My third and last child fits this category. When I compare her process to that of her two older brothers, I realize how much the game “may” have changed.
We are fortunate enough to be full-pay anywhere she chooses to go. Is that a bigger advantage now then when her brothers started the process?
How much should we be concerned with the dreaded perish/struggle/survive/thrive list? Should we target struggle/survive schools if they are need aware?
Will the pandemic limit the number of international students so much that schools that were out of reach, now be brought back into reach?
Because pretty much everything is “remote” and the “part-time” job market has dried up as well as many of the traditional ECs, will a lack of ECs be that big of an impact this year?
Many schools are test optional, but there is always the “that really doesn’t apply to privileged students,” but is that a true axiom this year?
How important are college visits this year as many are providing? There is only so much you can gain from YouTube. As far as schools that gage “demonstrated interest,” is an application enough this year to show that?
I wonder if any Admissions Officers on this forum could address these questions and share some of how they are dealing with the very strange year. Last years class (CO 2020) may have had a weird senior year, but college applications/decisions were pretty much wrapped up, or at least all of the applications were in by the time the pandemic shut everything down. This year’s class will be the first and maybe the most impacted by it.
Just a parent, but personally, I would not use the “perish/thrive” rankings to guide any decision making – one of the metrics was the number of google searches for the institutions name. However, a deeper dive into bond ratings and endowment per student would be worthwhile.
How much should we be concerned with how some universities may be struggling financially? Would it be worthwhile/high risk to look at traditionally good schools who may be more willing to accept a student that they may not accept in the past?
I would evaluate the financial information differently. Like midwestmomofboys said, bond rating and endowment will be more useful in determining the fiscal health of schools. If a school is “struggling” or “perishing”, your payment may not be enough to keep the doors open. I wouldn’t try and use a poor fiscal rating to gain admission to a “better” school but I would use the concern about the ability to educate my student for 4 years to guide us toward a more “stable” one.
I would still go with academics and fit first. Just because you might get into a better school this year doesn’t mean you should apply if it’s not a great fit.
I would think full-pay would move you up the list. The economy and lack of internationals will make this more appealing I suspect.
Endowment and bond rating would play a role. I would also want to know how strong the department of you major is in relation to the school. If there’s cuts who or what will be first?
Do you want to pay $80k/year for an online experience? That’s the bigger question.
It might help if you named some of the schools under consideration. I am not sure how many ‘traditionally good schools’ are financially struggling. I agree with the above to disregard the thrive-perish list, and look at financial strength via publically available information.
I do think that not applying for financial aid will be even more of an advantage this year, if that is what you mean by schools possibly being willing to accept students they haven’t in the past. But that is not the same (generally) as saying a school is financially struggling.
Regarding test optional, I believe most of the schools that have said they are test optional are so even for affluent students…this year is different with regard to that. Only 2/3 of 4 year schools are TO, so check websites carefully. Some schools are not TO, but are test flexible (e.g, Georgetown), so make sure you understand policies at all the schools on your kid’s list.
For schools where demonstrated interest is part of the admissions decision, you still need to engage with the schools in the activities they track…which is likely not watching you tube videos. Sign up for virtual admissions sessions/student panels/campus tours, open the emails the school sends you, engage with your AO, interview if those are offered.
I think solvency is a real concern. I would stick with mostly well funded and well known colleges that have a healthy balance sheet. Most colleges will have their fiscal year end June 30th financials out this month. Look them over if you have time.
I would also see how they handled the current crisis. Some colleges showed great leadership and had excellent plans in place; others not so much.
If there is a college that is a reach but has ED, I would seriously consider it. Last year, ED applicants were down at many colleges and I would expect the trend to continue. As a full pay applicant, you might have an advantage (I personally don’t think any college is 100% need blind).
With that said, “fit” (financially, academically, & socially) is always going to be the top criteria.
Re: “demonstrated interest” I would continue to show as much interest as possible within the CV-19 limitations: attend virtual sessions, open emails; reach out to local adcom rep; in the essay show how you would be a great fit at X college; etc.
The bottom line is that the applicants who goes the extra mile this difficult year (e.g. get a test score in; show interest; really research each college; find some ECs that are meaningful) will have an advantage.
I think you all are looking too specific at my original post. The main point is that this next year’s class is going to be playing in a game that has changed dramatically. With more things to think about and more unknowns.
