And meanwhile the college admissions office get to pat themselves on the back with how low their acceptance rates are.

I'm concerned the test optional decree by the colleges is giving students around the country false hope. I'm not sure that admissions offices are willing to take the URM student from South Dakota vs the one from NCS. It will be interesting to see how the geographic and socioeconomic demographics compare this year vs the past.

The system is completely rigged in favor of the colleges. They should get rid of the early app process.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional is the reason even though schools may try to come up with other reasons. It just means that most ivys will have less than 5% acceptance rates and many students will end up wasting their application fees.

Admissions programs are profit centers at the top schools. They are eating this stuff up.

Testing is way more profit oriented.

You think ED, REA application increase is bad? Wait until RD application result comes out. It’s going to be crazy. We might see Ivy having 1% acceptance rate. How much time do admission officers spend to evaluate each student? You might as well replace admission officers with lottery, or computer algorithms, set desired outcomes (percentage of URM, first generation, financial aid needs etc). Did you see Amherst admission committee YouTube video? It was pathetic how they determine who to admit.

The elite colleges are intent on enrolling more low income, first gen, and Hispanic and AA kids. If soliciting more applications gets them just a few more kids in these categories, it’s a win for them.

Testing optional started with good intention, but it ended up benefiting colleges financially.. If this kind of ridiculous application continues, they may need to limit the number of college applications per a student. When there are so many applications like this, applicants don’t receive careful considerations they deserve spending so many hours to write essays etc.

Anonymous wrote:Test optional is the reason even though schools may try to come up with other reasons. It just means that most ivys will have less than 5% acceptance rates and many students will end up wasting their application fees.

Admissions programs are profit centers at the top schools. They are eating this stuff up.

Easier when tests are waived

Anonymous wrote:Test optional is the reason even though schools may try to come up with other reasons. It just means that most ivys will have less than 5% acceptance rates and many students will end up wasting their application fees.

It’s this. Kids with great GPAS but either haven’t tested well or don’t think they test well are applying to places they never thought they could get in. I’m hearing some are throwing out more than 20 applupto see what sticks. Public’s are also seeing a big rise because of financial instability of families due to COViD. UVAs ED applications were up 35%. The lower tier expensive SLACs however are seeing fewer applications. It’s going to be a weird year. Some schools will wind up oversubscribed unless they are careful with waitlists. Others will end up undersubscribed due to fewer students willing to pay $80k a year.

Test optional is the reason even though schools may try to come up with other reasons. It just means that most ivys will have less than 5% acceptance rates and many students will end up wasting their application fees.

Not to mention that there’s probably fewer Class of 2025 spots given that many members class of 2024 deferred this year.

Wow, that’s insane. I wonder why?

It’s a sh*t show for Class of 2021. Very unfortunate as these kids have already lost out on a lot.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ivy-league-colleges-report-dramatic-growth-in-early-admission-applicant-pools-11608308681

Binding early decision applications rose by 22% at Brown University, 23% at the University of Pennsylvania, 29% at Dartmouth College and 49% at Columbia University. Yale rose by 38% and Harvard by a whopping 57% under the restrictive single choice early action.

Thoughts?