Even after COVID-19 caused some hiccups during the first semester and the application process for the senior class, the college counseling team has been working hard. As the school year has progressed, more information regarding the college process has emerged for the college counselors to navigate.

Head of College Counselling Mrs. Anna Wright summarizes the number of applications the seniors sent out over the course of the first semester.

“We have some students who apply to one [school], and they’re done. This year, I think there was a lot of anxiety about what the process would look like because so many factors changed. So we definitely had some students who applied to more than they maybe would have. On average, I would say, our students each applied to around 8-10 [schools],” said Mrs. Wright.

Mrs. Wright described the impact of COVID-19 on this year’s application season now that decisions have been rolling in and more statistics have been released. 

“Nationally, there was about a 30% increase in applications. I think that a lot of that had to do with the removal of testing requirements. This led to a lot more students applying to more schools. I think one because they didn’t know, but two also because the testing wasn’t standing in their way. My favorite statistic is MIT had a 62% increase in applications. So did it impact our students? Sure, it impacted our students and every other student in the country.”

At this point in the second semester, stress levels are fluctuating among the senior class. Although the applications themselves have been completed, the process is not quite over. Some students know where they are going to college, but some are still waiting on decisions. 

“I think there’s still a lot of uncertainty,” Mrs. Wright said. “We still have a lot of decisions coming out in March and April. I think if you talk to our seniors, I think they’re tired. I think the work is done and that’s a relief, but sometimes waiting is harder, so we’re trying to help them manage that stress and keep them positive and support them in any way we can.”

Although there is still additional work to do with the seniors, their process is starting to slow down in the final months of the second semester. College counseling has recently begun their work with the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to discuss plans for the future.

Mrs. Wright describes second semester as “the time of year where we get to think about the other classes. We’ve met with all the 10th graders, and we’re assigning them college counselors. We’re meeting next week with all the 9th graders, and we’re also trying to help our juniors really dig into this process and get to know them. This is the time of year where we have pretty consistent meetings with the three different grade levels and are trying to make sure that everybody feels like they have our time and attention.”