Common App optional essay on Covid-19
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Anonymous
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What's everyone's kid doing with this essay, especially those who are not seriously impacted (which I assume is most white collar families with no job loss or no covid infections to near and dear ones)?
There seems to be no clear opinion on this. Most essay advise websites are encouraging everyone to answer this but not about what to write if there's no real impact. |
Anonymous
| My kid is not answering it. |
Anonymous
| Mine isn't answering either. She has received similar advice that it's better not to answer if she hasn't been significantly impacted or hasn't done something unique or service-oriented. |
Anonymous
| Who hasn’t been significantly impacted? |
Anonymous
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Consensus is it's a space for students who've been significantly impacted; family members ill or died, caring for siblings, parent's job loss etc. Anything that negatively impacted the students academic situation.
DS told me that one school on his list put a different spin on it. During a virtual admissions chat, they said if students had an opportunity to make a positive impact due to Covid, explain in the section on app. |
Anonymous
I'd say the majority of the kids on DCUM. They get to sleep longer, eat at home and handle a reduced workload. Of course they have to deal with online school, miss sports, friends and are unable to travel. I wouldn't call that significant impact. |
Anonymous
| We were advised to leave it blank. |
Anonymous
| My dc addressed the precollege program was accepted into but was cancelled. Top choices look favorable on these programs so didn’t want a glaring hole in the application. Was advised by one of the schools admissions office that this was an acceptable thing to discuss. Only this was discussed, nothing else. |
Anonymous
| DD is using the space to be explain that she registered to take the SAT 5 times, and it was cancelled each time (we live in California), and that is why she won’t be submitting scores. Seems like it could be helpful to distinguish her from kids who DO have scores but are choosing not to submit. |
Anonymous
| And if a kid doesn’t submit scores, and also doesn’t say that they couldn’t test because of cancelled registrations, I wonder if colleges will (correctly) infer that student’s test score was just not very good. |
Anonymous
| My kid left it blank. I'd agree that every senior is impacted by COVID, but we took the question to mean that they're looking for something beyond that, such as illness/death in the family, job loss, cancelled internships, etc. The school counselor agreed that what DC, and most kids, are all experiencing - missing friends, lack of ECs/sports, having to do DL - isn't what the colleges are looking for in that essay. |
Anonymous
| We were advised not to answer in the absence of significant effects like the death of a family member, loss of a business, etc. |
Anonymous
Just make up an aunt or something who died from it. What I'd do. |
Anonymous
All the teenagers I know have been significantly impacted by this pandemic. You shouldn’t have to check off a death in the family or job loss to prove significant impact. They’ve lost the life they knew, lost their high school dreams. It’s never coming back. No Enchantment under the Sea Dance for them. |
Anonymous
| My kid's school counselor also advised that its fine to write about doing something positive or different during Covid-19 than what the child originally anticipated. In our case, our kid's summer job was cancelled so they started their own business. |