College Admissions Process Adjusts to the Coronavirus

By Arhon Strauss, Clark Wu, Angela Zhang

This Spring Academy life, including location, pace and expectations, changed drastically. However, as the spring months pass, the Academy plans for summer and fall—critical periods for uppers embarking on the college admissions process. 

Director of College Counseling Betsy Dolan described that, more than anything, colleges across the globe are trying to show compassion and understanding during these uncertain times. “Colleges have been incredibly understanding, and continue to be very understanding, in regard to their applicants' situations and their current student bodies,” Dolan said. 

“They’re adjusting to the change in standardized testing opportunities and to online classes and how the latter has impacted how students are learning,” Dolan said. “They also understand that some students have new familial obligations or financial constraints.”

One chief way colleges are accommodating students' needs is through financial assistance, Dolan specified. “I foresee more families speaking with their colleges and asking for a review based on their current circumstances; I foresee more families asking for aid in the coming school year,” Dolan said. “Colleges have committed to making adjustments and helping families during this difficult time.”

For the upper class, Dolan explained the new expectations, or lack thereof, for standardized testing. “The Academy’s policy has always been for students to take standardized testing in March, April, May, and June of their upper year,” Dolan said. “Those plans have been altered due to this pandemic, and colleges will certainly be understanding of our situation—which schools and students across the nation are also in.”

In some ways, the college application process has already begun to migrate online, Dolan pointed out. For example, many interviews are already conducted over skype or phone call. “Colleges conduct less and less interviews on campuses,” Dolan said. “I don’t foresee that changing much for this application cycle.”

One valuable part of finding the right college, Dolan noted, is visiting the campus. “When you find the "right" college, it can sometimes be hard to articulate; it’s just something you know in your gut,” she said. “These reactions—just feeling an institution could be the right place for you—is an intuitive skill Exonians develop at the Harkness table. So, I do feel that will be a loss for the upper class.

However, colleges have provided many online sources to fill the gap, Dolan described. “I think it's certainly possible to learn about a school without visiting, especially with all of the wonderful resources provided by the colleges,” she said. “Additionally, this is also part of the college process that has been moving online for a while now—there are a number of applicants who have always visited their colleges primarily online, and they are able to discern a lot from virtual tours and other online resources.”

The Academy, in its own right, has also made some adjustments to consider students’ situations in the pandemic. One significant alteration to the curriculum was the new pass/fail policy, announced by Dean of Student Brooks Moriarty.

Some, such as upper Yunseo Choi, feel that pass/fail may be necessary to those who do not have a suitable learning setting at home. “For students who don’t have high speed internet, printers and a good environment at home the classes will be much harder,” she said. “For international students who have to do asynchronous classes it will also be harder to learn. The only way to be fair to those students is if Exeter makes the term pass/fail.” 

On the other hand, two-year upper Hassane Fiteni displayed interest in having graded assignments and a more flexible policy from the Academy. “I think the Academy could move in the direction of many colleges and offer pass/fail as an option. I personally feel I can handle the workload and expectations in my own personal life situation, although I understand the struggles others may have to complete assignments,” he said. “Optional pass/fail could be a healthy medium especially since likely the majority of students have not been impacted as severely and can do work.”

An online spring term unfortunately also indicates that many uppers will lose the opportunity to demonstrate their extracurricular excellence. In light of a recent email announcement from Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo, the Academy cancelled all club “events... turnovers, and virtual competitions,” with the exception of The Exonian for a brief period. Though some activities have resumed, they have taken on a limited form.

School-planned athletic competitions and activities for Varsity and Junior Varsity athletes also could not occur due to remote learning.

“I think the new changes to spring term can present many challenges to the already competitive college process,” upper Hojun Choi said. “Being unable to engage in my extracurricular activities such as mock trial, track and music production is going to be especially challenging.”

A void of campus interactions will further stifle student-teacher relationships, now more difficult to form and maintain given the restraints of the online classroom, particularly for students living in different time zones. 

Upper Matt Chen expressed his concern regarding the quality of teacher recommendations.“It's harder to gauge a student's ability outside of a classroom,” he said. “They have even less of a chance to see who you are as a person, so recommendations would be of lower quality than if we had a regular spring term.”

Uppers will also have to adjust to their limited campus visiting opportunities. To upper Diana Tzintzun, this will certainly hinder her decision-making process when narrowing her college list. “It was definitely something I was looking forward to doing,” she said. “Now I will only be able to see what schools offer on their website. It’s going to be a huge disadvantage for the rising seniors,”

Nationwide cancellations of standardized testing also pains the upper student population. College Board announced the indefinite postponement of the SAT and ACT and moved the Advanced Placement (AP) exams to an online platform. Hojun Choi communicated his concerns for its implications. “A lot of my friends have not taken the SAT yet and their tests getting cancelled has seemed to cause a lot of stress and anxiety,” he said.

As the global situation rapidly changes, the college admissions process will alter in tandem. “An important part of this situation to remember is that applicants, or even the Academy as a whole, are not alone in this process,” Dolan said. “Colleges are trying to accommodate students and high schools across the country, who grapple with the same problems we face. There is an outpouring of support on the college end—I am incredibly hopeful for the admissions cycle to come.”