College Admissions is Changing, Here's How

Last month, I went to Seattle to attend the annual NACAC (National Association of College Admissions Counselors) Conference. It was great to see old friends and colleagues in person after a long hiatus. We shared a few drinks, fist bumps, hugs, and catch-ups. But the main reason I went to NACAC was to learn about trends in college admissions I could bring back to our families. 

I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version of the 3-day event. What’s hot? Character. What’s not? Standardized testing. When it comes to standardized testing the writing is pretty much on the wall: standardized tests like the SAT and ACT are going to go away. Can I get an “Amen”? Can I get a “HALLELUJAH”? 

I went to an entire session focused on a major overhaul of the Common Application, which includes getting rid of letters of rec (gasp) and personal statements (bigger gasp). It's partnering with a Harvard initiative, Making Caring Common to look at the ways colleges can really get to the heart of who a student is by evaluating character. Now "character" might not be the right word - MCC acknowledged that it's just a placeholder word until they come up with a more accurate one. Ultimately, they are trying to tease out a student’s academic and ethical character, AKA who they are in the classroom and who they are in their communities.  Let’s be clear, this isn’t happening anytime soon. There are BIG questions about how exactly they're going to do this. The tentative plan is to pilot a few ideas over the next few years and gather lots of data before any changes take place. Likely, not until the 2024-2025 admissions cycle.

So why are they even trying to change the Common App? First and foremost, for equity’s sake. Common App is looking for ways to make its application more equitable. I don’t think it would surprise anyone reading this to learn that students from families that can afford it, can and do game standardized testing and college essays through test prep tutors and essay coaches. 

One of the concerns that came up during my discussions about this idea was that kids might try to game character. Our conclusion? So what? That just means more caring and kind kids, right? Even if you're faking it, being nice, generally makes you feel better about yourself and ultimately turns you into a nicer person. If that’s the worst thing that happens, I’m okay with it. I'd much rather have one of my students spend hours figuring out how to do something good for their community than hours taking SAT practice tests. 

I had informal conversations with plenty of admissions deans who concurred, testing is already playing a smaller role and character is playing a bigger one. Evidence: 1,785 colleges are test-optional this year, the UCs are completely test blind. And character is playing a bigger role. Check out the Character Collaborative whose members include schools like Carnegie Mellon, USC, Cornell, and Swarthmore. NACAC is even offering professional development sessions to college folks on how to evaluate character in an application. 

Village is all about character and making good humans. We are ecstatic that colleges are explicitly stating that character is important because it is and it always has been. Change is coming and I am 100% here for it.