College Admissions 2020 under Threat | How COVID-19 Will Affect 2020 Admissions Process

College Admissions 2020 under Threat | How COVID-19 Will Affect 2020 Admissions Process
Table of Contents
  1. College Admissions 2020 under Threat | How COVID-19 Will Affect 2020 Admissions Process
  2. Some Immediate Changes in Universities
  3. Current Situation: Institutions and COVID-19
  4. 5 Potential Tricky Scenarios for Institutions in the USA
  5. PlatformQ Education: A Wise Decision for Institutions

Many students who have already chosen colleges for studying and sent their applications to institutions and are waiting for responses are worried that the coronavirus can affect their results. A lot of them face troubles with their essays and look for college admission essay help online. Some universities try to calm their applicants down and reassure that the admission process will not be changed or stopped: for example, on March, 4, Princeton University has informed students on Twitter that the admission process is going as usual and students shouldn't be worried because every application will be viewed thoroughly. So, it is always actual to read college admission secrets before your graduation.  

Anyway, many international students have no idea what will be with their admission decisions: they're afraid the process may be fully stopped due to COVID-19. Needless to say, many universities apply a great number of international students every year, and this year, some universities may miss thousands of students before the fall semester begins. It means that a great number of universities may get an enrollment crisis due to coronavirus. If we pay attention to the fact that one-third of all the international students in the USA is from China, we can say that the admission cycle will be disrupted this year. 

Some Immediate Changes in Universities

It was informed that Pennsylvania University in their statement canceled all the events in April on campus. They insist that it's a good proactive measure to avoid unnecessary travels and distance people from each other to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Pennsylvania University has the virtual campus tour and assures that new students can discover it, ask questions, study online, and be in touch with campus and teachers without risk of being infected or spreading the infection to others.

As for Florida University, they made admissions decisions on February, 28 and the institution pronounced they are not going to change anything. The vice president of enrollment, Tammy Aagard, decided that even if some new students will not be able to arrive in Florida on time to start studying, they will get a spot in UF Online where they can earn 60 credits and then switch to the traditional university program. In her Twitter account, Tammy wrote that people should get their minds off the silliness around the COVID-19. She's sure that some new students may just get a longer runway until the problem with the virus will be solved. 

As for Franklin and Marshall College that in 2018 had 23% of international students most of those are from China, and this is a very high number. That year, one of the professors went to China to recruit students there. For this year, the director of recruitment Monica Cable said that it's too early to make any prognoses for Franklin and Marshall College in light of the coronavirus. She still hopes that the ties made in China before will be helpful to the college to get new students. 

Every year, Connecticut Trinity College enrolls around 35 Chinese undergraduates. Angel B. Perez, the vice president for enrollment, said the situation cannot be predicted this year due to COVID-19. As for the last updates of Trinity College, on March 22, it was informed that one member of the Trinity community got a positive test for coronavirus. The college continues online studying through the end of this semester to prevent the spread of coronavirus and protect people from infections. 

Some students were already admitted, and many universities canceled their admitted students weekend in April due to coronavirus. For example, Harvard pronounced that all the planned events for this period are replaced by online events. Nowadays, a growing number of colleges in the USA cancel in-person classes and close temporarily or provide online studying for students.

Current Situation: Institutions and COVID-19

The situation with COVID-19 changes daily and even hourly for many universities. Of course, all the students, teachers, principles, and applicants are worried but they understand the most important is to stay safe and fight with the coronavirus. If to illustrate the current situation with universities in the USA, here are the main facts we know:

  • A big number of universities and colleges shift their programs online for those students who were admitted. In this way, students get a chance to start studying without the risk of being infected.
  • Graduate schools that have many students from abroad are studying the main options of studying online only. Some of these schools are worried about fall enrollment.
  • Most undergraduate institutions enroll students and experience some worries and confusion right now but they hope not to have a big loss in enrollment because of coronavirus. Those institutions that have a big number of international students are more concerned about the future. 

5 Potential Tricky Scenarios for Institutions in the USA

The U.S. Department of Education has published guidance where they mention five potential scenarios for students and institutions that may make questions on how to fulfill HEA Title IV requirements with the situation caused by COVID-19:

  1. If a student already was enrolled or had to travel abroad and if a student has been called back to the USA or never started their travel.
  2. If a student was enrolled successfully and because of coronavirus, there was canceled one or even more classes, and this student didn't get the minimum of 12 credit hours and must be removed from the list of full-time students.
  3. If a student is on quarantine and misses their classes or if a student is unable to attend classes due to coronavirus illness.
  4. If an institution closes in-person classes to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
  5. A foreign institution for students from the USA who participate in the Title IV programs is closed temporarily to prevent the spread of coronavirus. 

For solving these problems, the Department of Education has the following recommendations:

  • Accommodating those students whose enrollment was already disrupted. Despite the difficulties in enrollment due to COVID-19, students may participate in online studying until the campuses will be opened. If the current education program was interrupted or canceled due to coronavirus, the institutions have flexible decisions to provide online learning.
  • Approval for online learning. The Department of Education approves institutions to use various technologies for online education temporarily without the regular process of approving. If the institution will decide to offer a program of distance studying after the situation with coronavirus is solved, it must get official approval from the Department following the standard procedure.

PlatformQ Education: A Wise Decision for Institutions

Many colleges and universities use PlatformQ Education to create their online education programs and give students a chance to learn without disrupting their admission process. Many institutions like the University of South Dakota and Stevens Institute of Technology have already declined all in-person classes and international travels and moved all the planned events and courses online.

The vice president of PlatformQ Education, Gil Rogers said that he already recommended every college and university to develop their online program for studying. He always insisted on the importance of the online version of the education program, and in light of the COVID-19, many universities understood this is the only way to continue enrollment. 

So, as we can see, coronavirus even pushes the institutions to develop their options and find new ways and technologies to continue the process of admission and studying. During online studying and at the same time getting prepared for admission committee process for a period of COVID-19 pandemic, students may get problems with their papers. If this happens, it's important to find a reliable admission essay writing service to solve all the problems fast.

I have witnessed the steady growth of this industry for years. These days, despite all the situation we are going through, Admisssion Writer has received almost 1200 admission essay requests for this period! You now are also able to monitor the entire enrollment process on Capex to be aware of  when to be ready-steady to present the essay of yours!

Of course, the uncertain situation with coronavirus means that both students and institutions must be prepared for various possible scenarios but we hope it will not disrupt the admission cycle a lot. Despite the panic and fear, we expect that college admissions will return to their usual processes as soon as the pandemic is ended.