HERE'S THE RUNDOWN
College application numbers have shifted dramatically.
Selective universities like MIT saw a 62% increase in early applications. However, less competitive institutions have seen major decreases—the SUNY system experienced a 20% drop in applications.
More incoming freshmen deferred enrollment than before.
Nearly 20% of Harvard University incoming freshmen deferred enrollment. The number of gap years taken by incoming University of Pennsylvania students increased by 300%.
Hundreds of schools went test-optional.
The University of California (comprised of nine institutions) are completely test blind.
1685+ colleges have gone test-optional due to the pandemic.
Fewer students are applying for federal aid this year.
As of November 2020, 16% fewer people completed the FAFSA. This means that fewer low-income students are applying to college.
But what about students' voices and stories?
INTRODUCING PROJECT PERSES
Project Perses is an oral history research project focused on the mission of sharing students’ experiences applying to college during the unique 2020-2021 admissions cycle. Our research aims to publicize high school seniors’ stories in an effort to shift the limelight from statistics and numbers to the real people behind the scenes. We seek to capture students’ challenges and responses to these unprecedented changes to better connect higher education leaders, future historians, the general public, and the youth who experienced first-hand the turbulence of the year 2020. At the end of our research, Project Perses will have collected twenty oral histories and published a research report with the major takeaways from the stories we’ve gathered. Check back in a few months to see our final results!
KNOW A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR INTERESTED IN SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCE?
Project Perses relies on people like you to help us build a representative cohort of subjects for our oral histories. To help us, you can fill out the form below, direct seniors you know to our website, or share our graphics on social media.