This presentation will help families and students understand the process of applying to college in the times of Covid-19.

1. Get Me To College:
College Readiness in the
Era of Covid-19
Rebecca Joseph, PhD
July 2020
getmetocollege@gmail.com
www.getmetocollege.org

2. Your Presenter
Rebecca Joseph, PhD
• Professor, Cal State LA
• Founder, Get Me To College andAll
College Application Essays
• Current 2016 Unsung Hero, LA
County
Contact rjoseph@calstatela.edu and
getmetocollege@gmail.com
@getmetocollege @allcollegeessay

3. What Colleges Look For Traditionally
1. Grades
2. Rigor of Academics
3. Testing
4. Activities
5. Essays
6. Applications
7. Connections, legacy, athletics
8. Demonstrated interest
9. Ability to pay
3

4. What Colleges Are Looking For Now???

5. Care Counts in Crisis: College Admissions
Deans Respond to Covid-19
https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/resources-for-colleges/endorse-care-counts-in-crisis-college-admissions-deans-respond-to-covid-19

6. What They Recommend:
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 countless
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 you may 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,

7. More:
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.

8. More:
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 during this time.
5. Extracurricular and summer activities. No
student will be disadvantaged for not engaging in
extracurricular activities. 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 activity 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.

9. Many Steps to Class of 2021and Beyond
College Admissions Process
Organizing YourApplications
More than two-thirds of
other colleges are test
optional to test blind next
year
UC system is test optional for
next three years. Cal States
Class of 2021 College
Admissions Process
Application Deadlines
Grades-Credit/No Credit Allowed
SAT/ACT Updates-Where and when?
SAT and ACT add several new fall dates
What Colleges Look For:
Traditional and Care
Counts

10. California State University System
• Uses Cal State Apply.
• Most campuses are now
impacted.
• Many majors on campuses are
impacted.
• Cal State LA received over
36,000 applications.
• New focus on deadlines,
deadlines, deadlines

11. Easy to Use
• One application for all.
• Pick one campus and then fill
out each section.
• Easily add other colleges.
• Still four free for all low-
income students.
• No more check payments.
Only credit cards or free
waivers.

12. Four Easy Sections
• Academic history requires
some practice
• It requires students to add
courses by grade. No longer
by A-G
• It does have an A-G tracker
• Students must put in all
grades even Ds and Fs.
• Will accept Credit/No
Credit grades from last
semester.

13. EOP Shifts
• EOP application is integrated
into Cal State Apply
• Short responses remain the
same.
• New system wide deadlines.
• January 15 for Fall
• August 31 fro Spring

14. New Cal State Data Portal
https://www5.dashboards.calstate.edu/static/page/hsdash/
hshome.html?utm_medium=301&utm_source=calstate.ed
u

15. Community Colleges
• More system-wide programs.
• Courses now readily available
• Different transfer rates by
college.
• Los Angeles College Promise
Promise
• One year of free enrollment to all
full-time students graduating from
LAUSD and charter high schools
beginning with seniors graduating
in 2017. Included in this program
are priority enrollment, placement
in math and English courses
required to succeed in college and
career support and counseling.

16. Los Angeles College Promise
• Great opportunity for many
students
• Pays for one year.
• Provides multiple supports

17. Shifts With Other College Applications

18. University of California
• UCs identify the top 9 percent of students
based on GPA in UC-approved
coursework
completed in the 10th and 11th grades. To
be
considered for ELC, you must have a
minimum
GPA of 3.0 and complete 11 "a-g"
courses
prior to their senior year. Rest
must be completed by end of
senior year.
• While there are no minimum test scores
required, all applicants must complete
either
the ACT with Writing or the SAT
Reasoning exams.
• California residents ranked in the top 9
percent of students in their California
high
school class — and your high school
participates in our ELC program —
you may be eligible for ELC
designation.

