Today the Federal Reserve in St. Louis predicted a possible unemployment rate of 32.1% in the near future.
If unemployment hits the high teens or above for a period of a year or more, then full pay applicants should receive a very substantial admissions boost making reach schools reachable.
P.S. The Fed expects any unemployment rate of 30% or higher to be short-lived, but is uncertain as to the possible length.
At the height of the Great Depression in the 1920s & 1930s, the highest rate of unemployment was 24.9%.
I wonder how true That is universally. Anecdotally, I know 3 kids in our area for accepted to USC. They were shocked. Their SAT is round 1400, A students. All 3 are in very high upper middle class. And they all plan to attend.
@Nhatrang Same here but for us it was Michigan in RD. Usually, it’s still a fairly difficult acceptance from Illinois. According to our Naviance from the last three years, kids needed a 34 or a 1520 plus to even have a chance and then it was not a slam dunk with maybe 1/3 of them getting in. This year? D21 knows a LOT of kids who got in RD and are proudly waving Michigan flags from their houses this week.
Professional graduate schools–MBA schools in this case–are making tremendous exceptions in admissions standards & requirements in an attempt to achieve full classes next Fall.
One top MBA program has waived standardized test requirements enabling applicants to use scores from high school ACT & SAT tests in lieu of GMAT or GRE scores. Additionally, applicants with professional designations–such as a CPA or CFA or JD–earned after completing undergraduate school may forego submitting standardized test scores.
Other top 25 MBA programs are adding a fourth round for admissions, extending application dates, and liberalizing standardized test requirement waivers.
MBA programs often have 25% to 33% international students. Internationals may not be able to obtain student visas during the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.
Those who apply now for entrance into MBA programs in the Fall may be pleasantly surprised at the results as scholarship money awarded previously may go unclaimed at a time when MBA programs are trying to entice applications & matriculations.
Possibly… but higher SES applicants generally tend to be the stronger test takers relative to other characteristics like HS GPA*. But then if colleges want to tip the admit pool toward higher SES without being explicitly need-aware for individual applicants, they can just emphasize other correlates to high SES, like extracurriculars that are expensive or most commonly done by high SES students.
Further evidence that full pay applicants may enjoy a significant admissions boost over the next two admissions cycles:
Yesterday, some major US law firms announced 25% pay cuts for associate attorneys & senior staff members. Additionally, draws by law partners will be suspended. (About 35% to 50% of law firm revenue is directed to partners.)
Another law firm announced that it is curtailing matching contributions to employees 401(k) plans.
MBA students & recent grads are losing summer internship offers & full time employment offers are being rescinded. Some are being asked to return signing bonuses.
A major Canadian Bank is auctioning off troubled mortgage portfolios without allowing backers time to secure more adequate assurances.
What does this mean ?
In short, it signals that a recession is here.
Significance for college admissions is that colleges are businesses and tuition is their major source of revenue. With endowment funds declining, colleges & universities need to find as much revenue as possible as quickly as they can. This means that full pay students are likely to receive extra consideration in the admissions process.
Just this week, the GRE (graduate record exam) announced that it would permit at-home testing monitored by a remote proctor through one’s computer camera.
In my opinion, this cannot be a long-term offering as it is fraught with opportunities for undetected/undetectable cheating.
Better to move to on-demand testing at designated testing centers. This option is more hygeneric, less suceptible to cheating, and should result in fewer distractions.
I suspect that college & university life might undergo permanent change due to Covid-17 (coronavirus) in a similiar fashion as 9/11 changed airplane travel.
Many may no longer accept close quarter communal living, for example.
Online courses, online testing, & online degree programs will become more commonplace & achieve a higher level of respect & acceptance.
We are interested in deferring undergrad matriculation either 1 year or 1 term. But are not finding that any Universities that son received acceptance are allowing this (Wisconsin, Indiana, Washington). Am I missing something???
We would likely be a full-pay OOS if we could defer. In lieu of deferment, we will likely accept less desired in-state option. Is deferment a standard option at most universities?
Probably isn’t “standard” as in close to universal (among schools that are any level of selectivity besides open admission). Each school can make its own policy on the matter.
At schools that do not offer deferment of enrollment to admitted students, the student taking a gap year or semester could apply again for entry in a later semester. A high school graduate who takes college courses after high school graduation would be converted to a transfer applicant instead of frosh applicant for many schools (rules do vary based on how much enrollment or credit after high school graduation causes one to be a transfer applicant).
Schools that are successful with online learning may decide to increase enrollment and require/allow students to take one term online, similar to how Dartmouth was able to increase enrollment years ago by instituting “Sophomore Summer.”
In addition, in the absence of a vaccine, if a large portion of college age kids show positive antibodies (meaning they already had Covid-19), its possible that schools will open in the fall.
While there may be a second wave, due to limitations on testing and mild/asymptomatic infections, we currently have no idea how many of us have had the virus.