The year 2020 has been interesting for high school students, counselors, and college admissions offices, all of whom have had to navigate a challenging course in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jackson Academy’s Upper School Counseling Office has steadily adapted to provide students with guidance and clarity as they prepare to make a college decision.
The spring of a student’s junior year is usually busy with testing and college visits. Due to the pandemic, JA students had to reschedule their ACT and SATs for late summer and early fall. The spring is also when College Counselor Amy Bush typically meets with each junior to discuss their interests and aspirations. “Because of the mandate, I was unable to meet with each student individually last spring,” Bush said. When the CDC’s guidelines became more defined, Bush found a way to provide students with that opportunity. “During the summer, I invited each senior to the school for a socially distanced meeting so that I could get to know them better, share information, and answer questions.”
Bush described many of the changes that JA’s seniors have navigated. “In years past, students were able to research colleges by meeting with visiting recruiters, scheduling campus tours, and attending college fairs. None of these were possibilities from last spring until early fall.” Although schools have reopened their admissions offices, many recruiters are not traveling – enter virtual campus tours, virtual college fairs, and virtual recruitment meetings!”
“The virtual tours do a great job of showing you the campus and informing you about the school, but I believe the best way to find the right school for you is to tour it in person,” said Elizabeth Pedigo, a senior who is considering schools throughout the southeast. “Whenever you tour colleges virtually, you don’t get to feel the atmosphere the same way you do in person.” Pedigo found the college that is currently her top choice through a bus tour led by JA’s counseling office before the pandemic.
Senior Drew Antici agreed, saying that “The in-person experience is much better for me than virtual tours and all of the online stuff because it’s easier to get the feel of the environment on campus, which is obviously super important. Also, a lot of these campuses are beautiful, and it’s cool to walk around and look at everything.”
Although students find that virtual tours often fall short of the in-person experience, in their efforts to make the virtual admission process feasible for students, colleges and universities have added more information to their online presence.
“There are so many more online resources available in response to the pandemic,” senior Zoe Ladner pointed out. “This is great because some colleges I may not have been able to travel the distance to visit, I was able to “visit” through virtual tours. It is also a more efficient way to learn about specific colleges. Before, one would have to plan a trip and spend a whole day to visit a college campus. Now, one can tour several colleges online all in one day.”
Campus tours were not the only portion of the college admissions process that moved online. Thomas Arnold, a senior who plans to study environmental engineering, completed an admission interview on Zoom. Throughout the fall, College Counselor Amy Bush has scheduled virtual recruitment meetings for students. “Although not perfect, our students and families have these opportunities to gain information and learn more about the colleges and the programs they offer,” Bush noted. “Who knew that we could conduct an online college fair, have hundreds of colleges attend, and allow high school students to speak directly with a recruiter with their specific questions?”
“I’m so impressed with how this group of seniors handled the changes that have come their way,” Bush said. And the appreciation is mutual. All of the seniors interviewed for this article noted the excellent support they received from the counseling office.
“The JA college counseling office has helped me with almost every step of my college search and application process,” Elizabeth Pedigo said. “Because of them, I have decided what colleges I want to go to and what steps will take me in that direction. They have been nothing but amazing throughout this entire process.”
