A group of nervous high school seniors took refuge inside a Marysville classroom last week to hear from Michael Barr, the assistant proctor at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
Barr put in an appearance after Western’s admissions office had been swamped with calls from seniors worried that the Marysville School District teachers’ strike would hurt their college applications plans.
"We went there for the express purpose of quelling the fears of parents and students and teachers," Barr said.
While the state’s longest teachers’ strike altered the plans of thousands of students, college admissions officials around the state said the 51-day strike will not adversely affect Marysville seniors who apply for admission for fall 2004.
Prospective college applicants in the Marysville district who are concerned they will not get a fair shake need not worry, he said.
Barr’s response was echoed by admissions officials at the University of Washington, Washington State University, Stanford University in California and Everett Community College. The consensus: College-bound seniors will not be harmed by the strike.
While Marysville’s first-quarter grades may not be posted until the new year, the lack of such a transcript usually does not figure in to the college admissions decision, Barr said.
"Most of our decisions are based on the first three years of high school," Barr said. "We do ask students what they plan to take their senior year. If there are changes, we want to know.
"In the summer, we’ll check with applicants to make sure they stuck with the plan."
Tim Washburn, assistant vice president for enrollment services at the UW, said the strike will not affect applicants.
"We really don’t see any negative implications for students. Now that school has begun in Marysville, seniors should be able to meet with their college counselors and think about filling out their college applications.
"We’re not looking for any mid-year grades."
The only problem Washburn foresees relates to students who want to attend the UW’s summer 2004 session, which starts June 21.
District officials in Marysville have not yet agreed when the school year will come to a close.
Students are encouraged to apply to the UW by Dec. 1 if they want to be eligible for scholarships. Otherwise, the regular deadline is Jan. 15, Washburn said.
Tracy VanWinkle, principal of Marysville-Pilchuck High School, said counselors there are ready to help students plan for college, as well as help prepare their applications.
"Counselors know it’s what they do this time of year," she said.
At the start of the strike, concerns arose after some students missed an opportunity to take the SAT, a required, pre-college test, VanWinkle said
"We missed the first SAT registration," VanWinkle said. "That sent us into a big panic. But we learned you can take the test at lots of different times.
"It’s going to be tight, but we’ll work with kids to help them," VanWinkle added.
Admissions officials at WSU in Pullman said the same criteria used to admit students who start school on time will be used to evaluate students whose school year has been delayed by a strike, said How-yo Chi of the admissions office.
"We base student admissions on their junior year status, their grade point," Chi said.
At Stanford, admissions counselors said applicants need not worry about fall quarter transcripts.
"When we look at applications, we do not see any grades from the (fall) first quarter of the senior year,’ said Matt Lawrence, Stanford’s assistant director of admissions.
"We’ve had lots of questions about this kind of thing." Lawrence added.
Stanford’s early application deadline is Nov. 1; the regular application deadline is Dec. 15.
EvCC, like all the state’s community colleges, is an "open door" college, offering admission to anyone who is 18 or older, or who has completed high school, admissions official Linda Bacca said.
"We ask applicants to fill out a college application between now and the first part of April because we start registering in May for the fall quarter," Bacca said. "We normally don’t ask for a high school transcript until after grades are posted. We have transcripts coming to us throughout the summer months, right up through September."
"Steam on," added Christine Kerlin, EvCC’s associate dean. "We encourage all students, whether they’re from Marysville who started late or from districts who started on time, to apply in January and February.
"On the application, we take their word they will graduate, and we admit them," Kerlin said.
Reporter Janice Podsada: 425-339-3029 or podsada@heraldnet.com.
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