We’re in a Seattle suburb.
Our schools are opened, but have the students chose to stay 100% remote. The kids at school are still learning remote since it’s the same teacher.
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I agree. I am very optimistic that Class’21 will have an almost-normal freshman year.
D18 has already received both Moderna shots (she’s group 1a healthcare worker) But her college still requires that she be tested twice a week, every week. Her college will be offering vaccines soon and is hinting that they may make it mandatory. Once most of the school population is vaccinated, I imagine they’ll stop requiring the mandatory 2-3x/wk testing and masking.
There’s light at the end of the tunnel!
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The high schoolers at S’s private school are starting back in-person next week and we have the same situation: more than half the seniors are staying virtual for now, and there are significantly fewer boys going back. Perhaps the boys don’t miss the social piece as much and are getting used to sleeping in. In one class (Advanced Physics), S. would be the only student in-person if he went so I am letting him stay virtual at his request. Additionally, he has Choir and they can’t sing in class but can virtually.
Right, but don’t expect the same gap year policies that were in place last year. Many schools felt that a generous stance was their only choice at the time, but have since come to realize that it set them up for long-term problems with student enrollment numbers. Just as everything else is for our poor 21ers, this is going to be up in the air as well.
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Zero discussion of a gap year here either. He’s going to campus if it’s open. If it’s not, then we’ll rent him something local. We are careful, have worn masks, followed guidelines, etc, but in no way will I want him to spend his freshman year of college in my basement.
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I think that depends on your kid. My role was to fill out the financial aid forms, but I have had no interaction with any of the schools. I imagine if it comes down to the negotiation phase that will be me.
Are you the financial aid form submitter or did your student handle it?
I think all of us here share the same goal, which is somehow comforting:
Get them out of the basement.
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I will say that I think the masks are working. Our middle schooler goes to a small private and the teacher was covid positive a few weeks ago. She had been in the classroom 3 full days before experiencing symptoms at school on the 3rd afternoon and getting a positive test the next day. Not a single kid (out of about 15) in that classroom got covid. A negative test result (administered a week after last exposure) was required for return. They are vigilant about the masks and sanitizing, though they do violate the 6’ distance occasionally (like if teacher is helping student with something) but then only for a minute or two. This all gives me hope.
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Been lurking and reading this thread for a while - so much good and helpful information!
Anxiously and nervously awaiting for Northeastern EA for my D. Hoping decisions are released this afternoon! So difficult waiting - I feel like I am watching paint dry haha.
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Very few schools allowed a lot of gap years so this is not a big problem. Everyone points to Harvard and Duke but they are probably two of maybe a dozen schools where gap years look like they are affecting admissions.
If everything goes as planned and schools are able to deliver on whatever their stated fall plans will be then they won’t have kids asking for gap years late into the summer. But, if kids enroll expecting one experience and that gets changed on them later in the summer, it would think those same colleges that allowed late gap year requests would have to do so again.
Our S19 took a semester off. He did have a good way to spend it but even if he hadn’t, we would have supported a break. It’s not always about what they do instead. It’s about saving the more traditional college experience for a later date. College is only four years and it goes fast. We’d rather him take a break and get a normal in-person semester later. Also, lots of families don’t want to pay a premium for an online experience. So much of what college is has to do with in-person class and traditions. We do not know any current college freshmen who went to school and had a good experience. Many of them say they should have gapped.
My D20 has been having a ball her freshman year, fwiw. I think she’s having a little too much fun, but she points out to me she got straight As so who am I to complain? 
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see all of my friends kids who went to live in the dorms have had the times of their lives as freshman. Loved it, made lots of friends, is very happy socially. They all have been happy, my son talks to them all of the time. Maybe different campuses, etc, but they all seem to have made their path.
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Wow. Where are your kids? Freshman we know at Richmond, Michigan, UIUC, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Bowdoin, Amherst and many others not so happy. I guess the kids we know at Creighton, Auburn and TCU are having fun and meeting people but still no classes in person and that’s what we are also paying for.
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Maryland, U of SC, Ohio State, Indiana, Tulane, Dayton, Tampa, UT Austin, Rutgers to roll them off the top of my head. Made lots of friends so far and socially are happy.
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Thanks for sharing this. I just listened to the podcast and yes, it was eye-opening! I am aware of 2 students from the past few years at my kids’ high school who had admissions offers revoked for getting into trouble, but I’ve never heard of anyone who had an offer revoked for academic reasons.
The Cornell admissions dean says, “It can happen if your grades drop a lot.” I wonder what “a lot” is.
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I’ve known of student athletes who had their offer revoked due to poor academic performance. I’ve also known kids who lost merit scholarships.
I submitted the CSS profile and uploaded all the docs. I ended up calling the school and they were very nice and we figured out the issue.
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yeah. Those were all pretty open socially - not many rules for the kids and/or they weren’t following them because there was very little mandatory testing.