Due to COVID-19, colleges and universities are changing their admissions criteria. Some schools, like Cornell University and Harvard University, are waiving the SAT or ACT for admission, due to the difficulties in taking the exam. Some students may not have access to the resources needed to study for the exam or even have a place to take it as test centers around the country stay closed. This change is unprecedented so no one really knows how this year’s admissions will turn out. However, there are still some things that students can do to prepare for this change.

Due to quarantine and reduced school and work hours, students may be finding themselves with more spare time than usual. Staying healthy should be your top priority, especially since the US has higher rates of young adults contracting COVID-19 than other countries. Staying healthy includes taking care of your mental health. In this tumultuous time, it is totally okay to focus on yourself. Colleges and schools will be understanding if you focus on taking care of yourself during this time instead of on your resume.

It can feel hard to work on your project in the midst of global and local uncertainty. The first thing you should do is recognize that there are no wrong ways to react to the corona virus and that everyone handles stress differently. But there are a few other things to bear in mind...

I first started thinking seriously about college when I was entering 10th grade because my high school was only 10th through 12th grade. I knew that to get into a good school I would need a great SAT or ACT score and to keep my grades up. What I didn't know though is what exactly I wanted to do or university I wanted to go to. I thought about it mainly in terms of which location would make me the happiest because I heard most schools in the top 10 were similar in difficulty getting in. I love the busyness of New York City and decided to look at Columbia and NYU.

Applying to college can be very stressful, especially given how competitive it currently is to get into a top institution. It’s important to find ways to distinguish yourself and stand out from other candidates. For the application process, colleges in the United States use a holistic process to evaluate you, which means they don’t just look at one thing to determine how suitable you are, but the whole picture of you as an applicant. This holistic approach may differ in other countries, but I will focus on applications to institutions in the United States. One very good way to build out a full application is with a strong set of extracurricular activities.

For U.S. college applications, there are many components that determine their success. Of course, your grades are paramount and without passing the requisite thresholds, most other things won’t matter. However, if you have been able to get decent grades, then it becomes very important to consider the other aspects of your college application.