College admissions offices are wrapping up their reading season, the term used for the application review cycle. Once admissions decisions are finalized, many admissions reps hit the road to visit schools in their territory. As a result, these reps are often more accessible during this recruiting and marketing period, making this a great window of time for 9th-11th graders to be on the lookout for college visits to their high school or for sending out an introduction email with thoughtful questions. Please let us know if you have questions about making these valuable connections!
College Admissions News
For the fourth straight year, the Common Application essay prompts for the fall 2025 admissions cycle will remain the same. Juniors should read through the prompts this spring and be on the look out for our upcoming guidance on brainstorming and essay appointments. https://www.commonapp.org/blog/announcing-2025-2026-common-app-essay-prompts
On the subject of college essays, a new Cornell study created 25k AI-generated essay responses and found that on average they used “longer words (six or more letters) than human writers. Also, AI-generated writing tended to have less variety than essays written by humans,” so they sound much flatter and more generic than the ones written by real applicants. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/10/ai-generated-college-admissions-essays-sound-male-privileged
The ACT recently announced that they will begin offering a digital version this fall. We will be sending our insights on the nuances of these changes and a comparison with the changes to the SAT after spring break. https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-changes/online-testing.html
The Atlantic just reported that, since the elimination of affirmative action, the anticipated decline in diversity has not materialized as expected. Several elite universities have reported stable or even increased enrollments of Black and Latino students. For instance, institutions such as Yale, Dartmouth, and Northwestern have seen rises in Black and Latino student enrollments, while Princeton and Duke have maintained consistent demographic figures. This trend suggests that these universities may be employing alternative strategies, such as data from the Opportunity Atlas, to uphold diversity without directly considering race in their admissions processes. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/affirmative-action-yale-admissions/681541/
Recommended Reading
Wondering how many students pay full price for college? Consult this table and reach out if you have any questions about schools of interest. Budget conversations should be front and center as students progress through high school: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/moorecollegedata/viz/HowManyStudentsPayFullPrice/BarDash
College ROI (Return on Investment) is a metric that has come into sharper focus over the past few years. The WSJ and Georgetown have shared ranking tools, and now FREOPP has developed one. Takeaway: ROI can vary significantly at the same school for different majors: https://freopp.org/roi-undergraduate/
Warm regards,
The MCA Team