Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “The Exquisite Angst of Applying to College in a Deeply Anxious Year,” by Anemona Hartocollis
As a new season for college applications begins, the coronavirus has upended the process, forcing millions of students to learn remotely, canceling college tours and standardized testing dates, and preventing legions of students from participating in sports and other extracurricular activities.
No matter where you are in the college admissions process, this lesson can help you understand the steps for applying — and think about how this year’s disruptions might impact the future.
Warm Up
Are you or is anyone you know applying to college right now? How is it going? Is this article right that “the level of uncertainty and disruption is off the charts”?
Alone or with others, brainstorm a list of all the steps, big and small, a high school student traditionally takes as part of the college application process. Then, go back through that list and put an X through each one that has somehow been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. How many of the items on your list have not been affected? Are there any positives to this disruption, in your view?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, then answer the following questions:
1. What is the Common Application, and why did it add an optional essay this year?
2. Why are many students planning to wait as long as they can to apply this year, and why are low-income and first-generation students especially hesitant? Why might that mean a “severe disruption” to the business of many colleges and universities?
3. Why might some students be applying to even more colleges than normal this year? Why are test-optional schools particularly popular?
4. How are some colleges making up for the lack of test scores in evaluating prospective students? If you are applying now and are missing something that you had hoped to have on your application — whether testing, a sport, an extracurricular activity or anything else — how are you making up for it?
5. How has online outreach made connecting with a college both harder and easier than when visits, interviews and information sessions were done in person?
6. This article features several different applicants and their experiences this year. Which story do you relate to most? Why?
Going Further
Option 1: Have a discussion with an adult or another student about your own college journey.
Where are you in the college admissions process? How stressed about it are you? What questions do you have?
Try one or more of the activities in “Thinking About College: Activities Adults and Teenagers Can Do Together,” a resource which invites students to work with an adult in their lives to make sense of the college process. You can begin with a broad conversation on your hopes for college, read some practical articles from The Times together, or create a to-do list together to manage the next steps.
Alternatively, you can set up an online interview with another student who may have advice or information you can use. For example, if you are a senior, you might reach out to a current student at a college you’re applying to. If you are younger, you might interview a senior you know who is going through the process now. What have they learned so far? What advice do they have?
Option 2: Predict how the coronavirus may change the college application process permanently.
What aspects of the college application process do you think may be permanently changed thanks to this year’s disruptions? Why? For instance, do you think some of the colleges that went test-optional will remain so? Do you think virtual visits and interviews will become much better and more common?
Read the Op-Ed “The Coronavirus May Change College Admissions Forever” by Frank Bruni. Then revisit your own predictions based on what you read in the Op-Ed. Do you have any revised predictions?
About Lesson of the Day
• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.
