GFA Students Adapt to New College Application Process
By Will San Jose ’22 and Jack Pegler ’24
This year, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, GFA students have adapted to utilize more technology in the college application process.
“When kids get used to and they employ the tools for the virtual visits, it’s a great equalizer in a lot of ways because it allows a student to look at a school that’s really far away that they might not have visited, and really compare and contrast that to a school that they know,” Director of College Guidance Michael Pina said.
Since students are not able to visit colleges in person this year, they have been forced to use tools like the virtual visit feature, which allows students to tour a college campus online.
“My daughter was a senior last year, and she picked a school that she never visited,” Pina said. “There are other students that eliminated schools through their virtual visit programs.”
The college guidance department and the school themselves have also had to move some of their own events online. Previously in-person, evening events open to the community are now hosted over Zoom, the department has changed how grades are sent to colleges due to the new rotation schedule, and the school also administered standardized tests for seniors who had their respective dates canceled.
“Not having that in-person piece is something that we have to adapt to,” Pina said. “That part of the process, the [...] human touch piece, is harder in this pandemic environment.”
A lack of in-person communication, not only between the department and the rest of the community, but also between colleges and high schools, presents itself as an additional challenge.
“It’s harder to discover new places,” Pina said. “I also miss [...] actually getting on the road to see my colleagues on the college side and what’s going on there.”
Amidst the pandemic, Pina noted the ability of the GFA community to come together and adapt to change. He also detailed what students should have in mind throughout such changes.
“Be patient about the college piece, because [...] you’re all in our sights,” he said. “We’re thinking about you, we’re paying attention to you, we’re doing things to put you in a position to be successful with the changes as they come.”