Record Number Of Applications Despite Pandemic | The Boneyard

Record Number Of Applications Despite Pandemic

HuskyHawk

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Applications are up everywhere. A few reasons 1. many students were unable to visit campus to narrow down choices and 2. they all went test optional. My daughter applied to 13 schools. You almost had to take that approach under the circumstances. So the headline should be that applications surge because of the pandemic challenges.

I believe a lot of these schools will guess wrong on how many kids will enroll from those they accept. It’s a complete crapshoot. Any previous metrics they have will be wrong. Deadline is May 1 and tomorrow, April 19 is the first day she will get to visit Fordham.
 

nelsonmuntz

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Waiving the test scores will increase the bias of the schools, because now they will be able to use any criteria they want. Those students not supplying test scores will be assumed to have done poorly, but the lack of test scores will also allow schools to let in athletes, legacies and wealthy students who would otherwise not have been accepted.

Top schools will not bother reading applications that don't have test scores unless they fit one of the groups I identified above unless they need to find candidates to provide demographic balance to the class. The top schools will most certainly accept the application fees though.

The middle class achievers will get punished by this. Many of them will have had the grades and test scores, but now they are disarmed and subject to the whims of the top schools' admissions' offices.
 
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Waiving the test scores will increase the bias of the schools, because now they will be able to use any criteria they want. Those students not supplying test scores will be assumed to have done poorly, but the lack of test scores will also allow schools to let in athletes, legacies and wealthy students who would otherwise not have been accepted.

Top schools will not bother reading applications that don't have test scores unless they fit one of the groups I identified above unless they need to find candidates to provide demographic balance to the class. The top schools will most certainly accept the application fees though.

The middle class achievers will get punished by this. Many of them will have had the grades and test scores, but now they are disarmed and subject to the whims of the top schools' admissions' offices.
I have a friend who is convinced of the opposite impact. He's convinced that his senior daughter has been rejected or waitlisted from a couple schools because kids from lesser school districts have better grades than her, but she'd have better test scores to show she's smarter.

I don't know if he's right or wrong and won't have a kid looking at college for a couple years so I'm still trying to get used to a landscape where Northeastern is hard to get into and Miami is like an Ivy League school. Just a perspective, and I can see the argument. Keep in mind I also asked him if he thought that maybe those kids are just as smart/smarter, but the standardized tests were biased or their schools didn't properly prepare them because they have less resources. But that conversation would probably get this thread locked.
 

nelsonmuntz

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I have a friend who is convinced of the opposite impact. He's convinced that his senior daughter has been rejected or waitlisted from a couple schools because kids from lesser school districts have better grades than her, but she'd have better test scores to show she's smarter.

I don't know if he's right or wrong and won't have a kid looking at college for a couple years so I'm still trying to get used to a landscape where Northeastern is hard to get into and Miami is like an Ivy League school. Just a perspective, and I can see the argument. Keep in mind I also asked him if he thought that maybe those kids are just as smart/smarter, but the standardized tests were biased or their schools didn't properly prepare them because they have less resources. But that conversation would probably get this thread locked.

We are saying the same thing. The test scores were an equalizer for middle class kids whose parents didn't have the money to buy the kids into top schools. Take the test scores out of the equation, and the bias goes heavily to grades, high school reputation (i.e. expensive prep schools) and the other factors I mentioned above.
 

WestHartHusk

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We are saying the same thing. The test scores were an equalizer for middle class kids whose parents didn't have the money to buy the kids into top schools. Take the test scores out of the equation, and the bias goes heavily to grades, high school reputation (i.e. expensive prep schools) and the other factors I mentioned above.
Are you? You are suggesting middle class kids will lose to the wealthy/connected; @Chuck's friend is suggesting that the middle class is losing to kids from "lesser" (read into that what you will) school districts.
 
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Are you? You are suggesting middle class kids will lose to the wealthy/connected; @Chuck's friend is suggesting that the middle class is losing to kids from "lesser" (read into that what you will) school districts.
What you said. I actually see both sides. Both are saying that the system is rigged. My friend believes that the lack of test scores allows (or results in) colleges to rig the system to favor kids from lesser schools. Not to put words in Nelson's mouth, but I believe he feels that the lack of test scores allows (or results in) colleges to rig the system to favor the better schools/wealthier towns. I personally think history favors Nelson's view point in that schools would rather take kids that can pay their own way (and maybe even give more money) while still making the acceptance numbers look good.
 

nelsonmuntz

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What you said. I actually see both sides. Both are saying that the system is rigged. My friend believes that the lack of test scores allows (or results in) colleges to rig the system to favor kids from lesser schools. Not to put words in Nelson's mouth, but I believe he feels that the lack of test scores allows (or results in) colleges to rig the system to favor the better schools/wealthier towns. I personally think history favors Nelson's view point in that schools would rather take kids that can pay their own way (and maybe even give more money) while still making the acceptance numbers look good.

The schools could always take kids from disadvantaged backgrounds if they wanted. SATs or no SATs will not make much of a difference there. Where it will make a huge difference is allowing schools to take more legacies and prep school kids over achieving middle class kids because now the 1050's from the idiot sons of money won't get factored into the SAT scores for those schools.
 

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