"1. More time
Due to the uncertainties surrounding the health and financial implications of the pandemic, many colleges will not have filled their classes by the traditional May 1 deadline. Colleges that are concerned about not meeting their numerical enrollment goals will likely be flexible in allowing students to apply, even at this late date.
To give students more time to visit and consider other factors, a number of colleges have pushed back their deposit deadline to June 1. For the most part, these are schools that historically have not filled their class by May 1. The more selective institutions are keeping the May 1 candidates reply date.
If you have a deposit deadline from one school that is May 1 and another that is June 1, and you need more time to decide, appeal to the May 1 school to give you more time. Depending on how close that college is to filling its class, it may be flexible.
- A better shot
If a student has applied to one of the most selective, strongest universities – which represent less than 4% of the four-year public and nonprofit private colleges in the U.S. – they will be just as hard to get into, at least initially, as they’ve been in the past. Those schools are, however, likely to have longer wait lists this year, primarily because of the uncertainty surrounding international students and whether they will be able to travel to the U.S. And if they can’t, more students may be admitted from the waitlist than in past years.
But, if students have applied to one of the vast majority of the other selective colleges - including the 16% that admit between a fifth and half of their applicants – it is likely to be somewhat easier to get in for several reasons.
Because of the economic consequences of coronavirus, as many as a fifth of students think they may have to abandon their first choice college to attend a school that is more affordable, according to a survey conducted in March. In addition, that survey found that a college closer to home would be a more viable choice than a first-choice institution for 35% of students. Taking these factors into consideration, colleges are likely to admit more students than they did last year because they expect that more of their admitted students will ultimately opt to stay closer to home or to attend a more affordable school.
- Bigger scholarships" ...