@TVBingeWatcher2 and @Rue4 - we’re sort of merit chasing (NMF), as well as tuition exchange and FA. Lots of irons in the fire.
@inthegarden all AP scores when they stopped live classes in March and the test were 45 minutes on line are highly suspect. That said your daughters 780 doesn’t need to be buttressed. Just don’t report the AP score. I’m sure the 780 confirms the solid grades in those classes.
Interesting take on which institutions will Survive-Thrive-Struggle-Perish
Lots of discussion about this on the “fall and coronavirus” thread
We are in the same situation with D21. She really needs to boost her SAT math from what we thought was a baseline exam she took in Sept 2019, before she had even taken Calc. or understood how quickly she needed to work. I hope that at least one of the SATs we registered her for (Aug, Sept, Oct., Nov.) actually takes place. I know that’s a lot. I was taking every opportunity I could for her to get a test in, given COVID. We have to travel a few hours for two of those tests.
On another note, D19 just found out Friday that Emory will be 100% online and that only freshman and a few select seniors will be allowed on campus. She’s devastated.
@Creaky I am sorry about Emory. Bowdoin is doing the same. Can you D find a way to live with some Emory friends for the semester? It didn’t have to be near school. It would be anywhere in a more safe area. If she takes class, the friends can motivate each other and they won’t all be stuck at home. S19 is doing this and it’s way less expensive than room and board would have been. He’s deferring and living with three boys taking class and two others deferring
As for your D21, I hope she gets some tests in. It’s nice that she can at least focus on math and then superscore. 
D19 is absolutely looking at doing what you’re suggesting. It’s only 36 hours or so since Emory announced, so obviously nothing yet, except excitement about possibly having an apartment. She expected that classes would be online, but thought she could be on campus. She just cannot stay home; that’s for sure. The interpersonal dynamics among all of us are too strained these days. Something about having had freedom, and then being in your childhood bedroom…
ACT blunders make national news. Their credibility is shot. Not sure how they fix this.
I’m sure College Board is taking notes on what NOT to do for their Aug test.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/19/us/july-act-tests-canceled-trnd/index.html
I hope colleges are following closely. And I’d love to see some schools call out stories like this and then state that they are doubling down on their TO policy.
I guess there is a chance the virus spread calms down and close to every student has a chance to take a standardized test, but that seems very unlikely. I think all schools will be TO by October.
The CNN article touches on the unfairness of it all, and that’s the real problem. There’s a whole bunch of privilege in being able to take Friday off and drive your kid to another state for ACT testing. Also, my niece was in a hot spot state and there was no where to drive to. Some of her friends were lucky and their site was open, but most were unlucky.
The upside is that states were the virus is very active today will probably have it under control by October. I know, but I’m one of those people that has to find the positive thread of hope and latch on! 
@AlwaysMoving I don’t even think it has to do with the virus spiking. Our school district could easily decide to be all remote even though Illinois is doing ok right now and that would mean they would not host a test.
Also, if October of senior year is the only chance for a test, shoot me now. No pressure or anything with 12/1 deadlines looming.
Some early action colleges require a test score by end of September! Others give students until Oct. Still – clock is ticking!
Some public university systems in states with governors pushing for re-opening, etc may get tangled up with them if they try to go TO b/c it’s another symbol the virus is not under control (which, of course, it’s not).
@carlson2 @AlwaysMoving
A person who worked in a college’s IT department once mentioned to me that colleges uses a computer program to analyze a transcript in the way mentioned on this thread. Each high school was also rated on a scale of 1 to 5 to determine the true rigor of grades. A student coming from low rated high schools had to have higher grades and class rank than a student from a more competitive high school.
I also had an admissions counselor from a top college mention to me that in order for a kid from a small, rural high school to have a chance at admission, they’d have to be valedictorian and have an SAT to match, but a kid from a more competitive and larger high school would get a serious look if they were in the top 10% of their graduating class. They would “go deeper” at the more competitive high school. This was over a decade ago. These views could have evolved since then.
