While many seniors are left wondering if there will be a graduation to cap the finish of their high-school careers, members of the class of 2021 are facing a number of questions approaching their final year of high school.
Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, juniors across the world—and their peers in the following years—will have to reevaluate their college admissions process.
“I’m more nervous about the college admissions process because so many aspects that I have been preparing for throughout my high-school experience are changing, and still could change as the pandemic continues,” junior Sania Khazi said.
Given the uncertainty Khazi noted, many universities and colleges have been utilizing online resources to cater to interested students. With heavy reliance on digital information, students are digging into virtual tours of campuses and webinars with admission directors, but, unable to visit schools physically, many juniors may find themselves with an incomplete picture of the schools they’re interested in.
Virtual college tours, though, aren’t the only change to the admissions process during the pandemic.
The Washington Post noted 1,050 schools have dropped the standardized testing requirement for the 2020-2021 school year. Many colleges and universities are shifting away from grades and test scores in favor of a more holistic approach to the admissions process.
Junior Elena Lowinger likes that many colleges and universities have are foregoing standardized testing requirements.
“I hope that schools continue to waive their standardized testing policy,” Lowinger said. “I think that, in normal circumstances, the college admissions process—when it comes to the SAT/ACT/subject testing—is already extremely unfair for a multitude of reasons, so this outcry to eliminate them feels overdue.”
For students taking AP courses, the CollegeBoard, in place of traditional exams, administered 45-minute, free-response online exams that students took at home earlier this month. Most colleges have reported that they will still award students college credit for passing AP scores, despite the loss of several months’ worth of classes.
Khazi, who is juggling four AP courses, had to make substantial adjustments to her academic routine in order to prepare for AP exams.
“A lot of my classes this year are lecture-based classes, like AP US History and AP Comparative Government and Politics,” Khazi said. “With online school, the entire structure of the class has changed. We’ve all been forced to adjust to it only a month before exams, which I know is definitely rough for both the students and the teachers.”
Many juniors had also planned to participate in selective summer academic and leadership programs, like Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) and North Carolina Governor’s School. These students’ summer plans have been moved online, postponed or just cancelled.
Lowinger had intended to attend RYLA and the American Legion Auxiliary Tar Heel Girls this summer but will likely participate in the programs remotely.
“The various academic/leadership academies and programs that I had managed my way into are almost all planning to be online now,” Lowinger said. “Everything is new not only for us, but also for the administration running these programs.”
With the end of school in just days away, the college application process in the fall is not far off, and many juniors are feeling the pressure.
“I want to have the best application I can possibly have,” Khazi said. “However, now there are so many more choices that could either make or break my application.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly become a major disruption in the lives of millions of students. Given the expansion of online resources, the shift away from standardized testing, and alterations to summer programs, the ongoing crisis will almost certainly have a lasting impact on the college admissions process.
