College Planning In the Time of COVID

By Stephanie Toste

The current health pandemic has upended school in countless ways, and it has made it even that more difficult for high school seniors to plan for an already uncertain future.

For one thing, COVID-19 has changed the way many BHS students have approached the yearly college application process.

One issue many students face is not being able to go and visit a college in person. Since spring of last year, students have been essentially incapable of scheduling tours at colleges that aren’t virtual. While some students may have gotten their tours out of the way before this, it tends to be common that many students do their college tours at the end of junior year, which our current seniors did not end up getting to experience. 

“Well a huge part was that I was not able to go see almost any of my colleges in person so it has been a lot of online visits and online presentations,” says Yann Calderwood, a BHS senior. “I really think that being able to see what you are potentially putting huge amounts of time and money into is something that is really important.” 

That’s not the only problem. Many are nervous about how prepared they will be for college and have noted issues with loss of motivation or difficulties with having to learn virtually.

“Basically, both Corona and being stuck inside made me super nervous about college because I don’t know how my grades would be as I’m a hands on learner,” senior Ashley Laudano says. “I need to be in person to learn something or at least understand it more, but doing online I’m almost teaching myself…”

The school counselors at BHS are also well aware of the unique difficulties and challenges that have arisen during this year’s college application season.

“Communicating has been a challenge,” says Mr. Callan, noting how many students may be missing the information that is provided by the school, seeing as it is now all virtual, “It’s a different experience, but the information is still out there.”

Other counselors have similar comments.

“We were concerned in spring when you were juniors and did a powerpoint to get information out.” Mrs. Montano states, “This helps us as we move forward preparing the juniors for next year, finding new ways to get information out to students.”  This is a perk that some may not have thought about. The pandemic is actively accelerating the progress of communication methods in a number of ways, and here it is seen in terms of staff communicating with students. 

While this is a main aspect of how things have changed, there’s another interesting benefit that’s come up.

“We’ve never had such a large percentage of students apply before November 1,” says Ms. Olszewski, while also noting that students are frustrated that they cannot visit campuses. While this lack of being able to visit campuses does hinder decisions and planning, students are now spending most of their college planning from behind the computer researching. This is a slower way of obtaining information, but there’s no more extra time lost like there is in the transport to a campus. This means that it may even have worked in the students’ favor by giving them more time for their applications.

“We were surprised at how well prepared the seniors were,” Montano said.

So have the counselors been able to put more or less focus on helping seniors through this process during this time?

“It’s quieter down here so we can focus on [college planning] more,” Mr. Callan answers, “This is one of the parts of the job we enjoy the most,” Indeed, the counselors were very enthusiastic while the topic was being discussed.

So has COVID impacted the plans students have made for college apart from college tours?

“We haven’t noticed a big difference as to where students are applying. However, it is important that students add a COVID safety school as a backup,” says Mrs. Harkins. She suggested having a school in mind that may be closer to home or less expensive because the experience may be different next year due to COVID. Having this backup allows a student to stay in a more safe and comfortable environment even though it means potentially putting off going to a university that the student would rather go to, she said.

“What we’re doing right now at the high school with the hybrid model is what’s happening on campuses,” she says. This means that the transition from high school to college will be less of a grand step for seniors, since the scheduling will be similar. Out of everything that’s happened this year, that’s one thing to look forward to.

So how would the counselors feel if they were in the place that our seniors are right now?

“I would probably try to push through,” says Mr. Callan, “Though many schools this fall let students defer admission, but we are seeing less schools offering that option. An additional benefit is that second or third tier schools may be less challenging to get into due to a potential decrease in applicants.”

Mrs. Montano has a different idea of how it would be for her, “My parents would not have allowed me to go, so I would’ve deferred or taken classes online.” 

Mrs. Olszewski has a bit of a closer view on the whole situation, “I have a niece who’s a freshman at UCONN, and she hasn’t attended a single class in person. I wouldn’t have lived on campus.”

Mrs. Harkins has a similar view, “I would’ve had high hopes and then come home. If you don’t initially connect with your roommate you’re kind of stuck, and the opportunities to get to know people are less. The current college freshmen aren’t getting the experience they hoped for.”

Many colleges have chosen to waive the requirement for standardized tests, but for the students who still guard the value of sending in their scores it has been a difficult to navigate such an unprecedented situation.

Despite the challenges from the pandemic, the counselors also had some other advice for seniors.

The virtual college visits are open to juniors and seniors and it is a great way to get in touch with colleges you’re interested in. Even if you can’t make it, the representative will reach out to you, as Mrs. Montano explained to me. 

It is important to have safety schools and financial safety to boot, especially in the present time. Things are looking up, but we never know what the future holds.

Keep checking your email for scholarship lists. They are updated frequently and applying to scholarships can only help you.

Editor's Note: Stephanie Toste is also a BHS senior and knows first hand the challenges and stress of college applications.