College Admissions 101:

Trends, Tips, & Tactics for

the Test-optional Era
April 27, 2022
College Admissions 101: Presenters & Agenda
Who’s who:
● Rob Lamb, Director of College
Counseling, Sage Ridge School (SRS)
● Dr. Tracy Hardister, Head of Student
Support Services/Counselor, SRS
● Kathleen Williams, Director of West
Coast Admissions, Lafayette College
Agenda:
● Introductions & the changing landscape
● College admissions and costs in the 21st Century
● College planning at SRS (Grades 9-12)
● “Hidden Ivies” case study: Lafayette College
● Testing, trends, and tips for college success
● College Kickstart, Naviance, and other tools
● Student support services at SRS (SEL, etc.)
● Student voices from the HS journey
● Q&A
Kathleen J. Williams
Director of West Coast
Admissions
Lafayette College
730 High Street
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 330-5107
willikat@lafayette.edu
Higher Edʼs Post-Covid ROI?
● Investments and risk
○ Wage premium of college degree
○ Career planning and advising
● Meeting college costs
○ High tuition amidst “stagflation”
○ Scholarships and savings
● Innovation and growth
○ Remote learning/work
○ Pre-professional programs
○ Skills for success (will choice of major matter more now?)

NOTE: Chronicle Report: The Value Equation: Measuring & Communicating the Return on
Investment of a College Degree! | Tony's Thoughts
The Trends
Report
2022 (The
Chronicle
of Higher
Education)
NB: Northeastern
has acquired
Mills College in
Oakland, CA
Average
Cost of
College
[2022]:
Yearly
Tuition +
Expenses
Related Article: Why Is College So Expensive? 4
Reasons Behind the Trend - Earnest

Since the 1980s weʼve seen notable increases in:

Marketing, recruiting, college experience costs
(climbing walls, athletic teams, housing/dining),
administrative roles/executive salaries
Where will
your
college
home
away from
home be?
2019
STATE OF
COLLEGE
ADMISSION,
NACAC

TABLE 7.
PERCENTAGE
OF COLLEGES
ATTRIBUTING
DIFFERENT
LEVELS OF
IMPORTANCE
TO FACTORS IN
ADMISSION
DECISIONS:
FIRST-TIME
FRESHMEN,
FALL 2018
SRS College Planning (Grades 9-12)
● G9: Self-discovery/reflection; explore colleges/majors; PSAT 8/9
● G10: Continue college/major exploration; (virtual) visits; PSAT/NMSQT
● G11: (P)SAT/ACT; research/visit colleges; build initial list; draft essays
● G12: Balance/finalize college list; SAT/ACT; apply RD/EA/ED and for
merit aid; (re)visit campuses; assess offers for best matches/fit
● More than 1,200 US colleges Test Centers Close with the Rapid Spread of COVID-19
and universities have
announced they are moving to
in the Spring/Summer of 2020 & Hundreds of Colleges
a test-optional policy this year Pivot to Prepare for Test-Optional Admission:
and more will surely follow.

● If your college is making or

considering such a change,
you'll want to be sure to attend
this timely new education
program from NACAC!

● Transitioning to Test-Optional
Admission Forum is a virtual
two-day event on August 20-21
featuring case studies, lessons
learned, and Q&A with
institutions that have already
made the transition.

● Hear first-hand from your

colleagues at Sarah Lawrence
College, Bates College,
Susquehanna University,
George Washington University,
and George Mason University.
 CUR NON
• The Marquis
• Applied Liberal Arts
• 4 Academic Divisions
• 51 Areas of Study
• 10:1 Student:Faculty
• Class Average: 18.6
• 200+ Organizations
• 23 Division I Sports
Where We Are
Middle of Everywhere

• Lehigh Valley
• NYC - 70 Miles
• Philadelphia - 70 Miles
 APPLYING

• Common Application
• Transcript
• Recommendations
• SAT/ACT
⚬ TEST OPTIONAL FOR
FALL 2023

⚬ Financial Aid
• 100% of Demonstrated

Financial Need Met

⚬
Holistic Review
• Curriculum
• Transcript
• ACT/SAT – optional
• Activities –
• Leadership
• Civic interest
• Community Service
• Character
• Essay/short answer
• Recommendations
• Demonstrated Interest
• Interview
 DEADLINES

First Year Applicants:

• Regular Decision
⚬ January 15th
• Early Decision
⚬ November 15th
⚬ February 1st*
⚬ Financial Aid
⚬ FAFSA & CSS Profile
 Demonstrated Interest

What is it?

How is it used?
College Collage
EA and ED deadlines
are typically Nov. 1 or
Nov. 15. Some
colleges offer ED2
applications, due
around Jan. 1.

Applying ED requires
a signed agreement
between an applicant
and his/her
first-choice college,
which both the
applicantʼs parent
and counselor must
also approve. All key
steps are listed here:
https://recsupport.co
mmonapp.org/recom
mendersupport/s/art
icle/How-ED-works-i
n-the-Common-App-
online
To ED or
not to ED:
Is that the
question?

Case
studies in
karma…
Competitive University Acceptance Rates (pre-COVID-19)
SOURCE:
College
Acceptance
Rates 2019 —
TKG

* In 2018,
Stanford
announced it
would no longer
release
acceptance
rates starting in
2019.
SOURCE:
College
Acceptance
Rates 2019 —
TKG
Ivy League Application Increases
2020 to 2021 (Total & ED/REA)

NYR: not yet reported

n/a: not applicable, since ED/REA was not in place
MIT saw an overall increase of 13,165 applications (or
66%) from 2020 to 2021, with an increase of 5,790 Early
Action applications (or 62%) in the same time period.

