The pandemic has affected us all in many ways. For highschool seniors, one of those ways may be disrupting the college application process.

Through multiple interviews a trend of delayed applications is prominent. Some students we interviewed noticed this themselves, we asked multiple students “how has corona affected your college application process?” Most of the students we asked simply said yes, and their reason was that they couldn’t visit schools, or have just been occupied with distanced learning. However, Jake Beaudoin offered some insight on a problem for student-athletes, “I haven’t started applying yet. I have filled out some forms for sports (hockey), but last year and this year hockey is getting pushed back making it harder to get a scholarship.” Trying to find the root of  the application lag in seniors, we interviewed a school counselor, we asked Ms.West if highschool has gotten harder for her and students and she answered with, “The remote model for students is hard and it’s been a challenge due to all the adjustments its harder for them to have a consistent schedule and find a balance with life.” Going back to the students about the unbalanced schedules Isaiah Meyer added, “During The pandemic grades slipped due to online learning and made it harder to apply to the schools I wanted.”

 This trend isn’t shown just at Hall High, Amy Lockard from Dovetail College Consulting was interviewed by CollegiateParent, and asked similar questions to what was asked here at Hall. One of these questions was, “What’s different about the college application process this year?” Her response, “Your student’s college list may change. For a variety of reasons mostly related to the pandemic, more students are looking closer to home.” According to Ms. Lockard, online school is becoming “much more attractive right now” which would play a major roll in the decline of applications to traditional colleges, those who wanted to go to a college for an experience as well as education will likely decide to not go to college this upcoming year, “Gap year programs are going to be doing well.”The Amy Lockard interview gave Hall journalists great insight into the transition process from high school to college and allowed students to see through a professional’s point of view. With this information hopefully, all seniors can better prepare for their future education properly.