Lakeside School

Every December, there are two milestones in the college admissions process. Our seniors start to hear back from colleges and universities about their early applications. And juniors and their families truly begin the college counseling process. Which makes early winter a great time to provide an update on the college admissions landscape.

In my two decades of college counseling, I’m anticipating this will be the most competitive admissions cycle. Changes in the admissions landscape since COVID have prompted unprecedented increases in applications and more competitive applicants, making it even more challenging for students everywhere to be admitted to selective colleges. As one dean at one of our nation’s most selective schools, a friend and colleague for two decades, told me of his early pool this year: “If your school had one student admitted, you did well. Most saw none.”

In spring 2021, I predicted we were approaching a “new normal” in college admissions. This year, as I checked in with college admissions deans, I believe that “new normal” has arrived.

Below, I’m resharing what I wrote in spring 2021 with additional insights our team has gained. While I am confident that Lakeside students will ultimately have great options and thrive wherever they enroll, I hope this information provides clarity on the constantly evolving admissions landscape.

Understanding the causes of this “new normal”

There are numerous factors contributing to this new admissions landscape.

1. Most colleges have suspended standardized testing requirements – either indefinitely or permanently. Historically, colleges almost always see application increases when they’ve eliminated application components: Fewer application elements allow students to apply with greater ease. Since the onset of COVID, the most selective colleges have seen application increases every year.
   
   Students with strong transcripts (high grades and rigorous curricula) but lower test scores, who might not have applied in prior years, are submitting applications to selective schools without concern that testing results will weaken their applications. Now, because those applicants can apply without testing, many are now very competitive applicants. 
    
2. Colleges have designed more inclusive virtual admissions programming that reaches more people. When colleges closed their campuses at the start of the pandemic, they began creating extensive virtual opportunities for students to tour campus, meet with students and faculty, explore dormitories, and more. While such in-person opportunities were previously accessible only to those who could afford to visit, prospective students anywhere in the world can now access extensive resources to learn about schools. This robust virtual programming has led not only to more applicants but to different applicants, that colleges have traditionally struggled to reach: students from rural backgrounds and under-resourced public schools, as well as more students of color and first-generation college students (students whose parents/guardians did not graduate from college). With larger numbers of applicants identifying as underrepresented people of color and/or first-generation college students and hailing from rural and/or lower-income backgrounds, many colleges are relying less on their more traditional applicant base: Asian American and white students in major U.S. metropolitan areas from college-educated families.
    
3. Applicants are applying to more colleges. Unable to visit campuses and unnerved by the unpredictability of the pandemic, most applicants from well-known independent and public high schools are applying to more colleges than in prior years. Prior to 2020, the average number of applications submitted by each Lakesider was approximately 11. For the class of 2022, it was 13.8. I anticipate it will grow for the Class of 2023.
    
4. Being a legacy holds less weight than in the past. After the 2019 Varsity Blues scandal, colleges began de-emphasizing legacy status (being the child of an alumnus/a). As they move toward a more equitable admissions process, we can expect to see the value of legacy status, which largely benefits white students, further decrease. This will affect some Lakesiders.

Supporting our students in navigating the “new normal”

Expanding access to higher education is important and a societal good. But it does mean that high school students, including Lakesiders, will face increased competition for coveted spaces at our nation’s most well-known colleges and universities.

There are tons of great colleges in the U.S. (and globally), and it will be important that our juniors enter the process open-minded, eager to explore schools with which they’re unfamiliar. These are steps families can take to help students build this mindset:

• Emphasize that there are many great schools and that your student can be happy and successful at many of them. If your student is eager to expand their horizons prior to junior year, read this Inside Lakeside piece from February 2020 that offers steps and resources.
• Refrain from setting goals tied to college admission. For example, “You need to work hard so you can get into Stanford” not only reinforces that Stanford is superior to other colleges, but also establishes a goal that’s beyond a student’s control. Even many students with straight As and rigorous curricula aren’t admitted to Stanford.
• Talk about all colleges with equal enthusiasm. Students notice the contrast when parents/guardians are visibly excited about the admission of a relative or friend to a well-known school but are less so when family and friends are admitted to other colleges.
• Remind your student that your love for and pride in them is unrelated to where they attend college. 

Our students have bright futures ahead of them, no matter where they attend college. Lakeside’s college counseling team looks forward to exploring the possibilities for their futures with them.

Ari Worthman is Lakeside’s director of college counseling. Reach him and other members of the team at info@lakesideschool.site.