Nerve racking. Its still very unclear about how colleges will be treating testing. A lot of schools are going test optional. Im not sure what that means in terms of how they weigh other aspects of their student. What is your advice for the high schools right now in quarantine . What should we be focusing on . And what is the most important thing that youd recommend us anxious and confused High Schoolers to do to stay on track . And welcome to this special edition of our 3 00 p. M. Show, getting answers. Today were devoting our time to a topic thats extremely impactful and stressful to High School Students and their families, the College Admissions process, which has been thrown into chaos. As you just saw, High School Students have lots of questions. So today were going to get some clarity and guidance from a bay area leading Bay Area College counselor and none other than the director of undergraduate admissions for the entire university of california system. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Were just grateful that as busy as you are, you can join us for your firstever tv interview. So i want to start with the two biggest changes for uc. Lets go ahead and put that up. One, suspending the letter grade requirement for ag courses and suspending standardized test requirements for students applying for the fall of 2021. So my question is what is the ov overarching principle you used . We understood students would be in really challenging times and wanted to make sure they were not discouraged and having these regulations in place would not allow them to enroll at our campuses. And so we quickly moved to suspend, as you said, the requirement to have letter grades for our College Preparatory education courses, which are known as athrougg. As you said, i think the options for students to actually be able to take exams became very limited and so we decided to suspending the requirement to have the a. C. T. Or s. A. T. As part of the admission process for fall 21. All right. Lets start with grades, okay. So some schools are giving letter grades, other schools are giving credit no credit. Uc will compute gpas using whatever letter grade students have. But many students are wondering how could you possibly put them on an equal footing . Well, the assumption is that they were on an equal footing to begin with. We know theres never been uniformity in how gpas or grades are awards awarded across schools and across districts. We will use the information thats available. If schools want to provide their students with just a short statement they can insert into their application when the time is right to let us know what policy that individual school took, that will help our readers understand the context of the grades that we are seeing when they apply. All right. But what if you have a School District that decides, for example, to give all their students automatic as. Would you compute those as . Well, if there are letter grades to be used in the gpa, those would be included, of course. But again, i think that it would be helpful for our readers to understand the context in which those grades were given. So if the policy for the district or the school was to provide everyone with an a then we will understand that it may or may not be a true reflection of their performance. But i think schools are trying to make the best decisions to support their students both academically and also in terms of their Mental Health and their overall maintaining their level of stress and anxiety to a minimum. Sure. Ive also heard of some schools that are going to offer students a choice of getting a grade or getting pass fail. So do you prefer the student who chooses one over the other . I wouldnt say that we have a preference, but as long as we know what the policy that was adopted by the school is, that will help us understanding when we do see that information provided to us on the application. Okay. Would you consider delaying the application deadline this year so that students could perhaps have their senior year first semester grades count toward the gpa . I dont think that we would delay the deadline. However, i do think that youre on the right track, that we may see campuses asking for from some populations of students, some semester grades when they are available perhaps in january if they are noticing an upward trend that was not fulfilled at the end of the junior year, they may want to see those first semester senior grades. Would it be more fair, some people are wondering, to simply not compute spring 2020 grades at all for anybody, given the huge variance you have in what schools are doing and the Remote Learning quality for the different School Districts . Well, again, if a school decides to provide grades, the students will be those grades will be viewed in context of the local school, and so and its one term of grades. I think that in general all of our readers, our admissions professionals understand that spring 2020, that term is an anomalous term so whether or not its factored into an actual gpa, theyll understand what theyre looking at. All right. Lets shift to the s. A. T. Or the a. C. T. Or the testing. So youre not requiring them, but will you still consider them if a student has taken them and wants to submit their score . Yes. So essentially weve moved to a test optional cycle for fall 2021. I want to make clear that the regents are considering what to do beyond 2021, and so the temporary it is a temporary suspension of the tests for the upcoming admission cycle. Well have more information about future cycles in the next couple of months. But in terms of students who may have already taken a test or plan and are able to take a test this fall, if they have scores that they do want to submit, then we will