Admissions

Colleges trumpet fall plans in recent weeks because they feel they need to share concrete information with prospective students. Good vaccine news helps, too.

Through Feb. 15, only 44 percent of people using the Common Application submitted SAT or ACT scores. Last year's total was 77 percent.

And wipe the slate of all the bad practices, particularly those that favor wealthy students, what would you change? Recommendation letters? Campus tours? The funding system? Later deadlines? These and other ideas were recommended by experts.

White and Asian students are more likely to go to college if their friends do, study finds.

Colleges need to get ready for students with F’s on their transcript, writes Richard Fulton.

While the questions are optional, they are part of an effort to make the application inclusive.

The testing organization says the switch in admissions policies was "abrupt rather than deliberate" but that the policies are here to stay.