Counselor’s Corner – May 22, 2020

Social-Emotional Counseling

Finding the Parallels between the Covid-19 Pandemic and Culture Shock

As we continue to work through the challenges of distance learning and staying safe by staying at home, distanced from friends, it occurs to me that this process parallels that of Culture Shock. While the culture shock trajectory is roughly a 6-month period and the end to the Covid-19 pandemic is unknown, there are a number of similarities.

We started off strong with our distance learning, adapting to new technologies and being creative in finding ways to be together while apart.  This could be seen as the Honeymoon phase outlined in the research on culture shock.  Everything was new and different and perhaps we went into it with a bit of enthusiasm and dare I say, even excitement?

The newness of our experience soon wore off however, and the challenges of it grew more evident.  This could be seen as equivalent to the 3-month slump we see in culture shock characterized by frustration, depression, anger, even Hostility.

Now, though, with the end of the school year in sight, we seem to be moving into the acceptance phase and settling into this new normal, at least for now. There is a light at the end of the tunnel called SUMMER and while it may look very different this year from other summers, it’s still a time to look forward to- to rest, relax, unwind and shut off our brains a bit. Maybe we can begin to look back and even develop a sense of Humor about it all. Wow, how did we get through that!?

Human beings are infinitely adaptable creatures and we will get through this, like other challenges, and come out the other side with new insights and a new vision, and hopefully, our 2020 vision will be clearer and crisper than ever before and we can finally feel at Home.

College and Career Counseling – Virtual University Visits

We invite you to join admission officers from Harvard, Pomona, Stanford, and Wellesley for a virtual information session. We look forward to sharing details about the extensive academic and extracurricular opportunities for undergraduates at our institutions, offering advice about the admission process and financial aid, and answering your questions.

Please join this information session here:

Information Session| 27 May 2020 @ 6:00am (U.S. Pacific time)

*To maximize our time together, please submit your questions when you RSVP to the event.

Conducted by

• Gabi Goode, Harvard College
• Adam Sapp, Pomona College
• Eliza Powers ’16, Stanford University
• Milena Mareva ’01, Wellesley College

We welcome interested high school students, parents, high school counselors, and friends. Space is limited, so please register as early as possible. Registration closes 1 hour prior to the event start time. If you’re unable to join us, we encourage you to visit our admission websites to learn more about our institutions.

We look forward to seeing you!

Harvard | Pomona | Stanford | Wellesley

UK University Showcase

The next BridgeU UK showcase is coming up, and as you have added one or more of these universities to your BridgeU shortlist, I hope you are able to attend.

This time, we will be holding the session twice to make sure students in every timezone can attend. The university list and timings are below – more universities will be added soon. Register today via the link above!

Thursday 21 May

• 11:00 BST: University of York
• 11:30 BST: Nottingham Trent University
• 12:00 BST: University of Liverpool
• 12:30 BST: University of Bristol

Tuesday 26 May

• 16:00 BST: University of Liverpool
• 16:30 BST: Nottingham Trent University
• 17:00 BST: University of York
• 17:30 BST: University of Bristol

Register for the Virtual UK University Showcase via the link below.

This week, we celebrate Coalition Week, an event meant to provide college search resources to your students and to celebrate all the hard work they do! We invite your students to join UChicago and many of our Midwestern partners to learn about the ins and outs of the college admissions process.

• Monday, 5/18 from 3-5 p.m. CDT: College Essays 101 with the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan

• Tuesday, 5/19 from 3-5 p.m. CDT: Introduction to College Apps with the Coalition for College

• Wednesday, 5/20 from 3-5 p.m. CDT: Tackling Financial Aid with the College Advising Corps

• Thursday, 5/21 from 3-5 p.m. CDT: Midwest is Best! Learn about Midwestern schools with Kenyon College, Notre Dame, the University of Chicago, and the University of Iowa

• Friday, 5/22 from 3-5 p.m. CDT: Any additional questions? Join us for a Q & A session with Knox College, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The presentations will be conducted using Zoom, an online webinar and video chat platform. On the days you would like to attend programming, please click on the session link at 3 p.m. CDT and your device will prompt you to open the platform automatically. You will not need your own Zoom account in order to join.

Students who participate in at least 4 of the events above will receive a free goody bag, so be sure to encourage them to participate in as many sessions as they can!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to collegeadmissions@uchicago.edu with any questions you may have. We look forward to having you join us!