That being said, I suspect the $80k/year for an online experience will most likely not be for the entire college career and most likely worse case is the 1/2 of the first year.
I suspect those schools that are publicly need aware in their decision process might tend to favor more of the full-pay student this year/over next.
But the other questions I’d like to get input. ECs? Test optional? Will acceptance rates be up at most (probably not the tippy tops (Harvard, Yale, MiT, Stanford, Chicago, etc.) but how about the next tier or the LACs? Will AOs be looking at different things or giving less weight to things like ECs and demonstrated interest in a world that makes those a little tougher?
Furthermore, what other things are we missing? What else needs to be considered? Gap years? Larger class next year with a lot of gap years this year make for less admitted CO 21 students? I don’t know, but some on the board may.
I don’t think the “game has changed dramatically” or “this is the wild wild west”. What adcoms look for in applicants is going to be very similar to what they looked at last year, and the year before that. The only real difference is that most colleges are test optional this year but will appreciate high test scores, if submitted and will have to dig into the applications a little harder to see which students are the best fit but their institutional needs are not going to be dramatically different. High grades in rigorous classes is key, followed by test scores (if available), essays, LOR, ECs and “packaging” yourself well are always going to be important. Ability to be full pay will be bonus especially ones that have a large international student body who may not be as large as in the previous year.
I don’t think I would worry too much about colleges that allowed some more gap year students this year. For example, Duke had 174 gap students (about 10%) but I really doubt they will reduce admissions for the Class of 2025, they will just absorb the extra students for the one year.
Lastly, the college landscape is going to be much more “normal” next year as colleges figure out how to deal with CV-19.
COVID-19 accelerates change or makes hidden drivers visible.
Full pay has always been a bump at most need blind schools, and it will be a bigger bump this year. Every school wants to fund all of the COVID-19 expenses without touching the endowment.
ED will be a bigger bump because it locks in a class. Those ED students are still committed and can’t melt over the summer.
Almost every school has said there won’t be a smaller 2021 class because of the 2020 deferrals. Some have even said the 2021 class is likely to be larger. Schools need full enrollment to balance the budget, so they will deal with a bigger freshmen class to balance out smaller sophomore, junior, and senior classes.
Geographic diversity will be interesting. It will be more difficult to yield students from the other side of the country but there will be higher yields within a days car ride.
I totally understand your question. I had a D20 and have a S22. I would think there would have to be more emphasis on what kids did in their freshman and sophomore years than normal. The world shut down in March. We normally go to school until late June so we missed a large chunk of the school year. Kids in our school got no grades. There were no sports, clubs, or theatre. Summer jobs were hard to come by and some kids are not able to get jobs or volunteer outside the home because they have members of their families that are compromised. Luckily that was not our situation so my S22 was able to start a landscaping company and worked at a camp. I think those will serve him well on his applications but is that fair to kids who couldn’t do anything outside the home? School this year is hybrid. Clubs will be all virtual. Sports will be happening. Some kids learn great in a hybrid model, but many don’t. My son is taking several honors and an AP and just not sure if his GPA will suffer with hybrid classes.
Just seems like it doesn’t give AO’s a lot to go on for the class of 2021. Our GC’s have said not to worry if you couldn’t do EC’s or standardized testing, you won’t be penalized for it. But AO’s need something to compare kids. Obviously rigor, HS reputation, and essays will be more important than ever. Even LOR’s won’t be based on having a full year in class with a student and many GC’s really don’t even meet their students until late junior year or early senior year. This year those meetings will be virtual so the GC is really not going to know a lot about them.
@momofsenior1 could you share some of the meaningful types of EC’s your kids are doing?
@mamom111 -
Despite my user name, my D is a college junior and she was at her engineering co-op job all summer ; )
I do have nieces and nephews in my circle though so hear about their activities. Sounds like they did things similar to your own children which IMO, are meaningful ECs!
I have one niece who is a D3 level recruitable athlete. She continued her sport (virtual zoom training with the team and on her own for a few months, and then socially distanced practices), worked a summer job, and did an online summer engineering program. Another niece who is in to the arts, took courses and also worked. My nephew worked with his dad all summer and developed some mad trade skills.
Definitely not the typical summer for any of them but I still think they found good uses of their time that an AO would look favorably upon.