I was shocked that SXSW got cancelled…first time in the history of the event…it’s going to be a big blow to Austin and all the businesses that count on the traffic and revenue…sad for our state but I understand why they had to do it
So S21 and I had the preview/open house at UNT today in Denton, TX. It wasn’t canceled, was pretty well attended. UNT is 18 minutes from our house (just right up I-35!). Denton is the quintessential college town, has a very funky/artsy/liberal vibe, neat town square walking distance from campus etc. It’s pretty compact and easy to navigate, and is a medium sized campus. S21 is already an assured admit so it’s a true safety, both cost wise and acceptance wise. They are pumping a lot of money into it, the new business school was very impressive, 2 new dorms in the last couple of years and a new, fancy dining hall opening up this fall.
S21 liked it. A lot. He’d be a big fish in a small pond vs being a a very tiny fish in HUGE pond at Texas A&M lol.
Drawbacks: 1) it’s too close to home (even though we told him he can live on campus if he wants) 2) one of the degree programs he’s considering is actually only offered at a new satellite campus in another suburb (Frisco, TX) so he would have to 100% commute. He wouldn’t get the whole “college experience”.
Pros: 1)true safety 2) he already has friends there 3)The great niche degree offering he’s considering guarantees summer internships and is an accelerated 3 year bachelors degree
We’re off to UTSA in San Antonio in April (unless it gets cancelled!). We’re still trying to schedule in Texas Tech in Lubbock and UTD & SMU here locally.
Re SAT: he’s taking it on March 25 on our school offered day. March 26 he has his interview with American Legion for Boys State.
Can’t believe how fast this last part of junior year is passing by.
@Momof3B My nephew is a freshman at UNT. It is majoring in CS and loves it there. He is a huge band geek although his CS major does not allow time for marching band. He totally fits the vibe there. Growing up it was NTSU, I do love the improvements they are making. With the tremendous growth of DFW, those schools are growing leaps and bounds. Your son has the right attitude, I suspect he will be happy where ever he lands.
I remember those NTSU days lol, my uncle did his undergrad from there back in the day!
S21 is tempted to continue with marching band in college if he goes to UNT or UTSA but at this point he’s 50/50.
I was really happy to see the growth as well. I know he’ll flourish where ever he lands, I’m feeling good about all his options and looking forward to seeing where he ends up!
We weren’t able to do our planned UDel visit last week because S21 committed to something else on his day off so we’re going on Wednesday since it’s a short day at school. They were still scheduling tours as of yesterday and VT hasn’t called off their 3/22 open house. But I won’t be surprised if they do cancel.
My work just banned all international and domestic travel that isn’t “business critical” through at least April so I won’t be going to speak as planned at a conference next month. But we’re still planning on a Florida vacation for Spring break at the moment.
For my immediate family, I’m not too concerned about the virus since we don’t have any other health issues. However, we are supposed to vacation in June with my whole family and my dad is in his 80s and has COPD so we’ll need to think about if that is still a good idea as it gets closer. 
Glad I got the travel insurance when I booked the rental house.
My D18 was going to a conference in San Diego next week through her Clemson internship and it was cancelled yesterday. My D21 is scheduled to go to Disney with her HS softball team a week from Wednesday. Fingers crossed on that one.
I just got back yesterday from 4 days in Palm Springs CA. Lots of folks, myself included, wiping down seats, arm rests, tray tables etc.
My work has cancelled all travel international and domestic through end of April and everyone is encouraged to work from home if possible.
The school is business as usual so far and as far as we know kids are still traveling in TX to competitions and for sports. The school SAT was held last week here, so at least we don’t have to worry about that.
We were scheduled to visit Columbia over spring break. Got an email Friday that they are cancelling. Also have some Broadway tix…hope they don’t cancel also!
@Tribegiant Good grief. I hope this is all over soon and you get to enjoy your Broadway show. I do wonder what else will be cancelled. I see that one church cancelled services today based on the city of San Francisco’s recommendation to forgo large gatherings. Crazy times.
A friend in San Francisco had tickets for the ballet “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” yesterday, and it was cancelled. My D16’s school sent out an email on Friday advising serious consideration of international and domestic travel. My D said many of her friends have cancelled travel plans.
I typed this elsewhere just now but felt it relevant to this thread too -
My D21 is at a college interview as I type. LAC in the northeast. She has four other visits lined up through early June right now: one at another northeast LAC, one at a northeast University (way up north), one at a CO LAC, and one at a midAtlantic LAC. Curious to see if they will all happen.
