The 2020 Admissions cycle: Many Questions, Many Answers, Uncertainty Remains
Recently, I asked some local students to write their thoughts on this admissions season and how they felt about test-optional policies. Here is one student’s response.
The 2020 Admissions Cycle: Many Questions, Many Answers, Uncertainty Remains
By Stephanie Sylla
How will I be compared to other students? Does test-optional really mean test-optional? Will the ivy league consider my application equal to someone who has a score? Should I risk my life to take the SAT? Who can I go to for help? These are just some of the questions that have been clouding my brain for the past three months. How am I supposed to navigate a process that not even college admission offices are sure of? Especially with so many questions and very few answers.
In normal circumstances, I would look to my counselors and teachers for guidance, but they have been bombarded with the task of navigating the online learning of over 2000 students. I can not expect them to have the time nor the information to help me. I have spent the last three years researching the college admissions process to ensure that I would be prepared for today. I had a plan, but 2020 had a different plan. This has been an extremely rough year for everyone. For the first time in my life, the future is completely unclear. I am being forced to make decisions for a future that I can not envision. For example, I now have to decide which schools I want to apply to without even visiting them. Sure, I can go do a self-led tour on campus or do a virtual tour, but I can not physically visit the facilities and receive information first-hand. How am I supposed to pick the places I could potentially spend four years of life without actually visiting them?
Additionally, I am forced to make the decision on whether or not I take standardized testing. Standardized testing such as the SAT and ACT have been around for almost 100 years; they are one of the main metrics considered on college applications. Therefore, I was skeptical that “test-optional’ truly meant test-optional. Test-optional to me was a way for colleges to show sympathy for the situation but still imply that if you are able to get a score that you should send it. For that reason, I spent over seventy hours studying, answered over 2000 questions, and stressed for an additional ten hours over my nearing SAT test. The test started to weigh on my mental health; I became obsessed with improving my score and the thought of getting at least 1500+ on the exam. I read a countless number of articles and had multiple conversations on what test-optional really meant. However, I couldn’t believe that these top tier universities will consider me without having their precious SAT or ACT score.
My worst fear was that if I submitted my application without a score admission offices would assume that I didn't send my score because they were inadequate. I wanted to give myself every advantage possible to help me get accepted to colleges even if that meant giving up my summer to prep. I devoted my summer to prepping only to find out my test was canceled last week.
On top of the stress of doing well on the exam, I feared getting COVID and passing it on to my vulnerable family members. I even planned on quarantining from my family to ensure their safety. It became an impossible situation and essentially it came down to one question, “Should I risk my life to take a standardized test that is optional?” And that is a question that I am still trying to answer.
This year's admission cycle will be like no other, and hopefully, it’ll bring positive change for the cycles to come. However, for the students and families going through this process right now, it is complex and uncertain. As a rising senior, I must re-learn the entire admissions process as well as help others who are in the same position as me. In the end, I can not control this virus or decide what happens this admissions cycle; however, I can rise above and make the best out of what is presented in front of me.