welcome that. Those include either for the a. C. T. Or the s. A. T. All right. You know how a lot of students, especially overachievers wondering if optional truly is optional. So is it truly still more advantageous to submit a score if a student can take a test and submit that score . Well, our admission process is we use comprehensive review, multiple measures of academic achievement and academic promise. And its an additive process. So we are looking for information that builds the students portfolio of information, but nothing is ever deducted. And so when we say that scores are optional, if the scores are such that it provides Additional Information about the students academic performance, maybe to supplement supplement their gpa, then it would be used as an added value factor. But were not going to deduct in any way for anything that is missing in the application. Okay. Now, as you know, the College Board has said it will start doing a lot of testing starting in august hopefully, maybe the fall. If they have to, theyll administer them remotely with students taking them from home. If a student were to submit a score from a takehome test, would you look at that score a little differently from the scores of students who took it before, the regular way, if you will . You know, i dont know what that administration is going to look like and so, you know, i feel like i cant really speak to that at this time. But we will i think well have to cross that bridge when we come to it because we dont really know theres just too much uncertainty with what theyre proposing to do in the fall. Okay, ill check back in a few months on that one. I want to move on to a couple of other questions that are not necessarily related to testing and grades, and that is if you take away some of those data points, right, would other factors then become more important . What are they . And really holistic admissions is something youve always done at uc, however, given the mass quantities of applications you process, over 200,000 across the system each year, how could you do the kind of deep dive into each student that perhaps smaller private schools could do . Well, amazingly our campuses are able to manage their volume, which as you said is great, and they do hire external readers to help them. But most applications are read at least by two individuals, one possibly an external reader and then one a seasoned internal admissions professional. And when you asked about the way that holistic review works, is no factor is given a fixed weight in any way so theres no factor thats more important than the other. Its like i said before, were looking for multiple measures of achievement and performance that all build to bring the students best qualities to light. Okay, all right, that sounds fair. I do want to also ask you, uc typically doesnt grant a lot of deferments, deferrals or gap years, but this year we probably expect many seniors to request that, right . So what is your plan for that and what does that mean for the juniors applying for spots next year. Will there be fewer spots . In general uc has not offered a lot of deferment opportunities. So i think for students who are interested in pursuing that option, the best place to start would be with the campus to which they are wanting to enroll and the campuses will work with them in processing that request. All right. One final question and then weve got to go, which is a lot of students, you know, they look at the pass fail system and they think, oh, with that and with fewer International Students possibly it might be easier to get into the ucs this year. Others think differently, perhaps it will be a crapshoot, perhaps harder if theyre higher achievers. What do you say to them to kind of relieve that anxiety of not knowing . Well, again, i just have to go back to our comprehensive review process. Were looking at everything thats in the application. We are asking them to respond to four personal insight questions where we can really learn about what is really motivating students, what their interests are, what you know, what their greatest achievements are. And so i think if they can highlight for us who they are and that they are we understand that students are more than their grades and a test score and so thats why we you know, we use comprehensive review. They have always been and this has brought that into the spotlight. Ucs director of undergraduate admissions, we thank you so much for taking the time today to help out the bay area High School Students who are applying and giving us those answers. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure. Well keep the conversation going. Okay, when we come back, well have a bay area counselor to ans and we are back with our special on College Admissions. Earlier we heard directly from ucs system about the changes its making in admissions requirements. Now we want to address how to succeed given that changing landscape. These are a few of the questions that High School Students sent to us. Given the Current Situation with covid19, what can a person do to better their chances of getting into a uc . With s. A. T. S and a. C. T. S being cancelled, how does that affect the importance of letters of recommendation . Is there something that we can be doing from home or like things that we should start planning ahead for that will make up for that gap, or is it just okay that people arent going to do anything this year . So joining us now to answer these questions and more is lauren cook, dean of college advising at the Jewish Community high school of the bay in san francisco. Lauren is also current president of the western association for College Admission counseling. Lauren, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thank you for having