Preparing for College Amidst COVID-19

By Nicole Bozick

For as long as I can remember, I’ve spent the weeks leading up to spring break helping my college-bound students prepare for their college visits. It’s a week that’s typically jam-packed with tours, interviews, and long road trips with family visiting prospective college campuses. This year, however, the college admissions landscape paints a much different picture. COVID-19 has thrown colleges a serious curveball, forcing them to temporarily close their doors, shut down study abroad programs, and cancel admitted student weekends. Are you wondering what to do and how to keep track of the ever-changing landscape?

Take a deep breath, and know we are all in this together.

Colleges are reassuring students that while events are cancelled, and we are exploring online ways to connect, admissions decisions continue to be made as normal. Last week, Princeton University reassured their students in a tweet: “Please note: The coronavirus outbreak and its effects have no impact on how we evaluate applicants to the University. Every application will receive our full consideration.”

Turn to virtual visits.

While you won’t be able to smell the food in the cafeteria as you walk past on your campus tour, virtual visits are an excellent plan B. Many colleges offer virtual tours on their websites, are hosting virtual open houses, and even virtual admitted student days with student panels. Even better, check out Campus Reel, which offers over 15,000 real videos, tours, and experiences from 300+ college campuses.

Get your testing in order.

SAT and ACT have been front of mind for many high school students. Keeping student’s safety as a top concern, College Board and the ACT have made changes to upcoming exams. For updated information, visit their websites regularly. If you’ve already registered for the exam, check your email inbox for updates. Here’s the good news: you now have more time for SAT/ACT prep for your exams!

College Board

ACT

Get a jump on your college essays.

With ample time at home, now is the perfect time to start brainstorming what you’d like to write about for your application essays. What are you passionate about? What makes you uniquely you? What comes to mind that you want the admissions committees to know about you that they can’t learn from your extracurricular list? Start brainstorming, and enlist a post-secondary counselor to help you get all your ideas together, organized, and rolling!

This spring break, instead of logging miles walking around college campuses, you will all be working to find ways to creatively log virtual miles exploring your post-secondary options. As you embark on these unprecedented and challenging times, Fusion is here to support you. We offer virtual teaching AND virtual counseling options, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can support you through this journey, and we are always just a phone call (or Zoom call) away!

About the Author

Director of Post-Secondary Services

In her role, Nicole is committed to serving our families in a powerful way with their post-secondary plans. Nicole earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and a Bachelor’s Degree in Media and Communication from Muhlenberg College. Before joining the Fusion team, Nicole worked in Higher Education as Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at her alma mater in Allentown, PA, as well as at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. After moving to Texas, she served as Director of Admissions for a Pre-K -12th grade International Baccalaureate private school where she discovered her passion for working with students at the secondary school level.

You can go to her with questions about all things post-secondary and beyond, including college applications, gap year support, what life after high school is like, and anything else you may think of! Ask her about her love for puppies (beagles, specifically!), chocolate, coffee, and running with her husband and son.

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