Dear Juniors or Parents of Juniors,
I wanted to reach out because of the amount of anxiety and uncertainty that lies ahead in everyone’s minds regarding standardized testing, how college will look at your grades and transcripts, as well as your extracurriculars.
Many of our worlds have been flipped upside down and the expectations on students is that they should continue to perform well in school, prepare for standardized tests (whenever they will be), and to continue to stay engaged with friends, family, extracurriculars and hobbies. No wonder there is so much anxiety! That is a lot to juggle for anyone, let alone Juniors who understand the importance of creating “perfect” college application and profile.
Standardized Testing
More and more colleges are joining the already large group of over 1,000 test-optional colleges because of the uncertainty surrounding ACT and SAT testing dates. While students should still aim to do your best, please don’t let these assessments cripple the excitement of your college search.
Grades and Transcripts
Colleges repeatedly remind me that GPA is important but there are some high schools who have never used traditional letter grades and that their students continue to be admitted to multiple colleges of their choice. So with schools altering their grading system this semester, it won’t change how colleges will look at students transcripts. They have been looking at a variety of transcripts for ever! All students need to do is the best they can, just like always.
Staying Active with Extracurriculars
Colleges also remind me that while students extracurriculars are going to look vastly different, it provides students with new opportunities. Students now have an opportunity to dive into something new. Whether it is learning how to code, drawing, painting, knitting, creating a YouTube channel to show off their creativity, live streaming video games or your own musical performances, and yes, even spending time taking care of your family or cooking some family meals, there are many ways to still stay engaged with extracurriculars.
Here is a letter written by the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid to Juniors which will hopefully ease some anxiety about this extremely different college search and admission process.
And as always, please know that you can always reach out to us with any questions or rumors that might be eating away at you. We are here to help!