It's anyone's guess just "how" diverse colleges will be in 2024-25. My gut feeling is that admissions officers will come up with creative ways to continue to recruit underrepresented minorities and ethnicities, and things won't look that much different.

How will they do this, without getting sued?

My best guess is by using test-optional policies to admit under-resourced students who don't have the ability to hire tutoring. This way, a student with superior scores but who isn't economically challenged can't claim that students with lower scores took his spot and that violates rules, regulations, the Constitution and scripture.

My next guess is that, if a student is not low income or under-resourced, they will not benefit from test-optional the way things worked last year and in previous admissions cycles. Again, this is a guess but it stands to reason.

This doesn't change any of the advice I have given my 1:1 clients for years: get your SAT or ACT as high as humanly possible, then...

Last week the viewership of Fox 5 New York had their lives enriched by two, not one appearances by Yours Truly regarding the Supreme Court rulings on 1. affirmative action in college admissions and 2. President Biden's loan forgiveness program.

(Lockwood would not comment on a rumored talk show deal being in the works.)

Hardy har har.  Enough comedy bits. Here's the short version of the advice I tried to impart last week on the air.   

Re:  affirmative action and diversity in college

 • According to researcher and author Richard Kahlenberg, 71% of Black, Latino and Native American students at Harvard … come from college-educated homes with incomes above the national median.  Assuming this is basically true, are these applicants the ones we should boost? Or does this argument miss a point that I don't see. (I'm genuinely asking, reply to this email if you'd like.)

 • Diversity is not dead.  Colleges still...

Tutoring | Appeal Your Financial Aid | Applications Bootcamp

Have you seen how ridiculously hard it is to get into college today?

Harvard reportedly admitted 3.4% of its applicants.  Penn:  6%.  Cornell:  9%.  Northeastern, 6.7%

Yes, Northeastern.  I admit that I, despite 20+ years of college advisor experience, have a hard time swallowing that one.  Back in the day when I was a high school senior, Northeastern was where kids went who couldn't otherwise get into college. 

I know how snobby that sounds, but in 1986 the admit rate was NINETY-FREAKING PERCENT.

Stats and history aside, what does all of this mean if you have an 11th grader (Class of 2024) kiddo?

It means you better be on your game.  Not only in terms of your application and essays, but more important, your college list.

Do not fall prey to the impulse to apply only to Rear Window Sticker Colleges, even if they are highly ranked, feature top football...

I wrote about this before but it's worth repeating:  61% of high school seniors surveyed recently admitted to lying on their college applications.

Lies about race and ethnicity, extracurricular activities, internships, made up stuff on their essays, you name it.

As a non-statistician, I don't know how accurate the study was, but I was comforted a bit by another finding: 

30% of the liars were caught.  Consequences included having their acceptances rescinded.

Putting aside my misgivings about the numbers in the survey, my main takeaway was this:

 Now you know your competition!

It's not just celebrities, actors and ultra rich families who fabricate college applications.  Apparently, there's a ton of "normies" who will say or do anything to get an edge over their competition.

Or, more accurately, what they THINK is an edge over their competition.

Getting into college is partially about grades, SATs or ACTs and other academic factors.  But it's also about...

College advisor Andy Lockwood gives his thoughts on what classes kids should take to give themselves the best shot at getting into the colleges they're dreaming of.

What 11th graders, 10th graders and younger should do re: extracurricular activities, prepping for the SAT or ACT, college fairs, more!

Resource mentioned for appealing financial aid: https://www.lockwoodcollegeprep.com/appeals

Summer Bootcamp

When I interview students for my private 1:1 college advisory program, I ask them which two-three extracurricular activities take up most of their time.

Frequently, the mom interjects (Red Flag Alert!) and launches into a recitation of 5-7 items, which typically include, at the top of the list, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society and sometimes another society.

Do you know how hard it is for a guy like me not to smirk at that?  Probably not, so...

Here's a clue:  when my daughter Lizzie was inducted into the National Honor Society a few years back, I not-so-silently took a quick headcount of the auditorium.

Then I turned to her, and said "Congratulations for making it into the top 70% of your high school!"  

Now THAT's good parenting.

But she got the point and agreed:  honor societies are participation trophies, designed to make everyone feel "included", and I guess, motivated.  Although I don't understand how motivated or...

More college admissions tips and info at LockwoodCollegePrep.com | [email protected] | 516-882-5464
***Our 2023 College Predictions: www.LockwoodCollegePrep.com/replay

In this Episode:

College Financial Federal Student Aid. The day before the FAFSA's release, college advisors Pearl and Andy Lockwood field an hour's worth of questions about the FAFSA, CSS Profile, financial aid, merit aid, and more in this live, unscripted video.

  ABOUT LOCKWOOD COLLEGE PLANNING

==================================

Award-winning college consultants Andy and Pearl Lockwood are leading experts at getting students into their dream school, college or university, at discount tuition prices. That includes financial aid, college applications & admissions, scholarships, merit scholarships, merit aid, FAFSA, Ivy League, the business of college, and well, you get the idea. Andy coaches college-bound teens in choosing majors & careers, planning into a college list, then strategizing how to maximize chances of admission. He also helps families eligible for financial aid or scholarships, and negotiates with colleges for more money. He's the author of...

In this episode:

How our child savings accounts penalized on the FAFSA for Covid Widows and Survivors? College advisor Andy Lockwood recently gave a seminar for widows and survivors of spouses who passed away from Covid. This video summarizes some of the questions he received on how to treat life insurance proceeds sent to the child, how FAFSA treats them and strategies to legally "shelter" those proceeds from the FAFSA and CSS Profile

 ABOUT LOCKWOOD COLLEGE PLANNING

==================================

Award-winning college consultants Andy and Pearl Lockwood are leading experts at getting students into their dream school, college or university, at discount tuition prices. That includes financial aid, college applications & admissions, scholarships, merit scholarships, merit aid, FAFSA, Ivy League, the business of college, and well, you get the idea. Andy coaches college-bound teens in choosing majors & careers, planning into a college list, then strategizing how...