to have a counselor, mentor, parent, or friend to advise them. Your first line of defense should always be your high school counselor. Then, get to work researching colleges. There are some terrific free social media sites where you can ask questions. Please reach out if we can help, and be on the lookout for our next blog series on what you can do to prepare for your admissions journey. 

How Did We Get Here? Part 2

PART 2: College Admissions are increasingly more unpredictable for everyone, colleges included. 

The downside to a more robust, diverse applicant pool is that college admissions are increasingly more unpredictable. To combat this, students are often applying to more colleges than they used to. We used to recommend that students apply to 8-12 colleges, and now we recommend they apply to 10-14. This flood of applications is not just unpredictable for students. It has also created a great deal more unpredictability for colleges. We know that institutional priorities motivate admissions decisions, but colleges do not advertise what their priorities are, and priorities change from year to year. We can sometimes make inferences based on what we are seeing, but we aren’t always sure that our conclusions will carry over into the next cycle. What we do know is that colleges always care about managing their enrollment, and the increased number of applications has made it that much more challenging. 

Earlier in this blog, we mentioned many colleges had fewer applicants this year. That might not be as true as the numbers lead us to believe. Because of a reporting change, colleges can no longer include an incomplete application in their application numbers. Side note: the desire to convert incomplete apps to submitted apps is why many colleges extended their application deadlines. We expect more of this going forward.  

• Colleges might have over-enrolled or under-enrolled last year or for more than one year. So they need to take fewer or more students overall this year. This year applications were down fairly significantly at both Tulane University (down by 11,231, which is 26%) and Williams College (down by 3,859, which is 25%.) But, because both colleges didn’t need to admit as many students as they had in the past, their acceptance rates ended up only rising slightly. American University had an appreciably lower drop in applications this year, but their acceptance rate rose more significantly because they accepted 416 more students than last year.

As we stated in part 1 of this blog, we talk a lot about admissions to highly selective colleges because when highly selective colleges admit fewer students, it trickles down and puts pressure on selective and less selective colleges as those denied students are looking for seats. Barnard, Boston College, Cal Tech, Colby, Colgate, Duke, Emory, GA Tech, Rice, MIT, Pitzer, Swarthmore, University of Georgia, and the University of Virginia all took fewer students. 

Some colleges that took a few more students are Brown, Cornell, Tufts, and Colorado College. CC is interesting because its admit rate increased significantly from 12% to 20%. Their applications decreased by a third. Not exactly sure what is happening there, except maybe the fact that they pulled out of the US News and World Report rankings had something to do with it.

So, why would a college take more or fewer students than in previous years?

• A college is managing its yield. Yield is the rate at which a college’s accepted students choose to enroll. Tulane’s yield rate has increased significantly in the past few years. In 2016 their yield rate was 26%, and in 2021 it was 45%. Tulane simply needs to accept fewer students because more of the students they are admitting are enrolling. Another example is Boston University. BU’s acceptance rate fell this year even though their applications were actually slightly down. That is because they admitted 25% fewer students! According to Admissions Blog, Kelly Walter, BU’s VP for Enrollment and Director of Admissions, said, “ since we have been significantly overenrolled for each of the past two years, it was absolutely critical for us to plan for yet another increase in yield. As a result, we had no choice but to significantly decrease the number of students to whom we offered admission.” Maybe American and Amherst yields have fallen because, despite getting fewer applications this year, both took more students. We have heard that Syracuse’s acceptance rate fell from 59% last year to 36% this year because they overenrolled last year. So this year, they took way fewer students.

• Other things can come into play when a college over-enrolls - a college might not have adequate housing for so many students. A good example of this is the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They have overenrolled in the past couple of years, and they have a huge housing crisis going on. They have students sleeping in a town that is 30 min away. St. Andrews cut their offers by 5% this year, and they are working on increasing housing for the future. 

Colleges like early applications because they help them to manage enrollment better and focus on their institutional priorities. This year, early applications were even more popular than ever. Interesting side note: Early apps were up at many places, even at some colleges whose overall apps were actually down. 

• Most selective schools experienced a slight rise in early application numbers that continue to be very high. From Collegiate Gateway’s Early Admissions Trends for the Class of 2027: “Colleges that continue to break early application records and whose numbers rose from last year include Barnard (up 11%), Brown (up 10%), Dartmouth (up 14%), Emory (EDI up 10%), Notre Dame (up 15%), NYU (up 14%), UVA (ED up 22% and EA up 17%), WashU (EDI up 12%), and Williams (up 16%). “Interestingly Notre Dame and Williams had large increases in REA and ED, respectively, but Notre Dame was only up 2% in the regular round, and as we discussed earlier, Williams was down 25% overall.” 

• Again from Collegiate Gateway, “Colleges that continued to see high early application numbers that only rose slightly or stayed relatively flat compared to last year include Boston College, Penn, and Rice.

• Some schools did see a drop in early applications. For example, Columbia’s ED apps fell by 9% from last year. MIT’s Early Action applications dropped 19% compared to last year, which is not surprising since MIT reinstated their standardized testing requirement this cycle after two years of a test-optional policy during the pandemic.

• In general, ED and REA acceptance rates have continued to decline, however, they remain significantly higher than Regular Decision acceptance rates. Several selective colleges broke school records with their low early acceptance rates, including Brown (13%), Dartmouth (19%), Duke (16.5%), Williams (27%), and Yale (10%).”

Keep in mind that the presence of high numbers of early decision and/or early action applications usually means regular admit rates are significantly lower than overall acceptance rates. Some exceptions to this off the top of my head would be USC this year, U Chicago, and Georgetown normally. 

Colleges especially like Early Decision to help them manage enrollment. Early Decision applicants agree to enroll if they are accepted. What easier way is there for a college to predict enrollment? Therefore, many colleges, especially those with two rounds of ED, continue to accept large percentages, often over 50%, of their class early. This can be even more true for colleges that have two rounds of ED and an early action round. 

