(Updated 5/23/2020)
Getting into and attending college in California doesn’t look the same as it did about….8 minutes ago.
California has three public college/university systems: The University of California, with nine undergraduate campuses; the California State University system, with 23 undergraduate campuses, and the 115-campus California Community College system.
Two of the three dropped big news within the last 24 hours.
The CSU system, with over a half million students statewide, announced that it will cancel most in-person classes and go online for the fall of 2020. The LA Times report is here. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Diego State University, Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State are among the most popular of the system.
Last week, the UC Board of Regents accepted system President Janet Napolitano’s recommendation that the UC system continue to make the SAT and ACT optional for applicants beyond the Class of 2021 (which the system has already announced it will do) for one additional admission cycle (meaning current 10th graders), and then completely eliminate the tests for the two classes following that (meaning current 8th and 9th graders). Following this period, the UC Regents requested that the system move to develop its own entrance exam.
The UC system is the largest and most widely respected among selective colleges in the United States, and the polices the UC implements have wide repercussions in the college admissions world. So colleges across the country have been watching to see what the UC system does. Expect more colleges around the country to make the decision to eliminate testing requirements over the course of the next year or so.
One additional change for students who will apply to college this fall, which may stay in place for future years. The Common Application, which is the online application platform accepted by over 900 colleges, will ask an optional essay question this year, giving students the opportunity to share their COVID-19 experience, and how the disruption in school and in their home life impacted them. The question, again, will be optional, and the question will have a limit of a maximum of 250 words. More on the question from Common App directly, here.
We appreciate the opportunity to keep you updated in the fast-changing world of college admission. Now more than ever, it’s important for you to have accurate information to help your son or daughter search for colleges that are the best fit for them, and then present themselves in their best light in their applications. If you need some personalized help with that, please feel free to get in touch.
Additionally, we invite you to watch our livestream series every Thursday through July 9th, where we’ll bring you live interviews with college admission experts. You can watch live each Thursday at 5:30 pacific, 8:30 eastern, on our Facebook page.