Test optional policies and other impacts of the pandemic have resulted in skyrocketing applications at some colleges, decreases at others. This will have an effect on regular decisions applications for the class of 2021, including an expected increase in waitlist offers. This 16-minute video explains the role of yield and enrollment management in admissions decisions to help students and their parents understand the dynamics at play.
“Colleges will be test optional again this year, so I don’t have to worry about tests, right?”
In our practice we are asked a variation on this question frequently, and the answer is complicated. First some background: virtually every college and university in the USA, as well as many international institutions, offered test-optional policies for the 2020-2021 application year due to Covid-related test cancellations, and it is looking like the trend will continue for 2021-2022…
Covid-19 turned the college application season upside down for current high school seniors. Tests were cancelled, student motivation was down, applications per student are up, and overall it may be a year where fewer students apply to college. The numbers of early applications to selective schools that admit less than 20 percent skyrocketed resulting in lower admission rates than the already minuscule rates of year’s past.