• Washington University in St. Louis, Tufts University, and Bates are three I often think of that take somewhere between half and two-thirds of their class in their two ED rounds. This year Middlebury accepted more than 70% of their class in their ED 1 and ED 2 rounds. This includes their students scheduled to start in both September and February. Acceptance to Syracuse has gotten considerably harder in the last two years’ regular decisions because they have added ED2. Acceptance to Boston College has gotten significantly harder in recent years because they added Early Decision; this year, they accepted around 57% ED. Barnard’s overall admit rate dropped this year to 6.5%, and they took over 60% of their class in their two rounds of ED. Tulane is a great example of a college that accepts most of its students early through their two rounds of ED and their EA round. Last year they caused a stir when they accepted just over 100 students in their regular round. This year we heard they took around 300 students in the regular round. 

• ED 2 is usually harder than the ED 1 round, although this is hard to prove because most colleges do not break out their ED rates by the two rounds. 

• Many colleges like to accept students early because it allows them to manage their yield and focus on other institutional priorities. Some colleges want to lock in more full-pay students and their recruited athletes. This is why most privileged students benefit so greatly from ED at most selective institutions. However, we have seen in recent years that the most highly selective colleges, the Ivies and the like, are using ED to lock in their underserved populations. This goes back to a conversation we had with the director of admissions from Swarthmore last year. He said in order to yield one student from an underserved population in the regular round, they had to admit 10. So Swat started to prioritize accepting them in the ED round. These colleges have such huge endowments that their Institutional Priorities are different. They don’t have to worry about locking in their full-pay students early in the same way. 

Another thing colleges use to manage their enrollment is deferrals; this year, they are utilizing them more than ever before.

• USC added Early Action to its admissions cycle for the first time this year and received a whopping 40,600 early apps! USC admitted 5.9% of EA applicants and deferred all applicants who were not accepted. 

• From Jeff Selingo’s article a couple of weeks ago in the NY Times`"Most admissions deans I talked with said they don’t fully review the deferred applications again during regular decision, when they’re already facing another thick pile of files. They might look at new information they receive, namely grades from senior year. Those grades can help push someone over the acceptance line but, for the most part, only if the applicant also fulfills other institutional priorities.”

We saw this as mostly true, but let’s break it out a bit. 

The vast majority of our students who were deferred from EA did not ultimately gain acceptance, but most of the small handful who did were some sort of institutional priority.

This can often be dependent on how many students a college defers, to begin with. 

• Colleges like MIT and Harvard defer almost all students who apply early. Brown and Yale are good examples this year of colleges that only deferred a small percentage of their ED or REA students. 

• We even have one student deferred from the EA round at a state flagship with a roughly 80% acceptance rate, who did not get waitlisted but just received a positive decision on April 19th. 

• So remember, good senior-year grades are very important. 

Next in Part 3: 

We will discuss how admission rates are not always what they appear.

How Did We Get Here? - Part 1

This will be the first blog in a series. 

Part 1 - Let’s Celebrate Progress!

It has never been harder to navigate the college admissions process. Since the pandemic hit over three years ago, the number of applications to most highly selective colleges has risen, and admissions rates have dropped dramatically. Why has this happened? How did we get here? This is the first in a series of blogs to try and answer these questions. 

Why am I focusing on the admissions rates to highly selective colleges when most students do not attend or even apply to these institutions? I bring them up because what happens at these colleges affects what happens at admissions to most of the colleges our students apply to. When highly selective colleges admit fewer students, it trickles down and puts pressure on selective and less selective colleges as those denied students are looking for places to enroll. Let’s start with what we have seen this year. 

• The admissions cycle feels longer than it used to be, probably because it is. 

  • Some colleges, like the University of Pittsburgh and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, have rolling decisions, so our students submitted their apps for Fall 2023 admission right at the beginning of August 2022. At the same time, we still have one student awaiting a regular decision from a state flagship with a roughly 80% acceptance rate, and we heard she is not the only one.

• Some institutions are more popular than others. 

• Large schools with rah-rah sports are enjoying record-breaking numbers of applications, while there has been a decline in the popularity of small liberal art colleges, especially those that are less selective.  

• Colleges in the southeast have really taken off because they had a better life during COVID - An example, Auburn’s popularity has soared. This year they had an all-time high 48,000 applications, up 5% from last year when their admissions rate dropped from 71.1% to 43.7%. However, this might be changing in the future as many students are now unwilling to go to the South for political reasons. According to this article in Inside Higher Ed, 1 in 4 students consider politics in their decision. 

• Return on Investment is very important to families because colleges are so expensive! Some colleges already cost over $90k a year (hello, NYU, I mean you), and they increase tuition yearly (hello, Stanford, who is increasing their COA by 6.1% next year). As a result, colleges with higher starting salaries, which are typically colleges with strength in STEM/technology/engineering and those with the strongest alum networks, are especially popular right now. Apps were down a little at a lot of places overall, but STEM-heavy colleges, apps were generally up. (MIT would be the exception to this, but that is because they went back to requiring standardized test scores.) The Humanities are suffering. For more on this, please read from The New Yorker, The End of the English Major. This article is long but very much worth your attention.

• Colleges go in and out of favor, and this often has little to do with the quality of their education. See above and some other examples:

• The University of Tennessee became more selective this year based on last year’s Football success. 

• After March Madness this year, expect San Diego State University, Furman University, and Florida Atlantic apps to increase next year. 

• Other forces that are out of your control can also affect colleges. For example, apps are always down at Tulane and Florida colleges after heavy hurricane seasons. 

• Just by making the Final Four, NCAA basketball teams allow themselves to have $1.2BB in free advertising over the course of those two weeks. Listen to the Tests and the Rest podcast, The Flutie Effect, to learn more.

