Two years ago I explained how I would re-shape the college admissions process if I had some sort of magical power to decide how everything would run. You can read that original post here. I still strongly believe in the basic parameters of what I wrote: a two-cycle system, where everyone is encouraged to apply early to up to—but no more than—three colleges, and then a much later round to fill in the spots that weren’t taken in the earlier round. It would push students and schools to act earlier, but the limit of three would also allow both students and schools to work more efficiently.

Two years of working with student clients has me thinking that maybe I wasn’t being realistic in my timing. Maybe an October 1st deadline, even if you’re only applying to three, is a little too aggressive.

But on top of that, colleges this year did actually make some big changes to the system, and I want to revise my plan taking those into account also.