The college process continues…

By College Counseling

The big calamities of the pandemic make the mini-tragedies related to the college process seem really minimal.

But for parents of college bound students, the crisis continues.

The college process is stressful enough without having to deal with so many unknowns.

We have been immersed in college counseling for the last few years and seemingly did so at the right time to help our confused clients.

Even our well-educated Connecticut clientele are perplexed regarding how the pandemic has effected college admissions.

Here are some questions that are being asked during our college counseling sessions:

  1. Will getting admitted to college be harder due to so many students took gap years?

There is no definitive answer but here’s my best guess:

It will be harder to gain admission to elite colleges but it will be easier to gain admission to colleges that are not in that highly desirable category.

Here’s the reason: some/many of the top tier colleges allowed students to take gap years.  Most colleges one notch down in the rankings did not.

2. Shall I take the SAT (or ACT)?

If you are from Connecticut, the test-optional portion of college admissions is half-true.  It truly is optional for schools that are not evaluating the SAT and it is sort of optional otherwise due to Covid but sort of not because test-optional was not really designed for those from affluent areas such as the Connecticut suburbs.

3.  Will my relative lack of activities due to Covid hurt my college admissions chances?

Probably not because this is an across the board problem affecting most all applicants

4. Will my application/essay matter more due to the strange year of pass-fail for grades and/or not having an SAT?

Absolutely.  Once objective factors are not as important, then subjective factors become more important.  Since activities – the main subjective factor – have been affected by Covid, the application/essay becomes the dominant way that applicants will be viewed subjectively.

5. Will not visiting colleges hurt my admissions chances?

Probably not for the same reason related to activities.  This is an issue affecting everyone.  But… showing interest in college still matters.

We are happy to help you sort out the confusing elements of the college process.