• Then this last one is a big one. Most people are focused on the same, roughly 250 colleges, and the rest are struggling to fill their classes. 

This is a quote from Frank Bruni’s article in The NY Times on 3/27/23. 

"Brian Casey, the president of Colgate University, marveled to me: “Our applications for admission, which hovered around 9,000 for many, many years, suddenly doubled to 17,500. Then they increased to over 21,000. We have to turn away students who want tours and we find ourselves looking at an admit rate of 10 percent. Has this deterred students from applying? No. We find interest growing even further. I am left wondering: Is Colgate more desirable because it is more desired?”

Studies show that if someone wants something, others will also want it. Folks inevitably believe: It must be better. The more selective a college is, the more desirable it becomes. People suddenly attach value to a thing (or a college) that has nothing to do with the actual college itself. People think that if a college is not hard to get into, it must not be good. That is simply untrue. 

DON'T LET YOURSELF GET SUCKED INTO THIS!! A college is not better just because it is harder to get into.

This leads me to an important point: Every year, we see kids apply to colleges that, even if they gained admission, they wouldn’t actually like. So we urge students to focus on schools they are genuinely excited about for reasons beyond their popularity. This keeps everyone sane and makes for a much calmer senior year.

Speaking of popularity, Jeff Selingo noted in The NY Times on 3/16/23:

“The number of college applications filed through the Common Application, the single online application now used by more than a thousand institutions, has jumped 30 percent over the past three years. That equates to some 1.56 million additional applications sent by this year’s class compared to their counterparts in the class of 2020 — although the classes are roughly the same size.

This quote from Jeff, while true, is misleading. 

Applications to 841 returning institutions (the number of institutions on the Common App in 2020 that are still on the Common App) are indeed up 30% since 2020. The high school classes of 2020 and 2023 might be the same size, but there are 21% more applicants applying to those 841 returning institutions today than there were in 2020. We believe that WAY MORE students than that are applying to the 250 colleges and universities most people focus on.

• Why?

• Grade inflation has led students to believe they are qualified. In 2020, before COVID inflated grades even further, 68.1% of first-year students at 4-year colleges had an A or A- average in high school. Please see my blog here for more on grade inflation. 

• Test-Optional (TO)

• When the pandemic hit, and the world went test optional, students no longer felt pigeonholed by their test scores to a specific group of colleges. 

• TO opened the door to a whole host of students who had never considered certain selective colleges, and it also allowed colleges to focus on their institutional priorities in a way they never could before. Please see my blog here for more on institutional priorities. 

• A quick rundown of most selective colleges’ institutional priorities. 

1. A Diversified class of students 

2. Enrollment Management

3. Full and Successful athletic teams, bands, choirs, debate teams, and theater productions. 

4. Students in all of their different majors

5. Relationships with particular high schools

6. Rankings and making decisions to optimize their place on US News and World Report

What does a diversified class of students mean?

• Diversified interests in and out of the classroom 

• Diversified ethnic groups

• Diversified regionally from all 50 states and multiple international locations 

• Diversified gender and sexual orientation identities 

• Diversified educational backgrounds and family histories

• Diversified religious and personal backgrounds 

• Diversified socioeconomic backgrounds
  

Why do colleges want to have a diverse group of students? There have been numerous studies that prove ALL students learn better within a diverse group.

During the last three years, this Institutional Priority to create a diversified class has not just been a factor in who gets in and why; it is responsible for whom colleges solicit and ultimately want to serve. 

What does this mean?

• The pandemic revolutionized the way that colleges market to students. Virtual life has allowed colleges to reach all kinds of kids they never could before, without those kids and admissions reps ever having left their homes. 

• The Common App made the process simpler for those students that qualified to get a fee waiver, and they eliminated the disciplinary question because it was proven to turn away certain groups of students. 

• Many colleges have increased the amount of need-based aid they are giving away. 

• Many colleges have increased the income thresholds for receiving aid. 

• Some colleges have added a “no loan” feature for students whose families fall below certain income brackets.

• Some colleges have gone to providing need-based aid for international students. 

• Many colleges have relationships with significantly more CBO organizations that provide college counseling support to under-resourced students.

• More colleges are eliminating legacy preference because legacy is largely viewed as benefitting privileged students. An example of this is Amherst College and the State of Colorado. 

These efforts are transforming applicant pools. Some data from the Common Application:

“Underrepresented Minority (UMR) applicants increased by 30% over 2019-20, while first-generation applicants increased by 35%, nearly three times the rate of continuing-generation applicants over the same time period. Students reporting eligibility for the Common App fee waiver increased at over four times the rate of students not reporting fee waiver eligibility (47% vs 11%).

“The number of distinct applicants residing outside the United States increased at nearly triple the rate of applicants in the United States since 2019-20 (45% versus 17%). China, India, Nigeria, Ghana, and Canada were the leading countries for international applicants.” Initially, after the pandemic, these international students disappeared, so these numbers now are even more significant.

We are thrilled that selective colleges are attracting and serving more diverse populations today than they did four years ago because, for these students in particular, attending highly selective colleges can be life-changing.

As the article Revisiting the Value of Elite Colleges discussed, it has been found that many students with top grades and scores were given an earnings boost not just by attending these colleges but simply by applying. "A student with a 1,400 SAT score who went to Penn State but applied to Penn earned as much, on average, as a student with a 1,400 who went to Penn.” A student with ambitions for Penn exhibits qualities that will make them successful on any campus. "It’s important to note, though, that a few major groups did not fit the pattern: black students, Latino students, low-income students, and students whose parents did not graduate from college. “For them, attending a more selective school increased earnings significantly.””