The schools HAVE to be truly TO since kids logistically can’t take a test. The CAN’T count it against kids. They also can’t reward kids for producing a score in comparison to others because they had the advantage of living in an area that offered tests.
Here’s another interesting article about how colleges need to change admissions practices this year. I suspect they are spending the summer retraining and rethinking admissions for the Fall: https://insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/07/20/preparing-chaotic-year-college-admissions
The entire process will be entirely different this year. I think with so few people being able to take a test, the schools will be truly TO. There is another good article talking about this: https://jonboeckenstedt.net/2020/07/17/congratulations-youre-test-optional-now-what/
From what I understand they spent most of the summer stressing about yield and trying to keep the class together. It’s only been in the last few weeks that they’ve realized how bad it really is out there.
For fun, if you were the Dean of Admissions what data point or criteria would you elevate to help deliver the class your boss is expecting?
I’d be curious to understand how colleges look at average test scores of a high school. Can they use this data somehow in the absence of applicant scores, perhaps to compare grades? Not so much for 4.0s, but for the various levels under that. In other words, is a mediocre gpa from a relatively higher-scoring school sometimes better than a higher gpa from a lower-scoring school.
I would say true engagement. Especially for top schools, I would look for engagement at school, in the community or in other ECs. And curiosity. Show it through your ECs and your essays. Show that you acted on it. And hope your teachers also comment on it in your recs. Then, I would look for fit. The AOs know their schools well. Do they see the student thriving on the campus? How will they contribute to the community at school? Again, this would be seen through essays and recs and ECs and interviews. If I were in charge of an admissions team, I would add interviews as an option for candidates if at all possible. AOs won’t be traveling to recruit this year so use that time to do zoom interviews to access fit.
I was thinking the same thing. When I look at Naviance and look at D21’s GPA, she “should” be scoring around a 1500 SAT as an average. That’s the middle for the kids with her GPA. The only way for a college to know that, though, would be for them to have admitted kids in the past with her GPA and then see those kids’ test scores. Or I guess they can see she’s in the top 10% for GPA and then look at the school profile to see how many kids scored above 1500 SAT at our school and assume she would be in the top 10% of scores. I don’t know. Something like that. Not sure which colleges would put that much effort in though. Lol.
As for lower GPAs, @evergreen5 , I think your analysis is correct. Even before this debacle with the testing, kids at our school in the second decile got into really good schools because college know that those kids challenged themselves and we don’t have grade inflation.
Our profile gives SAT and ACT averages by section and composite, by class year, for the past few years.
I also wonder for those applicants who do have scores, what, if anything, is inferred from scores significantly higher than the high school’s average, and what happens when grades and applicant scores are disparate.
(I just went over a scattergram in detail yesterday, looking for clues between weighted and unweighted, scores, etc. I came up kinda empty, not enough data points. But, this school only weights for APs, not the honors courses taken prior to APs, so it doesn’t tell the whole story.)
I agree with @homerdog
Schools will look more closely at essays, extra curriculars and teacher recommendations. If possible, they will offer interviews to see if the student is a fit and how interested they are in attending. They have done those things in the past but they will become even more important this cycle and will carry more weight.
Class rank or relative rank in a high school will also likely play more of a role. I’ve heard that if schools rank (fewer do these days), they are required to report the rank of the admitted students. If schools don’t rank, the AOs have a way to know how your kid ranks relative to others.
I think yield is going to be one of the biggest factors in this cycle. Schools may be losing 10-15% of enrollment this Fall. They are going to closely monitor how likely an applicant will attend. They may be worrying about kids applying to 20 schools since there is so much uncertainty. I also wonder what this will mean for international students. Will the schools be less inclined to offer admission to someone who may not be able to attend in person or get a visa?
I suspect budgets at schools are also going to play in admission. Schools that will take the biggest hit will be those with large numbers of international students, relatively smaller endowments (example BU and NYU) and those D1 big schools that rely on football and athletics revenue. This may help the OOS full pay at big flagships such as University of Michigan. This will unfortunately hurt kids looking for financial aid.