Based on our past experience with a UW kid, UW does a pure lottery for housing, not a “first come first served” model. So, one does not need to submit a housing deposit before accepting the offer of admissions. I tried to double check this online and did not see any changes to the procedure, but I’d hate to be the reason someone didn’t get their preferred dorm options!
Other Big 10 schools, such as Indiana and Iowa, assign dorms based on who signed up first, so there is an advantage to putting down the housing deposit even if a student has not decided they will attend.
I am a nurse practitioner in a medical school connected to the county hospital. The Covid vaccines are NOT required for any of the employees/staff. As they are EUA not full FDA right now.
I guess I don’t understand how this works, so please correct me if necessary!
Lets say my kids gets into school A and is waitlisted at school B (which is his first choice). We can’t put a deposit down for school A while we wait on school B? Doesn’t that risk leaving him out in the cold? I know that we might lose the deposit on school A if he ends up not going there, but is there another risk?
I get that we are in a transition period right now for the Covid vaccine. I assume that will change at some point in the future and it will be considered the same as MMR or hepatitis and the others.
My point was that I assume that there are some vaccinations you are required to have. It isn’t a HIPPA violation that they are asking you for your vaccine records, and if you can’t/won’t provide them they require you to get revaccinated.
That’s the problem here too. We are near 100% occupancy, there are several restrictions and they TRY to comply with social distancing, but it just isn’t possible with a lot of things. The one thing they are vigilant about are masks. They also require separation into pods at meals, and I think the kids are supposed to sit in the same pod all year.
Even with poor social distancing, the masks are keeping spread to a minimum. There probably have been a couple cases, but very few cases of it spreading at school, none that I know of that they are confident were spread there. But there are plenty of cases, both from kids socializing outside of school, and getting it from their science denying parents. My wife has me on a ban from going into Walmart because she is pretty sure I am going to get into a fight with one of the idiots walking around without a mask. It is probably a valid concern, there have been a couple close calls.
Basically you should only have one deposit paid at a time. If another more desirable decision comes through later, you can withdraw from the first and pick the second (as long as it is before the deadline to pick the second offer of course). You may very well lose your deposit though, and that can add up.
As others have said, the main reason to do this is to get in the queue for housing at those schools where housing seems to be an issue.
Omg, your wife is so funny because that’s how I feel! My husband wouldn’t get in a fight with someone but I might. We just do curbside at target, walmart and our grocery store, but sometimes I have to go into the store because I really need something that just doesn’t show up on curbside. I try to avoid it as much as possible. Our school only on Monday announced the kids going back so I wonder how they’re going to do the kids. They say cohorts but no other kid has the same schedule as my kid, etc. so no clue what that means. I was scared to come back in person 3 weeks ago and it has not been bad at all. I’m so far away from kids. But when I’m in areas where other staff are in, they’re the ones sitting without their masks on! It drives me crazy, so I stay away from them. Way worse than the kids.
Some schools also let you put down just a housing deposit without committing to attend. We put down a housing deposit at my D20’s first acceptance last year as it was a rolling admissions, large public university and she wanted to be early inline if she decided go there. I think it was $100 and we lost it when she was accepted to her ED school.
My wife works in an elementary school. Lots of people saying this summer that it won’t work to have them wear masks, you will never get them to do it or do it right, my kid won’t be able to do it, etc. Lots of wailing and gnashing of the teeth when the district made the last minute decision to require masks just a few weeks before classes started in the fall.
Only a couple of problems, and they are from the kids who have parents who are complaining that masks aren’t real and that we are trying to make them get vaccinated so we can microchip them. That crowd. Even then, 99% of the kids are fine once you get mom out the door. Kids in school K-12 all have to deal with what they view as stupid rules all the time. I don’t raise my hand to get a drink of water at work. I’m not told that I can only go to the bathroom between periods, and that my grade will be affected if I use the bathroom pass too many times. Or 100 other little control things we take from them. They accepted masks just like they accept the other rules.
The parents on the other hand are the ones I may fight in Walmart. The point my wife became worried was when she said I would get arrested, and I gave her a fairly thought out and detailed plan of how I could avoid that. That was when she realized I wasn’t above punching an idiot in the parking lot and had put a bit more planning into this than she was comfortable with.
She on the other hand isn’t that much better. She will make a passive agressive comment instead of being confrontational, although lately her comments are getting more agressive and less passive. But most guys aren’t going to punch a 5’ tall 50 year old woman. Me on the other hand. . . .
ETA I also do curbside if at all possible, but occasionally go in for one or 2 things. I have walked out of more than one store leaving my items wherever I was standing at the time when management refused to address the issue.
