What Does the College Admissions Landscape Look Like in the Post-COVID Era?

With the Common App coming out in a few days on August 1st, it’s time to assess how College Admissions has changed over the past year. Virtual learning, the inability to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, the lack of available SAT and ACT test dates, and the cancellation of Summer Enrichment Programs during the COVID era threw a wrench in the College Admissions landscape. No longer could Admissions Officials rely on grades and Standardized Test scores to accurately assess the aptitude of their candidates. Grades during virtual learning were taken with a grain of salt… They couldn’t even rely on sports or other extracurricular activities to assess a well rounded candidate. The Personal Statement and supplemental essays became the most important factors in College Admissions for the first time in history.

Now that things have been getting back to normal this past year, we have found ourselves slowly transitioning back into the traditional College Admissions landscape. However, the post-COVID era has combined both of the previous scenarios by providing a blend of the two. Although the Personal Statement is still of elevated importance compared to pre-pandemic years, reinstituting high school sports and on campus clubs and organizations has reestablished those elements that are traditionally assessed in College Applications. SAT and ACT Standardized Test Prep actually provides an excellent opportunity right now for candidates to distinguish themselves among the other applicants by providing another strong numerical metric for Admissions Officers to assess.

The bottom line is that we need to accept that we lost a year of metrics and activities to impress College Admissions Directors. Therefore, we need to be creative in presenting ourselves before Admissions Committees. Videos, photos, reels, shorts, and other media that can be uploaded to the Common App can either make or break a College Application these days. If you have some special content that you feel will impress Admissions Officials, then now is the time to upload it! This provides an opportunity to further distinguish yourself from the rest of the candidates in a highly competitive environment. USC recently published that among the nearly 70,000 applicants this last cycle, only approximately 8,000 students were admitted. That is just a little over a 10% acceptance rate. This means that for every 10 applications that are reviewed, 9 get put in the trash can, while only 1 is accepted... We are entering an unprecedented era of competition in College Admissions, therefore you need to take advantage of every opportunity to set yourself apart from the rest of the applicants!

Turning in applications early is a critical component of any College Admissions plan, so please do NOT procrastinate. Call Dow Educational Solutions today at 858-829-2838!