me. Boy, you saw how many of those kids have questions. Lets start with what can students do right now to improve their chances of getting into a uc this year . Well, i think the uc application is really selfreported and so the student is really in charge of what theyre telling the institution. So youve got to think about whats in your control right now. So your grades right now from this semester, if you do have grades, if theyre going to be given to you and can work on raising them before the end of the school year, i think thats really important. And then writing, of course, is important and something that you have total control over, those essays that youre writing, until the moment that you hit submit next fall. So the ucs ask for eight personal insight questions. They want you to respond to four. I think you node to think about what are the four things you most want to get across about yourself and try to select questions that allow you to address those topics. You really have to think as if youre being your own best pr agent. Do you think a lot of kids are going to write about their covid19 experience . And do you think its necessary to right about it . I think it depends on the students. Yes, theres a lot of joking going on that this is going to be the most popular essay topic, sort of what you did during the pandemic. I think that would be fair if that feels like the most important thing for a student to talk about. I would consider what your way in is through that topic, because i do think it will be so popular, but i also know that some colleges, i dont know whether this is true for the ucs specifically, but are talking about creating a space, the common application has mentioned this, where you can talk specifically about covid19 and how it might have impacted your family, financial situation, your housing, that sort of thing, or whether its about the impact it had on your schooling or some other story you want to tell. So i would think about all of the things that make up who you are and try and be really strategic in terms of what you choose to talk b if covid19 is it, then thats it. All right. You also heard the question how does the cancellation of s. A. T. S and a. C. T. S affect the importance of letters of recommendation. Thats a didngood one and proba something you have control over and can influence. Thats where you have to separate out the schools like ucs that dont ask for letters of recommendation from the schools that do. I think as we look at this test optional landscape, yes, the other pieces of your application are going to perhaps increase a bit in importance. And so those letters of recommendation, yes, i think you, again, want to make really good choices about the teachers that you might be talking with. I think some test optional schools are interested in hearing perhaps from different disciplines, so choosing someone from the humanities field and then from a s. T. E. M. Field to provide a little bit of balance could be useful. But i also want to just express to all the public School Students out there, and i was a Public School student myself, that you might not know your College Counselor terribly well, and the College Counselor recommendation is often asked for as well. And if that person doesnt know you really personally, thats okay, andolleges get that caseloads can vary wildly. So, for example, i have a smaller caseload at jchs but in some Public Schools it could be a couple of hundred students to one and thats all right. But it puts a little more emphasis on those coming from your faculty members. And then perhaps a coach or a rabbi or someone outside of your school as well that might know you very well. Lauren, i also wanti to touc on the strategy of whether you should submit your s. A. T. Score if you get a chance to take it, since its optional for a lot of places, including uc. Some people think overall the scores will be lower due to the circumstances. Other people think no way, if its optional, only the high scorers are going to submit so if you dont get a top score youre going to look worse. Whats the strategy there . Well, i think the first thing, and of course the advice im going to give now is good for today as the sand seems to be shifting under our feet, its sort of evolving every day. But the first step is to take the test if its available to you. We do have lots of institutions that have gone test optional which is tremendous in responding to the situation right now. There are some that have not. All of the ivy institutions are still requiring test scores. So i would say if you can get a sitting in the fall, and now that it looks like the s. A. T. And the a. C. T. Are both going to be introducing online perhaps athome tests, you should be able to take at least one test, to take the test and see how you do. As you said, yes, we might not be seeing the tremendously high score averages that weve seen in the past if you cant take it multiple times or perhaps create that superscore across tests, but see how you do on that sitting that youre able to take and then make an informed decision with perhaps the advice of an admission rep or your College Counselor about whether you actually submit it or not. All right, lauren, thats a great start. We want to continue our conversation after just a short break on the air. Break on the air. But you can join us on how about poor fred wilson . What a shame. So soon after retiring. I hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. Thats ridiculous he had social security. When my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right for 255 the funeral costs were well over 8,000. How on earth did she pay for it . Fortunately, my brother bought additional Life Insurance before he retired. Whew i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh . 