What Happened to Starting College on a Main Campus in the Fall?

The traditional on-campus freshman start in September seems to be going the way of the slide rule and cursive writing, at least for some students. More and more colleges are sending students to satellite campuses, summer start, spring start, and international programs, staggering start times across dates and locations to enroll as many students as possible while still having enough room in classes and in student housing.

It’s the best thing EVER when you are admitted to your Early Decision school. You are done with applications (except in some cases) and ready to attend your dream school next year. Similarly, Early Action results present you with admissions decisions before the regular decision pool of applicants so that you can begin to breathe a bit easier and start narrowing your focus. But if you are deferred or denied, you have some decisions to make.

What should high school students do in the summer? What if I need a break this summer? What if I need to work or take care of family members this summer? Should I pay for a pre-college summer program? Does it matter that the school offering the program is “elite?” How do I demonstrate my interest/experience in a particular academic subject?

2025 brings us big changes in the admissions world as well as exciting updates at CTK College Coach. Catch up on all the news: 

• Michigan and USC (Marshall) offering early decision options

• Virginia Tech and UNC Chapel Hill changing their deadlines/offer timelines, 

• An update on all the colleges now requiring test scores for 2025 (class of 2026), and

• A new video introduction option (Dialogues) from select colleges like Vanderbilt and Northwestern

Learn the difference between the various college application deadlines and what the benefits are for each type.

While under-resourced students tend to undermatch– applying to less selective colleges and fewer of them than they could likely gain admission to– well-resourced kids often overmatch, applying to colleges more selective than the ones they are necessarily qualified for and to too many of them. I can’t count the number of times my under-resourced students plan to apply to only one or two colleges (the national average in 2021-2022 was approximately six colleges) when they should be aiming higher and more broadly.