Ten years ago, a student’s application to a college rested largely on the strength of their academic record and the personal recommendation of a guidance counselor. Fast forward to today, there are now many different things that are needed to get accepted into the college you are applying to. What was once a relatively straightforward process has become more stressful and something that reflects your background in school as a whole.
One of the biggest differences between submitting an application today instead of back then was the actual final submission part. Alumni Elizabeth Goudie who graduated from Grosse Pointe South in 1998 described how she submitted her application for different colleges.
“I filled out a paper application and it was mailed in with a check,” Goudie said. “We didn’t email them or submit them through the college’s website.”
On the other hand, Jolina Huchingson ‘25 submitted her application through the Common App provided by the school and explained some of her thoughts during the process of applying.
“College admissions have been good. I got my most important application done in early October,” Hutchinson shared. “It was not at all expected that there’s so much I had no idea about.”
As Huchingson discussed applying to college was a challenging and unknown process for her, counselor Nicholas Bernbeck elaborated on the many different things that go into applying for college now versus back then.
“There’s more things you have to put in the application compared to 10 years ago,” Bernbeck explained. “You’re putting in an activities list and multiple essays, and then on top of that, each school has their own essay you have to submit.”
With that, there’s also standardized tests (like the SAT and ACT) that students have to take and include for some schools they are applying to since not every school is test-optional. Bernbeck explains this as well as explaining how recently after the hit of covid, more and more schools started making their schools test-optional.
“Before, just about every school wanted to see some test score of some kind, but now with a lot of schools you don’t have to send that test score,” Bernbeck said. “If you’re not sending that test score, that means the schools are looking at everything else within that application more in detail. With that the essay takes on bigger strength.”
Now that schools are looking at everything else in your application besides your standardized test score, if a student chooses not to submit a test score, it becomes more difficult since students would have to include more in their application. Hutchinson believes that standardized test scores play a larger role when submitting an application because there is more pressure to perform better, but extracurricular activities can reveal more on your character.
“I think my extracurriculars form a large part of my application,” Hutchinson stated. “Along with my essays they show my personality and interests.”
As with back then, the same system was set in place for Goudie when she applied. It was also test-optional with the SAT but the ACT was required. The tests also would not be given through the school.
“I remember some schools only required the ACT and the SAT was optional,” Goudie explained. “If you wanted to take either test it was early on Saturday morning, and not during school.”
Even though a couple years ago it was a test option and even now it is a test option, Bernbeck predicts that in the future some colleges will stay test-optional and the whole other competition will change this.
“Some of the more competitive schools are going to start bringing tests and to the equation just because of how many,” Bernbeck elaborated. “Some schools are going to remain test optional just depending on how competitive the school is.”
