If you’re the mom of a rising senior, you are about to get a lot of conflicting information about what is and is not true for college admissions this year.
Some of it will be old advice that does not apply anymore. Some of it will be panicked posts in Facebook groups. Some of it will be well-meaning but wrong takes from people who applied a decade ago and have not been paying attention since.
I have been paying attention. I just came home from the IECA conference in Baltimore where this was the conversation in every hallway. So I built you a cheat sheet.
This is everything I think a Class of 2027 mom needs to know about what is changing in college admissions right now, in one place, with the receipts. Save it. Share it. Send it to the four other senior moms in your group chat who are still operating on what was true in 2022.
Shift #1: Test-Optional Is Ending at Sixty-Plus Schools (and Counting)
Quick history. In 2020, when COVID shut down testing centers, most colleges went test-optional out of necessity. By 2023, “test-optional” had become a quiet brand position for a lot of schools. Families were told tests do not matter. A lot of kids never sat for one.
That era is over.
Heading into the 2026-27 application cycle (the one your Class of 2027 kid is applying in), more than sixty colleges and university systems have either reinstated testing requirements or are in the process of doing so.
The headliners (testing required or strongly recommended for 2027)
- Every Ivy League school except Columbia. Yale, Harvard, Princeton (returning fall 2027), Penn, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth.
- The entire University of Florida system. UF, FSU, UCF, USF, FIU, and the rest.
- The entire University of Georgia system. UGA, Georgia Tech, and the rest.
- University of Alabama (for any student with a cumulative GPA below 3.0).
- Auburn University.
- Louisiana State University.
- A growing list of public flagships and selective privates expected to announce by August.
The notable holdouts
- Columbia University (permanent test-optional)
- Duke University (test-optional for 2026-27)
Why this is actually happening
Quick context for the moms wondering “wait, weren’t we just told tests don’t matter?” Yes. You were. And in 2021, in a pandemic-disrupted world, that was actually true.
Here is what changed. Grade inflation has gotten worse every year since. More kids have 4.0 GPAs than ever before. A 4.0 used to mean something specific. Now, depending on the high school, it can mean almost nothing. The GPA is losing its signal.
When everyone looks the same on paper, admissions offices need something else to verify academic strength. The SAT and ACT are imperfect, but they are standardized. Same test, same scoring, same year, regardless of which high school. That is why tests are back. Not because admissions officers love tests. Because they have lost trust in the transcript.
Hard pill for the moms who heard “test optional forever” and made a plan around it. But this is where we are.
What this means for your kid
If your rising senior has not taken the ACT or SAT yet, it is time to make a plan. Not a panic. A plan. There is still time to test this summer (SAT June 6, ACT July 11) or in the early fall (ACT September 12, SAT September 13, ACT October 24, SAT October 26). One sitting can change which schools are realistic.
If your kid has tested already and the score is below what they need, retake. The market has moved.
If your kid is still test-optional eligible at the schools on their list, that is fine. But verify each school individually. Do not assume.
This is a moving target. The list is changing month by month. This is exactly the kind of thing I track for the moms in my world so they do not have to.
Shift #2: Early Decision Is Expanding at Schools That Did Not Used to Have It
ED is the binding admissions round. If you apply ED and get in, you have to attend. You withdraw all your other applications. It is the biggest single lever in college admissions because schools love it (it locks in their yield) and applicants get a real bump in acceptance rate.
Until recently, ED was mostly a private-school thing and a handful of selective publics. That is changing.
New for the Class of 2027
- The University of Southern California added a binding ED option for Fall 2027 (November 1, 2026 deadline).
- The University of Michigan added a binding ED option for Fall 2027.
- Several other large publics are reportedly considering adding ED for the 2027-28 cycle and beyond.
What this means for your kid
When schools the size of USC and Michigan add ED, the strategic math for every senior in the country shifts.
If your kid has a clear first-choice school that offers ED, apply. The acceptance rate is meaningfully higher. The decision comes in December. The senior year stress is shorter.
But before you let your kid sign a binding agreement, make sure they can say YES to all three of these:
- This is my first-choice school, full stop. Not “one of my top three.” Their top one.
- The financial piece works. Most ED schools will let you out for documented financial hardship, but the assumption is you are committing financially. Run the net price calculator before you apply.
