It would be really foolish of me to say that the pandemic is over, or almost over, or close to almost over. There are still a lot of people left to get vaccinated, and there are still some scary new variants that may be resistant to the vaccines. There’s just too much that can still go wrong to start feeling confident.

And yet….

The past month I’ve seen a lot more people get their shots, a lot more kids go to school in person, a lot more people comfortable going out of the house. The pandemic may not be over, but we’re definitely in a new phase. So as the one-year anniversary of our lockdown came up last week, I started to think not just about what I was glad to be done with, but also the new habits and routines I picked up over the past year that I hope stick around.

I also, naturally, thought about changes in college admissions I hope will stick around.

The fall of standardized tests. Maybe “fall” isn’t the right word. There are still ACT and SAT tests, and there are still schools that require them. But the role of those two tests has certainly been diminished, and I don’t think they’re coming back to the prominence they had before. I’ve written about the tests a number of times in the past year:

Opting in and out of standardized tests

Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?

Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college?

It seriously looks like SAT/ACT testing is going away

Should you bother to take the SAT or ACT?

A more deliberate approach to campus visits. Last fall most college campuses were closed to student and parent tours, and many are still closed to visitors. However, a lot more virtual tours and online opportunities to explore became available. I hope this remains the norm, even after in-person tours get going again. While I think visiting a campus before committing to attend is still the best approach when possible, the past year taught many of us how to be more deliberate with visits. In the future, I hope people will get enough from the online options to feel comfortable applying to schools, and in-person visits will be limited to schools where you’ve already been accepted. I want to see more students touring schools online in the 9th-11th grades, and a lot fewer touring schools in person in the 9th-11th grades.

I hope that in the future, visiting colleges will be a lot more like touring homes for sale. Lots of people (including me) have fun checking out real estate listings both where we live and throughout the world. But we only book a visit with a real estate agent when we’re actually looking to buy. I’m sure they’re out there, but I haven’t heard of anyone saying “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out some homes for sale just in case we end up moving here!” But I know plenty of families who, once their kids are in middle school, will say “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out UCLA and USC, just in case!” They go on college tours wherever they happen to be, just to get the kids some exposure. I think you can do that much closer to home if you want, but colleges are making it much easier to get to know them without being there in person.

An appreciation for the old rituals. As a high school teacher, especially when I taught seniors and had AP exams to prepare for, I really didn’t like all the extra stuff that came with senior year. Prom; senior skip day; senior prank; senior trip; awards night; graduation rehearsal, sometimes several of them. I was fine with seniors doing college visits at places who had accepted them, but the rest felt like too much celebrating a win before they had crossed the finish line. But talking to students in the classes of ‘21 and ‘22, I keep hearing how much they miss those things. I’ve come to a better understanding of how important those transition rituals are, and I hope students do, too. School communities can reflect on which of the rituals and traditions they missed the most and why. The next two years will be a good time to appreciate and accentuate the really meaningful ones. It’s also a great time to let go of the ones that aren’t as special.

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