19. University of California Challenges
• Numbers of applicants.
Escalating each year.
• Costs. Now capping out of
state and international
enrollments for first time.
• Affordability. Often gapping
poor children and then
expensive for middle class.
• Blue and Gold Program
• CAL Middle Class Program

20. University of California Application Shifts
• Applicants must write 4 short 350
word max essays
• Freshman can choose from 8
prompts
• Transfers have one required and
then seven prompts, of which
applicants must choose 3
• Greater implications for earlier
college readiness

21. UC Freshman and Transfer Prompts
• Freshman Personal Insight Prompts: Answer any 4 of the following 8 questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
• What do you want UC to know about you? Here’s your chance to tell us in your own words.
• Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you: But you should select questions
that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you
have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or
contributed to group efforts over time.
Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many
ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and
artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative
side.
What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you
developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant
educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational
barrier you have faced.
Describe the most significant challenge you have faced andthe
steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this
challenge affected your academic achievement?
Describe your favorite academic subject and explain how it has
influenced you.
What have you done to make your school or your community a
better place?
What is the one thing that you think sets you apart fromother
candidates applying to the University of California?
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
• Transfers: Personal insight questions: There is one required question you mustanswer
• You must also answer 3 out of 7 additional questions
• What do you want UC to know about you? Here’s your chance to tell us in your own words.
• Which three questions you choose to answer are up to you: But you should select questions
that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.
• Required question
• Please describe how you have prepared for your intended major, including your
readiness to succeed in your upper-division courses once you enroll at the university.
• You will also need to select 3 out of the following 7 questions to answer:
1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively
influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over
time.
Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways:
problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few.
Describe how you express your creative side.
What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed
and demonstrated that talent over time?
Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity
or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have
taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affectedyour
academic achievement?
What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
What is the one thing that you think sets you apart from other candidates
applying to the University of California?

22. The Testing World-To Test or Not to Test?

23. Testing
• Fair Test tracks test
optional statuses.
• Increasing number of new
test optional colleges.
fairtest.org
• Several new dates this
fall for both SAT and ACT
• Extended dates to submit
scores and self-report

24. Private Colleges and
Other Public Universities
Often private colleges offer
better financial aid packages and
merit scholarships than publics
.

25. Goldilocks and the Three Bears

26. Private Colleges
Marquette
Lehigh
MIT

27. How Do I Find These Schools?
• First, you need to know match
colleges. These are based on your
academic profile—including
grades and test scores.
• They also depend on level of
involvement in activities and
work. Artistic and athletic talents
can make a difference.
• Passions also matter—as there
are schools for African American
Students, all women, technology,
and more.

28. Visit Colleges
College fairs
Books
Fiske
Colleges That Change Lives
Online
College Week Live
College Greenlight
Big Future
Naviance
You Visit

29. Online College Fairs
https://www.collegeweeklive.com/event-schedule

30. You Visit :
https://www.youvisit.com/collegesearch/

31. College Specific

32. Western Undergraduate Exchange
http://outofstatecollegefairs.org/western-undergraduate-
exchange-wue-faqs/

33. Affording College

34. Types of Financial Aid: Internal
• Need-based
• Grants/Scholarships
• Work
• Loans
• Student
• Parent
• Merit-based

35. External Scholarships

36. Great Free Guide
https://roybal-allard.house.gov/uploadedfiles/student_resource_guide_2019-2020.pdf

37. Internal Merit Scholarships

38. College Greenlight

39. Common Application
• Opens August 1
• Essays Same As Last Year

40. 2020-2021 Common Application Prompts
250-650 Words
1.Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would
be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2.The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced
a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3.Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the
outcome?
4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query,
an ethical dilemma – anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what
steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
5.Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of
yourself or others.
6.Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate
you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
7.Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different
prompt, or one of your own design.

41. Questions?

42. Seizing the moment

43. Contact Dr. Joseph
• getmetocollege@gmail.com
• www.getmetocollege.org
• Buy my Integrated Website and
Mobile App-All CollegeApplication
Essays www.allcollegeessays.org
• www.allcollegeessays.org