From what I’ve read from several medical sources, there is no risk. During the trial women became pregnant. I also know covid-19 in men has shown to have adverse effects on the testicles. They are doing studies on pregnant women now, but I think they tried to say the protein spike is similar to that of the placenta? But it’s different enough the body recognizes it.
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@skkm0906 Thank you. I wake up every day and pray that normalcy is not too far away, especially for our children. For me, my college experience was so incredibly life-changing on many levels. I know many people would agree that college positively influences a young adult, but I can’t say enough about how this shaped my life and made so many of my dreams come true.
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Agree. Socially college was completely transformative for me and was also super important to my husband for different reasons. We both have great friends and memories from undergrad. A lot of maturing went on as well out of the house and because we are both only children it was even more valuable. We are pretty firm on a residential experience and will pay extra for it. A gap year is not appealing but I can see the argument for it.
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Thanks for this, very helpful! Do you know if when you request a gap you have to have a well thought out plan of how you will spend the time? I imagine my D would do some type of service learning, and not from our basement, but not sure how flushed out it would be by May. I will look at some of the schools sites to do some research. Don’t want to add anything to her plate right now as she is in the end of semester week of work and it’s intense
This morning I heard that the next couple of months could be hard with vaccine supply and then a great supply should be widely available in summer - like maybe anyone who wants it. Good news but not great timing in terms of college decision making.
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Gap year requests are different for each college. You’ll need to look on each of their websites. Some are generous and let kids take time off no matter the reason and some do not. I know the UCs do not allow gap years at all.
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Right. I think there’s going to be some leaping of faith involved when we make decisions in late April.
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If there is a question about financial aid documents the school says are missing, is it ok for the parent to call the school or should the student call?
@homerdog Noooooo I am decidedly not a big leap of faith kind of person! 
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Definitely ok for the parent to call
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Thanks!
Well, us neither but there’s no way D is going to be as sure as S19 was. Part of me thinks she should just deposit at Richmond and be done. Lol. At least then I would feel less uncertainty. I guess this isn’t about me though. 
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Moderna said their booster could cover the variant. The nice thing about the mRNA platform is they could “quickly” mimic the new variant.
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I called D’s ED school, they still took her. I think FA is one of the few areas they expect to hear from the parent, not the kid. My kids are clueless about that side of things, which is probably fairly typical.
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Then they need to start hiring teachers who are willing to go back -call them “substitutes” , but we need to get back to some sense of normalcy and it makes zero sense that they are refusing to go back once they are vaccinated! Kids need to be in school ! Their emotional , educational, physical abs psychosocial well being are ALL being effected by staying home this long !!!
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This is the part I simply don’t understand. If the majority are vaccinated - teachers, students, staff - which should be the case by Aug/September - why wouldn’t college be back in person? I understand from a psychological perspective the numbers need to go way down (deaths and cases), and I am hopeful they will.
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It is very interesting to me how different regions of the country are operating so differently. Here in Houston, Texas, I would say the majority of high schools, public and private, are open to in person instruction (at least certain days) with a remote option for those who are concerned. We have a large number of our kids’ friends (well over a dozen) who have tested positive or had covid since this started. A number of faculty members have had it too.
It is scary, but thankfully none of the kids or faculty members we have known have gotten severely ill. I recognize the risk is that they carry it to higher risk populations, but our private school has been open to at least partial (and now 4 days a week) in person learning since fall and they have closely tracked the kids and claim preventative measures are preventing spread at school. The kids have assigned seating in classes and have to scan QR codes wherever they sit at lunch or on free period so they can contact trace when someone tests positive. After a semester they are fairly comfortable almost all transmission is occurring outside of the classroom/school. My girls (twins) also are in band and play club volleyball, both of which are in person and have their own concerns, but both of which have gone forward. Band practices in small groups in separate rooms by instrument. This sounds so different than what is occurring in many states, and admittedly I am thankful. While this year has not been normal by any means, it sounds like we have been closer to normal than some.
About half of our 160K students opted to stay virtual for the year- so it’s not only teachers who are concerned. Since the vaccine hasn’t been approved for kids, there could still be many children staying at home next year K-12.
Our district has said they expect to still be in pandemic mode in the Fall.
Hopefully college will be different.
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Where do you live?
College Applications Rise at Elite Schools (morningbrew.com)
The last sentence of this is particularly interesting:
Looking ahead …schools [colleges] will be dealing with Covid in some capacity this fall. President Biden has called on federal agencies to set clearer guidance for reopening.
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