Podcasts have been helping high school senior Maggie Borgen cope with stress during the pandemic. So she decided to make her own, sharing her advice and reflections on the student experience.
One big theme of this student’s podcast is how the college search is different this year for seniors—and kind of surreal.
“For some of the schools I’ve gotten into, I haven’t even been on campus, or even been to that city in one case,” she says, noting that she’s often limited to virtual tours to help make one of the biggest decisions of her life.
The podcast is called Second Semester Seniors, and it’s attracting a following—and got a recent mention in The New York Times. Borgen has interviewed her school guidance counselor about trends in college admissions and asked other high school seniors for their candid advice—all from the same room at home she uses to tune in to remote classes at Montclair High School, a public school in New Jersey. Appropriately, the microphone in her makeshift studio is propped on an SAT study book.
EdSurge connected with Borgen for this week’s EdSurge Podcast, asking what are the unexpected realities for students applying for colleges in the pandemic, what seems different this year and how schools can help students cope.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or use the player below.
