By Samantha Segan
If you’re a parent of a student applying to college, and you opened the New York Times this weekend, you likely saw the article titled This is Peak Admissions Insanity. The article raised some important issues. Fortunately, Bespoke has been in this industry for over 20 years, so we have some perspective.
Two things jumped out to Jenny Davis, a senior college admissions advisor: the importance of Early Decision application and standardized testing. She shares some pointers here.
Early Decision
Schools heavily favor Early Decision applicants–Middlebury chose a shocking 516 of 735 students via ED. Your odds of getting into some schools improve threefold if you apply early. To maximize your odds and reduce the stress of these tough choices:
- Aim to strike a balance between maximizing your chances at one school and allowing yourself room to change your mind as senior year unfolds. Always think about your list in its entirety and whether your safeties give you the cover you need.
- Don’t feel you need to make decisions before you are ready. Begin your college search early, and be prepared to visit favorite schools more than once before you commit to Early Decision.
- Pick an ED school, but also consider the role of Early Action (EA) and ED II schools in your list. Early Action isn’t binding and can still double your chance of admission, and so can the later round of Early Decision.
Test Optionality
The era of broad Test Optionality is ending. Yale, MIT, Brown, and Dartmouth led the charge in returning to the DSAT and ACT. Here’s what you need to know:
- For kids for whom testing has always been a challenge, know that some test-optional schools will remain. And even at schools that require tests, grades and essays still matter.
- This shift will benefit everybody. For the past few years, only those with the strongest scores have been submitting them. Now, that score inflation should go down. If you want to have as many college options as possible, you have to prepare. Get ready to open that ACT/DSAT book.
Our final takeaway: The college admission landscape is always changing. The good news is that proper preparation and guidance can have a huge impact on helping you get into a “best fit” school.
