“It has been a doozy of a year in college admission with scandals, investigations, and lawsuits (oh my). Even so, I thought I would pose my father’s question to leaders in college admission and high school counseling to hear their ideas on the greatest advancements and changes in admission this year. Two themes emerged: changes in standardized testing and the ethical compass of college admission.” …
A note to Ms. Campbell, already behind the times: most Colorado students should not take the optional SAT/ACT essay because they are not applying to any schools that require or recommend it (among top schools, only the UCs and Duke; the rest dropped it like a hot potato over the past two years). In Colorado, the optional essay’s utility is history.
(Professional updates can’t possibly capture all colleges’ changing application requirements with accuracy. Maybe a better approach would be to direct students to visit colleges’ admission websites themselves for requirements, i.e., give a student a fish vs. teach a student to fish.)