- They have seen the campus. Not toured it from a brochure. Actually walked it. ED is a four-year commitment.
If any one of those is a “well, kinda,” do not apply ED. Apply EA or Regular Decision. The numbers are not worth a four-year mismatch.
Shift #3: Supplemental Essays Are Disappearing at Some Schools
Application fatigue is real, and admissions offices are starting to notice. A handful of schools have started trimming or eliminating their supplemental essay requirements for the 2026-27 cycle.
Recent changes
- University of Georgia dropped its second supplemental essay for 2027. Personal essay only.
- University of Virginia removed its diversity-themed prompt.
- University of Washington removed its diversity-themed prompt.
- A growing list of mid-tier private colleges have moved to “personal essay only” applications.
What this means for your kid (and this is the counterintuitive part)
Less to write does NOT mean less to think about.
When a school removes supplemental essays, your kid loses an opportunity to differentiate themselves through additional writing. All that’s left is the personal essay, the transcript, the test score (where required), and the activities list.
That means the activities list just got louder. So did the personal essay.
If your kid was planning to use a supplement to talk about a passion that does not show up elsewhere on the application, that strategy doesn’t work at those schools anymore. The work has to happen in the activities section or the personal essay or it doesn’t happen at all.
The Synthesis: Your College List, Personal Statement, and Activities List Just Got More Strategic
If you read all three shifts together, here is what is actually going on.
The college admissions process is getting more strategic, not less. Not harder in absolute terms, but more strategic. The decisions you make about WHICH schools, WHICH essay, and WHICH activities count more than they did three years ago.
Here is what that means in plain English.
The college list itself is doing more work
You cannot pick twelve schools the same way you would have in 2022. Each school now has different testing requirements, different ED policies, and different essay requirements. The list has to be built with all of that information about each school, not a generic “reach, target, safety” formula. This is the work I do one-on-one with families in the Dream Team, and it is the conversation that comes up most in the Collective.
The personal statement is the load-bearing piece of the application
If supplements are being cut, the personal essay is the single best chance your kid has to make admissions officers actually FEEL who they are. Generic personal statements (the obstacle-I-overcame, the championship-game) are not going to cut it. This is exactly why I built the Personal Statement Huddle, which has its next cohort opening in a couple of weeks. Goal: every kid in the Huddle has a finished personal statement before Common App opens August 1.
The activities list is no longer a brain dump
Admissions officers are explicitly trained now to spot resume-padding. Depth beats breadth. Real evidence (the project, the deliverable, the mentor-validated outcome) beats titles. What your kid does this summer matters more than what they “led” during the school year. Pick one or two real things and lean in.
What I Want You to Do This Summer (Three Things, Not Thirty)
1. Build the test plan
If your kid hasn’t taken the ACT or SAT yet, schedule a sitting in July or September. Verify each school on their list individually. Don’t guess.
2. Get the personal statement DONE before August 1
Not “started.” Done. Or at least drafted to the point where the heavy thinking is over and your kid is just polishing.
The Common App opens August 1, and senior year hits hard the second school starts. AP classes, college visits, school activities, supplemental essays at every school on the list. If your kid is still trying to figure out what to write about in September, they will pay for it in the supplemental rounds because they will not have the brain space for both.
This is exactly why I built the Personal Statement Huddle. Four moms, four kids, four weeks, all on Zoom, all over before Common App opens. Next cohort opens in a couple of weeks.
3. Pick one summer thing
Job, internship, project, camp, volunteer role, family business. One real thing your kid invests in. Not seven things on the resume.
That’s it. That’s the summer.
You Don't Have to Track This Alone
This cycle is the most complex it has been in years. There is more to monitor, more strategic decision-making, and more “well, it depends on the school” than there has ever been. You should not be tracking this on your own. Nobody can.
If you want a room of other moms walking through this same season with you (and a counselor watching the cycle changes on your behalf so nothing gets lost), the Parent Collective is open. You ask the question, other moms answer, I show up.
And if your senior needs help on the personal essay specifically, the Personal Statement Huddle (next cohort opens mid-June) is where four moms, four kids, four weeks come together on Zoom to get the essay started right.
Pick what fits. Take what you need. Save this page and send it to four other senior moms. They will thank you.
