Congrats and same here! MY D21 is in at Oberlin and waiting on Vassar (what’s taking them so long?) She’s also in at Macalester and Bates, WL at Colby, and hearing from Middlebury tomorrow.
10 Likes
Hello wise parents who have been there done that with older kids! Now that I can sort of see the light at the end of this roller-coaster tunnel, I need wisdom on loans. Definitely going to need them. Daughter will take out federal max she can ($5,500?) and do work study, but we will need to do one also. Do we do the federal Parent Plus loan, or is private better? And you have to do new applications each school year, correct? Any advice or sage wisdom anyone can share would be much appreciated!! Thanks in advance!!!
I’d like to answer and say “NO, I can’t imagine making a decision on that”, but at the same time, I sadly actually CAN imagine people doing that. On the Cornell parent page there is so much divisiveness about the issue. Parents complaining about why they’re testing 3x/week, parents complaining about the idea that they may require the vaccine in the fall, etc. Meanwhile, because so many kids are not following the rules or the contract they agreed to and Cornell subsequently not following through on severe enough consequences, their cases now are going up. They’re still ridiculously low and they have great contract tracing, but now they’re running into the problem of kids lying or not going for their testing, etc. I’ve said from the start, if they have proof of a kid violating the compact they need to act on that. When it’s happening over and over they need to take serious action. Whether it’s suspend a kid for the rest of the semester or kick them out for next fall or something drastic like that, they need to do something. They’ve been great until recently when it’s all facets of life there having covid issues. Not to mention the number of students going home on weekends because they think it’s ok. Even after they ask for permission and are denied they still go. To me that’s the issue. If you’re denied and you leave, and they have evidence of it (ie not showing up for your testing) then you’re out. Simple as that.
Back to the main issue here though, I would love any school my kids attend to require the vaccine. And, if it’s a school my son is waitlisted at and that’s why he gets in, even better. I certainly don’t want my kids to go to school with anyone that doesn’t want to get vaccinated. It’s one thing to not be able to get it for medical reasons or significant religious reasons, but any other reason, no way. I flew on a full plane last night and the airport was packed. The number of maskless people in the airport is astonishing and even on the plane the people who eat or slide their mask of or make it look like it’s covering their mouth and nose when it is just folded under to look like it is, is so concerning and scary to me. I am vaccinated and still felt gross. I am worried about my son who isn’t yet vaccinated and hope to god he didn’t get it from someone. He is getting tested in a few days and then will again regularly at school but still it’s scary how travel is picked up and so many are still not fully vaccinated.
6 Likes
Here’s an article from yesterday on the requirement of covid vaccine for colleges issue Colleges consider requiring Covid vaccinations for students as young adults drive rise in cases
1 Like
Hang in there. I can relate. Up until Dec, my kid’s first preference was to go to a well respected LAC with great research opportunities, intellectual kids, a beautiful campus, and not a sports school. Got in to Colby, and in a Scholar program. Now he is eagerly waiting for a large school to come out with decisions tomorrow. He almost didnt even apply to this school till the very last minute and only did so because I insisted. He would have had so much of a better chance with ED! 
3 Likes
Sounds like she has great options!
We have visited Vassar, Wesleyan, Brown, Oberlin, Boulder, and Puget Sound in pre-COVID days. Vassar, Wesleyan and Oberlin seem more similar than different to me in vibe, resources, and size. Puget Sound has a beautiful campus with fairly easy access to Seattle.
Fingers crossed that Brown comes through!
4 Likes
As the parent of a student who has a known Type I allergy + has had multiple anaphylactic reactions, including swelling leading to difficulty breathing, for which the causes could never be identified, as well as someone who myself experienced a bad reaction to a vaccine that caused vertigo for months, yes it could be a game changer for some people.
The forum of people experiencing significant lasting effects (i.e. do not clear up in 24-72 hours) related to vertigo, brain fog and tinnitus after getting a COVID vaccine on vestibular.org continues to grow about a page per day.
I am not a general anti-Vaxxer, but neither am I risk blind, so I can appreciate some people’s reluctance.
7 Likes
Thank you so much for this. We managed to visit last month during a big storm so it wasn’t too helpful as you can imagine Congratulations to your son on his James Scholarship!
Heard on the radio today that Pfizer is doing studies on kids 5-11, 12-15. I’m thinking we get some news by July for 12-15, but we’d have only 2 month’s worth of data. And yeah to Rutgers for being the first to require students to be vaccinated!
1 Like
Pfizer completed enrollment in their 12-15 year old trial in January, so there will be much longer than two months of data.
Pfizer hasn’t said when they will file for EUA in the 12-15 year olds, but it should be sooner rather than later, barring any issues. The younger ages will come later.
6 Likes
I had a really terrible experience on a bar patio once that started with a clove cigarette and ended with some peppermint schnapps-or was it the other way around? I forget now 
All that to say I know we went out early in ED, but I’ll be here sitting at the bar with a blue dolphin in hand to cheer you all on to the end, waiting to ring the 
for every last one of you. Hang in there! It’s almost over 
24 Likes
My in-laws assisted living place said all employees must be vaccinated by July 31 or they can’t be anywhere near the residents. FDA or no FDA.
3 Likes
Googling blue dolphin…
ETA: that made me chuckle!!
1 Like
I’m vaccinated and my kids will be as well before school but I don’t have a problem sending them to a school with unvaccinated students. The unvaccinated are more at risk so I have no problem them choosing what works best for their personal situation. I’m more concerned with public schools overreach and mandates.
3 Likes
Today’s thought: comparing the schools to pieces on a chess board. Some pieces S can play are important but can only move in certain directions (big publics with impacted majors). A lot of the pawns from early action knocked out by those bishops and knights from UC round. The queen and king are his two powerful big reaches coming up - one today. And then one great match school with a lot on the wish list - a rook - that could come and sweep the board at the end of the game.
10 Likes
Excitement in our house:
S was accepted into GWU into IR program and with a presidential scholarship renewable for 5 years.
He has loved this school SO much since visiting preCovid!!!
40 Likes
Finally some good news here after our last EA acceptance with UVA. After a deferral we just got an acceptance to Michigan COE! We had a bunch of waitlists in a row so this was a nice bit of news today!
40 Likes
This is fantastic. So good to hear some good news in a sea of all of these Waitlists!
2 Likes
That is a great news! Congrats!
100% get that. That’s why I think it’s understandable that while the vaccine has proven to be safe there are some people who for medical reasons cannot or do not want to get it.
Unfortunately, even with a page long a day of side effects, that it a tiny tiny percentage of people when more than 1 million doses are being put into peoples arms a day. I think we may even be at over 2 million a day. So overall it is doing way more good than bad and like any other vaccine unfortunately, there may be any number of side effects that people get.
But for those with a known medical risk, absolutely the risk has to be outweighed or the vaccine only given under clear medical supervision. I have a friend who’s husband would up with Guillain-Barre syndrome a flu vaccine a few years ago and had to be hospitalized and hasn’t been able to receive a vaccine since. However, in this case, his physicians felt it was safe and under their care he was able to receive it safely.
1 Like