We were basically just told the semester is over as far as any in-person classes. Kids have been out 13 days already. Tomorrow DS picks up his package from campus with all materials he needs and Monday they start online learning with live streaming classes he has to be at from 9-1 daily. The speech team is considering finishing the post season via online judging as well but that hasn’t been finalized yet.
Now I’ve moved on to stressing about how this may effect college in the Fall. He’s supposed to sign up for orientation which takes place in early June. Will that happen?? Things are so crazy.
He’s also supposed to go to Philmont for 2 weeks in July with the Boy Scouts. Their 2018 trip was cancelled due to all the wildfires shutting down the camp for the first time in history. Now will a pandemic cancel them again?
Bear with me for a moment. I, nor my kids, are terribly distraught about the early end to the school year. Surprised maybe. But we have not yet grieved this situation and I don’t think we will. They are head-down busy with e-learning and have not missed a beat or showed emotion.
However, I’m really starting to panic when it comes to the uncertainty of the fall. I get so excited for my kids during these transitions forward. But just now, I thought to myself that instead of planning an open house, I could funnel my energy into helping them plan for the fall semester instead. Then it hit me that fall semester may be affected too! All of the “what ifs” have started creeping into my mind. THIS is where I start to mourn - not for the loss of an ending, but for the potential delay to a new beginning. Anyone else?
Yes @Momofmanytoo I had that same worry that college may not start in September. A terrible modeling report from UK researchers came out which suggests that we may keep getting a resurgence in infections every time we let up on social distancing. Unless our efforts this spring work really well, I don’t see how they can start college in the fall.
I’m worried about the fall too. And we are still waiting for a few colleges to come back so uncertainty there too!
DS20 did hear from American yesterday, and he got in with a nice scholarship. Was hoping for Northeastern today but I guess at this point we can just wait and hope. Answers need to be to us in the next week or so.
Unless they find a vaccine in the next few months, I don’t see anyway that our kids will be on college campuses come August/September. Most likely, online instruction first semester which would be an absolute shame…
Word is that Purdue has already notified international admitted students of the fall 2020 online “option”, due to potential travel/visa issues. So I would assume they are just getting ahead of it with the most obviously affected group.
I have a hard time believing this. Everyone will go out of business. If we flatten the curve, then like will go on with the risk like with other viruses. High risk people will be asked to stay home and be careful. It will ebb and flow.
It would be a shame. It would also be a logistical nightmare. How would the second semester work, especially for students from across the country? This totally throws a wrench into D20’s college decision process. We have one local option, and at least 2 which are on the opposite coast, and then 2 more decisions coming out next week. We thought she was set with the Benacquisto at FSU, but I’m nervous about funding now.
So my very selfish worry about all this is that my D20 – who has been planning a Gap Year since early in Junior year – will now be part of a much larger group of seniors requesting gap year deferrals due to COVID19 uncertainty.
Colleges won’t be able to grant all of the requests since they can’t have a huge group taking up spots in the Class of 2025, and so many requests will be denied. Not sure how to help her strategize about this.
Before COVID19, she was the only kid in a class of 101 interested in gapping.
How is everyone’s stress level? S20 is waiting on a 4 more decisions, some expected today. The rest have to be within the next week. Something about being stuck at home with few distractions makes the waiting even more stressful. Personally, I just want this part over, so we can buy a sweatshirt and move on!
D20 has heard back from her top 3 choices (all acceptances). One is not affordable at all, so it is out. She wants to go to Duke Kunshan University in China. I agree with her that it is a great choice for what she wants out of college. My concern is whether they will permit her to travel there without being in quarantine when it is time for school to begin (assuming students are on campus then, which seems likely if China continues to keep their number of coronavirus cases low). So many questions and no chance to visit prior to making the decision. They have several webinars in the coming weeks to help students and parents with their decision. What questions would you want to ask? I want her to think through this decision very carefully.
D is waiting on six more decisions which includes her top choice. She has all of her safeties and three matches so far. They will start to come out tomorrow so the anticipation is peaking.
As for deciding on a fall start or gap year, it will depend on whether or not she likes her school options. We had talked about a gap year long before the virus outbreak.
Stress level variable at this point. DS applied early everywhere, got his last response at end of Feb from UConn. He narrowed it down to 4, and is now insisting that he doesn’t want to discuss it any further. Angst is alternating with family time and moments of levity mixed with my husband and I trying to teach our classes remotely without any training. Our DSs start distance learning on Monday.
Because his Uconn acceptance was conditional and involved fall semester at a branch campus, I sent the enrollment deposit to reserve housing on the flagship campus in Storrs so he can live there and commute if he likes. Housing in Storrs is limited for branched kids, so I figured it was worth losing the deposit to secure it just in case. He won’t want to live at home in the fall unless he has to because of this situation extending that far out and everyone else staying home, too.
So now we wait. I’m not going to pressure him to decide anything until the last week in April or later if decision day is extended past 5/1. As much as I’d like to see him pick UMass Amherst, this situation has moved me very quickly to favoring the cheaper option in the event that online learning extends to fall. UConn is an excellent school, so it will be fine one way or the other. Just sad that he won’t get to see College of Charleston. I have a feeling he would have loved it.
Watching your thread here carefully. This isn’t a cake walk for the 2021 kids either. 2020s aren’t going to be able to all take gap years. I keep seeing parents talking about this. Colleges aren’t going to forgo the tuition and hold hundreds or maybe even dozens of seats. And I doubt they will kindly upon kids who don’t enroll, take a gap year, and then apply again in the fall unless they have a very convincing reason beyond the virus.
If we had a 2020, we would likely be asking schools if they ha e started making plans for the fall in case this continues BUT I honestly think very few schools are going to have good answers by May or June.
College decisions for 2020 will many times be based on risk tolerance and financial situations.
DS has three In-State acceptances so far, and he can see himself happy to be in any of them. The one good thing covid-19 brings so far, is the two waitlists (very far away from home) he received didn’t sting anymore, none of us wanted him to be that far away anyway and even he himself would now consider a beautiful college 20’ from home! One of his cousins has been home from a HPYSM since mid-March and, how sad, as I believe the greatest lure of top colleges are the student body.
I had wanted to enjoy the remaining senior year time with DS, I guess I got what I asked for ?
As for the fall, I have heard “experts” comparing covid-19 with the 1918 Spanish flu, in that it came back with vengeance in 1919 and did most of its damages then.
But I truly hope covid-19 will peak when the weather is sufficiently warm and by then, many of us have had encountered the disease and generated sufficient immunity. So it will become another “seasonal flu” that we (just) have to deal with. (And of course hopefully vaccine will be available soon also).
