@Mwfan1921 - Hope your daughter starts feeling better soon. I’m glad she gets to rest at home and that you have some answers.
S19 got sick in February right around his birthday and stayed ill through pledging because of the sleep deprivation and not taking care of himself. He wouldn’t go to the doctor at school and didn’t want to when I moved him home in mid March, but he finally agreed after being home for a few days. I was pretty sure he had a sinus infection and he never wants to take medicine. He also was thinking he had coronavirus because so many Vandy students contracted it. However, we took precautions going into the doctor and he’s been feeling much better. I’m glad he can focus on school and exercising without feeling so crummy.
Thanks @elena13 and glad your S is feeling better!
Well, DD stayed up till midnight last night to log in and register for classes for fall. She got what she wanted.
Haverford has pushed off registration and room draw. I guess they’re trying to figure out an institutional path forward for fall before those things. Plus their in-person room draw system needs to be redesigned to be online.
D19 registered for fall classes yesterday. She had one GenEd class online this semester, and of course, that one had the easiest transition in all this chaos. SO, for fall, she registered for 2 online GenEd classes + 2 in-person required classes + 1 in-person art class (drawing). And she registered for one online class this summer, because well, what else is she going to do?
I think this makes good sense. If students aren’t back on campus by fall, only half her classes will be impacted.
@milgymfam Same here. Housing and class selection put off until mid June when Bowdoin makes a decision about fall on campus.
D19 is still considering her class registration. I believe the deadline is near the end of this month. They will also be doing room applications later this month - she’s yet to find out when her slot is, but sophomores get preference in the upperclassmen process so hopefully she’ll get what she wants (a single).
Both of my kids’ class registration and room selection went ahead as scheduled. D19 got what he wanted which was nice; his time seemed quite late in the process. I too am considering having my S19 take a summer class online to have something to do. He talked to me about signing up for an abroad J term (January 2021) class, as the applications are open for that already. As long as it is refundable, that seems fine to me. I have confidence that the college will cancel if it is not safe or obviously if it is against federal and state restrictions.
D17 is taking several summer courses; that was always the plan to graduate in 4 with a double major. Although…her last thought was that if fall was online, she would take a gap semester (she had a short meeting with her advisor who seemed to reassure her that wouldn’t happen, although I don’t know how an advisor could know or say this). We are making the decision to let her off campus apt lease end in May and go without housing in her college city until she can come back. It’s a gamble, and the housing won’t be optimal, but it is too expensive to pay for an empty apartment. She COULD shelter in place there and do online courses and be OK, but it doesn’t matter…can’t get there now.
BTW, last summer was our first experience with summer courses and D17 who is a great student found it very challenging. The compressed timeline made for a lot of work. I have no idea of professors will be easier on the students or give P/F grades for summer. Something to think about for those considering them.
Yes, I do expect the summer class to move quickly. Not sure D19 realizes that, I’ll mention it to her. But that is why I thought she should just stick with one class.
When they announced that all summer classes will be virtual, Ohio State was clear that traditional grading will apply. No P/F.
My son registered for classes and did dorm selection stuff this week too. Son19 has decided he will be trying to double major in Engineering and Computer Sci. He thinks that would be a highly desirable combo to have when looking for jobs in the future.
I’m fully expecting the kids to go back to campus in the Fall.
In my opinion, The country is going to have to pivot to testing and restricting movement and access to the “at risk” population in order to keep our society operating more normally. Like it or not, we can’t continue this way economically, while losing personal freedoms . We are going to have to figure out how to move away from this “ just stop everyone from doing anything” type of plan because it’s the easiest. Imagine going thru this every flu season or very time in the future some new weird virus shows up?
I think the lock down plan in place has been necessary to get things under control and understand what we are dealing with. I have a lot of sympathy for all those struggling with their health and for those that have passed from the virus. I have a lot of respect for all health care providers during this time, exhibiting great bravery for sure. Hopefully we learn a lesson from this virus scare and be more prepared for the next time, with more supplies and facilities available. It’s obvious our country ( and the world) was certainly ill prepared this time around.
Hopefully we can shift to a plan which helps those in great risk to “shelter in place” and get the medical attention, food/services, and money they need to survive. The rest of us, have to get back to living our lives again at some point. I also feel really sorry for the people losing jobs, businesses, life savings etc as they can’t work to provide for their family. It’s going to take a toll on our nation for quite a while.
I’ve been trying to stay positive at my house and keeping the hope alive with the kids that things will be getting back to normal soon. Less fear, more facts.
@RightCoaster I agree. S19 signed up for classes last week and already has housing. He is wait listed for one class.
- This.
SK was well prepared because SARS really walloped them. We’ve just been walloped ourselves so a plan to test and isolate should just be in place for the next time. And there will be a next time, if history is any gude.
@Mwfan1921 @elena13 @homerdog I hope your kids are back on their feet soon.
D19 seems to be adjusting to online school and moved on this week with selecting fall classes. Biggest dilemma right now seems to be sharing a double with private bath, versus a suite of 5 women. Summer internship is going thru the motions like it’s still on.
With so much family in NYC and being the apparent psychiatrist for my work team, I limit watching and reading the news. Same for social media. I did start sewing masks a few weeks ago, so that’s been a good outlet. For about a month, the sewing sites had been a knock-down, drag out battleground over the ethics of making non medical masks. The bullies have now quieted. I just make them for whoever asks or needs to still go to work.
