Biltmore Tutoring

As we help your high school student through the college admissions process, keep these trends in mind. When we all understand the current college admissions climate, your student’s college admissions strategy can be optimized for success. 

College application numbers remain high.

Without the hurdle of standardized testing requirements, students are applying to many more selective schools than in the years before test-optional policies were adopted. According to the Common App’s January 2023 update, total application volume rose 24% from 2019-20 to 2022-23. Colleges that saw an increase in applications ranged from the nation’s most selective schools to less competitive public colleges.

EFFECT: When more students submit applications to colleges, fewer students get admitted. This trend is most visible at highly selective schools, but it is happening at colleges of every level of selectivity. That said, when college acceptance rates drop, even top students need to reconsider the colleges they may think of as “safeties.” Even the most qualified candidates are never guaranteed an offer of admission.

RECOMMENDATION: Every student, even those who are valedictorians, should apply to colleges with a range of selectivity.

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In a word, yes, you should. NBC News reports that reports of the SAT’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Many parents and students — misled by “test-optional” rhetoric emanating from undergraduate admissions offices — are considering whether to skip standardized testing entirely. What started as a way to adapt to the emergence of the coronavirus in 2020 and give students more flexibility has now taken off. But we should ask ourselves, at what cost?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s recent decision to reinstate its testing mandate serves as a reminder that the tests are important. For most students, it would be a serious mistake to opt out of taking them. In reality, whether mandatory or not, the SAT and ACT continue to play an indispensable role in college admissions. 

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The First Lie: Standardized Tests are Less and Less Important

Today, colleges are relying on standardized test scores when making admissions decisions to a far larger degree than they have in years. One reason is that the number of applications at most top colleges is soaring. That’s not because there are more 18 year-olds graduating from high school.  It is because more kids are each applying to more colleges. And with little increase in the size of admission staffs at most colleges, schools are using SAT and ACT scores to make a fast, easy cut of the applicant pool.

Are test-optional colleges adopting a kindler-gentler approach to admissions? No, they’re chasing rankings. Think about it. When a school declares SAT scores to be optional, which students report their scores? Only students with high test scores. This boosts the average SAT scores at the college and the school moves up a rung on the rankings ladder.

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As a response to the challenges that students faced during the pandemic, many colleges and universities elected to allow students to apply on a ‘test optional’ basis. Their reasons for doing this were both unselfish and selfish – unselfish because students were having difficulty taking the ACT or SAT when test centers were closing unexpectedly, and selfish because going ‘test optional’ means that a school will attract more applications, and that improves a school’s standing in the annual US News and World Report rankings. Selectivity is the number one metric that US News uses to determine what schools are the best in the country, so attracting more student applications (and then rejecting those students) actually works in a school’s favor.

So why take the SAT or the ACT?

Both the SAT and the ACT are intended to provide students with a uniform exam they can take to assess their fitness for university level work. This becomes important when you consider the variability of high school experiences students have prior to entering college. Colleges admit students from home schools and international schools in addition to students from public and private schools.

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Reading specialists are licensed educators trained specifically to work in all aspects of student literacy. Through their many roles as coaches, literacy specialists, reading interventionists, and tutors, reading specialists support the development of reading and writing in students. If your student is struggling with reading comprehension or writing (no matter how young), the time to work with an expert might be right now.

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