It’s sad. Hope her experience gets better. Did she consider transfer as an option?
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So sorry to hear this. I’m in the Boston area, and there was an article in the globe yesterday about college students and mental health. I think as and industry, (I work in higher Ed) we had safety, safety, safety at the top of our minds and didn’t take into account the toll on students’ feelings. I’m thankful that my D20 had a good experience (Northeastern), but my S19 was challenged at an institution right next door where a new president complicated matters when he started firing people. This institution is a shell of itself pre-pandemic. We count ourselves lucky that we could help him pull it out, but if we weren’t close enough to provide this, he probably would have left that institution.
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After all the research we all here on CC did, it was so hard for class of '21 to know how this year was going to go at their school.
To add to your Boston data points, my D21 is at Wellesley and her experience has been great. Dr Johnson is a medical doctor so has her own informed science outlook and at the same time she was very committed to the in person class experience keeping all the other LAC activities that had to be canceled the year before. My D hardly notices Covid (except for last week start up week was online but now they are back in person) and they have done well managing cases. And I just asked her if she has noticed any faculty or admin staff quitting and she hasn’t.
Since this is the '22 board (and I have an S22, too) I would say I think that it is part luck and part how well run the school is/how effective the school leaders are…something to think about for our 22s even beyond Covid.
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I also think that past response to COVID is not necessarily indicative of what schools will do going forward. They are learning from experience, also.
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I would particularly think highly of a college that talked about how they have learned from experience and are applying it. Modeling that as educators would be really cool.
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What has been helpful for me for my D22 is that wherever possible I have joined every social media group for the colleges for which my daughter has applied. I’ve also noted comments that the parents make as I can tell if they align with our values.
But, it is my sense that while every institution has done what they could during the pandemic, “past performance IS an indication of future success…” and I’m noting the high and lows for each. I’ve been through this slog at my college, and I know what it takes to be making decisions around every corner, and those institutions who made very odd decision time and again worry me. There is a reckoning coming for higher ed in the next decade and Covid has hastened this.
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I would like to hear more about how parents are evaluating COVID policies at schools. We have a DS23 but I follow this thread to learn from the parents right above us. One of our top criteria is both in-person learning and as ‘normal’ a college experience as possible. We are looking for schools that have moved away from zero-COVID and towards living-with-Covid (not trying to start a debate about the merits of that, this is just a priority for us). What are reasonable ways to evaluate this?
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Sounds like the warning label on a mutual fund. 
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Regardless of what you are looking for in a COVID response, the best way to look at a school’s response is to start at the school’s own COVID page. Every school has one linked directly from their home page, so as soon as you go the website of a school somewhere on that page you should see something about COVID. Click there and find yourself going down a rabbithole of info. A lot of schools will have all of their “memos” posted and available to read, going back to the beginning, so you can see how they responded and how their response evolved, not all will. But they will all have info about the current measures, a dashboard of current testing and case levels on campus, etc.
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Our high school has a parent Facebook group. One parent asked for opinions on how well colleges handled Covid. Positive responses for the Boston-area schools (including Northeastern and Tufts), U of Minnesota, Syracuse, Carnegie Mellon, Williams. Not so great responses for U of Washington-Seattle, RPI, Rutgers. There is a very long thread on College Confidential about colleges and Covid. If you have questions about specific colleges you can start a thread asking about those schools.
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Caution: One persons idea of a colleges positive response may be very different from another persons idea. Some want colleges that require masks and vaccine and think that is a positive. Others want the freedom to decide what is right for themselves/their child. Hence, the need for research.
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Is there a list of colleges compiled based on COVID policies , how they are navigating COVID etc
I guess. There are campuses whose attitude is everyone gets Covid and no one cares. I think the responses from our high school community were praising colleges that were able to provide a safe, in-person experience as opposed to a complete shut-down or a “who cares” attitude. YMMV. If anyone has questions about Northeastern’s excellent approach, I have personal knowledge. I think their approach helped contribute to the more than 90,000 applications they received this year.
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I have a D20 at Northeastern and what they have done is nothing short of amazing. They got out ahead of it and setup their own testing facility. Not every institution has the means to do so, but in Massachusetts the quick to respond colleges swiftly partnered with the Broad Institute for testing and that has worked well, including for my own institution.
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Not that I am aware of. Sorry. But, most of the people on here tend to have a similar idea of what is positive.
@MH95 look at what the state or city require as well.
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Yes, the FB parents’ groups for D22’s admitted schools have been really eye-opening. One school may come off the list just because of how awful the parents behave on that page. Others have been a pleasant surprise. I’m also making note of the Instagram feeds. One school DD applied to never mentions covid at all. Not a plus, in my opinion.
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Very True. I think best is to visit or look at the website and see if it aligns with positive policies one is looking for. Additionally, public universities may need to follow the state / city/ county policies . I’m unaware of any “don’t care” institutions ( did not research) . Our kid’s college semester started early Jan and in person (same as last year fall).
S21 parent here. Regarding COVID discussion on school parent forums, you’ll have to look at it from an empathetic lens. You have us newbies and then parents who have had to go thru the pandemic with college kids the last two years.
Having a first year (albeit he was virtual from March HS junior year thru all of senior yr), I was really glad that my son’s school, Brown, was super conservative in managing COVID. I can’t speak to the year prior but I think college kids were sent home mid year although their Spring 2021 semester was in person. Fall they required vaccines (99.8% vax rate) and kids had to test the first day on campus. They tested once a week regardless of vax status. Isolation was 10 days and a posh hotel. When they had a surge in Oct, it went to twice a week testing and they had 2-3 weeks of dining via take out only.
This action during the surge got the experienced parents up in arms. Really upset. Letters to the president, etc. I thought it was an over reaction because wouldn’t you want to try everything to make sure kids had in-person experience and contain the virus? But I understand how this triggered parents whose kids was at home and isolated while probably pay full paying in 2020 or kids who didn’t have a proper orientation and was robbed of first year experiences. Anyway, just read thru reaction of parents with a grain of salt the ones you don’t agree with or agree with all have an intention of wanting what’s best for their kids.
This semester, I partly couldn’t wait for my son to get back to campus the last few days. I felt he was prob safer in the campus bubble. Booster required, test two days before they returned from campus, test day upon return to campus, and twice a week regardless til further notice. They get access to tests and given a month’s supply of KN95’s. That’s saying something. If you are conservative about managing the virus (I’m boosted but I wear KN95, safety glasses when I go out in public places like stores and I had friends test before they could be inside my house this break), ask yourself if you think your kid would be safer on that campus vs hanging around town here with their friends from home. The college doesn’t have to be as careful as Brown, but have they done enough where COVID is the last thing you are worried about with your kid on campus.
I’m worrying about lot of things. Kiddo wondering if his major is still the right one for him. Worried about him activating his credit card. But not once have I worried about him being at risk for COVID. He has the least risk among all of us by being on campus! Way less risk than my high schooler.
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The long gap between EAs and RDs is tough. then all of a sudden it would feel like there is hardly any time before we can commit and pay the deposit. Curious if it has always been like this for the college apps where you start applying in Oct and process goes through till 1 May when you complete paying the deposit ?).
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