Rice just announced scrapping the planned summer course schedule in order to expand online summer class offerings. $500/ credit hour to the public, and a larger discount for Rice students. I suspect more schools are going to try this marketing.
S19 completed fall registration this week. He had to work with both his major advisor and honors advisor (and track one course via Coursicle waiting for an open seat), but finally got everything he wanted.
Also, since it seems his internship/job prospects for summer have faded, he is going to use the summer to get ahead wrt his double major. He is taking an honors core class the first summer session and a major course the second, plus study to CLEP two other lower tier major classes. At least he will stay busy, and we can hope for the fall.
S19 had a zoom meeting with the faculty advisor to discuss fall registration next week. His advisor is recommending him 20 credits (an overload, 5 classes) since S19 had all A’s in the last fall. This term Johns Hopkins went all P/F only. S19 and I had discussed taking 16 credits (4 classes) as engineering classes can be demanding so we are making up excuses not to go overload. His advisor also suggested him to consider a combined BS/MS degree, which I thought was looking too far ahead.
His summer internship (REU) has been cancelled, so he may take summer classes. He worries about the cost although we should be able afford it.
Johns Hopkins postponed dorm selection, and we do not know when that will happen. S19 wants a single with kitchen, but we will see. We also don’t know when he can return to his dorm and pack up/bring stuff. He misses his work out clothing, but that is about it, so no real rush. He runs in his cotton shirts, so I get twice more laundry.
S17 is likely to continue to commute from home next year. His summer internship may not pan out either. I think the job prospects are not great for class of '20 and '21s.
Sorry to hear about the sick kids. Hope kids have a smooth and speedy recovery @Mwfan1921 @elena13 @homerdog !
D19 registered for her fall classes a few days ago and got what she wanted. We’re holding off on figuring out housing until things are clearer/safer in New York. She and her current roommate are planning to get an apartment in Brooklyn with two other friends, but we can’t go look at anything for the moment.
Hope Easter and Passover went well, for those who celebrate.
It’s strange to think that this is S19’s last week of classes before finals. I’m very sad for what he missed out on this semester. He hasn’t left the house/yard in the 4 1/2 weeks since I brought him home, but he’s doing pretty well with keeping a positive attitude. He’s exercising a lot and doing funny workouts online with a friend from Minnesota whose parents insisted he had to work out. S sounds like a hard core personal trainer when he is yelling at his friend, encouraging him to not give up. 
I’m feeling pretty down/stressed about what’s to come for our kids. If anyone is feeling optimistic about anything, feel free to share your thoughts!
Augh! I am trying so hard to be positive about everything - but this week for some reason - I feel like I am slowly walking in ankle high mud and I am just done with all of this and I am less than positive.
I am in week #3 of furlough. I work at the corporate office of a hotel management company (18+ years). I have never filed for unemployment in my life and I had to learn. Hmm, like thousands of other people - so they are backlogged and I haven’t even got a step 2 from them - and they said “wait patiently for it”. Yup - patience running out. Don’t worry - we are fine, my husband has a retirement coming in (he retired from his first job early due to medical) and he is still working his full time 2nd job. But I miss my job, my work family, my securiry, etc
My S16 just had the worst spring semester dealt out to a student. Here he is taking his second semester senior classes from his bedroom when he should be with his friends enjoying all of the senior year traditions on campus (they have many). Graduation has been moved to August - ok, that’s positive - but it won’t be the same. We had such great plans scheduled in May for his graduation which included family at the cermony. The rescheduled graduation (if it actually happens) only includes 2 tix. My S16 is still searching for a job - he is onto some 2nd rounds - but the jobs for newly graduated students are down big time. Some of his friends who had offers have had them rescinded. So I am giving him pep talks nightly because quite frankly this was not how his college senior year was supposed to go. I’m so upset for him but I need to be a ray of sunshine and optimism. That’s my mom job - not furloughed from that one.
I learned how to order groceries online & have them delivered - but that’s not fun at all. I can not go into a store any longer due to my asthma. I taught my parents how to order online too and although they live fairly close to us, we obviously don’t get together. And like everyone, I do worry about their health and safety.
My D19 - okay here is a positive too - is doing absolutely great with online learning. She is a stellar student anyways - it’s just she isn’t complaining at all and she is just rolling with it. So that’s good. She picked her housing last week and she has a suite with her 3 closest friends from freshmen year. Tomorrow she picks her classes. Of course her birthday was the first week of April on a Friday night, so she Zoomed her college friends for several hours. They had virtual fun. All 4 girls sitting in different bedrooms in different states, having some drinks and playing music. So much laughing coming out of her room that night. But geez she was supposed to be on campus for her birthday. When we dropped her off in August we hoped she would meet a great group of friends, and she did - and then she had to video chat with them on her birthday. It just bothered me. I can remember great birthday celebrations that I had in college with friends.
Will her school start up again on campus in the fall? The school is planning on it (at this moment atleast). But do we really know? Nope. No one does. Will I have a job to go back to sometime this summer? Not sure - hotels are temporarily closed and people will be very hesitant to dine out or travel for longer then we all want to admit.
Okay, vent over. Going to wake up tomorrow and try to be positive once again (back peddling today).
Okay - on a positive note - I get to walk 3 miles a day, which I love to do and can never do when life was “normal” and I spent my weekdays in the office. There, ending on a high note. 
@Stuffedquahog Sorry to hear about your S16 and the rest of your problems. I hope things will get back to normal sooner rather than later.