Hi, all! I took a break from CC while helping my in-laws and parents get vaccinated. With one in a wheelchair and another with a broken bone, plus the ridiculously inefficient and overburdened vaccination system in NY, this felt like a full time job! But all four have had their first dose and I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Now, I can put the focus back on my kids a bit. DH thinks that the floodgates are going to open with vaccines in the next few weeks. He thinks that as the entities who administer vaccines feel confident that the supply chain is moving consistently, they will take out all the doses they have in their deep freezers and start using them. Also, manufacturing is ramping up and the states are starting to distribute to more providers. (NY is slow on this. There are many clinics, urgent cares and pharmacies begging for vaccine, but the hospitals still have control.)
Anyway, I feel confident that our 21’s are going to have a much more normal experience than this years college freshmen. But it’s hard to say about the rest of their senior year. Our teachers have been eligible for vaccination for a couple of weeks now, but it’s a huge challenge to get appointments still. So, we are continuing with hybrid every other day, but they do have outdoor sports .
Best wishes to everyone. I am looking forward to more rounds of good news on this board, and eventually to all the exciting decisions!
I also think that by late spring/early summer, the country will have plenty of vaccine for anyone who wants one. When this situation arises, I would be surprised if more and more places such as colleges don’t require vaccines. I work in health care and right now, our hospital system does not require vaccines for COVID while requiring flu shots for all employees. I think that as soon as vaccines become plentiful, COVID vaccines will become required for healthcare workers, followed by other industries and settings. Many schools require meningitis shots to prevent an illness that strikes less that 300 people per year in the US. I think that it is a no brainer that COVID shots will be required by many colleges, at least for those living in dorms. I think that chances are very high that Fall semester will be fairly normal.
What does your H say about the race of vaccinations versus the variants. People seem to be freaking that, even if vaccines are getting ramped up and we can get them into arms, the variants will take over and we will all be screwed again for fall school. I just do not know how hopeful to be.
He makes a plea to counselors (and parents and, ultimately, to students) to please inform the schools as soon as possible if they’re not going to attend. In this year, with spiking applications and so much uncertainty on so many levels, colleges are struggling to plan and prepare for however this admissions cycle ends up. He says, "It would be enormously helpful for us, but you’ll also be doing a favor for the students who are eager to attend but might not be admitted yet. (Just to be clear, students still have until May 1 to make their decision, so there is no pressure to do so before then. But once a decision has been made, we appreciate knowing. )
Of course, for whatever the reason – waiting on merit, not having other preferred, affordable choices, thinking an in-person visit might happen – anyone can hang on to their acceptances. But from what he’s saying, the number of RD acceptances may actually increase if they have enough people decline from the EA round. There is just too much uncertainty for most enrollment management systems to work effectively this year.
Data set of 1, but I found his opinion interesting, and it made me think about the one (and only, so far) school D has decided won’t work for her. Why would she not decline the spot?
Yes. You can take more than one waitlist spot. When you are called from a waitlist, though, you have very little time to say yes or no - just a few days.
I read that post too and we just went ahead and declined one of the schools my son knows he will not attend. He has at least one more that we will likely decline shortly too. As someone who was deferred from one of his first choice schools it would certainly be good for him if others did the same at that school and a spot opened up for him there.
On the good news front, WPI just announced that it’s an approved vaccination site in MA, is offering vaccines to eligible staff and community members, and it plans to vaccinate all members of its community (staff and students).
Key phrases: “We are now working on a plan to access vaccines in a timely manner under Phase 2, and to obtain an appropriate supply of vaccine for WPI faculty, staff, and students who are eligible in the latter parts of Phase 2—which will be a much larger number of people.”
At the end it mentioned, "For most of us the vaccine is weeks or even months away. . . " and encouraged folks to continue to wear masks, social distance, etc.
Some more good news for D21 (giving her a big lift after being deferred at GT – boo): she was just notified that after review of her video submission, she has advanced to finalist status for one of RHIT’s Noblitt scholarships. This is kind of new and we are not sure what to expect, but they tout them as their top tier scholarships, so…we will see! She is very excited. I’m so happy for her (and a little nervous).
I had heard that with the new mRNA vaccines, companies can reengineer the vaccines within a month or so, to address a new variant. Can anyone confirm? There may be a lag, but nothing like the flu vaccines.
My kids are heading back to school 4 days a week next week. They’ve been hybrid with Wednesday activity days so far. I’m so excited for them. We feel very lucky to have them at a small private. Public schools have been all virtual here.
My son has toured no colleges. We had initially planned a trip last spring break. But he dragged his feet doing any research, showing any interest. In a fit of disgust, I booked a trip somewhere warm and tropical, early March. Best prepandemic decision ever.
I don’t know if he will see his college before fall. He’s waiting to hear from a bunch of reaches, deferred at two EA as well. His fall back is St. Olaf with nice merit. I’d like to take him there, in the cold and snow, but don’t think they’re having tours right now.
I don’t know if he cares about tours. At this point I think I just throw my hands up, knowing that our kids can be happy at many different places. I can’t imagine that most international applicants see their college before they arrive for fall.
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This is kind of new and we are not sure what to expect, but they tout them as their top tier scholarships, so…we will see! She is very excited. I’m so happy for her (and a little nervous).