Back with our second weekly newsletter on college admissions. Every week we will cover 4 topics, so let’s go.

Admissions
Paying for College
What the Colleges Are Saying
Admissions News, Something New This Week

Admissions

One of the most confusing aspects of the current college admissions cycle is standardized testing. The tests are now available to most students, but most colleges have maintained their test optional policies for at least another year. One of the most common questions we hear from parents is, do the colleges really mean it and should my student be preparing for and taking an ACT/SAT anyway? Parents are concerned about how these tests will be used for merit aid and other scholarships.

Dr. Jed Applerouth is one of our regular experts at College Admissions: Grown and Flown and nationally respected expert on testing and on his website he fully explains to parents and students how they might think about testing in this environment.

Paying for College

According to Jeff Selingo, author of the best-selling Who Gets In and Why, families can think about colleges as buyers and sellers. The buyers are flooded with applications and the sellers are not. As a result the sellers, who might be offering just as good of an education, can sometimes be far more generous with non-need based financial aid, in order to attract students. These are public schools and private schools, large and small and they are located all over the US.

“On average, sellers admit less than 20% of applicants, while colleges as a whole admit two-thirds. When sellers make an offer, nearly 45% of students accept, compared with a quarter for buyers. And only 7% of the financial aid sellers give out to students is a merit-based discount, compared with nearly one-third of aid at buyers.”

Selingo explains the concept in greater detail and offers a free list of which colleges are buyers and sellers.

What the Colleges Are Saying

Campus visits are off, campus visits are on, campus visits are off, again. Colleges are responding to the world around them and trying to balance access to the campus by prospective students with the safety of their current students. The moral of the story is to check the website right before you visit and try to learn as much as your student can by looking online.

NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling) is hosting a series of virtual college fairs again this year and these are free for all students and parents. If your student wants to start a chat, or schedule a meeting with campus reps they can do so in advance. The first college fair is this weekend, Sunday August 29, and students and parents can both register here.

Something New This Week

There are lots of great websites for students to use as they begin to create a college list including Big Future (College Board), College Navigator, and CollegeXpress. But there is a new tool, from Jon Boeckenstedt, Vice Provost, Oregon State, that we think is worth using as your teen tries to find a college that is a great academic, social and financial fit for them. This tool allows your student to set all their criteria and then see how many BAs various colleges award that meet these standards. The tool from Higher Ed Data Stories is a rich trove of information and a bit techy. Your student will be impressed that you found it for them!

Alert: One More Day to Join College Admissions: Grown and Flown

Join the membership for 10-days for FREE. Deadline August 26 midnight ET

While you are there you can watch all the previous sessions (including last night’s LIVE with Jed Applerouth on executive function) AND have access to some of the most pre-eminent experts in the field to help guide your family and answer your questions about college admissions and paying for college.

As always we are here to answer any questions you might have,

Until next week,

Mary Dell, Helene, and Lisa

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