Most highly selective colleges have way more applicants than four years ago. They still have the same group who have always applied, and now they have a huge increase in students from underserved populations both domestically and internationally. The vast majority of students who apply to these colleges are incredibly qualified. They all have excellent grades, have taken challenging classes, and have positively impacted their communities. Admissions officers have spoken about how difficult it is to decide who is an admit and who is not. In a case study presentation I attended, the director of admissions from Harvey Mudd College discussed two students from a recent admissions cycle. They admitted one and not the other, but when he reviewed their profiles again for the audience, he said he probably would have reversed the decision. Yes, some admissions decisions seem that random, but remember, because, for the most part, all of the applicants are qualified, who gets in and why is often determined by what institutional priority the college needs to address. 

Like many colleges, my alma mater, Tufts, has 50% more applicants than it did just three years ago, and today its accepted class reflects its way more diverse applicant pool. Let’s celebrate this progress. All of the students will benefit!

Next in Part 2:

We will discuss how other institutional priorities are making admissions increasingly more unpredictable.

It Takes A Village

Assumption University - Auburn University - Bard College - Bates College - Binghamton University - Brandeis University - Brown University - Bucknell University - Case Western Reserve University -Catholic University - Centre College - Chapman University, Dodge - Clarkson University - Clemson University - Colby College - Colgate University - College of Charleston - Colorado State - Connecticut College - Dartmouth College - Davidson College - Drexel University - Duke University Eckerd College - Elon University - Emory University - Fordham University - Franklin & Marshall College - Furman University - George Washington University - Georgetown University - Georgia Institute of Technology - Gettysburg College - Hamilton College - Hobart William Smith College - Hofstra University - Indiana University Bloomington - Ithaca College - James Madison University - Lafayette College - Lehigh University - Loyola Maryland University - Loyola Marymount University - Macalester College - Marist College - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Mercer College - Miami University of Ohio - Middlebury College - Muhlenberg College - Northeastern University - Notre Dame University - Pennsylvania State University - Pitzer College - Purdue University - Quinnipiac University - Rennselear Polytechnic Institute - Rochester Institute of Technology - Rose Hulman Institute of Technology - Rutgers University - Sacred Heart University - Santa Clara University - Siena College - Skidmore College - Southern Methodist University - St. Lawrence University - Stevens Institute of Technology - SUNY Buffalo - SUNY Cortland - SUNY New Paltz - SUNY Oneonta - Syracuse University - Temple University - The Ohio State University - Tufts University - Tulane University - Union College - University at Albany - University of Aberdeen, Scotland - University of Alabama - University of Arizona - University of California Davis - University of California Santa Barbara - University of Chicago - University of Colorado Boulder - University of Colorado Denver - University of Connecticut Storrs - University of Dayton - University of Delaware University of Denver - University of Edinburgh, Scotland - University of Georgia - University of Glasgow, Scotland - University of Illinois Chicago - University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - University of Kentucky - University of Maine - University of Massachusetts Amherst - University of Miami - University of Minnesota - University of Montana - University of Nebraska Lincoln - University of New Hampshire - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - University of North Carolina, Wilmington - University of Oklahoma - University of Pittsburgh - University of Rhode Island - University of Richmond - University of Rochester - University of San Diego - University of Scranton - University of St Andrews, Scotland - University of Texas, Austin - University of Vermont - University of Virginia - University of Wisconsin - Vassar College - Virginia Tech University - Washington & Lee University - Wentworth Institute of Technology - Wesleyan University - Western Washington University - Williams College - Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Xavier University

Our students were accepted to 126 colleges in 34 states and two countries. They received over $10,000,000 in merit aid, a new record high for Admissions Village.

All of our students have multiple choices of colleges they are excited about, where they will be happy and thrive.

This list represents our students’ hard work, and WE ARE SO PROUD!

It takes a village, and we want to THANK YOU for being a part of ours.

The Admissions Process Is Not Necessarily About You!

At this time of year, social media is filled with posts of X kid with XY stats who did not get into Z college. Ivy day is a blood bath because, hello, the HUGE majority of kids do not get accepted to these colleges. Harvard’s acceptance rate last year was 3%, and more colleges than ever before have acceptance rates that are in the single digits. Kids are asking, “What more could I have done?”. We have spent a lot of time talking about all the things students can do to help their chances of admission to highly selective colleges. Today we are going to say that after you have done all of those things, studied hard in rigorous courses, participated in activities you felt passionate about, worked to be helpful to others you care about, spent time preparing good applications, studying for, and excelling at your standardized tests, the answer is NOTHING. Yes, I said nothing. It is time to cut yourself a break and realize this is not all about you. It is about these colleges and their institutional priorities. Colleges are businesses and operate like such. They are concerned about putting together a whole class. Highly selective colleges are filled with tons of qualified applicants and can literally fill their classes ten times over with incredibly accomplished, amazingly smart, and wonderful students. At colleges like Harvard, the majority of applicants often have perfect test scores and grades. This is the elusive part of college admissions that makes so many students and families crazy. This is not a simple equation of hard work = reward. So what does this all mean? What are often some institutional priorities?
 

A) Colleges need to manage their enrollment.
 

1. Colleges have had a huge spike in applications since the pandemic. From Jeff Selingo’s latest article in the NY Times, ”The number of college applications filed through the Common Application, the single online application now used by more than a thousand institutions, has jumped 30 percent over the past three years. That equates to some 1.56 million additional applications sent by this year’s class compared to their counterparts in the class of 2020 — although the classes are roughly the same size.” Students are applying to more colleges than they did three years ago.
   

2. Colleges might have over-enrolled or under-enrolled last year or for more than one year. So they need to take fewer or more students overall this year. This year applications were down fairly significantly at both Tulane University (down by 11,231, which is 26%) and Williams College (down by 3,859, which is 25%.) Both colleges took fewer students, Tulane took 200 fewer, and Williams took 160 fewer, so their acceptance rates only rose slightly. Tulane’s acceptance rate last year was 10%, and this year was 13%. Williams went from 9% to 10%. American University had an appreciably lower drop in applications this year (down by 1,704, which is 8%), but their acceptance rate rose more significantly because they accepted 416 more students than last year. Their acceptance rate went from 38% to 44%.
   

