What We Care about in this Time of Crisis: A Collective Statement from College Admission Deans
As admission and enrollment leaders, we recognize that we and the institutions we represent send signals that can shape students’ priorities and experiences throughout high school. This collective statement seeks to clarify what we value in applicants during this time of COVID-19. We are keenly aware that students across the country and the world are experiencing many uncertainties and challenges. We primarily wish to underscore our commitment to equity, and to encourage in students self-care, balance, meaningful learning, and care for others.
More specifically, we value the following:
1. Self-care
Self-care is of high importance, especially in times of crisis. We recognize that many students, economically struggling and facing losses and hardships of many kinds, are simply seeking to get by. We also recognize that this time is stressful and demanding for a wide range of students for many different reasons. We encourage all students to be gentle with themselves during this time.
2. Academic work
Your academic engagement and work during this time matters to us, but given the circumstances of many families, we recognize that many of you face obstacles to academic work. We will assess your academic achievements in the context of these obstacles. In addition, we will assess your academic achievements mainly based on your academic performance before and after this pandemic. No student will be disadvantaged because of a change in commitments or a change in plans because of this outbreak, their school’s decisions about transcripts, the absence of AP or IB tests, their lack of access to standardized tests (although many of the colleges represented here don’t require these tests) or their inability to visit campus. We will also view students in the context of the curriculum, academic resources, and supports available to them.
3. Service and contributions to others.
We value contributions to one’s communities for those who are in a position to provide these contributions. We recognize that while many students are not in this position because of stresses and demands, other students are looking for opportunities to be engaged and make a difference. This pandemic has created a huge array of needs, whether for tutoring, contact tracing, support for senior citizens, or assistance with food delivery. We view responding to these needs as one valuable way that students can spend their time during this pandemic.
We also value forms of contribution that are unrelated to this pandemic, such as working to register voters, protect the environment, combat racial injustice and inequities or stop online harassment among peers. Our interest is not in whether students created a new project or demonstrated leadership during this period. We, emphatically, do not seek to create a competitive public service “Olympics” in response to this pandemic. What matters to us is whether students’ contribution or service is authentic and meaningful to them and to others, whether that contribution is writing regular notes to frontline workers or checking in with neighbors who are isolated. We will assess these contributions and service in the context of the obstacles students are facing. We also care about what students have learned from their contributions to others about themselves, their communities, and/or their country (Please see Turning the Tide for additional information about the kinds of contributions and service we value). No student will be disadvantaged during this time who is not in a position to provide these contributions. We will review these students for admissions in terms of other aspects of their applications.
4. Family contributions.
Far too often there is a misperception that high-profile, brief forms of service tend to “count” in admissions while family contributions—which are often deeper and more time-consuming and demanding—do not. Many students may be supervising younger siblings, for example, or caring for sick relatives or working to provide family income, and we recognize that these responsibilities may have increased during these times. We view substantial family contributions as very important, and we encourage students to report them in their applications. It will only positively impact the review of their application.
5. Extracurricular and summer activities.
No student will be disadvantaged for not engaging in extracurricular activities during this time. We also understand that many plans for summer have been impacted by this pandemic and students will not be disadvantaged for lost possibilities for involvement. Potential internship opportunities, summer jobs, camp experiences, classes, and other types of meaningful engagement have been cancelled or altered. We have never had specific expectations for any one type of extracurricular activities or summer experience and realize that each student’s circumstances allow for different opportunities. We have always considered work or family responsibilities as valuable ways of spending one’s time, and this is especially true at this time.
Reporting information that is important to students and to us. We will gather information from schools themselves about curriculum and academic resources and supports, but encourage students to communicate any factors specific to their circumstances that impeded their academic performance. Those factors might include, for example, lack of access to the internet, no quiet place to study, or the various family responsibilities described above. We encourage students to describe concretely how any of these circumstances have negatively affected their academic performance or ability to engage in activities that matter to them. It is helpful to know, for example, how much time students spent per week taking on a family responsibility, such as taking care of a sick relative. This information will be treated completely confidentially. Both the Common Application and the Coalition for College application provide opportunities for students to describe how they have been impacted by the pandemic.
1. 自我照顾Self-care
这是第一个标准，但着墨最少。放在全球疫情背景下，申请明年入学的学生，讲述自己如何经历面对疫情，肯定是必不可少的。这一部分表述的比较笼统，我的理解是在疫情当下，学生首先要照顾好自己，才能谈其他，在学业上不要过于苛责自己。放在美国背景下，年轻学生的自律也是很重要的，譬如戴口罩、保持社交距离、远离聚会等。
2.学术表现 Academic work
学生的学术表现当然重要。但招生官在看学生学术成就时，会把它放在疫情造成的困难的背景下。另外，录取会评估学生在疫情前和疫情后的学术成就，也就是说，要看到学生如何克服困境的努力。学生不会因为AP、IB测试，其他标准化考试取消而处于劣势。招生官在评估这些学术成就时，会放在课程、学术资源、能得到的支持等因素上考量。
3. 服务和对他人的贡献 Service and contributions to others.
重点来了，这是招生指引着墨最多的部分，学生和家长要高度重视。招生官强调看重学生对社区的贡献，强调学生的参与。一部分是疫情时的贡献，范围很广，譬如可以是辅助疫情知识、病例接触追踪、支持老年人、帮助送餐等。另一部分是与疫情无关的，譬如选民登记、保护环境、反击种族不公正不公平、阻止网络恐吓等。
招生官强调，他们的兴趣不是学生是否创立了一个新项目，或者体现出了领导力。不是要让学生在公共服务的“奥林匹克竞赛”中去比拼，而是看这个贡献是否发自内心的，是否是有意义的（authentic and meaningful）。
譬如给防疫前线的工作者写便条、查看被隔离的邻居。招生官会评估学生在做这些服务面临的困难，从这些活动中学习到什么，对他/她自己，对所在社区，对所属的国家。需要指出的是，招生官列出这些例子，不是要给你一个活动清单，而是鼓励你，再小的事情和服务，只要是体现你可贵的品格，都是有价值的。
4. 家庭贡献Family contributions.
招生官在此强调了一个长期以来的申请误区，学生的申请材活动应该是那些高大上的，譬如去非洲当志愿者，而费时费力更深层次的家庭贡献被忽略了。鼓励学生把对家庭重要的贡献都呈现出来，它对申请者只会有正面的影响。包括照顾兄弟姐妹、照看生病的亲人、为家庭赚钱补贴家用等。举个例子，生活在贫困家庭的孩子，能帮忙准备一日三餐，照顾兄弟姐妹，就是他/她最大的贡献。
5. 课外活动和暑期活动 Extracurricular and summer activities.
指引指出，疫情影响下，各种活动都取消了，因此学生申请时不会因为没有参加课外活动，暑期活动而在录取时受影响。招生官也强调，大学招生从来没有看重特定的课外活动或者暑期经历，而是把学生的工作和家庭责任作为有价值的考量，这在疫情时代尤其重要。
来源：美加双城记 日期：2020年6月30日
