Applications are way up

[Anonymous]

My son does interviewing (remotely this year) for MIT. He told me that applications to MIT are way up from last year. I asked him if he had any idea why that would be. He said he thinks it might be because MIT did a really good job with Covid and with orchestrating for all students to spend a semester on campus this year. Is this true at other universities?

[Anonymous]

A lot of schools are extended their ED and EA deadlines so I don't think that's a good sign for them.

[Anonymous]

I think people assume there will be a lower yield and thus more acceptances this year due to COVID uncertainties and so maybe more are applying to reach schools.

[Anonymous]

Applications are up because without test scores students are reaching for the stars, MIT style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applications are up because without test scores students are reaching for the stars, MIT style.

I would bet on this reason primarily.
The COVID thing is good, but my thought is that most applicants don’t know how well each college did re COVID. my kids school is touting that that they did great. So at that rate their apps would be up too. Either way, think they just did meh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son does interviewing (remotely this year) for MIT. He told me that applications to MIT are way up from last year. I asked him if he had any idea why that would be. He said he thinks it might be because MIT did a really good job with Covid and with orchestrating for all students to spend a semester on campus this year. Is this true at other universities?

I think he was told to say that since he's interviewing ("Put on a happy face") but it's probably not true. There are 30% fewer common application starts this year which should result in fewer students applying to private schools. The publics, however are seeing a sharp increase because of the financial irregularities of the times. However, MIT Business is seeing an increase (as are law schools across the nation) because out of work recent colleges undergraduates need to find something to do

[Anonymous]

Increases at highly-selective schools are due to some combination of test-optional and increased uncertainty in general.

Across the board, Common App applications are down 8%. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/11/16/college-applications-are-decreasing

[Anonymous]

Spoke with my senior DC's HS counselor today. He mentioned that because so many schools are test optional, many students who probably shouldn't be applying to certain schools are applying anyway. So, all it will mean is many high ranking schools will see their percentages of accepted students go even lower.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who didn't bomb the SAT is submitting. That's an almost-verbatim-quote from our HS counselor.

Kids who chose not to send test scores have miscalculated. Seems like schools will assume no score means bad score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who didn't bomb the SAT is submitting. That's an almost-verbatim-quote from our HS counselor.

Kids who chose not to send test scores have miscalculated. Seems like schools will assume no score means bad score.

This is true for the DMV area. If any kid here says they cannot get a test, they are lying. There are plenty of test centers available for September, October, and November tests. Adding all the in school tests, a student should get tested at least once.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be surprised if kids are applying to more schools since they haven't had the opportunity to do college visits. Thus, fewer students but more applications overall. DD applied to 12 because she had only visited 2 and didn't have a good feel for the kind of school she would like to attend yet. Had she been able to do visits, the list would likely have been 4-5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who didn't bomb the SAT is submitting. That's an almost-verbatim-quote from our HS counselor.

Kids who chose not to send test scores have miscalculated. Seems like schools will assume no score means bad score.

This is true for the DMV area. If any kid here says they cannot get a test, they are lying. There are plenty of test centers available for September, October, and November tests. Adding all the in school tests, a student should get tested at least once.

My kid's tests were all cancelled from April through October.

But why would a smart kid with very high grades voluntarily agree to sit for hours in a room with dozens or hundreds of other kids during a pandemic when most colleges say they are test optional and applicants not submitting scores will not be disadvantaged?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who didn't bomb the SAT is submitting. That's an almost-verbatim-quote from our HS counselor.

Kids who chose not to send test scores have miscalculated. Seems like schools will assume no score means bad score.

This is true for the DMV area. If any kid here says they cannot get a test, they are lying. There are plenty of test centers available for September, October, and November tests. Adding all the in school tests, a student should get tested at least once.

My kid's tests were all cancelled from April through October.

But why would a smart kid with very high grades voluntarily agree to sit for hours in a room with dozens or hundreds of other kids during a pandemic when most colleges say they are test optional and applicants not submitting scores will not be disadvantaged?

Because a kid with very high grades (esp. from public schools) may not be able to get a high SAT/ACT score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who didn't bomb the SAT is submitting. That's an almost-verbatim-quote from our HS counselor.

Kids who chose not to send test scores have miscalculated. Seems like schools will assume no score means bad score.

No score can also mean you didn’t have a chance to take it. My kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Increases at highly-selective schools are due to some combination of test-optional and increased uncertainty in general.

Across the board, Common App applications are down 8%. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/11/16/college-applications-are-decreasing

From the article you posted - applications down significantly:

Colleges and universities in the Northeast and Midwest regions experienced the largest declines in application volume, each down 14 percent.
Colleges in the West saw a 10 percent increase in applications relative to 2019.
First-year application declines were mostly consistent among members across enrollment size, with the exception of those with the smallest enrollments (fewer than 1,000), which were down substantially more, at a loss of 14 percent.
Public four-year institutions saw an 11 percent drop relative to 2019, while private four-year institutions saw a smaller (5 percent) fall in volume over the same period.