Promising developments

ports about this year's extreme competition for admission to selective colleges, it's nice to get some good news. Many schools are now admitting significant numbers of waitlisted students.

The elimination of early admission programs at Harvard and Princeton, along with an expansion of financial aid that made a number of elite schools more affordable, made it difficult for admissions officers to predict how many students would accept their offers. Many schools were more conservative with their offers to avoid the possibility of over-enrollment.

Filling in the class from the waitlist can also result in a higher yield for a college since admissions officers can make late offers to students who have made it clear they will attend.

Harvard admitted 110 fewer freshmen this year and is now offering admission to more than 200 students from the waitlist, compared to only 50 last year. Princeton will admit at least 90 additional students, about twice as many as last year. My alma mater, University of Pennsylvania, is also taking 90 students from the waitlist, up from 65 last year. The change is especially dramatic at University of Wisconsin, which last year only took six students and now is offering admission to 800 waitlisted students.

Not all of the highly selective schools are turning to the waitlist. Stanford and University of Virginia are unlikely to admit waitlisted students this year unless a significant number of students who have sent deposits accept a late offer from another school.

There is a domino effect when students are admitted from a waitlist. Space opens up at the school they won't be attending, and students on that school's waitlist may now be admitted. Most offers come by June, but waitlist activity could continue a little longer at some schools this year.

Encouraging news

about standardized tests

Another bright spot on the college admissions front is the announcement that two more selective colleges are going test-optional. Smith College and Wake Forest University will no longer require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores. Bates College found after 20 years of a test-optional policy there was no difference in the performance of students who submitted test scores compared to those who did not.

Every year, more colleges are adopting this policy, which helps a school to attract a more diverse student body. It's also a good way to increase applications, which makes college presidents, donors and alumni happy.

But the majority of schools, including the University of California, still do require standardized tests, so most students will take the SAT and/ or ACT. Since some do better on one test or the other, I usually advise students to try both. Students who struggle with the reading section may prefer the ACT since the test has a science section, which means that the reading counts for one-fourth of the total score, compared to one-third on the SAT.

There is so much anxiety around these tests that I like to make sure my students choose at least one college they really like where they are sure to be admitted regardless of their test scores. Knowing they will have good options even if they never get high scores enables students to go into an exam less stressed and more able to perform to the best of their ability.

Audrey Kahane, MS, MFA, is a private college admissions counselor in West Hills. She can be reached at (818) 704-7545 or audreykahane@earthlink.net.