We are definitely in unprecedented times but the most unsettling thing about this pandemic is not knowing when it will end. As humans, what we want is control. We want to know that if I do X and Y, I will get Z. We want to look forward to an end that we can celebrate. Right now, we haven’t been able to do this and are being told by the media that we shouldn’t expect this in the near future. This “unknown” is throwing colleges and their admission’s offices in a panic because they typically budget for a certain amount of students they will accept, go through the process of accepting students, anticipate a certain amount enrolling and then celebrate their incoming class. Now these numbers are going to be uncertain for at least the next few years.
I’ve been listening to podcasts, reading articles and blogs and meeting with college counselors over the last couple months. As current juniors (and younger) plan to apply to college in the fall. Below are the most important aspects of the college admissions process that are being impacted by COVID-19 and what you need to understand in order to prepare and apply to college in the future. I am also attaching recent articles that can explain things much better than I can.
Deadlines- I’ve posed the question about moving deadlines back, so students have more time to take another SAT or ACT, to a number of college counselors and the answer I get back is that their schools will not be moving deadlines back. It makes sense because the colleges that have an ED (Early Decision) deadline (which is binding) already have an EDII deadline on say Jan. 1st or 15th or are now adding one to give applicants the flexibility to apply ED if they don’t want to apply by the Nov. 1st deadline. If a college only has an EA (Early Action) deadline, which is non-binding, they may encourage a senior to apply by the regular deadline if they want to take another SAT or ACT. I wouldn’t be surprised if I see a college move a deadline back a couple weeks but it does throw their timetable off for when they review applications, make decisions, when to award scholarships, etc., so I think it will be rare.
Standardized Testing- The number of colleges that are making test scores optional for the 2020-2021 admission cycle and beyond keeps growing. Although this is important to understand, also keep in mind that “test optional” does not mean “test blind”. I heard a great point made about college admission officers from colleges that are going test optional for the first time, have never reviewed applications before without looking at test scores. They are going to have a learning curve, especially if most applicants submit scores. Also, keep in mind that if you don’t submit test scores then this will put more weight on your grades, courses you took and essays. These aspects of your application better be strong. Click here for the latest that College Board and ACT are doing for their tests scheduled for late summer and into the fall.
College Visits/Tours- I can see colleges once again offering in-person campus tours and information sessions in the fall but they will be under strict social distancing guidelines. This means that if they gave tours of 15 in a group in the past, that may now be 10 or less. They will need to seat people every other row for information sessions. Some will maybe cancel and still promote their online tours and information sessions, but I don’t think it will be many because they know the on-campus experience is more valuable. YOU NEED TO SCHEDULE THESE TOURS AND INFORMATION SESSIONS EARLY! There’s a competitive element to this that will pressure colleges to do in-person campus tours. If they know other colleges are, they may have an edge in convincing a student to attend. The most competitive admission schools need to get as many applications as they can so they can deny 90% or more of them to keep their admit rate low and stay on top of the rankings. They will have a hard time doing this if they don’t allow prospective students on campus for tours.
Financial Aid/Scholarships- This is really tricky because colleges did lose a lot of money during this pandemic, but they still need to encourage and “recruit” strong academic students to attend their school and they do this with merit based scholarships. There were less and less students applying to college before this all happened. How this pandemic impacts these numbers even more remains to be seen but colleges only thrive when they have the number of students on their campus that their faculty can teach and buildings hold. They don’t want to have less students because that means less money coming in. I think they will still be generous with their merit scholarships and even more so than in the past. If there was a time for students who have done well academically to take advantage of large merit scholarships at good fit schools (not the most competitive), I think it is now.
Transcript/Grades- Click here for a recent well-done article titled “We Get It! College Admissions Deans Speak Out”. This article addresses how colleges will evaluate spring grades during the pandemic and also touches on SAT/ACT and AP scores.
Extracurriculars- Click here for Part 2 of the article above that does a great job explaining how future college applicants can explain and adjust when it comes to extracurriculars, summer opportunities and what colleges want to see from students going through this pandemic.
Distance/Online Learning- Here is a great article that outlines the decisions colleges need to make in the fall. Outside of the State California University system, all colleges that I know of plan to open in the fall for on-campus instruction with social distancing guidelines in place. How this will look I don’t think anyone knows at this point but colleges know they need to do everything in their power to have on campus instruction in the fall because they can’t lose students. The fear is that a good number of students will opt to take a gap semester or year if they are told they have to do another semester of school online through Zoom. I would because I don’t think anyone should pay thousands of dollars to take a class online when I could probably work, make money, and take a few online classes for 4-5 thousand dollars or less.
