There it went, November 1st, 2019—The Early Decision & Early Action, Crazy Train.
Yes, the strong seem to get more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don’t
Ever make the grade
Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog. Jr. – God Bless the Child
As a certified educational consultant who serves students and families during the college admissions process with advice, counsel, and support… I am part of an education system that is actually widening the gap between classes. Conversely, I also spend much of my time and energy trying to level the field for students and families whose main barrier to competing for higher education opportunities is one thing: information. My hope is to provide information to all families and decrease the widening gap of equal college access. But the deck is increasingly stacked against a majority of high school students and families.
Stanford University recently published their findings on the most important indicators for college success, and they don’t focus on GPA and SAT/ACT test metrics. According to the university with the most selective admissions, “We encourage students and families to look beyond rankings in the college search process, and instead to seek a school where students can participate fully in academic, civic, and social life in order to thrive both during the college years and beyond.” Unfortunately, parents and students often fail to pay heed to such advice and even when they do, they often apply from a disadvantaged position.
While I can’t make a teen study, I can show them where the exam will be given, provide directions and resources to study, and highlight a calendar of important dates to target. Unfortunately, in my experience, there are a lot of talented students who don’t even know the importance of this high stakes exam until it is often too late, and others have already been preparing/prepared for many years. The remedy can be as simple as alerting students and families how to prepare early enough to be competitive in the testing and application process.
Stanford University is expected to have less than a 4.5% admission rate this year; however, based on historical trends, it will provide >9.5% admission to those brave—and more importantly, prepared—students who apply through Stanford’s Early Decision but non-binding application program on November 1st. Harvard University, on the other hand, will likely have an equally ridiculous (competitive?) general admission rate of ~4.5%; however, if you apply to Harvard through Restrictive Early Action, your chances for acceptance may dramatically increase to almost 15%. Unfortunately, only those students who: A. know about Early Action application process, and B. have the support to get application materials in on time, will be able to take advantage of those increased acceptance rates.
Other elite (ultra-low acceptance) schools provide an even more dramatic admissions picture. University of Pennsylvania fills approximately 55% of its freshman class with Early Action applicants who enjoy a 22% acceptance rate rather than the highly competitive General Admission rate of about 7%. Ultimately, this results in many more applicants who will be applying for fewer spots during the General Decision period. Again, if you know this Early Action opportunity exists, are supported in your application development and can apply on time, the admission rate is over 200% more favorable than in the General Decision application pool.
What could possibly be wrong with this system? Nothing, as long as all students have equal access to information, resources, and support. But they don’t. It isn’t even close.
The shrinking middle class leaves a large portion of students and families unable to afford full tuition for college, and the extraordinary and stifling costs associated with elite, low-admission schools places them beyond consideration. This new normal leaves a large population with increasing competition for financial aid and admission. While many families are willing to gamble finances, savings, and even retirement for their child’s education, many pieces of the admission and financial aid system are stacked against those who do not have access to appropriate, current, and timely information about applications, admissions and financial aid. Timeliness is incredibly important when saving for education, and knowing the importance of taking tests early and often, and why applying during the early admissions cycle can be critical to admission and scholarships.
Two metrics function as the primary filter for admission at many of the most prestigious (I did not say all and I did not say best) colleges and universities—GPA and SAT scores. These two qualifying numbers are the result of… what? What do they actually measure and indicate? They are cited by colleges and test companies as indicators of academic potential and future success in college, right? Unfortunately, while they are used for these evaluation purposes there is little data to support that SAT is a strong and valid indicator of future college success. Similarly, any teacher will acknowledge that grades are a poor and highly variable indication of academic potential. I was a classroom teacher for nearly a decade and there are far too many confounding variables that strongly influence a student’s GPA over time, including: school funding, teachers, class rigor, grade inflation, academic support, family expectations, psychosocial and emotional support, family finances, food insecurity, state funding differences, cultural differences, language fluency, travel, and many, many others. Colleges also know there is rampant grade inflation and variation between states, schools, and even classrooms and try to artificially norm those variables once they receive applications and transcripts. But what about the SAT?
SAT and ACT, the two powerhouses of standardized tests used by a majority of colleges and universities, play a critical role in admissions. One of the most important and correlative ways that students improve their SAT scores is by taking multiple practice tests and strategically studying those specific areas they have not mastered. In some cases, students take the SAT years in advance, identify those areas they need to study, take test prep courses, take many more practice tests, take more test prep classes, and may end up sitting for an official SAT four, five, or even more times—with only the six most recent scores remaining on record. Conversely, hundreds of thousands of other students, most of whom are unaware that such preparations are an option or even available, sit for the SAT once and often with little or no preparation. How can such a testing system possibly provide a valid measure of a student’s potential? How can such a testing system provide an equitable measure of future academic success?
If a student has a GPA of 3.0 at the end of their freshman year, they will not be truly competitive for any of the low acceptance rate schools (<15%) even if they maintain 4.0 GPA the following two – three years. The competition is far too high. These same students will also have a hard time competing for merit aid. As a high school teacher, I know the percentage of students who would have studied more, even if they had known about and understood the very real ramifications, is likely lower than we would hope. However, I have also witnessed that a supported, informed and incentivized student from any background can meet nearly any standard or expectation. High quality support and awareness are key, and more often than not that support and awareness of the system correlates to a family’s economic status.
The student to counselor ratio for US public schools is 482 to 1 (the suggested guideline is 250 to 1)students for every counselor. That number is an order of magnitude lower for those students in private schools. When public school counselors are completely overwhelmed by the psychosocial needs of a small percentage of students, there is little time to provide students with a long-view and detailed runway to successfully navigate college applications and admissions. That personal contact and service can mean everything in preparing for the SAT/ACT, identifying which colleges to apply to, and why. As Stanford’s report suggests, finding a true match between student’s needs and the opportunities provided by schools is more important than forcing GPA and test metrics to make the selection.
I hope by sharing this information with students and families who cannot afford individual counseling how the system works, the deadlines they should aim for (and why,) and how to prepare and compete in the application process, the balance can shift. While I may not be able to provide the individualized service for every student and family, I can illustrate the game, the rules, and how to best prepare. Now it’s time to promote those colleges that refuse to use SAT, GPA, and early action application programs as the primary gateway to admission and use alternative evaluations to identify and admit students.