I can’t imagine the admissions office right now. 5000+ applications in such a small amount of time? It’s going to be so tight!
yeah and especially with test optional there are going to be so many similar candidates… really gonna come down to regional AO’s opinions in committee
i can only imagine what cornell AOs must be feeling like, apps up by 36% and they extended their deadline too. i also heard MIT apps went up 60% but i don’t have a source for that. if they did… i feel so sorry for those AOs.
and echoing ^^^ test optional is really gonna make it more difficult to compare candidates. we’ll see what happens
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Test optional isn’t really test optional, if you haven’t noticed.
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Agree…I realized if schools are go to test optional and said test scores do not matters or at disadvantage, they should instead go with test-blind. Then I believe them!
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Right. Test blind makes sense, but optional can and will be used against the students who dont submit. This led to a bunch of kids with good grades and gpas but who had high 20 act scores realizing that they could fullsend their dream school and not have their test score used against them. The lack of a test score can and will be used against you, even though that is not how it should work. Most students in America, wheather they admit it or not, had the opportunity to take the act/sat masked and social distanced and such, and wheather they want to admit it, the the AOs know this.
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In that Duke Chronicle article interviewing the Dean of Admissions at Duke (or something like that), he was quoted saying that they intend to take in the same number of test submitted applicants as test-optional applicants, which really doesn’t make sense to me considering that ~60% of applicants submitted scores and 40% didn’t.
I can understand the sentiment that a test score should truly be optional this year and shouldn’t be a primary deterrent in your admissions (ex: no SAT/ACT but great GPA/coursework, ECs, and essays should outweigh a great SAT/ACT, mediocre ECs and subpar essays; simply submitting a test shouldn’t guarantee you an advantage), but to outright make a claim like that before really reviewing the applicant pool is irresponsible imo. In most instances, a test-optional admission pool will likely be weaker than those who have tests, and therefore would give an actual distinct statistical advantage to test-optional applicants if followed through on.
I hope the admissions go on how they should: holistic reviews of candidates in which a great test score is a “cherry on top” that makes a difference for already well-qualified candidates.
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Agreed.
You guys are speculating about nothing. The financial document requests dont mean anything. Just wait it out.
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true. i mean, if you’re looking at two similar candidates, and one has a 1550 SAT, and the other has no score, the candidate with a score is going to objectively look more qualified. i’m sure they’ll also look in the context of your area - if you are wealthy/in an affluent area, not having a test score will probably not slide. i guess we’ll see how this all plays out with what % of test optional candidates get admitted though.
Let’s be honest here. Most applicants to Duke (and similar colleges) are very proactive about their career goals, academics and completing deadlines/assignments early. Most applicants applying to these type of hyper competitive colleges would have started taking the ACT/SAT before spring of Junior year and would have been done with testing before the pandemic delayed test dates. At D’s high school all of the top students were done by fall of Junior year (even if they took the tests 2 or 3 times).
With that said, many of the students who are submitting TO applications are likely the students in a normal year who would not even submit an application because they didn’t have test scores within Duke’s 50% median score or higher. For example, students with a 28 ACT but otherwise very good GPA, course rigor, ECs etc are doing a “Hail Mary” this year, I just hope the AO’s will be able to differentiate from the good students from the great students as they always have at Duke.
Lastly, I just don’t see Duke accepting 40% of their ED freshman class without a test score especially if that 40% is generally a weaker pool than the pool of applicants who did submit a high test score.
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i definitely agree with this. although i wouldn’t say people planning to take it in the spring were unprepared, many of my friends and i took our tests in the spring of our sophomore or fall of junior year. the TO pool is probably less qualified as a whole but we really do have no way of knowing how they’ll be evaluated without those tests. and i agree, 40% of an incoming class without tests wouldn’t make a lot of sense considering that people with tests may have better applications overall.
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That isn’t a fair argument to make though, as some people, including many i know were planning on taking it in the spring. That is why these types of decisions are so hard. It doesn’t matter though. If you deserve to get in, you will. Everything works out. ACT scores are stupid and mean nothing. Imagine having a number define your brain. it makes no sense.
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@alilsimp Cornell at least doesn’t have their AO review all the applications. They are reviewed by the college the applicant applies to. So it’s likely the colleges that were test blind (not tests being looked at for anyone) had the greatest number of applicants will have the most work.
Also, other schools like COE seemed to have weedout of some kind in their application by asking what math course you’ve taken and physics. I think if students haven’t taken some sort of minimum that they’re looking for, they won’t get to the next stage in the process.
Legacies also have a big advantage there as Cornell loves its legacies. As does Penn. So that carries some weight too.
It’s anyone’s guess from there.
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I simply think that tests will not be that big of a deal this year. Recs, grades, course rigor, and essays will show how a student is in the classroom and will be sufficient information for AO’s to determine if a student will succeed at Duke, not a test score
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STOP WORRYING. Most likely, the VAST MAJORITY of people sitting here reading this will get deffered. That isn’t a problem. This is all luck, there is absolutely nothing you guys can do.
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@socaldad2002 I have to agree with this assessment about most kids in certain areas applying to Top schools would have taken it well before the pandemic caused the cancellation of tests.
My son took it for the first time in July before Junior year and then second time in September and he was done. I heard one dean of admissions at a top school actually say kids that took it early and submitted a lower score than someone that took it later may be looked upon in a better light because usually the expectation is each time you take it they expectation is that your score would’ve gone up. I never thought about it that way, but does make sense. I do think though there are kids overly involved in activities, or sports that couldn’t take it in the fall and had to wait until the spring, but generally the uber vigilent top kids take it as early as they can unless they’re waiting for the free one or taking a free school SAT/ACT course first semester. But even then they would’ve taken it by February which was before the pandemic.
I proctor and when I proctored this past August, every senior in the room had taken the ACT already except 1 kid. Some had already taken it twice. These were clearly kids who were only taking it to boost their score, not to get A score.
Kids who didn’t turn them in some are definitely kids trying to take advantage of the system. Not all but many. I would much rather have had my kid earn a mediocre score and turn it in than be ashamed and not turn it in. Some of these schools are definitely going to be in the position that they admit unqualified students who bomb out or can’t handle the stress immediately. That will not be a pretty sight.
how many ED applicants typically get deferred?
I think that Duke defers very few applicants because they believe that if you’re not a good fit in the ED round, that won’t change in the RD round. At least that’s what they said on the tour.
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I guess it’s better that way. At least with a rejection you can move on with your life and RD applications. With a deferral, there is that glimmer of hope but then there’s the almost inevitable rejection in the end anyway after a massive amount of stress.
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