Colleges still welcoming applications for fall 2020

by Nancy Griesemer

 Penn State is still accepting applications for

 Fall 2020

In an upside-down world in which we’re learning to expect the unexpected, a number of high school seniors are second-guessing college lists they made last fall. Some want to be closer to home and some suddenly see value in considering schools with more reasonable tuitions or those with more generous scholarship opportunities.

By the end of March, the college admissions cycle would usually be winding down. But that doesn’t seem to be the case this year, as students with lots of time to reflect are thinking deeply about where they want to be next fall and under what terms.

And for students who want to explore other options, there are literally hundreds of colleges across the country ready, willing and more than happy to consider additional applications for fall 2020. It’s no secret that most enrollment models are out the window, and colleges are looking for ways to remain flexible and attract a solid class of undergrads. And by virtue of some admissions policy changes forced by the Department of Justice, students are now freer to shop than ever before.

In fact, a substantial number of wonderful schools located on stunningly beautiful campuses will consider applications from prospective undergrads well into August. And some of these schools still have scholarships to offer.

Colleges with “published” deadlines of March 30 or later include: Agnes Scott College, Appalachian State University, Arizona State University, Baylor University, Clemson University, College of Charleston, Florida Institute of Technology, Frostburg State University, Hofstra University, Jacksonville University, Marquette University, Michigan State University, Ohio University, Ole Miss, Oregon State University, Penn State, Pitt, St. John’s College (MD/NM), University of Arizona, University of Central Florida, University of Houston, University of Iowa, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri, West Virginia University, Westminster College (MO, PA, UT) and Xavier University (LA and OH).

And note there are quite a few more that have extended their deadlines without publishing the fact or changing information contained on application platforms or websites. Watch your email for notifications if you happen to be on the right mailing lists or have expressed any interest in these colleges.

But don’t delay. Even those colleges with “rolling” admissions eventually fill their seats. And if you need financial support, be aware that scholarships are often allocated on a first come, first served basis or until the money runs out.

Still, if you’re looking or thinking about submitting additional applications, here are a few insider tips to jumpstart your research long before NACAC’s “space available” list comes out shortly after May 1:

1. Common Application member institutions still open to new applicants may be found by going to the Common App website. Click on the College Search tab. Indicate that you’re looking for Fall 2020 and complete the deadline box according to your interest. If you happen to be looking for colleges with deadlines on or after March 30, 2020, you will be rewarded with a list of 563 institutions.
2. The Universal College Application makes the search even easier. Simply go to go to this link and find colleges and universities still accepting new applications.  And as a public service, the list includes some that are not UCA members!
3. The Coalition for Colleges has prepared a list of member college deadlines: https://www.mycoalition.help/hc/en-us/articles/115004795234-2019-2020-Coalition-College-First-Year-Application-Deadlines (if the link doesn’t work, go to the Coalition Help Center, click on MyCoalition Counselor, Applying to College and 2019-2020 Coalition College First Year Application Deadlines). Twenty-three Coalition members have deadlines on or after March 30.
4. Using the College Board’s Big Future search engine, start by using the Type of School filter and select “4-year,” “private” and “public” (this eliminates for-profit institutions). Scan through the other filters and select your preferences for size, location, majors, etc. Click on “Close and see results.” Once results appear, go to the dropdown box labeled “Sort by:” (upper right) and click on “Application Deadline.” Caution: The list starts with “01-Jan,” goes through the calendar year. At this point, you’d want to start reviewing the colleges with early April deadlines, starting on about page 14. Schools with “no deadline” are listed at the end. It’s a little confusing, and the information is only as good as what colleges tell the College Board.

Once you have a “starter” list of schools that may still be accepting applications, verify deadlines by visiting individual websites.

But if websites are unclear or you find conflicting information as to the current status of the process, contact admissions offices directly and simply ask.

You might be surprised to find many are more than happy to hear from you!

Essay-optional colleges

by Nancy Griesemer

The University of Houston requires no essays

as part of its application for admission.

The Common Application recently released the seven prompts being used for the personal statement or what some consider the “college essay” for 2020-21. Not surprisingly, the prompts weren’t changed from the past several years and students can once again look forward to selecting “Topic of Your Choice” as the most engaging of the questions posed.

And various stakeholders, including high school counselors, college admissions offices, English teachers, and essay consultants could heave a sigh of relief and dust-off worksheets, brainstorming exercises and previously-successful sample essays. Yet however often we repeat the same assignment, the mystique associated with a simple essay considered a central component of the college application continues to strike fear in the hearts of rising seniors in every corner of the country and beyond. It’s only supposed to be between 250 and 650 words. And lots of college admissions folks assigned the responsibility of reading these often-tiresome documents quietly suggest that between 500 and 550 words is just fine, thank you.

