|

New Updates in College Admissions for the 2019-20 School Year

ByCheree Liebowitz
Whether you’ve gone through the college admissions process before with older children or are navigating this complexity for the first time, it’s important to know that every year some things change.
Here are some recent changes:
  • University of Florida is now accepting the Common Application; last year it was only accepting the Coalition App. UF anticipates a big increase in applications with the acceptance of the Common App.  As a result, UF’s notification date will move back from early February to the last Friday in February, which is February 28, 2020, this admissions cycle.
  • University of Virginia added an Early Decision option for prospective students. This early application option is a binding option, meaning students must attend the college if accepted under the ED agreement. ED applications are due in early November and most schools will notify of their decision in Mid-December.  Worth considering: among all colleges with early decision, their regular admit rate was 50.7 percent, but the rate for early decision was 62.3 percent.
  • More schools are now test optional, meaning they don’t require SAT or ACT test scores for admissions consideration.  The updated list can be found here.
  • For Florida residents, the Florida Bright Futures scholarships will be harder to get in 2021. Members of the Florida legislature signed Senate Bill 190, which would raise the SAT score requirement for students applying for Bright Futures. The required combined math and reading score on the SAT college entrance exam was raised to 1330, up from 1290, for the top award. Bright Futures scholarships cover tuition and fees at Florida’s public universities for the state’s highest-achieving students.
  • For musical theatre students, Paper Mill Playhouse partnered with online arts platform Acceptd and top tier university musical theatre programs to introduce universal criteria for video submissions, known as the Musical Theatre Common Pre-Screen. More information can be found here.
  • The Common App, which opens for previewing in July, will feature a refreshed look and some new tools.  The 2019-20 application officially opens August 1. For what’s new with the Common App click here.
  • A number of non-profit colleges have closed since 2016. Here is an updated list.