How much was UCLA’s application fee? That is a lot of applications!!
UCLA has more than 10 weeks between application deadline (end November) and April (and if they are test blind, no waiting for December test scores). They will do the process like before, but hire more admission readers.
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I dont know or care how much the UCLA fee is, the fact remains they can not and will not maintain quality control if they hire thousands of applicant reviewers on a temporary basis. Moreover, absent test scores, many of the applications are impossible to evaluate. Know anything about high schools in Romania? How about Cameroon? Neither does UCLA. Except for a handful of elite preps known worldwide, most international schools arent well known by admission officers, nor are many obscure US high schools.
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I have a junior who is a mediocre standardized test taker, he has good grades and is a fantastic writer but I don’t expect him to do awesomely on the SAT (hasn’t taken it yet so I’m just guessing). He isn’t going to be applying to any top 20 schools so the debate over TO at those schools is moot. I also have a freshman who is both an outstanding student and a killer standardized test taker (top scores zero prep). When it comes time for college with him I’m sure standardized tests would be a boost but I’m not going to complain if schools are TO.
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Re UCLA and other schools with more applications: I am not worried one bit that they won’t be able to figure out how to assess the increased number. Give these schools some credit! They are “elite” for a reason – and a major reason is they perform at a high level, in other words, they are on their A game. I will assume that they will continue to perform competently until proven otherwise.
Some seem to overlook the key point that test scores at these schools were never that important. Admissions is absolutely able to assess applicants without scores.
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Of course it’s generalizing. The only opinion anyone is entitled to is their own and you are entitled to “your” perception of people being bothered by TO. Our son studied hard for his high GPA and test scores but we are not bothered by TO for this year due to Covid. It is totally understandable and we strongly feel that it is the reason for such high applicant numbers to many schools. For that reason he has applied to a few more than his brothers did knowing that the numbers may be against him this year. Also, who do you propose that colleges can hire on relatively short notice and still be up to speed on how to score thousands of individual applications with full understanding of a colleges criteria?
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Exactly… Not sure why thats a difficult concept to hire help.
UCLA has been dealing with over 100K applications for several years now, they do hire many temp readers (some have been doing it for years), and do a relatively more thorough training of said readers than some other schools IMO.
Here are the details on how they read apps and what criteria they use, lots of great info in this video:
Here is their current review process: https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/freshman/freshman-requirements/application-review-process
I do agree with your point that there are some obscure schools in the mix, and I have to believe at some level this favors more ‘known’ schools whether consciously or not.
I am sure the process isn’t perfect. At some point AI might come into it as you suggested upthread at least to make the first wave of cuts, but it seems we are a long way from AI being able to do holistic reads, and I take UCLA at their word that they are doing holistic reads. And now being test blind, there is one less variable in the mix.
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These temporary admission readers would surely be in demand as lots of top colleges would need them. Where do they come from? From admission readers who were laid off from colleges that receive fewer applications?
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I haven’t heard of any mass AO layoffs. Many selective schools hire external readers every year, this has been a thing for at least a decade. I’m not sure there is one type of person who is a reader, but could be someone who worked as an AO or HS GC, or a stay at home parent, or a retired person. The pay is typically in the $15-$25 per hour range.
That UCLA video I shared above is one of their reader training sessions. In-person of all things!
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Interesting. That’s close to the minimum wage in a number of states now.
Since none of us work in a college admissions office, I rather doubt we have a good understanding of the extent of time spent on holistic review. My data point comes from a friend working at a large private Boston university who said he spends 3 minutes per application. Sounds about right.
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I’d place a bet that top schools could take all their applications to the top of a staircase and toss them, then select those that landed on random stairs for acceptance and still fill their classes with students who will do well. At least at our school, our not-so-dedicated students don’t aim for them and aren’t applying even without test scores.
But I guess time will tell if they now let in oodles of students who can’t hack the courses because they needed test scores to determine who could or couldn’t do well.
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UCLA normally hires temporary application readers.
Presumably, they will do as they did before.
International applicant increases were relatively small compared to in-state and out-of-state domestic:
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More temporary admission readers may not even fully lessen the burdens on these top colleges. More applications would make to the top of the pile, as each reader wouldn’t toss away all the applicaitons s/he read. These applications would have to reviewed by more senior AOs. More committee meetings. More rounds of cuts. More of everything. It’d be foolhardy to believe this process could be done in the same amount of time with no impact.
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It seems to me that “test optional” moves the SAT into a bucket akin to an extracurricular. If your kid is good at tests (some combination of ability and preparation) then go ahead and take it and put it in the app. But if they are not good at testing, now they are allowed to focus more on other things they are good at (art/music/running/drama/whatever) and put that in the app.
I have some inkling (based on the Lakeside blog I posted somewhere) that this shift from required to optional is less momentous than people here take it. That the “weight” of testing, though previously required, was decreasing anyway.
In this shift, I don’t worry about CC parents, who are very aware of the changes and can adjust. I do worry about lower SES kids, who might shine at taking tests and whose applications might have gotten a close look based on them - interpreting “optional” as “not worth the effort.”
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Comparatively I suspect there are more SES kids who can get in and do well without scores vs those handful who were able to get a good score in spite of their circumstances. I also suspect those who were able to get a good score aren’t the type to dismiss that as an option.
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That is an interesting theory, but unless you are worried about less money in application fees, I think you will see a similar number of students and a similar number of spots year over year. Smart money predicts the closing of struggling schools, but I am not seeing how we can pin that on the Test Optional Movement.
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I’m with Michael. The college closing trend is driven by three factors- demographics (fewer 18 year olds, more pronounced in some parts of the country than others), changing preferences (urban or suburban vs. rural) and sub-scale size (high fixed costs for technology upgrades, for example, which can’t be spread over a huge student body). TO would be a rounding error compared with the larger trends.
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The number of 18 year olds won’t decline until 2026.
Another issue that is significantly impacting college enrollment is affordability, that’s partially to blame for the lower number of college students enrolled this current year, which is dramatically less among low-ses students.
So far, it looks like next year will experience low rates of enrollment among low-SES students because FAFSA applications are down for HS seniors 9.4% over last year, as of Feb 12.