Yet, parents and others continue to fret over the essay. They hire consultants and send their children to special essay-writing workshops and camps, many of which are very expensive. Some parents even stoop to writing the essay themselves or looking for someone to do it for them. And the final products are often sanitized to the point that the only obvious fingerprints might be those left by “editors” who don’t know that in the U.S. we spell it “color” and not “colour” or analyze and not “analyse.” And high school students don’t usually use the terms “whilst” or “amongst”—not often anyway.

College admissions readers tell us they can spot a parent-written or manufactured essay a mile away. The voice of a 40-something adult is usually quite distinguishable from that of an awkward adolescent, even one trying to sound a little older or more sophisticated.

But the warnings don’t always deter families from trying to control the process by offering help or enlisting the best possible help to improve the final product, including more-than-willing English teachers. And even if admissions readers aren’t always as smart as they think they are about spotting undue interference, the essays they are getting are usually quite polished and have been through a number of hands before they see them.

So what’s the solution? Some readers tell us they simply ignore the personal statement or they read it last and ascribe little to it. If that’s the case, then why assign it or even keep it in the application?

With that in mind, a significant number of Common Application member colleges have made the decision not to require the personal statement. Out of 888 colleges on the Common App for 2019-20, 398 do NOT require a personal statement. Students are offered the opportunity to include it for these colleges, but there’s no guarantee it will be read let alone considered in the final decision.

Some colleges not requiring a personal statement include:

Arizona State University
Bowling Green State University
College of Charleston
Cooper Union
DePaul University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida State University
George Mason University
Indiana University—Bloomington
Middle Tennessee University
New College of Florida
Ohio University
Ole Miss
Oregon State University
Penn State
Pitt
Radford University
St. John’s University (NY & MN)
University of Central Florida
University of Iowa
University of Kentucky
University of Missouri
UNC Charlotte
University of South Carolina
University of Tampa
West Virginia University

For the record, 381 Common App members don’t require “supplements” or college-specific essays. AND, 219 Common App colleges require neither a personal statement nor any essay supplements (nine in Virginia alone). Sweet—right?

And what’s the moral of this story? The personal statement may or may not be required for consideration in the application process. If you’re applying to colleges that don’t require one, you’re home free—no need for a workshop. And the personal statement may or may not be read or considered to be of much value, even by those requiring it. After all, it’s only a single piece of a larger puzzle that when complete should provide a detailed picture of the applicant—accomplishments, goals and character. You want to do a good job on it, but it’s usually not worth a whole lot of anxiety or thousands of dollars to get right. And it’s not worth compromising integrity to get perfect.

Yes, the Common App essay prompts have been released—six months in advance of August 1 (the usual start date for the Common App). But for now, they are for thinking about, not stressing over.

Common App essay prompts remain the same for 2020-2021

by Nancy Griesemer

In 2019-20, USC wanted to know

an applicant’s favorite snack.

Based on a survey of over 10,000 stakeholders—students, counselors, teachers, admissions officers—the Common Application has decided to make no changes to essay prompts for 2020-2021, keeping them essentially the same for the fourth consecutive year.

A collective sigh of relief could be heard from the multimillion-dollar cottage industry that’s grown up to support college essay preparation.

According to the Common App, “Over the last 8 years, based on your feedback and the indispensable counsel of our advisory committees, we’ve revised and refined the prompts so they guide students toward stories that will help Common App members make informed admissions decisions.”

In some quarters, this is good news. The Common App announcement means essay advisers won’t have to retool or come up with innovative approaches to new prompts. They can simply add another year of feedback to advice accumulated over the past several years.

In its survey, the Common App found that over 50% of respondents in all groups surveyed identified as “effective” the prompt inviting students to share a story about a meaningful background, identity, interest or talent. When asked what prompt they would like to see removed or replaced, respondents were less in agreement with no single prompt getting more than 35% “thumbs down.”

And as usual, students really like “Topic of Your Choice.” Admissions offices and counselors weren’t so sure. But while students weren’t too enthusiastic about discussing “a time when they challenged a belief or idea,” colleges “appreciate what those essays reveal about the students who write them.”

