The Campus Tour Has Been Cancelled

How the pandemic has thrown college admissions process into a kind of slow-motion chaos. One of the biggest changes: most colleges have stopped requiring the SAT. For decades, there’s been a debate over whether schools should drop the test. What’s it mean that it finally happened? Prologue: Host Ira Glass takes us on a tour of the various ways the pandemic has affected going to college this year. (9 minutes) Act One: Reporter Paul Tough and Host Ira Glass look at the biggest change in admissions this year: colleges no longer requiring the SATs. Paul speaks to a student whose SAT score determined her future. Ira speaks to admissions officers around the country about what no SATs will mean for them and the future of college admissions. (27 minutes) Paul Tough's most recent book is The Inequality Machine: How College Divides Us. A World Without The Need For Number Two Pencils: Paul Tough turns to UT Austin to see what happens if you admit students with great grades, who didn’t perform well on the SAT, into your college. We follow the story of one student, Ivonne, and her progress at UT. (20 minutes)