Sources:
● MIT Class of 2024 - IVY League Prep
● Admissions statistics (MIT website)
EA & ED Matriculation
2017-21 and beyond

Higher reliance on ED to fill

classes will continue to impact
applicant strategies, further
widening the gap between ED
and RD acceptance rates.
Standardized Testing: Redrawing the Map

Related questions:
● Will more institutions revert back to requiring test
scores of applicants, while others move in the opposite
direction?
● Are test-optional policies permanent or temporary?
SRS: College Preparatory Excellence
AP Five Year School Score Summary (2017-2021)
Universities and colleges recognize the rigor of the SRS curriculum in AP, Honors, and CP (college prep)
classes. Some of this rigor is reflected in our studentsʼ performance on AP exams each May.

NB: AP Credit Policy Search – AP Students – College Board

The Role of Higher Education
in Career Development:
Employer Perceptions
(December 2012)

About the Study

• The Chronicle of Higher
Education and American Public
Mediaʼs Marketplace conducted
a survey of 50,000 employers
who hire recent college
graduates in order to
understand employer
perceptions of the role of
colleges and universities in
career preparation.

• The survey was developed,

fielded and analyzed by
Maguire Associates, Inc. The
sample was developed with
assistance from
Experience.com.
Beyond Academic Preparedness
● “Whoʼs Ready for
College?” – chapter 13
● Social-emotional
development and life
skills
● “Parent as consultant”
Social-Emotional Competencies
● Self-awareness
● Self-management
● Responsible
decision-making
● Social awareness
● Relationships skills
Sage Words from Challenge Success
● Focus on “fit”: “Yeah, Iʼm going to college. But
donʼt ask me WHERE. Ask me WHY.”
● Create “College Free Zones”
● Support the full slate of readiness
● Talk with your child about whether college is
right for him/her right now
Practice Healthy Stress Management
● Engage in self-care practices – parents and teens
● “PDF” per Challenge Success
“The Nonanxious Presence”
“...a recent study showed that other than showing
your child love and affection, managing your own
stress is the best thing you can do to be an
effective parent.”
— The Self-Driven Child, “The Nonanxious
Presence,” Chapter 4
 Resources for ● HOW TO CHOOSE A COLLEGE THAT’S RIGHT FOR
YOU (Colleges That Change Lives) CTCL
● WE ADMIT...GUIDANCE FROM THOSE WHO DO (The

Finding College Fit ●

●
Education Conservancy) EducationConservancy.org
Niche.com: FIND THE SCHOOL THAT FITS YOU
BEST Niche.com
The Fiske Guide Sizing-Yourself-Up Survey (5-10
minutes) Fiske's Sizing-Yourself-Up Survey
● College Kickstart: Well-balanced college plans with
fresh data and personalized insight College
Kickstart.com

CAMPUS VISIT RESOURCES & VIRTUAL COLLEGE TOURS

● Campus Visit Checklist (The College Board) Campus
Visit Checklist
● Campus Visit Scorecard (The College Board)
Campus Visit Scorecard
● Campus Tours.com
● College Search: Virtual College Tours, Virtual Reality
Education
College Kickstart helps answer 3 key questions:
How do I
capitalize
Is my list on early
balanced and admission? How do I
set up for minimize
success? wasted
effort/cost?

52
To create a plan, simply enter your list and
credentials and run College Kickstart

53
 Define Success

Handling College Admission Decisions: A

Sidecar Parent's Guide
How do you rank colleges?
The U.S. News rankings are run by Robert Morse, whose six-person team operates out of a small red brick office
building in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. Over the years, Morseʼs methodology has steadily
evolved. In its current form, it relies on seven weighted variables:

1. Undergraduate academic reputation, 22.5% (same, now called “Assessment by Peers and Counselors”)
2. Graduation and freshman retention rates, 20% (now 22.5%)
"In their haste to compete with Time
3. Faculty resources, 20% (same) and Newsweek way back when [in the
4. Student selectivity, 15% (now 12.5%) 1980s] maybe all U.S. News did was
create a system that allowed all the
5. Financial resources, 10% (same) presidents and deans of every college in
the country to assign a number to their
6. Graduation rate performance, 7.5% (same) prejudice, to disguise mythology as
7. Alumni giving, 5% (same) methodology."
-- Malcolm Gladwell

SOURCES: “The Order of Things: What College Rankings Really Tell Us” by Malcolm Gladwell (The New Yorker,
February 14, 2011); U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges (2018).
NB: Lord of the Rankings - Pushkin “For 30 years, US News & World Report has been using a secret formula to rank the best colleges and universities in the
United States. As a public service to our listeners, we hack the algorithm and discover the dirty little secret of the rankings game.”
 Class of 2022 College Admission
Offers

Source: 2021-22SRSSchoolProfile.pdf
Class of 2022 College Readiness

As reported by seniors to the BOT prior to their Thesis Symposium presentations:

Q: What have you learned or appreciated about your experiences at Sage Ridge?
● Study skills and time management
● Note-taking and using marginalia
● Small class size (student-faculty ratio)
● College prep and prep for college
● Teachers’ styles and subject mastery
● Teachers who share their passions
Suggested reading