Colleges Recognize COVID-19 Adjustments
Director of College Counseling
At The Gregory School, we understand the uncertainty some students and families are feeling regarding the cancellation of our fall sports season as it relates to college applications and admissions. Whether or not to proceed with school athletics is a tough decision that countless school districts and schools across the country are having to make in an effort to keep everyone involved healthy and safe. It's also a decision that college and university coaches and admissions professionals understand, and are having to process for themselves and their own athletic seasons.
Through this message, I would like to reassure all of you that there won't be any future potential college coach or admissions counselor who can claim to be taken aback when seeing that a student's season was canceled due to COVID-19. In fact, university presidents and deans of admission have been reiterating all summer that the cancellation of school athletics truly shouldn't have any implications on students’ future opportunities.
The same careful consideration of cancellations has been given to everything related to our TGS programs. For example, in an effort to keep our seniors from feeling they have to risk their health for a graduation requirement, we made a significant change to the class of 2021 senior internship requirement: traditionally mandated as on-site work in the community for 60+ hours, our senior internship now accepts 40 hours and online/virtual work as necessitated. College admissions counselors will understand, and even anticipate, this adaptation.
As we move through the semester, Upper School families will receive updates from me regarding the ever changing nature of college applications and admissions. I'll refer to the term “holistic admissions” quite often, which is the process by which most colleges review applications as they look to enroll yearly classes based on their institutional needs and interests. The holistic review of an application involves looking at the student's academic record (i.e., earned grades, grade trends, and rigor of the curriculum choices); their various activities and involvements at school, home, and in the community, and how those activities reflect the student’s interests and curiosities; the various personal essay writings; standardized test scores if still required; and letters of recommendation from teachers and from me. Even prior to this pandemic, there was rarely, if ever, one single factor that made a college decide to admit or reject a student. There are just too many factors that are considered and evaluated.
It's important to note that we college counselors provide one-on-one updates to college admissions counselors and coaches, as well as a written profile of our school that includes everything from our grading scale and curriculum offerings to our various academic and administrative policies. It has now become the norm for us to include statements regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our school, such as the cancellation of sports seasons, theatrical productions, and student field trips and conference attendance, as well as noting that we've moved to remote instruction while still maintaining a full academic daily schedule.
Yes, some students where schools are gathering in person will still have sports, performances, and other activities, and some schools will have curricula that are reduced in rigor or will forgo issuing letter grades. (That's definitely NOT us). Adjustments because of COVID-19 will be as varied as there are high schools around the world, and as they always have to do, the college admissions folks will evaluate each student according to their opportunities and not look to penalize them for decisions and circumstances beyond their control.
In the meantime, I encourage our student athletes to speak with TGS and community coaches to see how they might continue their athletic conditioning, training or sanctioned events that stay within the AIA and NCAA rules.
I hope that this message will help ease worries among our students and families. I will be communicating with families often about "all things colleges" over the months and years to come, but please don't hesitate to reach out if there are specific questions I can answer or concerns I can address.
The Gregory School leads with "Yes" when it comes to trying new and creative ideas and to paving the way forward whenever possible to allow our students to pursue both their academic and personal interests. As the Director of College Counseling, I see the direct impact of this growth mindset in our students' readiness for college, in the way they pursue post-high school options with big dreams and open minds, and in the reflections shared in their college essays and interviews. Every year, the students' excitement and anticipation re-energizes and motivates me to serve them with my very best so their dreams can be attained.
Michelle Borleske received her B.A. in Communications from University of Wisconsin - Parkside, her M.A. in Public Administration from Northern Michigan University, and her M.A.C. in School Counseling from Lakeland College. She joined The Gregory School in 2018.