by Brett E. Kennedy, Managing Director
With most Americans staying at home because of the Coronavirus and the timeline on reopening American life uncertain, students are already seeing changes to how things operate in the college admissions process. First, the reality of mandatory shelter-in-place orders has led to the cancellation of several national testing dates for the ACT and SAT. Normally, many juniors and some seniors would be taking these tests to prepare for college. On April 16th, the SAT and the ACT shared that they would be developing digital versions of the tests that students could take remotely in the Fall if the shelter-in-place orders remain.
Like the SAT and ACT, the Advanced Placement program has had to adjust as well. AP examinations will be given online and at homes over a two week period. The new AP examinations are different and now shorter. Multiple choice questions have fallen away. This new AP examination is all writing questions but most colleges will still honor the AP scores and give college credit based on the score made.
From standardized testing to how AP exams are given, the admissions system has had to adjust to the new realities. From where I sit, the biggest uncertainty is whether colleges will be open to anything but online learning in the Fall term. When I consider my 25 years working in colleges and universities both big and small, social distancing seems something that is alien to the way higher education is currently set up. I do not envy the difficult choices of college presidents in the months ahead where they have to balance public health against challenging financial questions.