Question for parents who have older kids: what is up with all the schools emailing students and offering fast-track admissions ? Specifically Stevens IT, Wooster, MWashington, others….IIRC, D21 had one from instate but I don’t remember this many and this intensity. Is this a new push to get kids? The last 3 weeks has been intense. They are great schools, just seems a little over the top.
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Ah, the show going down is likely a factor. They know how tight knit and interdependent they are — and on a schedule no less. Someone going into quarantine is major upheaval. Nail on the head.
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And they are already used to wearing costumes… masks, no biggie!
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Our kids are not theater kids, but they are both in orchestra and do stage management, so maybe similar motivation. They feel that they are just too busy to allow for any days off due to either COVID or flu, so if they can lower the chances of getting sick by masking, why not do so?
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I appreciate this discussion. I did not intend my question as a mask convo, although I have gained insights. I was thinking most about enrollment trends and ripple effects. My daughter was toying with idea of a gap year, but telling a school she’s considering it, on her app, probably is not to her advantage in the application process. Best to take each step one at a time. Then again, maybe they’d consider a deferral money in the bank.
I would suggest that it isn’t a political question at all anymore, when colleges require masks—rather, it is completely and 100% for liability reasons. There is nothing that drives the modern university more than a fear of liability.
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And some of us just don’t want to get sick. I suggest we leave the masking discussion alone as it is likely to lead to unhelpful conversations. We all have our views and can react to colleges from our individual viewpoints.
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My son has had a few fast track admission emails too. Maybe its to reduce stress for some kids? Fill spots? Not really sure.
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2 questions for the college parent hive minds.
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We may have Thursday- Sunday in early December to do visits. Would 2-3 schools be possible if in close distance or should we stick to one that my son may be more interested in? Would likely have to be unofficial self tours.
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For common app, how would you have your kid spin living on a hobby farm in the activities section? He has sports and music EC’s and has worked 3 jobs but the hobby farm has been a pretty big part of his life too.
Can I just say that I really dislike the advice mentioned above to “explain any grade lower than a B” during remote learning. Not disputing that that is what was said, I just ugh, can’t stand that these kids have to “explain” a grade drop during a majorly life altering event where their education and lives were severely disrupted. Sounds like that poster’s kid has all As and a (C?) during remote learning was an anomaly for her, during remote learning. Seriously what should she really need to explain. Remote algebra on an unplanned emergency timeline. Pandemic. The same grade drop and same explanation that probably 50%+ of their applicants have. It was hard enough and the kids shouldn’t have to explain it or defend it.
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Or, maybe a mask is just a barrier device - and not a political statement?
How many hundreds of daily deaths would be “serious” enough to make simple practices acceptable?
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I know, I know. You are of course right. I just really hate to think of my kids having to do this again.
But yes, SOMETIMES it’s political. Like when they are wearing masks in a video where they are alone and outside. Or even if not political, it’s still unnecessary. If we are going to be strict in prevention measures we should still be scientific and make sense.
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We did 1 school/day for the tours but we had scheduled tours and younger sibling (11) in tow. It was nice to spend time getting to know the campus, including eating on campus, and the surrounding area. But if it was just us, we likely could have done 2 in a day if the campuses were close enough to one another.
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For S23, 1 school visit per day worked pretty well. He also preferred actual tours. When all we could do was walk around the campus, he often got a negative impression of the school (for what it’s worth).
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We have done 2 schools in one day then 2 new schools on another day, in the same region. It is a lot, but if they take notes (or pictures if they are visual) they really can remember. We did this with D21 (precovid) and also with D23. Not ideal, but definitely doable. Try to arrange it to get scheduled tour guides and admission sessions if at all possible, for as many as possible. In our experience, they really do give a better picture of vibe/what they are looking for than the self-tours or prerecorded virtual tours.
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Agreed, need to do the real student led tour if possible. We prefer to also be able to wander around on our own a bit, including to the building housing his major (if not shown in tour) and grab food at a student-filled local diner or coffee house, which realistically means you can’t do more than one visit per day unless the schools are very close to each other, but obviously any visit is better than none so we all do what we can…
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On tours, is there a reason you can’t do official tours? Are you thinking they’re on break by then? My WVU kid has finals through Dec. 16…
On the hobby farm, it is a job, and a pretty important one, imho. If there are daily chores, leadership roles (like, I dunno, wrangling for transportation, scheduling harvest workers, getting horses to coexist in peace - I’m clearly stretching here 
) - throw them in there! His longevity and skill set and ability to show growth and experience are all amazing things for the EC section.
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I hear you. It’s ridiculous. Students were doing their best under extreme conditions, and if a C is the worst of it, I personally was impressed. My daughter felt remote learning and the grade helped reinforce her opinion of grades. I respect her call on this. She heard the admissions officer but ultimately it’s her application. She’s talking over with her essay coach who I think leans toward not including it.
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I would 100% include the farm. Pretty unique and clearly helps them see the kid in totality which is supposed to be the point.
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Some do have official tours at that time so we would hit those if possible.
Your stretch for how to explain the farm is what I am running into helping him with. No leadership roles but yes, lots of growth.
Yes my kid is quirky for sure with his EC’s. He does lots of different things but no real leadership roles.
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