3. So, why would a college take more or fewer students than in previous years? A college is managing its yield. Yield is the rate at which a college’s accepted students choose to enroll. Tulane’s yield rate dropped significantly in the past few years. In 2016 their yield rate was 26%, and in 2021 it was 45%. Tulane simply needs to accept fewer students because more of the students they are accepting are enrolling. Another example is Boston University. BU’s acceptance rate fell to 10.7% this year, down from 14% last year. Their applications were actually slightly down. They had 80,792 applications last year and 80,484 applications this year, but they accepted 11,434 students to the Class of 2026 and only 8,612 students to the Class of 2027. That is a 25% drop in the number of admitted students! According to Admissions Blog, Kelly Walter, BU’s VP for Enrollment and Director of Admissions, said, “ since we have been significantly overenrolled for each of the past two years, it was absolutely critical for us to plan for yet another increase in yield. As a result, we had no choice but to significantly decrease the number of students to whom we offered admission.”
   

4. Other things can come into play when a college over-enrolls - a college might not have adequate housing for so many students. A good example of this is the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They have overenrolled in the past couple of years, and they have a huge housing crisis going on. They have students sleeping in a town that is 30 min away. St. Andrews cut their offers by 5% this year, and they are working on increasing housing for the future.
   

5. To control enrollment, a college might enroll a large percentage of their class ED I or ED II. Washington University in St. Louis, Tufts University, and Bates are three I often think of that take somewhere between half and two-thirds of their class in their two ED rounds. It simply becomes way harder to get accepted regular decision. 
   

6. Colleges must balance their budgets.
   

• Some colleges may need to accept more full-pay students.
  

• Some colleges are prioritizing letting in Pell-eligible students. 
  

• Some colleges prioritize letting in the majority of students with some type of tuition discount. This is the very concept of merit aid. An example is Lake Forest College which offers 100% of applicants merit aid. 
  

• Some public colleges must prioritize letting in-state students. For example, the state of North Carolina mandates that any UNC campus can only have a maximum of 18% of its incoming class coming from out of state.
  

• Some public colleges may need out-of-state students or, moreover, need money from out-of-state student tuition. A good example of this is the University of Vermont. Vermont does not have enough students, in-state, to fill its university.
  

• Some colleges prioritize certain groups like military families with things like yellow ribbon benefits and children of academic employees with tuition exchange programs. 
  

• Colleges will often accept students with connections to VIPs or Development.  
  

• Some colleges will prioritize Legacy students. 
  

B) Colleges have athletic teams, school bands, school choirs, debate teams, and theater productions. 

1. Colleges might need to fill an athletic spot.
   

2. Colleges might need a student who plays an obscure instrument. 
   

3. College might need a student with all sorts of special talents. 
   
   

C) Colleges want students in all of their different majors. 

1. This might mean that certain popular majors are much harder to get into than others. For example, Computer Science is one of the hardest majors in the country right now. 
   

2. Some colleges might need to consider that a department is understaffed or unprepared to take students at this specific time.
   

3. Some colleges will prioritize certain genders or cultural groups for certain majors. For example, male students might have a strong advantage in fine arts and fashion, and Black and Latina women might have an advantage in STEM. 
   

D) Most colleges want to have a diversified class of students. 

1. Colleges want students with diversified interests in and out of the classroom. 
   

2. Some colleges will prioritize ethnically underrepresented groups. Nine states currently ban affirmative action: California (1996), Washington (1998), Florida (1999), Michigan (2006), Nebraska (2008), Arizona (2010), New Hampshire (2012), Oklahoma (2012), and Idaho (2020).
   

3. Some colleges want a regionally diverse group from all 50 states and multiple international locations. Colleges might be trying to expand their footprint regionally, nationally, or internationally. They might prioritize one location over another. Every time I am on a college tour, I laugh at the requests for students from the Dakotas. 
   

4. Some colleges want a good gender balance and prioritize men over women or vice versa. This article shows how at Brown, men have an advantage in the admissions process because Brown simply gets way more applications from women.
   

5. Some colleges want a class that is diversified in sexual orientation, so they might prioritize underrepresented groups like LGBTQ students. 
   

6. Some colleges prioritize first-generation students or students who are re-entering college. The UCs are a good example of this. 
   

7. Some colleges, especially religious ones, may want a certain percentage of their students from their specific denomination/churches.
   

8. Some colleges prioritize students who were in the military.  
   

E) Some colleges prioritize their relationships with certain high schools. 

F) Some colleges are prioritizing rankings and making decisions to try and maximize their place on US News and World Report. This is part of a larger conversation and probably best left for another day, but when you have time, look into how US News and World Report ranks colleges. Much of that data can be manipulated through enrollment tactics, including yield protection. 

The true trick to acceptance for many students is when they fulfill multiple priorities of a college. For now, maybe when you start looking at colleges, you can also consider their institutional priorities. First, do those values line up with your own? Check out a college’s mission statement. Does it resonate with you? If you think a college’s priorities align with yours, maybe you are a good fit. If so, then yes, please do apply. Spend time on your applications and essays. Put your best foot forward, but realize you can only worry about what you can control. A college will consider the whole class. If the decision is no, remember it is often not you, it is them!

It Takes A Village

We are so proud of our students. The over $8 million in merit aid they have received is a new record for Admissions Village. These incredible young people are smart, dynamic, funny, interesting, and as diverse as the 86 colleges and universities where they have been accepted. Congratulations to our students. We celebrate you and thank you for allowing us to be a part of your journeys. We can't wait to see the rest of the early and regular decisions.

So You Have Been Deferred…

What to do when you have been deferred from your ED or EA college?

