Navigating the new college admissions landscape — Are things more complicated than ever?

The college admissions landscape today would be unrecognizable just a few years ago. Think back before Zoom school and before everyone was digging out their grandma’s sewing machine to make cloth masks. There was a time when the vast majority of colleges and universities in the U.S. required SAT or ACT test scores, along with high school GPA and class rank for admissions consideration. There was a time when most colleges’ admissions processes were pretty similar.

Things are different now. (And, hint: I think, probably for the better.) Covid-19 instigated change in many areas of life. Higher education is no different.

It may have already been on the roadmap for the SAT to go digital, but the pandemic certainly accelerated College Board’s timeline. Other things may have actually never happened if not for the pandemic making them a sheer necessity. A lot has happened, and if you just assume business as usual, you may be left behind.

What prompted the changes?

The class of 2020 was the first to be impacted by some of the most significant changes to college admissions in recent decades. At the beginning of the pandemic, chaos ensued as colleges and universities across the United States scrambled to adjust their admissions consideration criteria.

Colleges and universities were forced to consider unexpected realities in the spring of 2020:

• Some students hadn’t yet taken the SAT or ACT college entrance exams, which at the time, were required by over 85% of U.S. colleges and universities.
• Many students had incomplete transcripts for their spring semester of senior year. Remember the Spring Break that never ended? Yeah…it sounded good at first, didn’t it?

When the world settled into the idea that this Covid-19 thing wasn’t going away in a matter of days or weeks, admissions teams everywhere reacted…well…most did. Responses looked something like this:

• “Meh. Let’s just do nothing.” Business as usual.
• Moving to “test optional” status, not requiring (but still considering) SAT or ACT test scores as part of admission consideration.
• Moving to “test blind” status, not considering test scores at all.
• Adding new admission consideration factors: live interviews, short question and answers, etc.

Are these changes here to stay?

Maybe. Probably? It depends who you ask.

All we can say is that we now have two more years of admissions data to review. Since the class of 2020 entered their freshman year of college, some schools have reversed their policies, calling them only “temporary measures” employed due to the Covid-19 emergency. Others have opted to hold on to their adjustments or even change them further. Things are not the same as they were in 2019 and they’ll likely never truly be the same again.

How can you best prepare given these changes?

Here’s the thing. When it comes time to start thinking about college, your mom might be giving you some advice, and maybe so will your high school counselor, or you tennis coach, or your older brother. But here’s the thing: you need to make sure the advice you are getting is actually considering the current college admissions landscape — not the one that existed a decade ago.

A few things I think every high schooler today should know:

#1 More schools than ever before are test optional.

Over 75% of colleges and universities are now test optional — contrasting to a mere 15% in 2019 pre-pandemic times. Does that mean you should donate that big ‘ole SAT prep book you have lying around? No, probably not.

What it does mean is that you now have a choice to make. Is your SAT score going to be an asset on your application or is it going to bring down your overall “package”? You need to think through this and be strategic.

Colleges and universities who have gone test optional have seen a rise in the number of accepted students in traditionally underrepresented groups. This is good news!

If you, however, are not part of a historically underrepresented group for the school you are applying to, you may find your admission chances just dropped significantly. Schools are still accepting roughly the same number of students, so you’ll need to work extra hard to stand out and claim your spot in the freshman class. One way may be to have an even higher SAT test score than you thought you needed.

The data is still new, so this is something to keep an eye on.

#2 The SAT is going digital

By the Spring of 2024, the SAT will be fully digital. This isn’t a huge surprise. What isn’t digital these days? But, it does mean you may want to rethink your test prep strategy. The new digital SAT will look a bit different:

• The entire test will be done on a computer, either at school or in a testing center.
• The test will be about 1 hour shorter. Test fatigue is a real thing, and the SAT may be trying to curb its effects by shortening the test.
• You will be able to use a calculator for all math questions.
• Faster score delivery. You’ll be able to make critical decisions faster like if you want to retest or whether or not you want to send your scores to your target schools.

#3 Admissions applications are more diverse than ever

Never before has there been so much disparity among admissions applications. You used to be able to count on needing test scores, GPA/class rank and maybe a personal statement or essay for pretty much any U.S. college or university.

Today, many colleges and universities are opting for more creative application requirements. If you apply to Bowdoin College, your application will include short recorded answers to questions that you can’t prepare in advance for. Yep, that’s right. You’ll be thrown questions and have 30 seconds to respond. Other schools like Tulane have introduced interviews to the process.

The only thing you can really count on is that you’re going to need to review each school’s application requirements very carefully and it may take much, much longer to put together an admissions package for every school on your list. You should factor in this new level of complexity.

Bonus #4: Affirmative action could soon be overturned. As of January 2022, the Supreme Court announced that they will hear cases challenging Harvard University and University of North Carolina’s policies related to affirmative action.

Final thoughts — Things are definitely more complicated than they’ve ever been.

In short, the Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for much of the change we’ve seen in the college admissions landscape over the past few years. And, much of this change is likely here to stay — or is only instigating further change.

You need to be diligent and do your research before making unwise assumptions about college admissions these days. You’ll likely need to spend much more time prepping your applications than your peers did just a few grades above you. Researching every school’s unique requirements and putting together an effective admissions package for each school will be time consuming, but it’s really the only way to be competitive in this new age of college admissions.