Dr. P. Summarizes 2022 and Forecasts 2023 in Education

As 2022 winds down, it’s a great time to take stock of the past year and look to what’s up ahead in the world of education – especially if you’re the parent of a high school student.  As an online SAT and ACT tutor, college essay coach and college counselor, and part-time college professor, here’s my take on what happened, what’s going (or likely) to happen, and how you should pivot in these three worlds in 2023 to stay ahead of the curve.

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SAT Tutor and ACT Tutor’s Take On Standardized Testing

2022’s Big News. The year opened with a bang (at least for those of us in the test prep world).  The College Board announced in late January that the SAT would not only be abbreviated from more than three hours to two starting in 2023 (internationally) and 2024 (United States), but the test would also be administered digitally.  No more pencils and paper!

My Predictions and Tips for 2023.  It’s likely that the first administration of the new SAT will experience some hiccups, so as an online SAT tutor, I’m counseling my international clients to sit out the March 2023 SAT and wait for May and June. 

It’s also likely that the ACT will need to respond to the College Board’s changes to retain market share.  (What kid would want to sit for a 3.5-hour exam when they could take a two-hour test instead?)  If you live in the U.S. and believe that the ACT is a better fit for you (and you can watch this video to figure out which type of student should take the SAT and which the ACT), you should probably take the ACT in 2023 while the two tests are still comparable.  (Read the last paragraph of the next section for more on that.*)

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College Counselor and College Essay Coach’s Review of Admissions and The Essay

2022’s Big News.  For some years now, as a college counselor I’ve watched as colleges and universities have been filling a larger and larger percentage of their freshmen classes through early action or early decision applications.  Since COVID, this trend has accelerated.  Boston University and University of Pennsylvania enrolled one-half of its Class of 2026 (this fall’s first years) early, while Barnard and Tulane filled 62% and 66% of those seats early (source: Jeff Selingo, “Next” email newsletter, July 8, 2022.)  The early admit rates for such schools are often three to five times higher than their admit rates for those who apply in January.

Source: Jeff Selingo, “Next” Newsletter, November 5, 2022

My Predictions and Tips for 2023.  As a college counselor, I don’t see the trend toward early preference dying down anytime soon.  There’s too much reward for the colleges, whose yield rates increase as they lock early decision applicants into committing.  (Higher yield rates mean lower numbers and more prestige in the notorious – but increasingly dubious – U.S. News and World Report annual rankings of colleges.)  Therefore, I advise all of my juniors and seniors to apply to college early if they have their hearts set on one – but only if they don’t need to compare financial aid offers from multiple schools.  (Such students can still apply early action, which doesn’t require a binding commitment.)

My second prediction and tip for 2023 college admissions involves 2020’s lingering shakeup of the world of standardized testing.  When many colleges went “test-optional” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the essay became a more prominent part of the student’s overall application.  (I wrote about that trend earlier this fall here, but my blog has lots of pieces on testing and the essay which you can check out here.)  Some students who might have taken the SAT in its paper form might be scared off by the transition to digital.  As a college counselor, I don’t recommend foregoing taking any standardized admissions test, but international (in 2023) and domestic (in 2024) students who do will likewise want to spend more time crafting a superlative essay to offset the absence of a test score.

My final prediction / tip involves this year’s bombshell news in the world of standardized testing (see above*), and actually extends beyond 2023.  Once students who take the SAT in 2024 (international students, in 2023) start applying to college, I can’t imagine how colleges will be able to reliably compare them with students who will have taken a much longer ACT.  Either the ACT will also abbreviate its test or college admissions may start to make distinctions between test takers who sat for the much shorter digital SAT and the much longer ACT.  It’s possible even more variability will enter the test-optional/test-blind/test-required landscape of present college admissions (!).

College Professor’s Opinion on Life at College

2022’s Big News.  Not surprisingly, high school students who learned advanced algebra and writing during the pandemic are now struggling in their college math and humanities courses.  In addition to my roles as Crimson Coaching’s SAT tutor and college essay coach, I teach U.S. History as an adjunct professor at Bronx Community College (part of the City University of New York).  My students there also seem less able to read critically and write analytically than they did in the Before Times.  Moreover, as a college essay coach, I saw more students write more about their own or friends’ mental health challenges this year than did my students in any year since I began Crimson Coaching in 2014.

My Predictions and Tips for 2023.  The intersection of academic and psycho-emotional challenges that adolescents faced during lockdown will follow them to college, making learning and thriving more challenging.  Parents, college faculty, and administrators alike should be on the lookout for signs of academic and psychological distress – and prepared that a college degree may extend beyond four or even the six years that’s deemed “successful” as students take extra time in remediation classes and, perhaps, time off to regroup emotionally.

While I hope I’m wrong about many of my predictions (especially the last), arming yourself with knowledge and having a plan is an excellent way to face the uncertain times ahead.

Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season, and a fruitful and productive 2023~