The college admissions process is constantly changing. The addition of Early Decision at large institutions like Michigan University, changes in In-state tuition, and admissions calendars changing all contribute to this stressful and long process.
The addition of the University of Michigan’s early decision will create a lot of different data for this year’s college admissions process. With Michigan being such a large institution, it is predicted that many people will apply using the early decision process, which will increase the pool of applicants for early decision. While the addition of ED will be helpful to many students, it will also make the institution even harder to get into simply because the number of applicants will grow. The addition of ED at any school, but specifically the University of Michigan, will definitely change the strategy of applicants. This means that many, including Blind Brook students, are much more likely to apply ED because it will increase their chances of getting in. This also will certainly make Michigan a much more desirable option for applicants as they have that option of ED. It will ultimately lead to a change in the view of large state schools.
The addition of “test-optional” will also change the course of the college admissions process. Many large institutions like Penn State and the University of Maryland along with many others are test optional. This means that students do not have to submit standardized test scores. For many students this is extremely helpful to the process because colleges will not hold anything against you if you choose not to submit your scores. However, it has made the average submitted test scores go up a lot. Students who do not want to submit scores likely have low ones and this means that the pool of submitted scores will continue to average much higher than previous years when test scores were not optional.
Colleges actively are changing their tuition based on in-state or out of state applications. For example, the University of Florida is now giving applicants with grandparents living in Florida in-state tuition. This makes the pool of applicants much more competitive because more people are applying due to financial benefits. Overall, the tuition of schools changing so rapidly will ultimately lead to dramatically more competition at certain schools and a lot less applicants at others because of financial stress. This also changes what scholarships look like for many people. Now that tuition is changing, schools have less money to give out in scholarships and less admitted students will receive money.
Specifically at Blind Brook, the college admissions process is long and tedious but definitely supported and encouraged. Refining personal statements, supplements, and perfecting the common application are the focuses of many Blind Brook Seniors. Blind Brook has a great balance of college resources and information sessions. It’s very important to understand admissions trends and have a balanced list of schools to apply to.