Almost immediately after I sent last week’s blog, Collegeboard announced how they will handle AP testing, and MIT announced they would no longer consider Subject Tests. At that point, I realized important changes will continue to happen, and we would need to keep up! Here are this week’s updates:

Testing

·      MIT was the last school in the US to require Subject tests for all applicants. Not only did they waive this for this year’s cycle and beyond, they will not consider them at all in evaluation.

·      AP Tests will be given online at home, will be 45 minutes in duration and will cover material through March only. Students will have the choice of two test dates.

·      The May 2020 International Baccalaureate (IB) testing will not take place at all in any country. Students will be awarded a Diploma or a Course Certificate, depending on what they were registered for, which reflects their standard of work.

·      UC’s will stop requiring the optional writing section for the ACT and SAT; however, they have NOTdecided WHEN they will implement this change…2021, unlikely? 2022, more likely? Which means that until they announce that change, students need to continue to register for and take the required Writing section.

Summer 2020

Everyone is holding their breath a little on what will happen to some popular summer programs. If you’ve already signed up for something, it might get cancelled, and if you’re currently applying, you might check the refund policy. I recommend being very selective about putting a deposit on a program taking place on a college campus.

If colleges and businesses remain strictly remote, shops are shuttered and internships are unavailable, what to do? Take an online course in something fun that you find interesting. Learn to play in instrument. Work on your foreign language skills. READ! WRITE! CREATE! Here are some places to find FREE online courses:

·      EdX.org

·      Teachable.com

·      Coursera.com

California School News

The Governor of California has waived the mandatory number of school days requirement, so students will not be expected to make up missed days in the summer or otherwise.

Waitlists

In my last message, I addressed that waitlists were going to be longer this year due to the unpredictability of fall enrollment (last week’s UC releases showed this to be true). What I wanted to emphasize now is how many students are affected negatively by this, and how if you are one of those who knows where you are going to PLEASE let the other colleges know you will not be attending. They can get to those waitlist candidates more quickly and end your peers’ purgatory!

Virtual Events

This week, a group of industrious counselors put together a list of virtual events for students and families at many colleges. It is up to the colleges to populate and counselors to monitor, so you should double check it, but it’s getting filled in nicely!  https://bit.ly/2U9zeZp

Essays

Juniors might be starting to think about essays. I just wanted to bring up one thing, so I don’t have to have the same conversation repeatedly this summer. Imagine the biggest thing that’s happened to you this year. Yep, that’s right, for almost all of you, you can blame the changes in your life on COVID-19. Is that going to make a unique essay? Do you think others are going to write about it? Do you think that after reading 50 essays on  “how the coronavirus affected me,” the admissions reader is going to be excited about you? OK, now we’re on the same page.