TRENDS IN 2021 COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

The more things change.... the more things change!

This is no surprise! As parents wait for the vaccine and for on campus learning to stabilize, many student have opted to take a Gap Year - this is defined as the year after high school, but before starting college. Instead of going directly to college from high school, many students all over the world opt to take a year to work, travel (well once upon a time they did), pursue an interest, build a business or even sharpen their college application profile (it really depends on the student!)

Fall 2020: international student enrollment fell by 47%. This means that colleges took a hit to their budget / bottom line as full-paying international students are a major source of revenue for Universities. It will be quite interesting to see how colleges use merit aid and tuition discounts to incentivize international students just enough so they will pay what the college actually wants/needs to meet budget!

They indeed will as colleges go test-optional and test-flexible due to the pandemic. This means that students who would not have applied to certain schools when scores were required, are now applying to said schools. We told you in our last blog post that NYU had over 100,000 applicants this year, while Colgate University had a 100% increase in applications. That said - schools were NOT test-blind - and high scores are still highly correlated with scholarships and admissions this cycle.

For you, this means if you can get high scores safely, get them and send them. Also - make sure that your in school GPA and academic course selection is rigorous because your transcript is more important than ever! Differentate yourself with stunning essays and a differentiated extra curricular profile! If you want help figuring out your personal action plan MEET WITH AN AIM EXPERT, and set your plan in gear.

You're going to see colleges going OUT OF THEIR WAY with innovative programs and touting student career / success outcomes because all colleges really need to prove their value amidst all this online education. Now more than ever, colleges are making sure that the in person residential experience (and the price they charge for it) remains the top choice for increasingly discriminating parents.