@xcskimom and @GoldPenn - a huge congratulations to your teens!! This is wonderful news.
@GoldPenn, D21 did not apply ED2 to Mount Holyoke, but it is one of her favorites for RD applications and I really hope she gets in (if she does not get into her ED2 choice). D23 loves Mount Holyoke too and might apply ED or ED2 there when her time comes. We have visited that campus three times (pre-COVID) and it remains the most beautiful campus IMO we have visited (and we visited over 30 colleges over the years). I would love to pitch a tent right by the lake and live alongside Jorge (resident goose). 
D23 says the place feels ālike home.ā I am very happy for your daughter.
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Congrats! So happy for you and your D! What a wonderful school and a great merit scholarship. Nice to be done, Iām sure. Just in time for the weekend. Woo-hoo!!
Congrats @xcskimom on the UMaine Honors admit for your son and all that merit $$!!
Saw that Marist is hosting in-person admitted student days starting this weekend by school and/or major, which seems like a good idea. Maybe other schools will get on that bandwagon.
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@Momma2018 The tough part will be the waiting game. Some students will have a hard time holding out to see if they get off a waitlist. I think my D21 would choose another school if it meant doing that since she is not waiting for an Ivy and already got into one of the schools tied for first place.
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Hopefully our D will be in the same position as your D. She has maybe six schools that sheād be really happy to put in the yes column. If she just gets maybe two of those, then thereās only her reach school that I think sheād take a spot on a wait list.
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@xcskimom So nice to have that scholarship for UMaine Honors in hand while your S waits for March and April decisions. Congrats.
@GoldPenn Iām so glad that your Dās ED2 choice worked out for her. What happy news.
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Congrats to your S on his very nice acceptance!!!
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My daughterās best friend attended a Marist accepted students day weeks ago. Another daughter of mine has two close friends who go to Marist, their date to move back on campus was delayed, they are annoyed because they think itās because of the accepted students days.
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Three of the four schools that D has been accepted to so far (LMU, Denver, Santa Clara) have sent emails with virtual admitted student days events. No info at all on that possibly changing so Iām pretty sure thatās just the plan. Have any of your kids received virtual admitted student day plans too? I was hoping that we would hear something more like āwe are planning these virtual events and please sign up but we will re-evaluate in-person options later this springā.
Right now, our expectation is virtual admitted student events and then walking around campuses (hopefully with friends who attend). D has friends at BC and has friends who have siblings at some of her other schools. Even though we donāt know these older siblings, theyāve offered to show her around. At one school, we have friends from college whose daughter attends and weād ask her to walk around with us.
I have zero expectations for in-person admitted student days for D. Iāve read through the spring plans for current students at these schools and they are pretty locked down with lots of testing. Maybe some schools that have let Covid fly a bit more might have events.
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Buried at the end of this article is an announcement that Tufts will not hold on-campus accepted students days, will instead offer some virtual program. Disappointing but understandable. 
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S was lucky enough to visit 4 schools he was interested in before the beginning of junior year (1 small liberal arts school, 1 science tech school, 1 local co-op school, 1 large state school), along with visiting a slew colleges with S17 over 4 years ago. S applied to 2 of the schools he saw more recently, both local, and I think he will be deciding between those 2 schools unless his reach comes through (which is highly doubtful). For anyone interested, S was accepted to UDel Engineering and they do let you walk around campus (or they did a few weeks ago) as long a you pre-register and do a Covid symptom check. Beautiful campus, great Main Street, but unfortunately not enough ācityā and ādiversityā for S.
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Open for students with strict protocol, testing 2x/week, not supposed to Ithaca, thereās a student checklist/dashboard tracker thing that they need to fill out daily and when/if they leave campus, etc. This is what kept them safe first semester with few cases. But closed for visitors, no on campus tours, no visitors allowed in dorms, school buildings, bookstore, etc. It was a great system and it worked. Students had to sign a contract. Not as great socially for freshman, but some handled it alright, others had more difficulty and took longer to connect. Dorms were very restrictive but were not single room, intentionally.
Was just talking about trying to visit campuses this morning with my hubby. S21 has one admit so far that heās very excited about ā WPI. Itās about a 14 hour drive and heās not seen it. The campus is on hard lockdown now as they re-start the term, but assuming they move to a more open level, weāll try to drive there either end of February or, more likely, mid-March.
Fort., heās visited a couple other colleges near the top of his list, but if he gets into big reaches end of March/early April, then weād try to visit them in April.
Heās doing remote school, so one (small) silver lining is that we donāt have to work around Spring Break.
Iām assuming any visits will be to walk around campus and see where itās situated in town/city and donāt expect programming for accepted kids.
Finally ā itās possible weāll make a stop to one of his big reaches en route to WPI. Itās a lottery school so not expecting an admit, but itād break up the drive and then if he got offered admit/WL spot, heād have more info.
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Um. Thatās the way a ton of schools are and one can still walk around outside on campus. I donāt consider Cornell closed to that.
Now, at Bowdoin, campus is CLOSED. You have to have a lanyard on that proves you are a student or that you work there. Security is looking out for others. Locals know they cannot walk on campus. I know a recruited athlete who flew out there to check it out and literally walked the periphery of campus because the coach told him to absolutely, positively do not walk ON campus.
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Great if local but not going to work if you are far and need to visit multiple schools.
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Yes on Bowdoinā¦there is a sign on every single walkway leading onto the campus that says students and staff only, others donāt walk here.
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Weāve had a mix of results for admitted student days - two in person (Tulane and Alabama), one confirmed virtual - UofSC and the others have been quiet or havenāt caught my eye.
South Carolina just sent an email yesterday where they said they are evaluating whether summer orientation/class registration can be held in person in June/July or if it needs to be virtual. Maybe they will offer both to ease the numbers coming to campus.
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Doesnāt that seem overly restrictive? Iām not sure who Bowdoinās top competitors are but I see that Middlebury is also closed so it wouldnāt be hurting them too much. Maybe same with Williams and Amherst.
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