First, let’s talk about deferrals. Some colleges like Harvard and MIT defer the majority of students who apply. Harvard deferred 78% of the students who applied, and MIT deferred 68%. They will take very few of those students in the regular round. MIT said around 2%. Other colleges like Brown, Yale, and Northwestern defer a much smaller percentage of students. Brown will release their decisions tonight, and they have only deferred 19% of students. So while deciding what you want to do, keep in mind the number of students who have been deferred versus the number of students who will ultimately be offered admission.

Next, if you found out in December, take a couple of weeks to think about whether this is still a college you would like to attend. (Please note if you were deferred by Clemson, they would like materials by January 2nd.) If you find out in late January or February, please email them back asap, as you will not have much time before they consider you in the regular admissions round. If you have already found out and you take a couple of weeks, this will give you time to get over the disappointment of not getting accepted outright, and it also gives you a few weeks to think about why this college is still right for you. Maybe since you applied a couple of months ago, you have been accepted somewhere else you prefer? If you are NOT still interested in attending the college you have been deferred at, then send a letter to your admissions rep and ask them to please withdraw your application. If you are still interested, then it is best to follow instructions on what the college has asked you to do to show this. Usually, they would like you to add some information to their school portal like first semester grades and any new test scores. I like all of my students to also send their admissions rep a letter of continued interest (LOCI). The best thing is to email this letter to your admissions rep and also upload it to your admissions portal. There are some colleges, like the University of Georgia, that specifically ask you NOT to send them a LOCI, so please pay attention first to what a college asks for. Most colleges, though, will like you to write a LOCI. 

So what should be in this letter:

1)  I like you to start with that you have taken some time to think about being deferred from X college and that you are more convinced than ever that X college is still your number-one choice or, in the case of EA, a top choice.

      a) go to a college’s mission statement, if you have not done this in the original application, for why you and X college are a great fit. 

2)  Make sure to have your high school send your first semester grades. If you don’t have the official GPA transcript yet, that’s ok. Tell them what you think your semester grades will be in a few weeks and that your high school will send them when they are official. Make sure to tell them this is your guesstimate of what your grades will be. 

3)  Provide admissions with any new information, and if you really do not have any, highlight some recent academic work, especially if it pertains to what you want to study at X college. This is very important. You should try to include new academic information and also any new information about your extracurriculars. In the words of my colleague Evan Forrester, this is the “heart of the email.” 

4)  If you are not doing anything new, maybe now is the time to start, and then you have something to talk about. 

5)  In the final paragraph, ask if you can do anything to further support your candidacy for admissions. 

6) Thank the admissions rep for taking the time to read your email at such a busy time of the year. 

7)  Last and very important, reiterate how much you would like to attend X college. If it is your first choice, make sure to repeat that emphatically with a “, and if I am accepted, I will attend!”

Now what are some additional things you can do to bolster your chance of admission: 

1) If a college will allow it, send in an academic paper from first semester. 

2)  If the college will allow it, send an additional recommendation. Maybe you have a teacher who can highlight a new side of who you are. For example, a few years ago, we had a top student who was applying to study Economics. He also happened to be one of the best writers I have ever worked with. He realized through the college process just how much he enjoyed his writing and said as much to his ED college, where he has been deferred. He got a new recommendation from his English teacher and added that to his admissions portal. Not saying it was the additional recc, but he was accepted in the regular round. 

3)  If you can visit the college you have been deferred at, even if you have visited before, VISIT! We realize during COVID, this might not be possible or even without COVID feasible, but it is a very effective way of showing how interested you are. Make sure to let your regional admissions rep know you are visiting and ask if you can see them to introduce yourself in person quickly. If you can not do an in-person visit, try and do some more virtual visits, make sure to follow them on social media, and make sure to click through often to their website. Getting deferred from EA, especially, is often all about yield (who will actually accept a college’s offer of acceptance). Getting accepted in the regular round is also often about yield, so showing as much demonstrated interest as you can is VERY IMPORTANT.

The last thing is to get excited about some of your other colleges. Remember, love the ones who love you!

What To Do When You Have Been Accepted To Your ED College

Congratulations! You have been accepted to your Early Decision college!! We are so happy for you. We are, and you should be, so proud of all the hard work you have done to get to this point!

What should you do now?

1) Celebrate - a lot!!

2) Next, you must remember that this offer is binding. You have committed to attending this college if you were accepted. So first, you must triple make sure you can afford it. If you have applied for financial aid, please check your offer before you accept your spot. Finances are the only reason you can get out of an early decision acceptance. If a financial offer is not what you expected, please get in touch with the college’s admissions office before accepting your spot. Maybe something can be done to make this college affordable for you. 

3) You should officially accept your spot in the Class of 2027. Read your acceptance letter for how to do this for each individual college, but usually, it is done through your application portal and involves submitting a deposit. Please do not wait to read the acceptance letter, and be sure to look for deadlines, as they are likely to be coming up soon.

4) You now must withdraw all your other outstanding applications. We understand it can be tempting to know where else you are accepted, but you have made a promise to attend your ED college. You must withdraw your other applications. Look at it this way, it is also the “right" thing to do. You know you are not going to accept a spot at those colleges. Someone else is waiting on a decision from there. It can be their dream, and by withdrawing your application, you might be clearing the way toward their acceptance. So how do you withdraw your other applications? Many colleges will let you do this right in your application portal. If they do not, you should send a short email to your admissions representative and cc the admissions office general email. The email should look something like this…

Subject: Wonder Woman application withdrawal

Dear Mr. Awesome Admissions Rep, 

My name is Wonder Woman, and I applied to the Marvelous Marvels University regular decision. I am writing to you to please withdraw my admissions application. I have been accepted to another university (you do not have to tell them where you are going unless you want to) early decision. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. 

Sincerely, 

Wonder Women 

Application Number 11111

5) Please let your school counselor know that you have been admitted ED, that you withdrew your other applications, and that you have deposited and accepted your spot at X University. 

