Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored
If you only have one more spot to fill on your college list and it comes down to Northwestern University or Washington University in St. Louis, here are the factors you should consider before making the final cut.
Enjoy this installment of College List Deathmatch below!
University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced a significant change in what types of responses applicants could receive when applying Early Action (EA).
Previously, UMass EA applicants were either admitted, denied, or given the option of being moved to the regular decision applicant pool. Beginning this year, EA applicants will be given the opportunity to opt onto UMass’ waitlist instead of being moved into the regular decision pool. In making the announcement to high school counselors, UMass shared the following:
“We believe this will give the applicant a better understanding of where they stand earlier in the process. Because you have previously supported your school’s students throughout their UMass Amherst application process, we write to thank you and to let you know how much we appreciate your help. Our holistic review process depends on input from high school counselors, faculty, and staff such as yourself.”
UMass is also encouraging students to include all required materials when they submit their applications. As always, UMass will review every application that is submitted, but priority will be given to applications that are complete by the deadline. This is especially important because of the compressed timeframe for making decisions. For example, if Early Action applicants submit materials after November 5, UMass will still evaluate their application, but only after UMass has evaluated the applications that were complete when the application was submitted by November 5. The same is true for UMass’ January 15 Regular Decision deadline. Information on materials that are required with the UMass application is available on our Admissions web site.
UMass also shares that transcripts submitted with the application that do not include first-term senior grades do not lessen the overall importance of senior grades. Students admitted to UMass are still required to provide senior grades via their final transcript, and if there is a significant drop in an applicant’s performance during his or her senior year, UMass Amherst reserves the right to rescind admission based on this information.
Finally, UMass We encourages students not to use their high school email address as the email address for their application. On the Common Application UMass states that “UMass Amherst has moved to an electronic notification system. This means we use the student email address provided on the Common Application for all official communications by the Admissions Office. This includes notification of any admissions decision.” UMass has apparently found that some high schools restrict emails from outside the high school or school district and this has disrupted applicants using their school email addresses from receiving important emails from UMass.
ACT, Inc. is dramatically reforming and enhancing the ACT® test with options that keep students’ interests in mind. Beginning with the September 2020 national ACT test date, ACT test takers will have more options when taking the ACT:
These new options, according to ACT, Inc., will offer students, “more choices, a better experience, and greater confidence that their ACT test scores best reflect their hard work, overall academic achievement, and potential for success throughout their lives.” I tend to agree. Students being able to choose to retake only the sections in which they want to improve their scores (after initially taking the full ACT test) is a wonderful, student-centered approach. ACT, Inc. should be applauded for this reform.
Faster score reports means that students will be able to make decisive plans for college sooner, and superscoring will help students demonstrate to colleges and universities their best achievement in each subject. The ACT is already the preferred choice for many test-takers, despite College Board efforts in recent years to win test-takers back with yet another re-centering of scores. The newly announced changes by ACT will make ACT even more popular starting in September 2020. At a time when more colleges are going test-optional, it’s not surprising that the testing agencies – ACT, Inc. and College Board – will feel ongoing pressure to make their tests student-friendly.
Learn more about the changes here.
The Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) application is now open, and YYGS is now actively recruiting interested students in grades ten and eleven (or the international equivalent) from all around the world.
Scholars taking part in YYGS experience life as a university student at Yale’s Old Campus while attending an academic session of their choosing. YYGS offers sessions in the humanities, social sciences, STEM, and a new cross-disciplinary track that incorporates all of the above.
Students taking part are able to meet peers from over 125 countries around the world (including all 50 U.S. states), and join discussions where students offer global perspectives.
YYGS also provides over $3.4 million USD in need-based financial aid equally to both domestic and international students, offered as discounts covering up to 100% of tuition costs. Those students who apply by the YYGS early action deadline receive a reduced application fee. If the fee poses a financial burden, students are able to submit a fee waiver.
The Yale Young Global Scholars Early Action Deadline is November 12, 2019 at 11:59PM ET; the Regular Decision Deadline is January 15, 2020 at 11:59PM ET. Students interested are able to apply at https://globalscholars.
