Applying to college is not always a walk in the park. Choosing which colleges you’ll apply to, and writing the supplements are part of a decision that could affect your future career, income, relationships, and location. The 2022 high school graduating class is the first class to spend the entire academic year at home due to COVID-19. Because the situation is entirely new, there’s no guidebook or person who’s gone through it before to give us advice on handling this online format. The ongoing global pandemic has made asking questions and spreading information more challenging, adding to the inevitable stress the college application process brings.

As a senior myself, I’ve (finally) finished applying to colleges. The entirety of my winter break was filled with the pressure of writing the best personal statements and beefing up my extracurricular list. It wasn’t the worst experience in the world, but because of the lack of advice and communication between teachers and students, the process was much more confusing and drawn-out than I would’ve liked. 

Requests for transcripts and letters of recommendation went unanswered for weeks, and sometimes months. I toured the colleges through Google Images and scoured the internet for currently enrolled students’ thoughts on their universities. Doing this and looking through the college websites was the extent of my knowledge on possible places I’d be living in for the next four years of my life. Extracurriculars were even harder to come by. Online events were difficult to organize and navigate, and even established school clubs have had to completely restructure their schedules and forms of communication. 

But we can’t pin all the blame on teachers. It’s been a year of readjustments and questions. Guidance counselors have had to deal with an influx of emails and texts from concerned parents and students. They’ve taken responsibility for hundreds of students as they also try to navigate this unfamiliar territory. The easy access to advice students have enjoyed during the school year has become difficult to come by. Teachers have also had to juggle multiple new forms of communication, dividing their attention between emails, apps like Remind, Google Classroom, GroupMe, Zoom, and more. Some of my teachers have even given out their phone numbers as a quicker way to get in contact with them. Even as teachers and counselors make efforts to respond to everything, I’ve been told multiple times that my emails have gotten lost in the flood of other requests and questions from students. It’s become second nature for me to follow up two or three times after sending an initial email.

On top of the communication mishaps, testing has also been a source of stress for students this year. COVID-19 restrictions, including stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines, have prevented many students from taking the SAT or ACT, as well as the SAT II subject tests. I know some people who have taken flights three states over just to find an open testing center. Even with drastic measures like these, the majority of students haven’t had the chance to take these tests. Thankfully, most colleges have chosen to go test-optional, but applying students can’t help but wonder if their lack of test scores will contribute to their acceptance or rejection. 

Gaining access to information about scholarships and financial aid has also been a point of confusion. We usually get this information from specific offices at school, with counselors to visit and make appointments with. However, the pandemic has forced everything to go online, where it’s hard to spread information through platforms people don’t generally use. Rachel Erikson, a college and career counselor at Framingham High School says that applying for financial aid is particularly tricky this year because most financial aid forms base income off of the previous year’s taxes. If a parent lost their job due to COVID-19, it would be difficult to factor that in.

Even when it comes to submitting the finished application, the influx of online applicants from both the United States and abroad has led to website crashes and lags. The UC application was extended for a few more days after it crashed on the deadline date. From the moment seniors begin to think about college applications to the last minute of their submission, there is underlying stress that colors the experience. 

Getting into college has overall been a wholly different process than what everyone is used to. With the abrupt changes, there have been difficulties for students, teachers, and counselors alike. There is a silver lining, though. College is always a little scary, especially as we step out of our comfort zone and move onto the first stage of adulthood. But when you’ve survived senior year in a global pandemic, there’s not much else that could have better taught us to deal with unfamiliar territory. Here’s to looking forward.