6) Please let your teachers and other recommenders know that you have been accepted and thank them one more time for their efforts on your behalf.

7) KEEP YOUR GRADES UP!! Acceptances are usually conditional on keeping your grades at a level commensurate with where they were when you applied. 

8) Keep checking your email. Your new college will send you lots of communication in the next few months. There will be deadlines that need to be adhered to. 

9) Lastly, join a Facebook group for your new university Class of 2027. Start meeting your future classmates. Parents: there are usually Facebook groups for you too, and they can be a great source of information and camaraderie for you as well. 

10) Back to Celebrate!! Buy a t-shirt, a baseball hat, a sticker for your mom’s car, or your grandpa a sweatshirt. It is a gift to be done with this process in time to have a truly Happy New Year.

Grade Inflation is Real, and Some Colleges are Returning to Requiring Testing - Sharpen Your Pencils

High school grades have been on a steady march upward throughout most of our lifetimes. In recent years, though, grade inflation has reached a tipping point where the reality is that even an A average is not a differentiating factor. Grade inflation is real. According to the Higher Education Research Institute’s Freshman Survey in 2020, 68.10% of first-year students at 4-year universities had an A or A- average in high school. 

I suspect the pandemic has only made grade inflation worse. My colleague Brian Eufinger of Edison Prep just recorded a great podcast with Lisa Marker Robbins of Flourish Coaching, “Will Grade Inflation Hurt Your Teen?” Try to listen if you can. 

Earlier this month, when we were at the IECA National Fall Conference, many admissions directors confirmed that grade inflation is real. 

• The director of admissions at Cal Tech mentioned that today’s 4.0 GPA is not the same as a Pre-Covid 4.0. This has made the school profile (which high school counselors should attach to every submitted college application) all the more critical. You can usually find your child’s school profile on the high school’s counseling page or by Googling it.

• The admissions directors also mentioned that students have some fundamental gaps in their learning. Check out this article from the New York Times. This is going to be affecting our students for a long time. The University of San Diego (who is test blind) has expanded tutoring services and invited all first-year students to campus a week early, at the college’s expense, for Science Lab boot camps because the students probably missed that in high school.

• Colleges have COVID grade inflation too, and although students have learned less these past few years, retention rates have not dropped. Many students are staying in college, and most colleges are doing their best to support them as they recover what they have lost during COVID.

So how are colleges supposed to make admissions decisions in the world of A averages, test-optional, or test-free admissions?  

Again at our conference, we heard about how test-free has produced some great results in terms of equity. 

• The UC system had also seen an increase in underrepresented groups and the quality of their applicants when they went test-free. In California, you are considered ELC if you are in the top 9% of your class. When the UCs went test-free, the rate of growth of ELC applicants outpaced the overall growth of applicants.

• Places like the University of San Diego have seen a 25% surge in applications of Black and Hispanic students for first-year admission.

This is not across the board at all institutions. Overall, in many ways, it is still just advantaging the advantaged. It is easier to evaluate a test-free applicant from a top-tier high school than from an under-resourced one. Colleges are trying to be very cognizant of NOT doing this.

Many other colleges might be thinking of returning to requiring test scores. MIT made this decision last spring. Stuart Schmill, the Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services at MIT, did a Q&A on MIT’s decision to reinstate their SAT/ACT requirement. Here is an interesting excerpt, which is long but worth reading. 

Q: What do you say to those who argue the tests create structural barriers for socioeconomically disadvantaged and/or underrepresented students? 

A: I appreciate this question, which we have kept foremost in our minds as we reviewed our research and policies. MIT Admissions has a strong commitment to diversity, and it is important to us that we minimize unfair barriers to our applicants wherever possible.

However, what we have found is that the way we use the SAT/ACT increases access to MIT for students from these groups relative to other things we can consider. The reason for this is that educational inequality impacts all aspects of a prospective student’s preparation and application, not just test-taking. As I wrote, low-income students, underrepresented students of color, and other disadvantaged populations often do not attend schools that offer advanced coursework (and if they do, they are less likely to be able to take it). They often cannot afford expensive enrichment opportunities, cannot expect lengthy letters of recommendation from their overburdened teachers, or cannot otherwise benefit from this kind of educational capital. Meanwhile, we know that the pandemic was most disruptive to our least-resourced students, who may have had no consistent coursework or grading for nearly two years now. 

I realize this argument may sound counterintuitive to some who have heard that the SAT/ACT exams raise barriers for access, and I don’t want to ignore the challenges with, or limits of, the tests. They are just one tool among many that we use. However, what I think many people outside our profession don’t understand is how unfortunately unequal all aspects of secondary education are in this country. And unlike some other inequalities — like access to fancy internships or expensive extracurriculars — our empirical research shows the SAT/ACT actually do help us figure out if someone will do well at MIT.

MIT’s explanation goes on and is worth reading in full. A lot of what is being said resonates with me. I do not have the answers, but I keep hearing more rumblings and rumors that some other highly selective colleges will start requiring test scores next year. I am also sure many others will remain test-optional, and they are GREAT options for students. Many admissions directors have told us that their colleges have been tracking their test-optional student's performance in their classes and are holding off making permanent decisions on this issue until they have more data. Also, keep in mind that many universities were test-optional before the pandemic started, and they might be more genuine about not caring if students have test scores. Yesterday, Purdue announced that they will require test scores for the 2023/24 admissions cycle. We appreciate their transparency and the fact that they are telling students within enough time for them to prepare for and plan to take tests. 

Our advice is always for students to ask themselves as they navigate the college admissions process: is what I am doing opening doors or closing them? Except at test-blind colleges and especially at highly selective colleges, a high test score keeps more doors open for you. Our recommendation to all juniors and younger students is to PREPARE for and take the SAT or ACT. Even better if you can take it twice since most colleges will allow you to superscore your exams. And by prepare, we mean really prep because next year, test-optional might not be an option at the college you want. 

