I think, generally, ED draws many applicants due to its higher acceptance rate than RD, however, for small colleges, that can be misleading after recruited athletes, demographic, urm and other considerations.
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If D26 winds up at Quinnipiac, she is going to try out for the Ice Cats, which is their cheer squad for ice hockey (naturally). She is obsessed, LOL. Now keep in mind that she has gone ice skating once, maybe twice, but all of the social media leading up to tryouts was making a big deal that you donât need any skating experience, since most of the cheering is done in the stands. And if she winds up at Point Park, she is going to join their ballroom dance team. I absolutely love that she is branching out and thinking about the extracurricular clubs that she wants to join because I think that is the best way to feel happy and accepted at your college. S23 didnât do any of that and spent all of his time with his friends at Pitt, which I think was a big factor in why he wound up withdrawing.
D26 is too indecisive to ever consider ED. Plus, while we are not necessarily choosing a school based on cost, we definitelty do want as much merit as possible! She actually threw me a curve ball today. She is on a field trip with her media production class at a public state school about 45 minutes away and texted me that she really likes it there. As much as I would love to see her in Pittsburgh, the thought of her being so close is amazing. The only drawback is that they do not have a film degree, but she could major in media and journalism.
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this itself could be its own thread. Yes, her intent is to cheer. Having said that, she is choosing the school which is the best fit and then if she has the opportunity she will cheer. Many of her allstar friends are doing the âmajor in cheerâ thing where they apply to all the big (SEC mostly) cheer schools and attend multiple clinics with the hope of being offered a spot. For my D, she canât imagine a life without cheer. She also says it helps her stay fit and also helps her time management since she has no other choice but to stay organized. I actually just learned a few weeks ago that college marching bands also recruit.
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may be stealing this idea!
Not directly relevant for those of us who will be empty nesters after class of 26â goes off to college, but todayâs Your College Bound Kid podcast had an interesting discussion about how they think more selective schools are going to be going back to SAT/ACT required. The main two reasons they cited were: 1) to not be perceived as âless thanâ the schools that have gone back to testing; and 2) to avoid the ire/spotlight of the federal governmentâs DEI purge. They some expect small liberal arts schools along with Universities to make the change.
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Learned something interesting today. Univ of Arizona has changed its housing app policy. Prior to this application cycle (i.e., if you were applying for Fall 2025 or earlier), U of A was rolling admissions. And the way that housing apps worked was the student could/would apply for housing as soon as the housing app opened once you had your acceptance letter.
You did NOT have to pay the enrollment fee first in order to pay your $175 non-refundable housing fee.
For Fall 2026, itâs different. So the EA app deadline is 11/1 and everybody whoâs applied by 11/1 will get their admissions decisions on 1/15.
1/15 is also the date that the housing app opens.
AND in order to apply for housing, you need to:
- pay the $450 enrollment fee
- set up your NetID and password (this was a royal pain in the neck process for D24 that took a few days to get sorted out)
- THEN pay the $175 housing application fee
Forewarned is forearmed. 
At least now I know weâll need to pony up $625 in mid-January.
Living on campus for freshmen there is NOT required and there is not enough on campus housing for all freshmen. So itâs a bit of a scramble sort of like Iâve heard it can be at places like Univ of Alabama.
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Iâm still in the process of listening to Mondayâs episode. I love that podcast. I always learn something new. I think that some of the colleges that have always been test optional will remain so.
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Love the podcast too.
I think the selective R1s (proverbial T20s) will likely all go back with maybe the exception of UChicago, since that seems to be a thing for them now especially since they did it pre-pandemic. But I think everyone else falls in line.
Iâd also guess that the selective LACs do NOT go back to test required. I get the impression that they all still want more applications. It was interesting hearing Andy Strickler (admissions director at Conn College) talking about how a lot of small colleges are noting that their app volume is going down with kids wanting the big college experience. I think even the really selective LACs probably feel some of that and will want to stay test optional.
Guess this is all stuff to look forward to when my S29s start the process! Right now just gotta get D26 to finish those essays, lol!
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I also have an S29, so I am curious how this all plays out. I think the whole landscape might be totally different once theyâre applying, so we might have to re-learn everything about college admissions.
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Ugh re scramble. D19âs housing worked the same way (first accept offer and enrollment deposit, then housing app) but housing selection opened in I think May and housing is guaranteed (for freshmen and then for all 4 years as long as you didnât move out of it at any stage, other than study abroad). I am not sure about ASU but all other colleges on C26âs list guarantee housing for at least freshmen afaik.
