Occasionally I have a family that I worked with in the past reach out to me for help with a younger child. This happened recently and I started to explain how different things are in college admissions since the pandemic. There have been so many disruptions in the college admissions process in recent years that I thought it would make sense to share about it in a post. Here are six disruptions that are worth noting:
- Varsity Blues: In 2019, the government announced a criminal conspiracy to influence admissions decisions at several selective colleges. Multiple parents were convicted and served jail sentences .
- Test-Optional Admissions-In the pandemic, standardized tests were cancelled. Colleges were aware that students did not have the opportunity to test and decided to accept applications without test scores. Since then, schools have come up with an array of test-blind, test-flexible, test-optional and test-required options. This has created a confusing landscape for families to negotiate.
- Affirmative Action-In 2023 the Supreme Court abolished race-conscious decisions in college admissions. This created a shift in how colleges bring in a class within the confines of the law.
- FAFSA Simplification-The Department of Education was tasked with simplifying the FAFSA by December 31st, 2023. They (barely) met the deadline but the system has been riddled with glitches. They announced that colleges would not receive the data until mid-March. Due to this delay, many schools are pushing back the deposit deadline from May 1st to June 1st.
- Legacy Admissions-The Affirmative Action ruling shined a light on the advantages that legacies receive in the admissions process. Many schools have released statements that they will no longer consider legacy status in admissions. In addition to this, some states are trying to ban the advantage of legacy admissions.
- Online SAT-The first digital SAT will be administered on March 9th. The exam is noticeable shorter than the previous test and it is the first adaptive test that the College Board will offer.
If you are a parent and it feels a little chaotic, you are not imagining things!