Then again, these are the very same institutions that also asked [if you have favorites from the 2019-20 application cycle, include them in the comments below]:

“What is your favorite candy?” (Hendrix College)

“Imagine you had an extra hour in the day—how would you spend that time?” (Stanford University)

 “What song should we be listening to while reading your application” (Chapman University)

“Cats have nine lives, Pac-Man has 3 lives, and radioactive isotopes have half-lives. How many lives does something else—conceptual or actual—have, and why? (University of Chicago)

 “If you could create a food truck, what type of food would you serve? Name the truck.” (Elon University)

“What piques your curiosity and why?” (Wake Forest University)

“Yes or No: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Be sure to defend your position on this important life question.” (Presbyterian College)

“You’ve invented a time machine in your living room—well done! When and where is your first destination and why?” (Scripps College)

“If asked to write a 150-word tweet to tell the world who you are, what would you say?” (Emory University)

“Defend an unpopular opinion you hold?” (University of Notre Dame)

“You are required to spend the next year in either the past or the future. To what year would you travel and why?” (University of Richmond)

“If you had a theme song—a piece of music that describes you, what would it be and why? Please include the name of the song and artist.” (Smith College)

“What is your favorite snack?” (University of Southern California)
“What fictional character would you choose as your college roommate and why?” (Linfield College)

In its announcement, the Common App was quick to suggest that releasing the prompts so early can “send a tacit message that the application process starts now.” That’s evidently not their intent, especially given potential changes down the road. But knowing what to expect for the coming year does provide counselors and others an opportunity to get a head start on application workshops and other activities designed to support students and reduce some of the stress inherent in a process, some aspects of which aren’t particularly transparent.

For the record, the 2020-21 Common Application prompts will inspire essays on the following topics:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Headlines from NACAC’s 2019 State of College Admission

by Nancy Griesemer

Every year, the Arlington-based National Association for College Admission Counseling(NACAC) surveys its members to get a picture of what’s happening in the world of college admissions. Their results are compiled in NACAC’s State of College Admission, which essentially examines the “transition from high school to postsecondary education” and features data collected from school counselors as well as admissions staff at colleges and universities across the country.

This year, 2345 school counseling offices responded to the Counseling Trends Survey (CTS), of which 85% were public, 6% private non-parochial and 10% private parochial. The Admissions Trends Survey (ATS) was subdivided into two parts—one went to admission offices and the other went to institutional research (IR) offices. NACAC received 447 institutional responses for an overall response rate of 35% out of 1263 colleges contacted.

While the report provides a good overall snapshot of the state of the college admission industry, a few specific headlines are worth noting:

1.      College applications increased by 6 percent. The Higher Education Research Institute reports that 36% of first-time freshmen applied to seven or more colleges. And according to the Admission Trends Survey, the average number of applications for each admission office staff member for Fall 2017 was 1035 for public institutions and 461 for private institutions. It’s no surprise admissions offices are increasingly turning to enrollment management software for support.

2.      Colleges and universities accept two-thirds of applicants. Despite how it feels to the average high school student, the average selectivity rate among colleges surveyed was 66.7% for Fall 2017. This rate has actually increased from a low of 63.9% in Fall 2012.

3.      Average yield rate holds steady after long decline. Over the past ten years, average yield (percent of students accepting an offer of admission) has steadily declined from 48% in Fall 2007 to 33.7% in Fall 2017. While yield rates mean little to most prospective students, accurately predicting yield is critical to admissions professionals hoping to avoid either over- or under-enrollment. Having this metric stay steady is a big deal for those charged with crunching the numbers.

4.     Email tops the list of recruitment strategies. Colleges have a wide range of tools available for connecting with prospective applicants. Not surprisingly, contacting them through email and engaging with them through the institution’s website or by hosting campus visits were the most “important.”

5.      Early decision applicants increased in 2018. Twenty-five percent of respondents to the Admission Trends Survey offer Early Decision (ED). Between Fall 2017 and Fall 2018, colleges reported an average increase of 11% in the number of ED applicants and 10% in ED admits.

6.      Early action also increased.Thirty-eight percent of colleges responding to the ATS offered early action options. For Fall 2018, 45% of applications to colleges with early action plans were received through EA. But average yield rate for EA admits was nearly identical to that of the overall pool (25% and 24% respectively). From Fall 2017 to Fall 2018, the number of EA applications increased by 10%, while the number of students accepted through EA increased by 9%.

7.      Likelihood of wait list acceptance remains low. While wait list activity generally increased, the odds of getting admitted from the wait list were still pretty low. For the Fall 2018 admission cycle, 43% of colleges reported using a wait list and placing an average of 10% of all applicants on the wait list. An average 50% of waitlisted students opted to stay on the wait list, while colleges admitted only about 20% of these hopefuls.

8.      Admissions offices identify grades and curriculum as top factors in admissions. For decades, academic performance in high school has been the most important consideration in freshman admission. In fact the relative importance of many admissions decision factors have remained “remarkably” stable over time. Notable exceptions would include the declining importance of class rank and interviews.

