Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cheetos and How to Apply to College During a Pandemic
This is what I could count on for sure during my lockdown experience with my husband and two daughters: chocolate chip cookies and Cheetos. In between 3rd grade and Pre-K learning at home, Cheetos and chocolate chip cookies were always at the ready. Did you finish your 3rd grade Zoom, Big Sister? Here’s some Cheetos. Pre-K teacher’s Youtube video watched, Little Sister? Have a cookie. And one for me because I think I have to facilitate creating a Bioicube (what’s that?) Day by day we got through it and arrived on the other side of “learning at home” with all the assignments (including the Bioicube) turned in, textbooks and library books returned.
Students and parents, perhaps this is how you are feeling as you anticipate applying to colleges in the midst or aftermath of the Covid-19 experience? Your ACT testing date was cancelled. What will Fall of senior year look like? Your last semester’s grades don’t quite represent your usual academic success. Well, ask Big Sister and Little Sister and they will tell you one thing that Mom says a lot is “Energy is best spent on what we can control, not on what we can’t control.” (Olaf even said it in Frozen 2 or “Still Frozen?” as we say in our house.)
So, here we go. Here is what I know for sure about this upcoming admissions cycle:
You, the student, have ultimate control over your application. This means you have an opportunity to show who you are as a person and a student through your list of extracurricular activities, work and volunteer experiences, honors and awards you have received, and even independent projects that you are especially proud of. Your transcript will show the facts and figures. Use the essay as a canvas to paint the landscape of you. I’ll help you Bob Ross it right up!
You have control over establishing a relationship with the universities you are applying to. They will want to see you engaging with them and showing interest. Some ways to do this are: reach out to your local admissions representative via e-mail and let them know you are interested, join groups on social media specifically for prospective students for that university, attend virtual tours and Zoom session hosted by universities.. Make sure to check your e-mail frequently to open and respond to the e-mails you receive. Some schools even track this and will use this as a part of their admissions decision process. Together, you and I can figure out which schools on your list do this so you can put your best foot forward. Bring on the Cheetos!
Ask your teachers, coaches and counselors for letters of recommendation early! You totally have control over this. The fall semester of 2020 will probably be a chaotic, so give your recommenders plenty of time to give you the stellar recommendation that you deserve. (By early, I mean early September especially if you have an Early Decision or Early Action November 1 deadline.) Then follow up with a hand written note of thanks and possibly a Starbucks gift card and boom, you have completed your first Adulting 101 assignment!
Be assured that every student who is applying this admissions cycle had a wonky Spring 2020 semester. I have sat in on Zoom panel discussions with admissions directors from colleges all over the country who assured my colleagues and me that they understand that the normal course of students’ academic and personal lives have been extensively disrupted. Admissions committees are prepared to see transcripts that look different than in years past and the absence of at least a semester’s worth of activities, clubs and sports. Let’s talk about how life changed for you and your family during this time. Were you helping manage the household while your parents were working from home? Did you become a teacher and tech manager for your younger siblings? Many universities are allowing students to report about their lockdown experiences and want to hear about how life was for you during lockdown. I’ll help you do this.
Finally and most importantly, how you choose to see your admissions experience will greatly influence your stress level. See this time as an opportunity to illuminate your academic career and unique personhood. An admissions director stated recently that in their examination of prospective students, they are looking for a reason to admit not a reason to deny admission. Knowing this, especially this admissions season, helps me sleep at night.
I’ll bring the chocolate chip cookies and Cheetos and we can have a 10 minute gripe session about how the pandemic altered life as we knew it. Then we will use our energy on what we know for sure will move you forward in your admissions journey. Because a wise animated talking snowman once said, “We’re calling this controlling what we can, when things feel out of control.” Thanks, Olaf.