How 3 high school seniors are making college decisions amid pandemic

Welcome to a new class for incoming college freshmen. It's called Pandemic Decision-Making 101. Here, find three stories of high school seniors working to choose their educational futures. Each explains what is factoring into his or her decision despite widespread uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 virus.

Lahela McClenahan

DePaul. Roosevelt. University of Illinois at Chicago. Elmhurst. North Central. College of DuPage.

Glenbard East High School senior Lahela McClenahan of Lombard has been admitted to these schools and knows she should feel comforted by her options. But she doesn't know what she wants to study, she's only visited two of the campuses - not for official tours - and her plans for tours were shot when the stay-at-home order went into effect.

“Even though it seems like I have all these opportunities, it's hard to be able to make a decision on that when I feel like I don't really have enough information,” she said. “It feels like you're being pressured to make this choice ... and it's sort of overwhelming.”

Even though many schools are pushing back their commitment deadlines until June 1, that does little to relieve the pressure, McClenahan said. Her parents are understanding and have offered to let her take a gap year before college to get “resituated.”

She's considering that, but has mixed feelings about her job prospects, especially amid a market full of layoffs.

“I'm taking that job away from somebody else who really needs it,” she said. “I'm trapped in infinite cycle of I don't know what to do.”

Michael Gavrincea

Weighing the cultural and communal differences between two strong academic schools is the challenge for Michael Gavrincea of Mount Prospect.

The Prospect High School senior will be the first in his family to attend college in the U.S. after both of his parents emigrated from Romania. His choices are Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame. He plans to study computer science and physics.

Gavrincea has been to the Northwestern campus in Evanston in passing, but has never seen Notre Dame in South Bend. He knows football and the Catholic faith are big things at Norte Dame, and while neither are huge factors in his decision, he's trying to weigh them as he evaluates each environment.

“I'm still trying to find out more,” he said.

Rachel Hale

Naperville North senior Rachel Hale decided where she's going: the University of Wisconsin Madison to study journalism.

But her research had to take an online twist since she couldn't make return visits to the campuses to help finalize her decision.

So the editor-in-chief of the “North Star” newspaper did as a journalist does. She went to her sources.

Hale said she conducted Zoom video calls with friends on each campus as well as professors in the journalism departments to learn about opportunities within her major.

“A lot of the professors have sympathy for what seniors are going through,” Hale said. “It's just a weird time not to be able to go back on campus.”

Hale said she used her Naperville friends as sources, too, bouncing her ideas off them as she wavered between options. In the end, she decided Wisconsin would be the best fit. Now she's chatting with a Wisconsin roommate she found online, planning decorations for their dorm and looking for a sense of normalcy.

“I'm trying to focus on the positives and the things that I'm excited for in this time of uncertainty.”