Written by Maggie Guba|
Photos by The Morgan PawPrint|

April of Senior year is when seniors make their decisions about which college they will attend in the fall. This year, however, is astronomically different. The recent outbreak of Covid-19 has moved K-12 learning online. Universites and colleges throughout the United States have also moved programs online for prospective college students. 

Governor Ned Lamont issued Executive Order 7M which canceled Connecticut schools across the state until April 20th. This decision mirrors that of many other states around the nation who have also canceled in-person schooling.

 Most colleges have now switched to online classes due to the virus, so students must adjust accordingly. Due to colleges moving their spring semesters online, many high school seniors are now being faced with the difficult task of navigating where they want to spend their next 4 years without being able to have an in-person visit.

Senior Olivia Swan explained “I’ve been debating between 3 schools for a while now. And I was really looking forward to being able to tour two of them this March/April and also talking with one of the coaches from the schools so I could be able to make my decision more securely.”

Olivia was depending on this opportunity to help her make her final decision. She said, “I feel like there’s so much I don’t know about the schools. This decision was going to be extremely hard for me being an indecisive person, but I feel like the coronavirus has made it 10x harder to decide because I didn’t get the chance to visit those schools again and get all my questions answered. So I feel like I’m making my decision now blindly.” She has since committed to Penn State but emphasized how difficult making her final decision was due to not being able to visit the schools one last time.

Many seniors are finding themselves in the same situation as Olivia because of all these shutdowns. Without the ability to travel to the school in person making final college decisions has become even harder than before. 

Colleges such as The University of Alabama typically have orientation early in June or the end of May. With Alabama’s first session scheduled for May 27-28 this year, prospective students must explore the option of completing orientation online. Currently, there is no on-campus visits or activities happening in Alabama.

Senior Sage Follo also dealt with these issues for her prospective college. Sage is planning on attending Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. She said, “I was supposed to go down April 17th to meet some professors, take another tour of campus, and schedule my classes. It was called a Student Onboarding and Registration Event that got postponed to July.” This instance is sadly not unique to her, as many other seniors are facing the challenge of on-campus activities being canceled. 

With all the chaos caused by Coronavirus, some seniors have even begun to face the very real thought that their freshman year of college may be dramatically different than expected.

Senior Leo Woods said, “I think this whole thing is also forcing us seniors to think about the possibility of not actually starting traditional college in the fall later this year, which is scary to think about.”

Certain sites such as Unigo, College Confidential , and StudentsReview are all sites which offer additional information such as student reviews on college. These websites along with blogs written by admissions offices are available as resources for prospective students trying to make their college decision.

All that students can do now is utilize the information they have about their prospective colleges and make the decision that is right for them.