Some Colleges Eliminated Supplemental Essays. Your Student Can Still Differentiate Themselves.
- Aug 3
- 5 min read
I greet my first student. We're both kind of pumped. This student knows what she wants to study and where she wants to study it! Since it's August, she will learn how to populate the Common App with confidence - and without stress.
Yes, it's time to apply.
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Vandy: Popularity Meets Wild West
You might have read it in Town & Country or heard it from your friends: a college can't be more popular these days than Vanderbilt. Vandy gets a flood of apps, dropping last year's overall acceptance rate to a stunning 2.8 percent.
But Nashville's not enough for Vandy. A few weeks ago, the university announced a $75 million gift by none other than Jensen Huang of NVIDIA for a namesake College of Art, Architecture and Design in San Francisco at the previous home of California College of the Arts. According to a release, "Vanderbilt San Francisco will focus on engineering, entrepreneurship and design to educate artists, makers and designers whose work bridges creative expression and technological innovation." As you may recall, Vanderbilt is also expanding into NYC and West Palm Beach, FL.
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Let's Hear it for the Classics!
Maybe you've had the chance to catch The Odyssey at a theater this summer. It has spurred more interest in the classics, which of course is at the core of a liberal-arts education. As noted in The Chronicle, the movie has led to enhanced activity at UC Santa Cruz (a book club) and Yale, which this spring offered Odyssean Receptions: A Journey Through the History of Literature and Film.
Haverford College, a favorite of this college counselor, shared the sentiments of Classics chair Matthew Farmer: "It's the same conversation . . . that drives much of what the Classics Department does daily: showing students how ancient stories continue to speak to modern life." Farmer hopes it will trigger discussion in classes about why the epic poem is a classics mainstay.
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College Supplements: Why Did Those Colleges Delete Essays, Anyway?
I have always told students that if they couldn't answer a "Why [name of college]?" question in an essay - or for that matter in an interview - the college shouldn't admit them! But look what's happened. In the last month even more colleges popular with unCommon students got rid of their supplemental-essay requirement. (Believe me, there's nothing like reading about it in the WSJ while on vacation!)
So why are they making it so easy? They want to spur application volume, which will drive down selectivity! As reported in Inside Higher Ed, IECA, the organization in which this counselor is a Professional Member, surveyed its members and found that "the removal of such essays will lead to “inflating application volumes and admit-rate pressure.”
The University of Georgia, also interviewed by IHE, doesn't anticipate as much of an increase in volume as UVA, which sadly eliminated the requirement last year; UGA is test-optional. Their admissions director stated, “In my years in admissions, I have read a [lot] of essays, and my team is exhausted at the end of every read season." (UGA eliminated the supplemental question asking about a book students had read.)
Meanwhile, WashU told the Journal: “We just felt like if we were stressing people out…we might as well remove that from our process.” Fortunately, WashU is still asking students about their choice of major.
Hopefully, my ebook Supplementing the College Supplement will continue to provide insight into how to nail not only extra essays but also video and other opportunities for differentiation.
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UCAS: Not the Common App
With all this talk of Common App and August 1, there's another very appealing option for some students: going to college outside the United States. Just ask Jackie Christopher, founder of The UK Study Expert. Christopher notes that not only has application volume risen over there, but so have enrollments, up 19 percent year to year. As she explains, UK colleges offer academic excellence, efficiency (i.e., three years instead of the standard four for many students), specialization and the global stage. States Christopher: “We’re not looking at a temporary spike.”
Is your student contemplating studying in the United Kingdom? If so, be sure to get in touch. Their application is different. Forget the lack of transparency with admissions stateside. UCAS, their version of the Common App, asks the student what they want to study, why they're qualified for their course (i.e., major) and what they've done outside of school. It also clearly states testing requirements.
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UCs: They Don't Use the Common App, Either!
Standardized testing continues making waves in the media. The mighty University of California system, which is test-blind, is considering returning to testing after professors cited faulty preparation in math. A UC Berkeley professor explained, “Like many of my colleagues, I have tried to accommodate these students by reducing the workload and simplifying lectures and exams. For students who are prepared for Berkeley, my courses have become too easy.”
As reported in Inside Higher Ed, the UCs have now "expedited the timeline to determine whether the system should reinstate test requirements in admissions." The UC"s academic senate is poised to "submit recommendations no later than the end of the upcoming academic year, by June 2027."
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The Sports Management Bug - and What to do About It
Is your student laser-focused on sports management as a major? Many are, despite the fact that students don't really need that major to be very successful in the business. As addressed in Inside Higher Ed, colleges are meeting market demand by expanding their undergrad offerings and reaping more enrollments.
American University, known for politics and policy, is among those institutions with added programming. AU's sports students will be able to shadow teams and intern with events. AU's program director noted that every DC team "has an American University student working in the front office or as an intern, as of right now.” Indiana University, home of the Kelley School of Business, will introduce sports as a co-major on its Indy campus. WashU's Olin Business offers sport management as a minor, telling students: "You’ll tackle challenges that involve market research, data analysis and competitive analysis."
Which reminds me: we'll be talking college football next month . . .
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AI and Authenticity
When my students sign on, they sign a Statement of Understanding about AI and the importance of authentic voice in essays. As the cycle launches, what do colleges have to say on this about AI and essay writing?Swarthmore College is very clear about that matter:
"When we read your application, we expect to learn about you and how you think, which means you are not submitting work that has been substantially created by AI or another person. Examples of this include:
AI or another person to outline or draft an application essay
Using AI or another tool to translate your writing from another language into English
Using AI to modify the tone of your writing (e.g., rewriting to sound more academic or conversational)
Asking AI or another person to rewrite a significant portion of your essay(s)”
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What happened with my student? In a single meeting on August 1, she had opened her Common App, added favorite colleges, learned what to do when uploading an essay, found out how to feature her activities and reported her great AP scores. I told her, "You're ahead of your siblings and your friends." She is, indeed, pumped.
√ A green check: Book an unCommon meeting!
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