Interesting that they did not cite what some of the other colleges that have gone back to test required , have: that studies show academic success at college is correlated more to test scores than to GPA. (I believe those studies are done by the college board so maybe a pinch of salt required, but âŠ)
ASU has info at FAQ | University Housing. 1 of D24âs BFFs goes to ASU and is in the honors college. D24âs BFF doesnât live on campus (lives at home, weâre in Phoenix metro areaâŠso if your kid decides to attend ASU and you need an emergency responsible adult in a pinch, let me know because weâre about a 45 min drive from the Tempe campus during rush hour). D24âs BFF had to get special permission to not live on campus freshman yearâŠshe had a medical reason for doing so, had to submit paperwork for it. I think that ASU honors college requires you to live on campus for 2 yr though.
ASU usually has non-honors students live in a dorm with other students in their same major or college (i.e., College of Engineering, etc.).
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I think that study was done by a group affiliated with Harvard? Not College Board, I donât think.
They actually did talk about that issue a bit. And they framed it actually as a debate that needs to be had regarding âexcellenceâ vs âsuccessâ their words not mine. The point they were making is that the âstudiesâ do not actually say the test optional students are not successful, rather they talk about lower GPAs and things like that. And, that âsuccessâ is not really having a 3.8 vs a 3.5. If you graduate with a 3.5 or 3.2 or whatever, you are still successful. It is not like these students are dropping out or failing to graduate. The point was they may not be âexcellentâ students at the same rate, but that is a different question than success. They also pointed out how colleges are often fine with admitting who can be successful, but not necessarily âexcellentâ for a whole host of other institutional priorities (they didnât say it, but athletes and legacies come to mind among others). Their larger point for discussion was what is the point of these opportunities at these schools? Is it just to churn out the most excellent candidates possible full stop? Or, is there something to the notion of the value that the schools can provide to society and some folks by providing opportunities for social mobility and the like?
I will say, from my perspective the few statements Iâve heard from schools (other than MIT honestly) about the return because of the lack of success of test optional, seemed pretty mushy on what they were measuring and how it compared to how they think of holistic admissions overall.
Lastly, as a black person, one thing I often note with the studies that talk about how elite schools do not matter or that folks donât perform as well without test scores, is that there is often a caveat to those broad claims for certain minorities and low income folks. That it turns out, that an elite name often does make a difference for black people unlike the majority that the statements are made about. And, I suspect that if âsuccessâ is measured by what the degree does for the person as opposed to whether they got as high a gpa as someone else, the test optional leads to lack of success claim may collapse on itself when it comes to black and possibly low income students/alums. Of course, it is too early to say that because there have only been a few test optional years at these schools. But I am skeptical of the assertions regarding their findings without more open data.
I have other concerns about the top schools going back to test required at this moment in time, but those are beyond the purposes of this forum so will keep those to myself for now.
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This isnât the one I saw! But same conclusions it looks like. The one I saw was a few years older than this and pretty sure it was college board.
I would not argue with this. I also would not argue with the fact that high test scores in themselves often reflect privilege. One person we know in C26âs grade this year has done the SAT 5 or 6 times with an insane amount of tutoring to get his score above 1500. Low income students simply donât have that option. The Georgetown approach of making people list all test scores, or (I think it was UIUC but may be misremembering) where they only look for a single highest score and do not super score, may be ways to try get around this aspect.
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Well, thatâs obnoxious. 
I think there was a discussion about this awhile back, but yeah, securing housing at UGA is nuts, too â we put down a deposit for D22 as soon as she got in EA, knowing full well that we were going to lose it because she likely wouldnât be attending.
They didnât make us put down a deposit to enroll at the school itself to do that, though. I donât know if thatâs changed in the last four years.
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Ah, okay! I didnât know there were several.
When D24 was going through the college app process, we paid the $175 housing app fee knowing it was non-refundable and D24 ended up deciding to attend a different school.
One thing to watch out for, though, is if your kid DOES attend elsewhere, make sure to CANCEL their housing so you donât end up in a situation like can happen at UNM (University of New Mexico)âŠif you donât cancel the housing, then they WILL bill you anyway for fall semester housing EVEN if youâre not enrolled there as a student.
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wow thatâs a good reminder. We are about to pay the housing deposit at S26âs safety. I will have to set a reminder to myself somewhere to cancel again, if he ends up somewhere else.
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