LA QUINTA, Calif. — The college application process is changing.
After a year without milestones like prom or even just seeing their friends and teachers, students still have to put their best foot forward to get into a good college. Zoom plays a big part in this for some.
Allie Guerrini is a high school senior. She’s applying to schools for musical theater so auditioning is maybe the biggest part of the process. She’s performing for admissions officers inside her home.
“Zoom doesn’t showcase your voice, and your acting, and your dance, so it’s really hard to show these schools what you can do very well,“ said Guerrini.
At the same time, she’s also doing online school and Front Row Center, which is a weekly television series taped with special COVID-19 modifications.
In total Guerrini is applying to 16 schools. All of them pre-screen students using recordings sent in by the applicants themselves performing songs, monologues, and dances. Only a few are then chosen for a live audition.
Most of these final live, virtual auditions will happen next year. However, Guerrini applied early and already auditioned for her dream school, Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio. She asked her family to leave the house for several hours and take the dog with them so there would be no distractions.
“So I was just kind of sitting there drinking tea and then all of a sudden my camera turned on and I was like, 'Oh God,' so then I put it down and I had to sing, and it’s also kind of hard to get yourself in the performing mindset when you might be like, 'Oh there’s my couch, oh there’s my bed.' You’re not like I’m on a stage,” said Guerrini.
You don’t get a do-over. Getting into college is one more thing COVID-19 could take away.
“They don’t want to hear an excuse from you. They just want to hear you perform, but if you get sick there goes your chance to get into college,” said Guerrini.
Even if the pandemic continues to rage and coursework is online Guerrini says she’d still go to one of her top picks if they’d have her.
She's not about to let anything bring the curtain down on her Broadway dream.