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To find out more, call now. male announcer call now and youll also get this free beneficiary planner and this free prescription savings card that can help you save up to 80 on prescription drugs. And we are back with lauren cook, dean of college advising at the Jewish Community high school of the bay in san francisco. Lauren is current president of the western association for College Admission counseling, so really happy to have your insight. I want to pick up from where you heard one of the students in the last block, she said is there something students can do from home right now to make up for the cancellation of all those wonderful summer opportunities they were going to put on their college applications, their research project, right, their summer program, whatever they were doing. What can they do from home now . Yeah, thats a really good question. A lot of my families have been asking me that. I think that youve got a lot of options and i think that your choices should be guided by what you are already interested in, already invested in. I do think theres some families that have an impulse to sort of ask what can i do right now that would look good, especially in relation to covid19. Is there volunteering opportunities i could engage in. I would always encourage people to think about it from the other point of view. Think about being the most you that you can be. So what makes you happy . What do you get excited about . That will make admission officers excited too. So to get to some examples, if youre an artist or performer, this is a time to continue honing your craft. You can consider how you can develop new work during this time, start developing that portfolio for submission, become familiar with technology thats going to let you record the output that youre doing. If youre a writer, a journalist, an aspiring historian, record your experience right now. Future historians will thank you for that. And certainly theres volunteering to be done. If you are unable to conduct some of your normal summer activities this summer, think about taking an online class at a local Community College that can contribute to your academic profile, perhaps raise your gpa a little bit and also show your investment in continuing being a lifelong learner and pursuing perhaps that area that you want to major in in college. All right. I want to ask about next years tuition and fees. I know uc is not ready to talk about it because they cant advocate for a change, whether its up or down, without knowing the state budget and theyre going to work with the state on that to try to keep their funding level up. But what can you tell students with regard to trying to line up Financial Aid or scholarships next year . Yeah, this is a tough one. I think that this will continue to be an evolving situation. Some institutions will be raising their tuition for sure. Weve also seen some institutions doing what theyre calling a tuition reset where they might lower their price to be more attractive than some of their pier institutieer institu. So its anybodys guess right now. In terms of lining up the finances to be able to pay for college, i definitely encourage everyone to submit a fafsa starting october 1st, thats the free application for Financial Aid federally. The state of california also offers the cal grant so you definitely want to take advantage of that as well and be looking for outside scholarships as youre able. But this is another unknown. It is. We have about 15 seconds, but i do want to get this in, which is normally students might be visiting colleges right now or road trip over the summer. Without that, what can they do to learn about colleges . Get online. Colleges are just as worried as you are that youre not going to be able to learn about them so were seeing a lot of Virtual Tours and information sessions being available. I went on a virtual tour for Santa Clara University last week where the tour guides were on skateboards. That was fun. So people are being creative. Definitely take advantage of whats out there and try to connect with the admission rep that might be responsible for your high school. Most offices are organized regionally so there is a human being that is responsible for your zip code or city. So connect with them and ask your questions. All right, lauren cook, thank you so much for that information. Were going to take a break on air, but y all right. Thats going to do it for this particular show. We hope you got some information you needed for yourself, your family, your college student, your high school juniors, seniors who might be applying next year, even sophomores and freshmen. Just a note that we will be here every day at 3 00 on air and on live stream answering your questions. A lot of the questions we addressed today were sent by students who were following us on facebook live, instagram, youtube live, abc7news. Com and the abc 7 news app. World news tonight, the coronavirus here in the u. S. And several headlines developing as we come on the air. The major stimulus package, more than 480 billion, for Small Business and for testing in this country, passing the senate. What the president said about this just moments ago. And the warning late today from the head of the cdc, now reportedly saying the assault of the virus next winter will be more difficult than the one we just went through. Why he believes that. Also, that facetoface meeting at the white house. President trump, new york governor andrew cuomo. Governor cuomo saying he wanted to talk about testing. The governor calling it a very good conversation, and that is was, quote, productive. What will this mean amid growing calls for federal help for widespread testing