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Since March 2020, COVID-19 has become a huge part of every life around the world. Tanya Dadlani was a second-semester junior in high school when COVID-19 hit. Now, two years later, she is in the second semester of her freshman year at the University of Illinois. In those two years, many things changed for her. She moved to another state, became a college student and made many new friends. One thing that did not change: the presence of a pandemic. I interviewed Dadlani about the transition from high school to college in a worldwide pandemic.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Knutte: When COVID-19 did hit, in the beginning, what was the hardest thing to adjust to living with it?

Dadlani: Spending more time with my family, I started to get annoyed with them. That’s not a great feeling to have toward your family. The opposite effect with my friends happened, I was spending a lot less time with them and started to miss them more.

Knutte: How did COVID-19 affect you going into your senior year and college admissions process?

Dadlani: I had been a Girl Scout my whole life, and I never really had time to do my Gold Award – which is the highest award achievable in the program ­– because COVID happened I had more time to do it. That positively impacted my college admissions process. As for my senior year, I didn’t get to do the fun things like senior prom, football games, all that, which made me sad that I missed out on those things.

Knutte: You transitioned during COVID-19 from high school to university, how would you compare your life now at the University of Illinois to your life in high school?

Dadlani: In high school, I was very studious, and I still am as an engineer, I kind of have to, but I do also place a higher emphasis on hanging out with my friends – I eat meals with them every day.

Knutte: With that transition, do you think it would’ve been very different without if COVID-19 hadn’t existed?

Dadlani: COVID made me realize how important it is to prioritize my friends because I couldn’t do it for so long. I care about my social life more now.

Knutte: I can imagine, especially being from out of state and being so far away from your family. How has the combination of COVID-19 and entering college affected your mental health?

Dadlani: It’s a struggle sometimes. It was good that I got out of a high school environment because I was associating it with COVID and the negative things it brought. Moving to a new place was a good thing for me. Yet, having to deal with that loss of social skills while trying to make new friends was a struggle.

Knutte: Do you wish things could’ve been different through the process of COVID-19 hitting and then going into college?

Dadlani: Yeah, during COVID, I wish I had made more of an effort to stay connected with people. I wish I had put more effort into maintaining those connections.

Knutte: As the university slowly loosens restrictions, such as the recent update in the mask mandate, what is something you are looking forward to?

Dadlani: I’m looking forward to not having to worry about COVID like I have the past two years.

Knutte: The past two years COVID-19 has affected the way you do school, allowing it to shift entirely online at points, do you think this change will be permanent in the education system?

Dadlani: I do. I think people may switch online because we are so used to it already.

Knutte: With that, how do you like online learning?

Dadlani: Sometimes it is a good thing because you can do things home, but I also think there is some value in being in person as it forces you to surround yourself with like-minded people.