Admissions in Akimbo

The common idiom “pulling the rug out” has always been exceptionally comical to me; the image of someone sprawled in the air, arms and legs akimbo as the offending rug is whisked away speaks directly to my love of pratfalls and a steady diet of The Three Stooges when I was a youngster. 
However, far less comical to me as Director of College Counseling is the reality that so many college- and university-bound students faced this year, as the proverbial rug of admissions was pulled out from underneath them (along with traditional campus visits, the use of standardized testing, and some wrinkles that I am sure I am already forgetting). In my 20 odd years in the college admission and counseling world, I can think of no greater fundamental upheaval of this process than the changes wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Somewhat suddenly, the entire world of admissions was akimbo. 

As application numbers skyrocketed at many institutions favored by Ellis graduates and admit rates started to plummet, I personally was feeling more than just a little nervous. And yet, walking into Ellis on a day-to-day basis and interacting with our seniors, I never felt that same sense of fear from the Class of 2021. Whatever moments may have occurred where they felt the reverberations of unheralded admission realities setting in were either well hidden or well taken.

With a grace and coolness normally reserved for heroines in post-apocalyptic movies, our seniors navigated through the spaces of college admissions exhibiting some of the traits that I think are most important for a well-lived and successful life (and so indelibly Ellisian in this particular instance).

Iterative processes that undergird our academic experiences helped this year’s class know that their work mattered and paid off, despite the circumstances they labored under. Identifying those individual elements that make every Ellis student shine in their own way no doubt made an impact with the 123 admission offers (and counting) that seniors received this year. And the collective will and fortitude of this special community enabled the Class of 2021 to demonstrate their remarkable resilience time and again. 

In my estimation, the measure of an admission process’ worth doesn’t rest solely on the number of acceptances any one student receives; instead, it is borne out in how students grow, change, and respond to the realities they face. In that sense, our Class of 2021 has been set up for success throughout their time with us at Ellis, and will no doubt continue to be the changemakers we know them to be well into the future.
Back