DS#2 had also started an application to CMC, but never completed it, and got several emails encouraging him to complete it.
Just got an email that Goucher extended their application deadline as well.
And now NACAC has sent out a request/suggestion that colleges be lenient with students from the LA unified school district affected by the strike. They were only out for a week. How long of an extension should be offered? Hopefully those affected by fires and hurricanes are getting the same benefit.
Possible, but I gotta believe a thorough journalist woulda been looking for a second. (One data point does not make a trend line.)
Of course they do. And I’d be willing to bet every private college would say the exact same thing. “Stuff” happens in life.
Reporters have deadlines. Sounds like this one went to the source (UofC admissions) and got a vague, non-committal response from UofC.
And right there you have a big motivation for colleges to move a greater share of the offer pool to ED. (And probably explains some of the frankly ridiculous imo “indicators” of demonstrated interest they use.)
I am not understanding this. The colleges post the deadlines for their various admissions cycles (EA I, EA II, ED I, ED II, RD) on their websites, and they are published in various college guides. Potential applicants have notice of these for, in theory, years in advance. Submitting one’s applications by the posted deadlines is an exercise in the maturity needed by prospective college students. The colleges signal the seriousness of these endeavors by abiding by their posted deadlines, until they realize 5 admissions rounds is not enough, and they have to soften the deadlines to allow in more applications. Those 1,900 extra applications Fordham garnered by extending their deadline 9 days…are those really the type of students they want to admit? Am I alone in thinking those are going to be the students who can’t can’t get their work completed on time? I really doubt many of them are victims of tragedies who really needed extensions. This just seems to signal the beginning of a new race to the bottom on the part of even selective colleges…
Then number of schools some students apply to is crazy. I have heard about students applying to 20. It just throws everything off. I think people should go back to visiting schools before applying, choosing 3-6 that they truly want to attend (and can afford), with a range of selectivity, and apply.
It’s only natural that the response to the situation by colleges would include efforts to increase applicants.
Perhaps the Common Application should be eliminated.
Except, @CTDadof2, this is nothing new. Schools have offered deadline extensions for a long time. Before the advent of emails, they used to call students on the phone and invite them to apply past the deadline. Its just marketing in a different format.
It is not fair to students who submitted on time. If given more time, those applicants’ applications may be better - kind of like giving some students extended test time (for no good reason), but not to others.
@compmom the reason students apply to 20 schools is because it isn’t the student that has the luxury of being selective in the schools they apply to. The more qualified AND competitive students that get rejected from reach AND match schools, the more colleges a competitive student needs to apply to to increase their odds of getting in one.
Looking at last years decisions thread, it isn’t obvious why a kid with “perfect” stats and experiences got into Yale but not USCD, Stanford, but not Georgia Tech, etc… Yes everyone needs safeties, but doing a lot of narrowing down of reaches to a couple isn’t always the smartest strategy for a kid who wants to get into a top 50 school. And the numbers are changing so last years matches are this years reaches.
Add to what has been discussed, schools have no motivation to limiting applications if they want to increase numbers to increase ranking. Extending deadlines, giving out free application fees, sending weekly flyers to up the numbers.
It seems to me if we want to solve this problem, it has to start with the colleges being more transparent in what they are looking for and raise the bar on their qualifications. But thats not going to happen, because it will limit those that apply. Maybe the US News rankings needs to shake this thing up by ranking other qualifications, like overcrowding of classes and resident halls or one-one experience with faculty, or even the judge negatively the number of qualified students that get rejected into their rankings.
GW was hurt in the rankings when USNWR changed its methodology to measure how much schools help those of lower SES (they weren’t the only one, though). It isn’t known for overly generous aid, and it got dinged. One could speculate that extending the deadline is an attempt to move some numbers a bit.
Wish the silly rankings stuff would go away.
Re: increasing yield, retention, graduation, etc. College enrollment management is BIG BUSINESS. Take a look at the many companies involved in this industry (including the owner of CC, Hobson’s): https://www.bing.com/search?q=enrollment+management+service+companies&form=EDGTCT&qs=RI&cvid=decaa45801c84036a3a8401709bf7175&refig=32555bb9706e4aedc27edeb14ea2a128&cc=US&setlang=en-US
My kids are older. The increase in applications is a relatively new phenomenon and since everyone is doing it, everyone feels they have to. I don’t think probability improves with the number of applications if schools are chosen and interest is clear.
Colleges may well place a negative mark next to those apps that come in late. As they might see tests taken with special accommodations, if not legally protected.
Back in the 80s I applied to 8 I think. 4 of them I didn’t visit. I was not atypical for my class.
Students don’t get extended test time for no reason. It’s actually pretty hard to get accommodations on the SAT and ACT.
Colleges also don’t have visibility to students who had accommodations on the SAT and/or ACT (with the exception of the military academies where a diagnosis is involved, which it generally is to qualify for extended time)
My daughter applied to 10 colleges this season, mostly in the 50%-70% acceptance rate category. Three of them extended deadlines, even an Early deadline. (also, at least two highly-competitive schools she was not interested in also sent extension emails.)
For bright students who are procrastinators or away at boarding school or have had other timing difficulties, these extensions can be quite helpful. So I see no harm. And so what if a college’s acceptance rate statistic moves slightly?..that has no real-world bearing on anything IMO.
My son was gung ho about U Chicago. Then they went test optional, they had horrid essay topics, and they got rid of the interview in favor of a personal video. We were discouraged. My son is high-stats, white, suburban, no hooks - he wanted a face to face interview. The video did not appeal to him. Everything started to feel so cheesy, and given the distance, UChicago dropped off the list completely.
Maybe pitting so many kids against each other and driving acceptance rates into impossible territory is finally backfirig. Could be students are starting to do a better job at self-selecting and applying to more realistic possibilities.