I'm a high school student stuck at home due to sheltering in place. What should I be doing?

During this unprecedented time of sheltering-in-place due to coronavirus, high school students are asking, “What should I be doing to prepare for college admissions?”

Here are my recommendations:

Academics

Colleges have historically valued grades the most when evaluating applications, so if your school is still assigning letter grades, try to maintain the best ones possible.

If your school has changed to pass/fail grading, it’s still good to keep up with academics since knowledge and academic skills are generally cumulative.

Independent Learning

This is an important part of your high school journey, so much so that Stanford, the UCs and many other schools have essays questions along the lines of: “What is your academic passion and how have you developed it both inside and OUTSIDE of the classroom?”

An easy way to pursue independent study is by using free resources like online college courses, Khan Academy and my favorite, YouTube.

(Tangent: one of my Hong Kong students Neville wanted to improve his English so he turned to YouTube. Then he decide he wanted to further sharpen his English through debate, so he again turned to YouTube, watching hundreds of hours of tutorials and debates.

Neville wanted to teach others English so he started a debate team at his not-very-competitive high school… they ended up winning a Hong Kong-wide competition. Neville wrote his personal statement about that story and ended up getting into UCLA.)

So, check out YouTube - it’s the great education equalizer! If you have an interest in any topic, it’s on YouTube. And if it’s not, find another way to learn about it, and then start your own YouTube channel to build your media empire :). Seriously, bonus points if you can tie your independent learning into a passion project.

Standardized Testing

SAT and ACT test dates have been cancelled through June, but at-home testing may occur in the fall if social distancing continues.

The good news is, a growing number of colleges, including the UCs, Harvard and Cornell, are not requiring the SAT or ACT for students applying this fall.

If you’re aiming for top colleges like Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown, you should still prepare in case they require testing for admission this fall.  Be sure to check your specific colleges closer to application deadline to confirm their testing requirements.

Extracurriculars / Passion Projects

If your extracurriculars have moved online, by all means, continue to participate.

And if you’re fortunate, you may have more time than you did pre-pandemic. Instead of feeding your video game addiction or getting sucked into the social media vortex, you can use this time to pursue passion projects, like writing an app, starting a bath bomb business, or knitting (all projects of my former students). Take it a step further by writing a book, or starting a blog, podcast or YouTube channel to demonstrate your expertise. (Passion projects are so important that we’ll have a separate post on that later.)

Self Care

With the present situation and the uncertainty of the future, it can be easy to get stressed out. So, it’s extra important to take care of yourself, especially since teens are experiencing higher rates of anxiety and depression than ever before. Make sure you’re scheduling plenty of time for the basics - eat right, exercise, sleep, stay connected with friends and family, and pursue your hobbies.

Take a deep breath, and live one day at a time. It’s so cliché, but it’s cliché for a reason - it works. Keep focusing on the most important things - relationships, and other things that bring you joy and meaning.

Readers, how are you spending your time during the sheltering-in-place? Any tips and ideas to share with others?

Also, do you have any questions or topics for me to address in future blog posts? Share them in the comments below!