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Confused about college? It's OK; you're not alone. While Classof 2022 still has a year to go before leaving high school, college stressis alreadybuilding
GRACE NUGENT online co-editor in chief A few days ago I was recommended an episode of the podcast This American Life by my amazing and thoughtful math teacher, Mr. Pass. The episode was titled ?The campus tour has been canceled,? depicting a struggle that both juniors and seniors are having with college admissions during the pandemic. While Mr. Pass may have been unaware of the stress I was feeling, the podcast resonated with me. The junior class still has time before applications are due to enroll in the fall semester of college next year, but stress is already building. The tours have been canceled and acceptance rates, admission numbers and criteria for getting in have all shifted due to the pandemic that we are currently facing. According to an NBC article, "Covid is making it harder to get into a top college," the 2020 admissions cycle saw an uptick in applications yet fewer acceptances. In fact, Harvard had a 57% increase in applications, making it one of the most competitive years in the school?s history. This change renders the graduating classes of 2021, 2022 and perhaps even 2023 clueless about what universities are looking for. I?ve had my fair share of struggles with English homework, psychology notes,
A period of cluttered desks, filled with everything from college letters to huge SAT prep books to homework, is a constant for juniors. With the end of the 2020-2021 school year fast approaching, the realities of the next few years are starting to loom. Higher volumes of college applications and decreased availability for campusvisits affected the class of 2021, and now the class of 2022 is still feeling a similar worry surroundingnavigatingapplications. Photo by Alysa Spiro. remembering dates in APUSH, but most of my caffeine-fueled midnight homework freak-outs are due to the fact that I feel totally and utterly lost about what is to come after my senior year of high school. This is not in any way trying to say that my teachers have not prepared me adequately for the coursework that is awaiting me and my fellow classmates. But when it comes to actually applying to the kind of schools I am interested in, I don?t know where to begin. Courtesy of COVID-19, this year is different, and not just because most schools have waived SAT and ACT requirements. There are not as many in-person college visits, and kids either don?t have time or are unable to risk health and safety to f ly to other states and admire campuses on tours. Junior year has been tough, especially with the constraints of limited human interaction and being confined to my room all day. I have four AP classes, a pre-AP math class (thanks again Mr. Pass for actually helping me somewhat like math), an extra science class, journalism and, of course, extracurriculars. It?s hard. I?m up
?Most of my caffeine-fueled midnight homework freak-outsare due to the fact that I feel totally and utterly lost about what is to come after my senior year of high school."
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late every night trying not to procrastinate and finish my homework along with worrying about things that many teenagers do, such as my public persona or who I am going to hang out with over the weekend. Add in an ACT prep course and numerous emails from college admissions offices in my inbox, and you have a fully stressed-out high schooler who is confused about what?s to come beyond the physical and virtual walls of McCallum. Just by taking a preliminary glance at what exactly I need for college applications, my brain starts turning gears and panic mounts about applications, visits and rejection letters. Some may argue that juniors have lots of time to figure out where they want to apply, but the reality of the pandemic has made the future so much more daunting. Not to mention the many college emails and letters that, while have menial meaning, still show up in inboxes and mailboxes tearing down or building up hope. We students just need more support with college applications, especially in this new and challenging time, and that?s OK. Colleges (and their frustrating websites), counselors, teachers and parents all need to be more patient with us than they would be under normal circumstances. We also need to be patient with ourselves, too, and work on taking a breath and relaxing. Life is so different right now, and while we are on a time limit, we are all entitled to cutting ourselves some slack every now and then and accepting that we have no idea what we are doing or what the future holds.
The Princeton Reviews Complete Book of Colleges has statistics and insight into admissions rates and tuition costs.
Written by Jeffrey Selingo, this New York Times notable book of 2020, takes a look inside the admissions office.
Similar to the Princeton Review, the Fiske Guide to Colleges is everything you need to know about finding the right school.
28 may 2021