The Coronavirus May Change College Admissions Forever
Frank Bruni starts with how this and probably the coming ones too will be difficult and uncertain years for college admissions which was concluded after discussions with Jeffrey Selingo, who is the author of anticipated new book, “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions,”. Selingo was given the access into the selection procedure of few universities to understand how it works. The author goes on to say how Selingo's knowledge and insights put him in an excellent position to how COVID might affect the evaluation procedure at colleges in "the little, big, temporary and permanent ways". He then describes how Selingo predicts greater success chances of "early applicants" and points to a similar phenomenon during the Great Recession. He then goes on to say how standardized exams like SAT and ACT have lost any practical usability because of their inability to hold exams due to social distancing rules, which in return forces colleges to focus more on the toughness of high school courses.
He also describes how now students might pay more attention on the "course catalog, the roster of professors", because of absences of campus tours where they can be lured by dormitories, cafeteria food, high-rise spires and lushly trees. He also describes how parents have started asking what they are actually paying for as a tuition-fee since all the sales-pitch activities are less relevant than ever before. He goes on to say "The pandemic has soured the romance", describing how in the short term student's college decision will be more practical and less emotional. He also goes on to say how the poor quality of remote learning has "touted the intimacies of remote learning".