9.      Student-to-counselor ratios remain outrageous. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 2016-17 each public school counselor was responsible for overseeing a caseload of 455 students, on average. This number greatly exceeds the 250:1 ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association. Only New Hampshire and Vermont had ratios below the ASCA’s recommended standard (220 and 202 respectively). The states with the highest number of students per school counselor included Arizona (905), Michigan (741), Illinois (686), California (663) and Minnesota (659).

10.  Private schools devote more time to college counseling. College admissions counseling is only one of myriad responsibilities shouldered by school counselors. Counseling staff at private schools spend an average of 31% of their time on college counseling, while their colleagues in public schools spend only 19% of their time on that task.

Students vote ‘no confidence’ in college admissions

by Nancy Griesemer

More than a simple distraction or a salacious news story featuring lots of celebs, the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal is definitely having an impact on the way students view the admissions process. In high schools across the country, they are voting ‘no confidence’ in colleges and the college admissions process.

According to a recent Kaplan survey of over 300 “aspiring” college students polled over email, 57% say they are concerned they won’t be treated fairly in the admissions process. Specifically, they believe their spot at a top college might be given to a less qualified applicant because of a personal connection to the institution.

In fact, nearly a quarter of these students claims they know someone they think is less qualified than they are, but who received “preferential treatment” in admissions because of family wealth or connections.

For those who have somehow been shielded from the daily tabloid-style updates on who is going to which jail, the Varsity Blues scandal involved a handful of very wealthy families with enough disposable income to cheat their way into elite colleges by manipulating applications, fixing text scores and otherwise using influence to ensure admission for their children.

And the story clearly hit a nerve, as what students applying to highly-selective schools thought they knew turned into fact—some families of privilege exercise that privilege to obtain positive admissions outcomes.

One student who planned to apply to only “top” colleges explained in his survey response, “I know numerous people that have connections to my top school, whereas I do not. I am especially concerned because I have a greater SAT score than them [sic], but they will have an upper hand and be admitted.”

Another student was more circumspect and remarked, “In light of the admission scandals, colleges will be more attentive and aware of these types of schemes. Also, considering a number of the parents who were caught and punished, I don’t believe that this will be a large problem in the future.”

The second student may be right.

In a separate Kaplan survey of 322 top colleges and universities (as defined by USNWR), admissions reps suggest that the corrupt practices exposed in the scandal are relatively rare. Less than a quarter (24%) describes the activities as common.

And only 11% say they were ever pressured to accept an applicant who didn’t meet admissions requirements because of who that applicant was or to whom they were connected—a significant drop from the 25% who suggested they were pressured to do so in a Kaplan survey just five years ago.

Nevertheless, colleges are worried about perceptions—their image among students making the decision whether or not to apply. Of the group surveyed, 49% think the scandal may have done long-term harm to the public image of the college admission process, while 37% don’t think it has and 14% aren’t sure.

When asked how colleges can convince families that the admissions process is not “rigged” against them, admissions officers were “largely unable to provide any specific policy prescriptions, but the theme of transparency was mentioned often.”

While the call for transparency seems like a logical, albeit a little disingenuous, response to the scandal, not everyone is so sure how it can be achieved.

And so it wasn’t surprising that the issue of how to achieve greater transparency in admissions lurked just below the surface of many discussions taking place during the 2019 NACAC Conference, in Louisville.

At a session dedicated to the Varsity Blues scandal moderated by Jeffrey Selingo, a DC-based journalist currently with The Atlantic, panelists wrestled with the idea of transparency—whether transparency was possible or even a good idea—when at the end of the day college admissions “is actually not a fair system” (Sacha Thieme, Indiana University).

Tongue in cheek, Jim Jump, of St. Christopher’s School in Virginia, added, “I’m not sure we want people to know how the sausage is made.”

Although several panelists suggested that the complexity of admissions works against complete transparency, they agreed that colleges can and should do more to help the public understand how applicants are selected, especially in context of competing institutional goals and the very real financial pressures institutions face.

And the question was raised as to how to be transparent in a constantly evolving process, when even enrollment managers can’t predict what their processes will look like over time. Several panelists pointed out that applicant pools and other factors change each year rendering these processes anything but static.

“Mystery creates mistrust, and in the absence of a narrative, the public creates their own,” said Angel B. Pérez, vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College, in Connecticut.

And as a result, the public has created a narrative of a system rigged against the average college applicant.

Summing up the recent survey findings, Sam Prichard, Kaplan’s director of college prep programs, concludes, “Applicants deserve better.”