I told D21 to offer her foot instead of her hand to the interviewer this morning (foot bump). She thought that would be horribly unprofessional and that the interviewer might think she was trying to kick him or her. I told her that given the circumstances, her interviewer would likely understand if she explained first and didn’t just go for the shoes. I think she’s just going to wait until the interviewer makes his or her move though. I’ll find out what happened in half an hour or so.
Does the interviewer have COVID-19? If not, than a handshake is completely safe.
Well, the interviewer might not know. For that matter, my teen might have it and we wouldn’t know. In general, handshakes should be now substituted with something else all around.
She just returned. They shook hands. She feels the interview went well. She washed her hands after her interview (and I hope the interviewer did too, because again, it is very possible at this point that many people - my kid included -have it and don’t know it).
A foot bump?? I would have no idea what she was doing. Elon discouraged handshakes at a campus event this past weekend. Totally understandable. I would not recommend a “foot bump”.
She didn’t, no worries. Foot bumps are happening in various other parts of the world right now as an alternative to handshakes, so I think admissions officers would know about that. Beats the elbow thing if you ask me. She followed his lead though, shook hands, and then washed hands after the interview (and I hope he did too).
@JanieWalker Good luck to her! I’d probably shake the interviewer’s hand if they reached out…but then would be distracted the whole time wanting to wash my hands and making sure to not touch my face!
I wish I could hire someone to narrow down a college list for my S21 and plan a spring break road trip for us. He is too overwhelmed with homework, SAT prep, ECs and general “fear of the unknown” to actually read about any of the colleges I’ve suggested he look at. Spring break is mid-April and we have nothing planned yet!
This COVID-19 is driving me bananas. I cannot believe what the media is doing with this situation. It is making things 1,000 times worse. I hope we get a temporary break tomorrow with more primary elections.
I suppose it’s all personal with me. If we weren’t going on this trip in a couple weeks, I would probably just ignore it all. But I feel I’m part of the problem, not that I want to read about everything, but I’ve been checking because I’m longing for it to NOT be the headline story. Yesterday was International Women’s Day…crickets on that, but we got to hear about twenty people diagnosed. Twenty. Out of the millions of people in this country and all those people who pass through the international airports on a weekly basis. Sigh. My husband flew to LA last evening - he said you could smell the disinfectant when he walked onto the plane (that’s a good thing, of course). He didn’t even get upgraded, and he’s usually high on the upgrade list, so even as the media presents everything as canceled/everyone hunkering down at home in fear, people are still flying. i hate the disconnect between what the media presents and what is actually happening.
I’ve created a folder with all the COVID-19 update pages for each of the colleges we are visiting just in case there is a change. I can just open them all in tabs for a quick scan for news. So far, no changes for the schools, though only one is on Spring Break at the moment. Most are March 14-22, a couple even later.
My husband had a different experience on his flight last night. He flew to London last night on a plane that normally carries almost 250 people. He takes this flight once a month and it’s normally quite full. Not only were there only about 50 passengers, but all were checked in and boarded so early the flight left the gate 15 mins early. He also said the airport, while not empty, had significantly less people. Perhaps that’s because he was flying internationally, and a lot of people are canceling international travel.
I don’t see the media portraying everyone hunkering down at home in fear. What I do see is the media sharing the CDC’s recommendations on who should and should not travel and what places to avoid. Whether people want to misconstrue that message and decide to cancel planned trips to unaffected areas is on them, not the media. However, I haven’t heard the media saying hordes of people cancelling travel in the U.S. but perhaps we aren’t watching/reading the same new sources.
CNN has taken it upon itself to call COVID-19 a pandemic, when neither the WHO nor the CDC has done so. But it’s fine, because they didn’t take the decision lightly. “Now is the time to prepare for what may be ahead. That could mean quarantines, closed schools and cancelled events in your town. It might mean strain at work or taking a break from hobbies that usually bring you joy. It might mean putting off a family vacation or catching up over the phone instead of getting together.” That entire sentence is fear mongering. Every single piece of it is loaded with mays and ifs and mights. None of it is the current recommendation. That’s the media for you. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-pandemic-gupta/index.html
I went to a HS basketball game this weekend - packed house. Lots of people shaking hands or bumping fists. Perhaps we’re more worried about the flu that has killed 14,000 people this year than we are of the Coronavirus that has little to no impact on 80% of the people who get it.