May 2024
It’s early May, and I have officially finished with the 2024 batch of clients, who are graduating soon and going off to college in the fall. Congrats to all of them, and congrats to the colleges who are getting these great students!
This week I’m at the annual Independent Educational Consultants Association conference. There are over a thousand consultants, college admission representatives, and representatives of companies that work with college admission. It’s quite the group!
So far, my biggest takeaway is that for the colleges, “the season” is not over even though May 1 has come and gone. This isn’t surprising, but they’ve definitely confirmed the stress. Because of the FAFSA debacle, many schools are still working with families to update financial aid offers—or even to give initial offers. Schools that are on better footing are still working on financial aid for all their returning students, and still wondering if the first-year students who say are coming will actually show up in the fall after those they get aid offers from other schools. There’s always a lot of movement and change in the summer—with waiting lists, transfers, and summer melt—but this year there is just so much more going on. Hopefully things will be better next year, but I don’t think anyone is expecting FAFSA and financial aid to be back to “normal” in the fall of 2024. Just…less worse.
Below you can find all that was posted to Apply with Sanity in April, some past pieces that still seem relevant this May, and links to all kinds of admission news. Enjoy! And have a great summer!
—Benjamin
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Here's what I covered on the website in April:
Do I really mean it when I say to never turn down a full ride?
Three Quick Questions:
The full Three Quick Questions archive. Whether or not you’re going to work with a consultant for college admission (you probably don’t need to), how would you answer these questions? How would you explain yourself to another person? What questions do you think I should ask that I don’t?
Here are some blog posts from the archive that seem good for this May:
How do you ask for a letter of recommendation?
Four things juniors should do now, before the end of the school year
It’s not the choice you make, it’s how you explain it
Here's more great admission news from around the internet:
*Some articles may be behind a paywall.
Should the SAT still matter after all these years? Why some colleges are bringing it back (CNN)
Is financial aid the new affirmative action? (Inside Higher Ed)
Does an Ivy League degree matter? (Forbes)
Sticker shock: Americans say college costs are too high—and unclear (Lumina Foundation)
FAFSA completion down 40% (Inside Higher Ed)
College applications are up significantly for next fall (Forbes)
“Running out of road” for FAFSA completion (Inside Higher Ed)
Colleges begin to welcome the class of 2028 (Inside Higher Ed)
College admissions season is extra brutal this year—and it isn’t over yet (Bloomberg)
College enrollment is up. The financial aid mess could bring it crashing down (Vox)
If college is an investment, these offer the best ROI (Bloomberg)
Visualizing FAFSA fiasco by geography (On EdTech)
Why US colleges are reviving standardized tests (Bloomberg)
Three messages about college admissions for juniors (Georgia Tech Admissions Blog)
ACT announces new partnership with Nexus Capital Management LP (ACT Newsroom & Blog)
New data reveals few community college transfers complete a Bachelor’s Degree (The 74)
In a disastrous year, states that mandate FAFSA completion fared a little better (The 74)
Colleges are now closing at a pace of one a week. What happens to the students? (Hechinger Report)
Do’s and don’ts of the wait list (Link for Counselors)
Apply with Sanity, LLC is a project of Benjamin Holloway. Benjamin has a certificate in College Access Counseling and is an Associate Member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association. Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC.