UConn just announced in person tours again. They released decisions last week, so probably timed to cut down on kids who ended up being rejected touring.
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S21 got a likely letter (well, postcard) from William&Mary yesterday. Had a hand-written note at the bottom, āLoved reading your application, canāt wait to have you on campus this fall.ā S19 never received any likely letters, so we had never seen wording. It would be hard for a college to backpedal on this, wouldnāt it?
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S19 got the _W&M postcard and was accepted. The postcard is definitely an early acceptance. W&M has done them for quite a while. Congratulations!
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@NateandAllisMom You might be able to get one of your sonās AP exams moved to digital in Administration 3 if your school is willing to work with you (though Administration 3 isnāt until early June so not sure whether that appeals).
At our high school, they are making use of all 3 administrations but in varying ways. The school is defaulting the kids into Administration 1 (all in-person, even for the remote students) unless they actively opt for a digital exam.
If they want a digital exam (and theyāre allowed to mix and match, doing some in person during Administration 1 and others digitally later), they will generally take it during Administration 2 from home. The school wonāt offer any in-person exams during Administration 2. And the school isnāt offering any in-school digitalā¦all digital will be done from home.
There are a few exams that arenāt offered digitally during Administration 2 (Calculus, Physics, Chem, and Stats). For those specific exams only, kids who want digital can opt for Administration 3 from home (but this is after our school year endsā¦I donāt think a lot of kids will do this, but itās an option).
My S21 doesnāt have an APs this year, and my D23 has 3, all of which sheās going to take in school paper-based even though sheās been a remote student all year.
Iām not sure this would appeal to your son since the two he has on the same day arenāt offered digitally until Administration 3, but if he did want to take one of those from home during Administration 3, you might be able to work with the school to get that option since it seems they do not have to be locked into only one administration.
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Glad you had a great trip. Lots of trade-offs to figure out, but it sounds as if your son has several options that work well for him.
How did your daughter like Richmond?
Thank you. His school pushed their schedule out two weeks trying to reopen in fall, so Iāll need to look at the dates.
Richmond remains on the list of options! Feeling a little superstitious now that we are getting closer to the rest of the decisions so Iāll update with details after all of them are in.
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Oh wow thank you for sharing! I am very interested in Daytonā¦ did you ever get a chance to visit? We havenāt gotten to visit yet but it seems like a great, friendly school
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Dayton (UD) IS fantastic ! Total gem & you are correct. Super, super kids and overall happy environment (given its in the middle of Ohio - no offense to Ohio but it can be cold !). Strong outcomes and just perfect size enrollment and campus sizeā¦ not crazy greek but appropriately social which is healthy. The few kids we know there are successful and well-rounded.
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So random but I agree we are all still going to need to be flexible even after admission and decisions made. My son was admitted ED2 at Bates ( and therefore committed). They had a release statement on Monday concerning a faculty meeting stating they had voted to remain on a 2 module system for fall with dates of arrival/orientation/ class start stated ( 2 classes per 7 week module for fall) with dismissal home after Thanksgiving. They stated it was not clear that students would all be vaccinated etc and this would make it easier for profs to plan among other reasons. So same model as this yearā¦ Then Biden released that all adults should have received vaccine by June, and the next day they backpedalled on their planā¦I of course had already make arrangements for lodging for drop off:) This virgo struggles with the inability to plan every single detail months ahead!
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So Bates backpedaled and said semesters as usual instead?
so they backpedaled and basically said Wait! We are going to continue to Wait:)
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Rowan (NJ) just released a statement that they plan to be back to in-person classes for fall. And in-person freshman orientation this summer for incoming freshman. They are also a state mega-site, so they said they hope vaccination supply opens up and they will make an effort to get all staff and students vaccinated once itās allowed.
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Oh no! Guess your planning canāt begin then!
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so essentially they thought the vax promise MAY allow the to return to the regular 4 classes per schedule. They have always had everyone allowed on campus but have had a much larger % of covid + among students and disciplinary actions for lack of following protocol this spring which may have been driving the earlier choice to remain more restrictive this fall
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@swimnys S21 and my husband did a drive by of the campus when they were on a road trip with my older son a couple of summers ago. We are actually going up there for an Accepted Students Day at the end of March. Itās the only school he has applied to that he has not actually done a tour or other campus event. He did a campus event at Xavier with dh in September but at the time, either Dayton was not doing tours or we couldnāt fit it on that trip but its a top contender so we will see.
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Big schools that are on the quarter system are also going to have more flexibility in the fall than smaller schools that tend to be on the semester system. Because their first day of class is going to be late September rather than late August or the beginning of September.
For example, here in the Pacific Northwest, UW starts fall quarter on September 29 because they are on the quarter system. Whereas smaller schools on the semester schedule like Whitman start fall semester on August 31 with orientation activities happening the week before that.
I expect that extra month is going to make a big difference if Covid is still winding down by late summer.
I also gotta expect that most colleges and universities are going to be under IMMENSE pressure to fully open up for in-person education. (1) Pressure from the public who wants their kids to experience normal college life and in-person classes (especially after a senior year of virtual learning in HS). (2) Pressure from politicians and governors who want to see things re-opened. We are already seeing that in Texas right now with the complete re-opening of the state. I canāt imagine that the TX state government would sit still for TX public universities to remain on any sort of virtual learning status in September if they are re-opening the entire state in early March. And (3) financial pressure from their own institutions as dorms and food service and such are huge revenue streams for most universities.
I donāt see any way that most universities can remain on any sort of largely virtual status and stay competitive for fall 2021. I expect there is going to be a stampede to fully re-open higher education for fall 2021.
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@jeneric @1intwo2go UCF announced orientation is virtual, but do either of you know about welcome week? I think at some smaller schools this might be all the same. Iām hoping that welcome week will be in person but havenāt heard.
Between S17 and S19 Iāve already paid for 3 years (1 1/2 + 1 1/2) of virtual learning. Essentially at full price.
If S21ās college (whichever he chooses) goes virtual this fall, I will pull him from that school and enroll him in the local community college until the school opens fully. If they refuse to re-accept him, weāll find another - there are plenty.
BTW, Iām all talk. Iām sure Iāll fold and send him no matter what. 
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