What Does Unhooked Mean In Admissions?

In his latest blog, Rick Clarke, the Director of Admission at GA Tech, says, "When you hear admission reps say, 'We are looking for a well-rounded class…' they mean they want choices and options...decisions are based on goals and mission."

This makes us ask:

1) What exactly is a “hook” in college admissions parlance?
2) Why do institutional priorities carry so much weight in admissions?
3) Are hooks the same from one college to another?
4) Is there really anything like a completely unhooked student?
5) How can an unhooked applicant improve their odds of being accepted?

I answered these questions in a recent conversation with Amy Seeley and Mike Bergin of Tests and the Rest.

https://sites.gatech.edu/admission-blog/2022/11/15/what-do-colleges-want/

https://gettestbright.com/what-does-unhooked-mean-in-admissions/?fbclid=IwAR3LuM8mFXIWGmvo_jJD7jeKTNaV0_YXLERrAnUJiPf-zlFSD-kFoCWcqTA

The Mental Health of Our Students Must be Our Top Priority

As I write this I am reeling trying to comprehend how 7 students lost their lives on the UVA and U Idaho campuses last Sunday evening. It is just too much. My heart is with these families and campuses.

I just returned from our national organization IECA’s fall conference in San Diego. When a group of admissions directors was asked who are the highest-risk students, the answer was ALL OF THEM!

The Director of Admissions at Claremont McKenna College asked parents to please look at their children and ask themselves, “are they ready for a high-risk community?

On the college side, most places are now talking about how they have expanded mental health services on campus. The University of San Diego has brought in an outside, 24-hour telehealth counseling service to help. In addition to their existing wellness center, they also set up pop-up wellness centers around campus during particularly stressful times.

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Last Friday, this article came out in the Washington Post. It makes you question whether you want to attend a college like Yale. A similar report came out about Dartmouth earlier this fall. Last year Brown settled with the DOJ after they wrongfully denied readmissions to students on mental health leave. Maybe a question everyone should be asking is, what is the policy on mental health withdrawals at the campuses you are looking at? We will certainly add this to our question list as we are visiting colleges. Or more importantly what support is on these campuses so our young people do not feel the need to withdraw?

When this Yale article came out on Friday morning, we were riding the bus to the University of Redlands. A colleague spoke about his brilliant student who accepted her spot at Yale, only not to make it through the first year because the atmosphere was too intensely pressured. She is currently not attending college. When we visited the Claremont Colleges, a student tour guide explained the different campuses to me in this context. “We have the best lives at Scripps and Pitzer. CMC, their life is ok, Pomona is very stressful, and the Harvey Mudd kids have no life and do not sleep.” Coincidentally while all of these colleges are very selective, this is also almost the reverse order of how selective these colleges are. Scripps's 2002 acceptance rate was 30%, and Pomona and Harvey Mudd’s are in the single digits, with Pitzer and CMC in the middle. Are these super-selective colleges and the Ivy League really a golden ticket? Maybe yes, still for the student who thrives in an uber-competitive environment, but this decision NEEDS to be about FIT. 

As a parent, the mental health stuff is so real that everyone, myself included, sometimes gets paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake. We often become afraid to push our kids. That fear is real, rational, and scary. It takes away or modifies our ability to parent. That worries me, but at the same time, it also serves as a reminder to all of us that home should be a safe haven. 

Please check out this short podcast from Kelly Corrigan on why she wishes she had not said the word college to her kids so much. 

A Plea

As I sit outside I am trying to reconcile this gorgeous fall day with the text message a colleague just sent me. Another young person committed suicide this week on a college campus. Depression and anxiety among teens and young people is at an all-time high. Last year, I felt like it was an almost daily or weekly occurrence that I was hearing about some beautiful young person’s decision to end their life. Our local high schools have had multiple suicides, and small colleges with only a few thousand students had more than one death. This is beyond horrifying and we are not talking about it enough. In an article, in The Atlantic, last spring Why are American Teens so Sad? the author, Derek Thompson, attributes this to 4 main reasons: social media use; sociality is down; the world is stressful—and there is more news about the world’s stressors; and modern parenting strategies. This same article in the Atlantic says:

In the past 40 years, American parents—especially those with a college degree—have nearly doubled the amount of time they spend coaching, chauffeuring, tutoring, and otherwise helping their teenage children. The economist Valerie Ramey has labeled this the “rug rat race.” High-income parents in particular are spending much more time preparing their kids for a competitive college admissions process. When I interviewed Ramey about her work in 2019, she told me that she “couldn’t believe the amount of pressure our friends were putting on their kids to get ready for college.

I cannot comment on all of these things, but I am the parent of three sons, and I speak to a lot of parents. I also work with students and their parents during one of the most stressful times of their young lives, applying to college. I see this pressure every day in large and small ways. My boys are older now, with our youngest set to graduate in the spring, but I am guilty of unconsciously putting that same pressure on our children. I try very hard not to add to the stress on our students. We focus much more on “fit’ than prestige or selectivity. With that said, I am writing with a plea. PLEASE, parents, get your children out now to visit some of their likely (likely to get into) colleges in person. Put effort and energy into exploring this college. Book a great place to stay, plan a fun activity and eat breakfast at the place where all the students go. Go out of your way to try the special ice cream store or donut shop. Get CURIOUS; this blog post from UIUC Admissions has some great questions to ask. Get EXCITED about this college and try to help your child get EXCITED about this college too. I visit a LOT of colleges, some highly rejective and some highly acceptant. I promise you that all have pros and cons, and I fall in love with each and every one of them. You and your children will too.

I am not saying students should not take their shot at some harder to get into colleges. They should, but EVERY acceptance should be celebrated. So go off and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Book some college tours, maybe up north, where you can see the beautiful fall foliage. Just remember, as my colleague and friend Meg Joyce says, “LEAD WITH YOUR LIKELIES!’