Not A Normal Year

There’s something about the first week of school that never gets old. After a summer of personal transition and relative idleness, being around the energy of students again is a nice change of pace, even as application season looms. College admissions also never seems to get old, but for very different reasons. For such a cyclical process, no two years are ever alike. I’m not sure what a “normal year” would even feel like, but it’s definitely not this year. There are major changes that were announced a while ago, and a few that are more recent developments. Here are a few I’d like to highlight.

Supplemental Essays about “lived experience”

In my last post about the recent Supreme Court ruling, I was unsure about whether or not colleges would change their supplemental essay topics. Many of them did. Here are some examples:

Brown University: Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community.

University of Miami (FL): Located within one of the most dynamic cities in the world, the University of Miami is a distinctive community with a variety of cultures, traditions, histories, languages, and backgrounds. The University of Miami is a values-based and purpose-driven postsecondary institution that embraces diversity and inclusivity in all its forms and strives to create a culture of belonging, where every person feels valued and has an opportunity to contribute. Please describe how your unique experiences, challenges overcome, or skills acquired would contribute to our distinctive University community.

And my personal favorite…

Sarah Lawrence College: In the syllabus of a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the author notes: "Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university." Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court's decision.

The New FAFSA

As has been widely reported, the new FAFSA will be available in December for this application cycle only, and then back to the familiar October 1 date in future years. 

Among the most significant changes are as follows:

• Number of questions from 108 to 36.

• Terminology change from “Expected Family Contribution” (EFC) to “Student Aid Index” (SAI). The EFC was always an index to begin with, so the previous terminology was confusing.

• Increase in eligibility for single parents.

• Decrease in eligibility for middle/higher income families. On a related note, the number of children attending college simultaneously will no longer affect eligibility for need-based aid.

Financial aid is always assessed on a case by case basis, but I’m afraid that taking away the multiple-kids-in-college discount is going to hit hard. Yes, the FAFSA will be easier to complete, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to be happy with the results. 

The Digital SAT is coming, the Digital PSAT is here

Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long. 

I took the GRE online and that feels like a thousand years ago. I’ve always wondered why the SAT or ACT weren’t administered the same way, at least as an option for students, but I suppose they are obviously larger operations. I’m very curious about whether the number of test dates will change down the road, what the effect will be on scores ranges (time to recalibrate yet again), and any potential technical issues, but I’m looking forward to it. My school is currently planning for the digital PSAT so we’re in it.

Click here for more information about the digital SAT.

Legacy Admissions in jeopardy?

Legacy admissions has been under the microscope for a while. Amherst College, Carnegie Mellon University, and Johns Hopkins University all eliminated legacy admissions as a practice even before the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action. I don’t recall if it might have been a product of the “admissions scandal” (which was really the athletics scandal, but whatever). More recently, Wesleyan University and Virginia Tech announced they would stop considering legacy status and there are suspicions that this is the beginning of a major trend. Even if a college hasn’t officially announced their stance on legacy admissions, I can only wonder if internal discussions are already taking place.

Colleges get creative

As much as many of us would like to see broader changes in college admissions, at least a few schools have taken it upon themselves to be creative as a way to fulfill their missions and customize their admissions process. I’ve highlighted two below:

Wake Forest University is offering Early Action for first generation college students. 

Lafayette College is reducing how many activities students can report on the Common Application. 

ChatGPT/A.I.

This deserves its own post. Coming soon…

It’ll be interesting to see what individual colleges and universities do in the coming years in response to recent events and maybe as a form of institutional soul-searching. I’m looking forward to seeing the changes that will potentially lead to a new normal.