Raising Hopes for College Applications

Even before the pandemic, there was plenty of anxiety surrounding college admissions. My students would often describe the lump in their throat when adults asked them where they were going to college or what they’d be majoring in. They would often feel overwhelmed and inadequate because people expected them to have everything figured out.

Such anxiety was especially common this time of year. When August arrived, so did college application season. All of sudden, things got real. Everything students had been working toward throughout high school came to a head, and they would find themselves inundated with college essays and application deadlines. Even for the best-prepared student, the fall of senior year has always been a tense, turbulent time.

That was before the pandemic. Today, traditional worries about college application season seem quaint. Today, there’s COVID, and social isolation, and “distance learning.” Instead of students fretting over college acceptances, many feel that the college experience itself is fading from view.