The NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counseling) surveyed their member four-year colleges and you might be interested to know what they found.

The responses indicated that the most important factors in admission decisions were grades and high school courses. According to their recent survey, 77 percent of colleges listed the student’s grades in college prep courses (AP and Honors) as considerably important. High school grades in all courses were considered important by 74 percent of colleges, and the strength of the high school curriculum by 64 percent of colleges surveyed.

Interestingly, the essay had considerable importance by only 19 percent of colleges, with demonstrated interest ranking important by 16 percent of colleges.

What did they say about standardized tests?

Admissions tests and their importance have dropped considerably in the rankings since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; and the subsequent wide-spread adoption of test-optional or test-free admission policies have caused their importance to substantially decline. According to the those surveyed, only 5 percent put considerable importance on those tests, while 25 percent said they placed moderate importance, 39 percent said they had limited importance, and 31 percent said they had no importance. In the past about half placed the scores as considerably important: 2018-46%, 2017-52%, and 2016-54%.

Colleges agree on these factors

Across all four-year schools surveyed, high school grades and strength of high school curriculum are uniformly rated as the most important factors. However, some differences were found between public and private colleges in the level of importance given to the following factors:

• high school grades in college prep courses
• strength of curriculum
• class rank
• positive character attributes
• the essay or writing sample
• the interview
• work
• extracurricular activities
• counselor and teacher recommendations
• student’s interest in attending the institution.

What does this information mean for your student?

If you have a freshman entering high school, their focus should be on their grades and the college level prep courses they take. The days of focusing on test scores, (unless it’s a competitive Ivy league college) are gone. It appears they are finally recognizing students are more than a test score!

As the parent of a college-bound teen, you want to know what colleges and college administrators think about admissions practices. Knowledge is power and you can use it as your student begins to apply to colleges. If you know what the colleges are focusing on and what administrators consider important, your student will have useful information as they apply.