DOTHAN, Ala. – Many colleges across the country are taking the difficulties from the coronavirus pandemic into consideration when deciding if an applicant gets accepted or denied.
Applying to college can be stressful in general. That’s why some universities are easing some of the burden and are not requiring the AT or SAT. Incoming freshman at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (U.A.H.) said it’s a catch 22.
“It felt somewhat less stressful, but also more stressful because my other parts of my application and everything mattered so much more to these colleges than having the ACT involved in it,” he said.
Like many students, Simons’ grades went down some during the pandemic. Universities like Oakwood University and the University of North Alabama (U.N.A.) will allow some leeway if you don’t make the GPA requirements.
“I feel if I didn’t go through the pandemic, I would have been a lot less stressed because there’s other colleges I could have gone to, and it was like, I had more stuff to be prepared with,” said Simons. “Going through the pandemic, I didn’t have the ACT scores counted as much, so it just felt a lot more stressful at certain points because of the pandemic.”
All the universities in North Alabama are not requiring the ACT or the SAT for Fall 2021 admissions. U.N.A., Alabama A&M University, and Oakwood University said their acceptance rates haven’t fluctuated much from previous years.
So for Simons, he was excited when he got accepted to U.A.H.
“I felt really relieved because it felt like I was finally done having all the stress of applying everything,” said Simons.
Some of the universities are also waiving their application fees and adding more scholarship opportunities for students.
