By Rowena Joy Flores
Click. Wait. Repeat. Just like that, students can apply to and be admitted to several universities and college schools. In the midst of the pandemic, application and admission to colleges through purely online modes have become necessary, especially for students in the remote areas of the country.
Grade 12 student Roxanne Flores is from a small town in Nueva Vizcaya, hoping to qualify into schools that are already accepting applications for incoming freshmen for the academic year 2021-2022. She shares the struggles of many students who are busy preparing documents and requirements amid the pandemic. For her, the application process has become a confusing matter.
Flores recalled how she tried to prepare for college applications while the lockdown was still ongoing. She had been waiting patiently for the tertiary schools she had been aiming for to make a decision on how and when the college entrance tests (CETs) would be conducted.
“Nagprepare na kami eh. Nagjoin na kami ng mga GC (group chats for reviewing with different applicants), bumili ng reviewer at nag-compile ng notes. Nakakapressure kasi hindi namin alam kung paano kami mag-te-take ng CETs kasi may COVID,” Roxanne said.
(We had been preparing. We joined GCs, bought reviewers and compiled notes. There was pressure because we do not know how we would take the CETs because there is COVID.)
She is currently waiting for the announcement regarding the College Admission Evaluation Polytechnic University of the Philippines (CAEPUP) iApply opening. The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) previously announced the deadline for applications which was supposed to be on March 26. However, the CAEPUP iApply’s online registration system closed temporarily, and applicants were instructed to wait for further notice. The announcement posted on Facebook garnered calls from some netizens requesting for extension of the application period.
PUP is just one of the many universities and colleges that were forced to make adjustments to their admission criteria after the pandemic hit the country last year. The prolonged lockdowns and the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases led to the delay of the application for many schools.
Aspirants who have been preparing for CETs were left wondering what to do with their reviewers after many universities, including the ‘big four’ schools: University of the Philippines (UP), Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), University of Santo Tomas (UST), and De La Salle University (DLSU), decided to waive the sought-after admission tests. Some students even went so far as to jest about selling their reviewers on Twitter.
The situation left Flores torn as to whether or not it was a good thing that entrance exams for the schools she was applying to were cancelled. She had already put aside her compiled notebooks in a plastic container. The reviewers that she bought online sat atop the notebooks looking good as new.
“Siyempre relieved kasi di na kailangan mag review,” Flores said when asked how she felt about the cancellation of the CETs, “kaso medyo nag-aalala din ako kasi nakabase nalang sila sa grades at sa school kung makakapasa ka. Parang hindi equal yung ground [for applying students].”
(Of course I am relieved because I no longer have to review. But I am also a little worried because they will base our admission on our grades and on the school we are currently attending. It seems that we (applying students) will be evaluated on unequal grounds.)
Preparing requirements
Although most tertiary schools require from applicants the same documents as they did before the pandemic hit the country, there have been difficulties in securing documents.
Hazel Apostol, an adviser of grade 12 students in Diadi National High School (DNHS), said, “it was easier before for the students to get their needed documents as compared today. The school personnel are not reporting daily in the school.”
She also said that the only ones allowed to transact in the school are parents, guardians, and those who are not below 18 years old.
Unlike before, students or visitors who need to carry out their personal business with the school are strictly monitored. They are resigned to a waiting area until the personnel who can help them with their concerns becomes available.
Ranielle Ramos is a grade 12 student who came to DNHS in the afternoon heat on March 26, hoping to get the much-needed Form 138 or report card so he can submit his grades to UP. He was chasing the deadline for the submission of the applicants’ School Form 2 (SF2) on March 31.
When asked how long it has been since he started requesting for his papers, he replied, “Ilang months na rin. Kailangan matyempuhan mo yung schedule ng mga teachers na mag-aasikaso ng papers mo kasi lahat naman tayo may kaniya-kaniyang responsibility kaya di naman sila masisisi.”
(It has been months. You need to luck out on the schedule of the teachers who are in charge of fixing your papers because all of us have our own responsibilities. You can’t really put all of the blame on them.)
Ramos said he started requesting documents last December 2020. He had gone to the school around 10 times to follow up on documents that he was not able to get, because all the papers he needed were released only one at a time.
Worries and difficulties
The prospect of applying and going to college might be a normal worry for most incoming freshmen, but the changes brought by the pandemic have heightened the challenge.
Although some have taken initiative, there are still many students who have yet to apply to their chosen tertiary schools. One reason for this is because they are still unprepared. Such is the case for Mary Rose Cariño, another grade 12 student.
"Hindi ako handa sa pag-apply sa aking napiling paaralan," Cariño said. "Sa totoo lang po, hindi ko alam kung papaano mag-apply ngayon lalo't patuloy parin ang banta ng pandemya. Hindi ko alam kung saan makakahanap ng tulong at gabay sa pag-apply sa napili kong paaralan."
(I am not ready to apply for my school of choice. To be honest, I do not know how to apply now, especially since the threat of the pandemic continues. I do not know where to find help and guidance in applying to my school of choice.)
Cariño plans to take a course in Medical Technology in Saint Mary's University (SMU), a school three municipalities away from her home in Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya.
"Iniisip ko pa rin talaga, at sobra akong nag-aalala sa kung anong mangyayari sa akin pagtungtong ko ng kolehiyo ngayong ilang buwan nalang ay magtatapos na ako ng SHS."
(I'm still thinking about it, and I'm really worried about what might happen to me when I enter college, now that in a few months I will graduate from SHS.)
From the teachers’ point of view
Marjury Bautista, a grade 12 class adviser, thinks that students may not be well-prepared for college. She thinks that this is because there is no “actual interaction between student and the teacher."
She draws from her experience as a student studying to get her doctorate degree through distance learning.
"Ako nga din eh nag-aaral," she said. "Talagang mahirap... sariling sikap, kailangan talaga mag-strive ka na mag-aral. Solo mo lahat kasi nga ganito ang sitwasyon."
(I am also studying. It is really hard... self-reliance, you really need to strive to study. You have to do everything solo because the situation is like this.)
For now
For now, Flores entertains herself with video games and anime as she awaits the announcement for the reopening of the CAEPUP iApply along with the next batch of modules that she needs to study.
As more college schools open their doors to aspiring students, everyone is left to play the waiting game.
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