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Reflections on the College Process From An Incoming College Freshman

As August quickly approaches and college move-in notifications pour in, I’ve been reflecting on my last year of high school and the college application process. About a year ago, my anxious self had little to no idea of the path I wanted to take in college. I thought I needed to create the “perfect” application […]

More ACT Woes, Michigan Pushes Back Its Deadline, and the Return of Campus Tours

This week, ACT gave online registration another try, Michigan pushed its Early Action deadline back, and grad schools are grappling with test-optional admissions. ACT gave registration a second try this week and it was another Monday full of frustrations. Once Monday’s mess was over, however, several students had success getting seats for September and October (and […]

ACT Woes, UW-Madison Suspends Testing Requirement, and Covid on Campus

The big news this week was ACT registration (or lack thereof), in addition to some announcements relating to Fall 2020 reopenings. ACT’s system crashed on Monday, leaving thousands of students without a test date for fall (at least for now). In response to the system overload, ACT shut down registration and announced that it’ll open up again on […]

Large State Systems Go Test-Optional, College Fairs Go Virtual, and Only Some Students Welcome on Campus Next Year

There’s some more test-optional news this week, and fall plans continue to evolve as many colleges near their opening days for first-year students. The University of North Carolina, University of Tampa, University of Tennesse-Knoxville, and UMass-Amherst all announced test-optional policies. The reversal of last week’s ICE ruling reverted to an old policy that protected some international students but not others: the old […]

Strict Guidelines for Campus Life, Changes to Fall Sports, and MIT Goes Test-Optional

From a whole new world of college sports to the new rules of on-campus socializing, college admissions news largely focused on policies relating to Fall 2020 this week. And keeping the test-optional news going, MIT is now added to the list. In application news, MIT suspended its SAT/ACT testing requirement for the 2020-2021 admissions cycle and Johns Hopkins added Early […]

What Colleges Care About During This Time of Crisis

So much has been changed and impacted by the Covid pandemic, including the college application process. Dozens of colleges have announced changes to their testing policies for the next application cycle (more than half of US colleges are test-optional for 2020-2021), and over 300 college admissions deans recently endorsed a statement highlighting what they would […]

UMiami Adds An Essay, Reed Goes Test-Blind, and the Ivy League Cancels All Fall Sports

This week we’ve got one college eliminating testing altogether and another adding a supplemental essay. We also got some updates about tuition reductions for those learning remotely and the fate of fall sports (and beyond). The University of Miami will have a supplemental essay question for the first time starting this year. In testing news, Reed College tweeted they will be test-blind for […]

Admissions Deans Send A Message, Fall Semester Concerns, and ACT Cancels July Dates

While there were fewer test-optional announcements this week (we’re looking at you, Michigan and the SUNY system), other news dominated college admissions. Here’s the weekly round-up: More than 300 college admissions deans signed a statement urging students to first prioritize self-care during these unprecedented times. The statement, “Care Counts in Crisis: College Admissions Deans Respond to COVID-19,” also emphasizes that they understand that […]