“Even in a 'normal' year, students of color, first-generation students, and students from low-income backgrounds need moral and technical support to complete key milestones toward a postsecondary pathway.
National College Attainment Network
In the absence of the SAT, we had to look at other components and data.
Shawn Abbott, Temple University
A ‘gobsmacking' number of students in need aren’t applying to college. Are we missing 'an entire generation'?
Laura Pappano, The Hechinger Report (source)
Applying to college has always been harder for first-generation and low-income students than for peers with greater access to support at every step of the process. This year, data shows, that gulf has widened.
Laura Pappano, The Hechinger Report (source)
Applying to college has always been harder for first-generation and low-income students than for peers with greater access to support at every step of the process. This year, data shows, that gulf has widened.
Angel Pérez, CEO, National Association for College Admission Counseling
All the differences between white students (and especially Black students) point to more sophistication about applying to college, not to better preparation for college.
David Strauss, Arts and Sciences
Between complex application requirements, the high cost to apply, and the lack of transparency and support built into the system, I find the college admissions process to be the perfect recipe for inequity
Anonymous Student
The online application system is so confusing- there is no guidance book as what we have to d and what to expect / prepare.
Anonymous Student
As an international student, understanding the applying process was confusing as there is an overwhelming amount of information regarding the applying process on university websites and I would easily get lost.
Faiz Syed, University of California, Berkeley (source)
Some universities require tons of documents…high school transcripts, essays, letters of recommendations, and standardized test results. This stage took time, energy and money.
Faiz Syed, University of California, Berkeley (source)
There were two major challenges for me—deciding which schools to apply to and crafting the personal statement to give a solid representation of me and the way I view the world.
Kale Hyder, B.S. Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University (2021) (source)
Having to learn things like how to pick schools that align with your needs and wants, what early action applications are or how to understand a college’s tuition and fees is a barrier first-generation students must contend with.
Theodora Vorias, Michigan Daily
My school didn’t really tell us what we needed to do to apply (to college), so a lot of students felt overwhelmed.
Anonymous Student
Each application is judged in far less time than it took to prepare. Especially at highly-ranked schools, there are far more highly qualified applicants than the school can possibly admit.
Jeff Erickson, CS professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (source)
In our combined decades of guiding students through the application experience from both sides of the admission desk, we have watched as the messages we offer get lost in translation.
Brennan Barnard, Director of College Counseling, Derryfield School (NH) & Rick Clark, Director of Undergraduate Admission, Georgia Tech (source)
It’s easy to be frustrated with a process that’s not easily understood and dependent on the institution. It’s easy to make sweeping generalizations about the 4,500 or so post-secondary institutions in the US.
Jana Nicole, Associate Director of Admission, Hiram College