After Teachers' Strike, Students Rush To Finish College Applications Before Friday Deadline

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a race to finish college applications by the deadline Friday for some Chicago high school seniors.

As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported Thursday night, the 11-day strike kept most students shut out from counselors, teachers, and access to transcripts.

Thus, when they walk through the doors of any Chicago Public Schools high school on Friday, there is one office guaranteed to see long lines – that of the guidance counselor, for the purpose of getting those transcripts.

Rafael Soto hopes his college applications will get processed properly. But it's a race against the clock.

"Although the strike has impacted a lot of what's been going on here," he said.

What's going on is that Soto and other CPS seniors could not get something key from their high schools during the teachers' strike. With classes resuming now, the student at Eric Solorio Academy High School in Gage Park was elated to walk through the doors.

"I actually feel relieved in a way, since we're actually going back to school," he said.

Here's why – Soto's transcripts are needed to apply for early college admissions, and with the Nov. 1 deadline hours away, he was worried.

The University of Chicago – one of Soto's choices – is already addressing the concerns of CPS students by extending the deadline. But for the University of Illinois at Chicago where Soto is also applying, he is under the gun.

"For UIC, right now my application is incomplete, since I can't do that with my counselor," Soto said.

The strike's reach is especially wide for the senior.

"Even though the teachers were fighting for us, I feel like we were the ones that were being affected," Soto said.

In the first days of the strike, Soto and the Solorio soccer team found themselves ineligible to compete in the state playoffs – despite being the number one seed. Soccer season for his senior year ended.

"They took away the possibility of me getting certain scholarships by scouts that wouldn't be able to go to the games," Soto said.

So after that missed opportunity, Soto is now pressed once again to meet an even more important senior task.

"As the strike fell upon us, I felt like I had to start doing things that could possibly get me into college and do better for myself," he said.

That extension for the University of Chicago runs until Nov. 10 for CPS students only.

Meanwhile, Soto and other seniors and his situation don't mind returning to class – even it if is on a Friday.