Canh Oxelson, executive director of college counseling at the Horace Mann School in New York, says: “This is as much uncertainty as we’ve ever seen. Affirmative action, the FAFSA debacle, test-optionality — it has shown itself in this one particular year. Colleges want certainty, and they are getting more. Families want certainty and they are getting less.”
In 2024, the only applicants who could be certain of an advantage were those whose parents had taken the wise precaution of being rich.
