05 Jun Road Map for June: Seniors

As your high school career comes to a close, I have been tremendously impressed by the Class of 2020. You have been strong through unique challenges and creative in your coping, and you have much to be proud of. I’m grateful to have been on this journey with you.

As of the June 1 deadline adopted by many institutions this year, more of you have made your enrollment deposits and are getting closer to finalizing your fall plans. But even if you anticipate being a full-time student, we don’t know yet exactly what that will look like.  There will be continued developments throughout the summer as individual colleges and universities make plans in the context of their states’ public health guidance and determine how best to keep their campus communities safe.  (This list includes current fall reopening plans for nearly 900 colleges and is being updated daily.)  But you should be prepared for a very different first-year experience than the one the one you envisioned when you applied to college; these articles discuss some of the changes we might see to protect the public health.

If you’re interested in additional college options for this fall, these schools—more than 770 of them—are continuing to accept new applications.  And if you’ve decided to either defer admission or reapply in the next admission cycle, I hope you’ll read my piece in the Hill Rag about planning your gap year.  I also recommend the Gap Year Association’s planning guide, and I am available for on-on-one gap year advising as well.