How many AP classes should you take? The answer, like many in the college admissions world is, “It depends.” In this installment of the College Coach video series, Ask the College Admissions Expert, former Reed College admissions officer, Ian Fisher, guides students and parents through how to answer this question for themselves.

by Karen Spencer, former admissions officer at Georgetown University

With so much unknown out there about the timing of COVID-19 and the length of social distancing measures, one of the most common questions we are fielding is whether or not a gap year might make sense for incoming freshmen. This practice of putting off enrollment for a year is called “deferring,” and whether or not the time off is granted is up to the university. If family finances have changed and your college plans are up in the air, or if the uncertainty surrounding the structure of campus life and learning has you rethinking your plan to enroll this fall, a “gap year” might be a good option. Here are questions to ask before pursuing the gap year option:

by Sara Calvert-Kubrom, former admissions officer at Lewis & Clark College

As in-person summer camps, pre-college programs, travel, internships, sports training, and more begin to be canceled, many wonder “what next?” First, we need to remember that colleges will all take these extraordinary circumstances into consideration when evaluating applications for admission. Accept that it is ok to slow down. There are, however, many enriching ways teens can use this time to positively impact their community, grow academically and personally, and continue to thoughtfully prepare for college.

While some colleges have pushed back their reply date from May 1 to June 1 or even later (we see you, Iowa State!), many students will need to commit to their college of choice within the next few weeks. We have suggestions for how to approach this decision, especially since visiting campus is not an option this year. We will also look into using financial fit as part of the college selection process. In Office Hours, we’ll offer options for students who don’t like any of the colleges that accepted them.

Many high schoolers are in the midst of planning their class schedule for the upcoming school year, and this course selection can come with a lot of anxiety. Students and the parents wonder if it is better to take more challenging courses, with the risk of earning lower grades, or to play it safe with the classes they know they can do well in. From a college’s perspective, is it better to get an A in College Prep or a B in Honors?

Some students will see this as good news, while others may be less thrilled: CollegeBoard announced Friday that it will allow students to take AP exams at home. Originally scheduled for May, each exam will now be offered twice; those dates will be announced on April 3. In-home exams will be taken via computer, tablet, or smartphone, with an option to submit photos of completed work for those students who may have more limited tech access. The exams will be shorter than usual—just 45 minutes each—and will focus on content that most schools were able to cover by early March. Details regarding the logistics and security of this new model are currently limited, but CollegeBoard is expected to release more information in the coming weeks. They’re also striving to ensure that students without regular internet or device access can complete the exams.

Finding a job can be tough at the best of times, but what if you are a teen looking for your first job with no experience? In this video, our college admissions experts will provide some helpful tips to help first time job hunters land an interview! Tune in to the latest installment of the College Coach video series, We Can Explain, to learn how.

by Jennifer Simons, former admissions officer at Tufts University

If you speak to an admissions officer for let’s say, Wellesley, she might mention their beautiful campus or famous alumnae. If you speak to a student at Barnard, she will likely extol the virtues of a campus in the city and the robust internship opportunities therein. A professor from Agnes Scott College might mention their unique SUMMIT program, in which each student has her own personal Board of Advisors and is empowered to be an agent of global change. An alum from Sweet Briar or Mills College might tell you how they, as part of the student body, prevented their beloved alma mater from changing its core mission. But I’m not here to talk to you about any of those things. I’m going to tell you a secret: Women’s colleges aren’t special. 

The Admission Office’s Perspective

First, the use of a waitlist at any given school can vary dramatically from year to year. A school might take 100 students from the waitlist one year and zero students the next. In general, more selective schools are less likely to use their waitlists because they will have a high percentage of admitted students who accept their offers of admission. They’re therefore much less likely to suffer from a shortage. For all schools, how they use the waitlist depends on the number of students who accept their offer of admission, and that’s not a question they’ll have answered until very close to or after May 1.

A lot of families of high schoolers take advantage of spring vacation weeks to visit college campuses. For high school juniors and their parents, this may be the last opportunity they have to visit campuses while school is actually in session before applying to colleges in the fall. So, what’s a student to do with the limited time they have to be on campus to help them decide if this college is a place where they’d like to spend four years of their life?