Changes In Admissions Due To COVID-19

Me, outside of the Shields Building when I visited the office a few weeks ago

[This is a post that I wrote for the Penn State Undergraduate Admissions Office here]

One recent afternoon I was in a one-on-one meeting with a member of our team. After covering some of the regular, day-to-day stuff that is a normal part of our weekly meetings, our discussion turned to the latest news and updates on COVID-19 and how the resulting directives to social distance and work remotely, have impacted our work.

"It has impacted everything" was the resounding theme. Because our team does not normally work at a distance, there have been a variety of questions from our staff. But, while those on our team are asking lots of questions, prospective students and their families are asking even more. In the very near future, the University will announce some decisions about what the spring semester will look like at Penn State (Will classes be remote/online? Will staff continue working remotely? Etc.), and my guess is that the answers that will be provided will only prompt more questions.

Because in our operation that has been what the last six months has looked like. It's essentially the higher education version of HYDRA; for every answer that is provided, two more questions take its place.

But taking a look beyond both the literal and virtual walls of the Undergraduate Admissions Office at Penn State, we see several key ways in which the Era of COVID has dramatically impacted the college admissions world.

Campus Visits. Prior to the pandemic we would welcome thousands of students to visit one of Penn State's 20 undergraduate campuses. However, since mid-March we have not been able to host one single student for an on-campus visit. While this is indeed an unfortunate circumstance, we quickly pivoted to offering students and families (and school counselors!) options to connect virtually. From one-on-one virtual appointments, to virtual tours of campus, to "town hall"-styled webinars, our team has worked tirelessly in an attempt to emulate the on-campus experience in a digital, remote format. 

Application Deadlines. Virtually every college and university has had to move dates and deadlines to accommodate students and families. At Penn State, we moved our Early Action application deadline to November 15th so that students would have more time to complete their application. With so much anxiety surrounding the availability of ACT and SAT testing, shifting the Early Action deadline by two weeks will provide students some more time to fit in an October test, if they choose to do so.

Standardized Exams. And speaking of availability of tests, both the College Board and the ACT have been forced to cancel hundreds of exams around the country. As a result, a full two-thirds of institutions of higher education have moved to a test-optional admission review process. Back in early June (which seems like an eternity ago, at this point!), Penn State announced that the University would be joining the ranks of institutions that would not require standardized test results in the undergraduate application process. In the application for admission, students will be asked whether or not they would like us to consider SAT or ACT exam scores as part of the evaluation of their application. 

All of these changes to how Penn State is conducting the business of admission share a common thread: flexibility. Given all of the uncertainty that students and families are facing in their lives, we want to do everything that we can do to ease concerns and provide options and resources for students that are engaged in the college search process. 

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