When deciding how to apply to a particular college, many students look for that college’s final application deadline, and then, working backwards in their minds, such students decide that they simply need to get all of their application materials into that college by that application deadline date. What such students fail to realize is that many (but not all) colleges that have such Regular Decision application deadlines also review applications and make admissions decisions on an ongoing basis well before their application deadlines.
Don’t be Regular if you can help it! What I mean by that statement is this: while many colleges have Regular Decision application deadlines (usually in January through March) many of these same colleges will review applications and make decisions on such applications well before their drop-dead deadlines (in most cases Regular Decision deadlines, but in other cases these are known as simply “Application Deadlines” at colleges where the deadlines extend very late – approximately late spring through summer). Don’t treat such colleges as Regular Decision for your purposes. Treat them as Rolling!
When you apply Regular Decision you are applying by the college’s Regular deadline. Students can apply to more than one college Regular Decision. Regular Decision admissions decisions tend to be received by students between March and April. When a college is Rolling Admissions, it reviews applications on an ongoing basis and accepts students on a space available basis. Students can apply to more than one college Rolling Admissions as well.
Yet, many of the same colleges that will let you throw in an application by a Regular deadline also review applications by either an earlier Priority or Early (Action or Decision) deadline OR are simply Rolling Admissions colleges.
Of course you would want to apply to a college that offers both Priority and Regular deadlines by the Priority deadline! After all, what’s the definition of priority?! Early Decision can come with major pros and cons. Early Action is generally a good idea for students to consider as well.
But in the case of colleges that offer Rolling Admissions – again, when a college reviews applications as they are received and makes decisions on an on-going basis – it is always best to apply to any such college as soon as you have decided on applying to that college. Some Rolling Admissions colleges don’t have any application deadlines, but a good number of Rolling Admissions colleges do have firm deadlines. Which means they are both Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions colleges. In such a scenario, you want to get your application in ASAP.
Some examples include Indiana University (which has a Regular deadline of February 1, but starts rolling out admissions decisions as early as September; it should also be noted that IU has an EA deadline of November 1), University of Arizona (Regular deadline is February 14, but I regularly have students who have gotten into Arizona by mid-September of their senior years), and Penn State University (which has a Regular deadline of November 30, but also is famous for rolling out decisions in tranche after tranche starting in November; like IU, Penn State also has an EA deadline these days of November 1). Many private colleges also roll out their decisions starting in either the fall or early winter.
The bottom line is this: always work your hardest to determine as early as possible whether colleges on your list review applications on a Rolling basis and make admissions decisions on a space available basis – even if these colleges have firm Regular Decision application deadlines. Colleges that do this are often objectively easier to get into the earlier in the admissions cycle that you can apply. So apply as early as possible if you can put together a strong application early in the fall. Other than Instant Admissions, my favorite way for students to apply to college is Rolling Admissions, and now you can see why. It’s a great feeling knowing you have gotten into one or more colleges by Thanksgiving of your senior year in high school without having to commit to attending such colleges until much later in your senior year (usually by May 1).
So, embrace the superficial contradiction and celebrate colleges that are both Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions because in so doing you will always treat such colleges as Rolling at heart.
While Tufts University in Massachusetts is best known as a very selective research university that offers a diversity of strong undergraduate degree programs, it also offers two First-Year Global Programs that could be great experiences for students looking for a novel start to their undergraduate studies. Both of these programs offer the opportunity to live and work overseas with a cohort of other Tufts students while supporting a community organization, living with a local host family, and discovering the world beyond the borders of the United States of America.
A First-Year Fall Semester Abroad: The Tufts Civic Semester
A Gap Year Before Tufts: The Tufts 1+4 Bridge Year Program
If you are interested in one of these unique programs, you should indicate interest in them on your first-year application to Tufts. You will have the chance to apply for them on the Tufts applicant portal once you submit your Tufts application or at any time once you have been accepted to Tufts University.
For more information, contact firstyearglobal@tufts.
Restrictive Early Action and Single-Choice Early Action policies used by hyper-selective colleges such as Stanford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton aren’t as restrictive as you may think. These colleges still allow you to apply to two classes of colleges at the same time as applying REA or S-CEA. There is no reason why you can’t receive admissions decisions from multiple colleges by no later than January of your senior year in high school. Don’t use REA or S-CEA as an excuse to apply to most colleges Regular Decision.
Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Dickinson College’s merit scholarships are designed to recognize exemplary academic performance without regard to financial need, and the Carlisle, Pennsylvania-based college recently restructured the amount each scholarship is worth. Prospective applicants should sit up and take notice!
Only the presidential scholarship requires a separate application; therefore, all Dickinson applicants are considered for the other merit awards by submitting a compelling Common Application.
Those are some major awards that would lead to serious reductions in a student’s cost of attendance.
In other Dickinson College news, the college no longer offers Early Action admission. Dickinson will maintain two rounds of Early Decision (with November 15 and January 15 deadlines) and Regular Decision (a January 15 deadline).
In addition, Dickinson has partnered with MyinTuition, which is a quick college cost estimator. It’s a simple and straightforward way for families to anticipate their out-of-pocket cost and get a sense of their eligibility for need-based aid.
Finally, and in many ways most important, Dickinson’s recent development of a Center for Advising, Internships & Lifelong Career Development has strengthened the college’s emphasis on student success by strategically combining Dickinson’s Career Center, Office of Academic Advising, internship/externship programming and alumni career services. The college is already seeing the fruits of this new organizational structure:
Those members of the Class of 2020 or 2021 interested in Dickinson should consider attending either Dickinson’s October 14 or November 9, 2019 Fall Open Houses, which offer an wonderful opportunity to get to know Dickinson up close.
Bryn Mawr College’s admissions team members know that visiting campus is a huge benefit for students navigating the college search process. Yet, they also recognize that the cost of visiting campus can be a barrier to many students. As a result, Bryn Mawr, a women’s liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania with roughly 1,300 undergraduates, wants to make the campus visit possible for more students, which is why it is launching a new fly-in program – Bryn Mawr Road Scholars – starting Fall 2019.
Bryn Mawr will fund Road Scholars’ travel to campus for one of three selected Senior Stay programs throughout the fall. During the Senior Stay, Road Scholars will have opportunities to connect with Bryn Mawr’s admissions team, attend a class, sleep in Bryn Mawr dorms, and explore all that the Bryn Mawr community has to offer.
Bryn Mawr’s Road Scholar program is designed to support high school seniors who come from “historically underrepresented backgrounds,” which Bryn Mawr defines as “African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, and First-Generation students.”
To learn more about the Road Scholar program, click here. If you are a high school counselor and know a student who is a good fit for this program, you are invited to fill out Bryn Mawr’s nomination form by clicking here.
University of Arizona’s admissions team has sent a September update to college counselors that is chock-full of news from the Tucson-based public university.
In terms of “need to know” information,” Arizona is sharing news that its “admission decision letters are starting to hit mailboxes all across the country.” As with other rolling admission college, the sooner a student applies to University of Arizona the better because Arizona will roll out admissions decisions in only a matter of weeks after a student’s application file becoming complete. Students interested in University of Arizona can apply here.
Meanwhile, The Arizona Tuition Award,University of Arizona’s merit scholarship opportunity for non-resident students, is also worth noting. As long as students apply and submit their official SAT and/or ACT scores directly from the testing agency by May 1, 2020, they will be reviewed for Arizona’s highest merit scholarships. The Arizona Tuition Award looks at unweighted, 6th semester GPA in the 16 core courses and official SAT or ACT scores. Check out Arizona’s transparent scholarship grid below to see what seniors can qualify for. See other scholarships students may be able to receive here.
In terms of “good to know information,” Arizona’s admissions team encourages students and their families to visit UA’s storied campus and it “pleased to offer an assortment of events that showcase why the University of Arizona is unlike any other university in the world!” Arizona’s campus Ambassador tours are a great start to get a true Wildcat experience and are offered Monday through Saturday throughout the year. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about the University of Arizona’s curriculum, campus life, and the admissions process with an insightful tour hosted by a current Wildcat.
Meanwhile, Arizona Experience dates are also now available for sign ups. Arizona Experience is a full day, conference style event where students can learn more about the University of Arizona academic and extracurricular opportunities, connect with student services and organizations, enjoy a free lunch in one of many Student Union dining locations, tour a residence hall and more. Arizona Experience is a very popular event and fills up rather quickly. Advanced reservations are required in order to attend Arizona Experience. This event is free for all prospective students and guests are $20 each.