@roycroftmom wrote:
Wesleyan was on top of this way back in April:
“However, as a matter of public policy, the kind of place I’d like to live would consider bookstores and museums more valuable to the public good than liquor stores.”
Value statements like museums and bookstore should be a priority for reopening are too general and arbitrary. Most people don’t visit museums, and the most is being used in the right sense, imo. It’s a luxury good (except for DC where most are free), if you expanded the definition to say aquariums, zoos, then I think it’s more valuable, even though the largest aquarium here (Monterey) charges $50 for adults.
Bookstores have reopened here in south bay, though you have to wear a mask and only a certain number can be in the store.
Enrolment at DS18’s Ontario university is up over 800 students, of which if rumours are to be believed, 500 are in the department of Life Sciences alone. Apparently the physics department is very concerned about how they are going to be able to accommodate all these extra students as it is a relatively small department. They currently have a posting up for a contractually-limited assistant professor (2 year term). I’m thinking they’re going to need to hire a bunch more TA’s for the fall. On the flip side apart from the more selective schools seeing higher enrolment, the less selective schools are seeing decreases.
It’s possible that some places are waiting to see how many students enroll in Course X before deciding if it will be online or in-person. I’m scheduled for a course that caps at 24 and has had anywhere from 9 to 31 students in the 5 previous times I’ve taught it. As of today, registration is at 7. If the group is small enough, I would hope for an in-person class, but if it reaches the cap that may mean going online due to the space constraints on campus.
Williams do give some credit for some AP courses for certain scores. The only LAC that I know of that gives neither credit nor advanced placement for any AP course at any score is Harvey Mudd. Among the non-LAC privates, only Caltech has the same policy. They’re the exceptions but understandable given the difficulty of their courses and core requirements of these two schools.
Where I teach, our overly-aggressive associate dean likes to cancel electives with low enrollments but I am excited that this might not happen this year.
Good to know that so many privates give credit for AP courses. It was my understanding that they were good for advanced placement in classes but rarely good for credit.
IMHO, there isn’t that much value in APs unless one can shorten the entire school experience and save $$ by graduating early. The advanced standing is nice if a student is attending a school with a large core of basic classes to wade through and little interest there. Or, for a kid who has covered something in great depth and doesn’t want to repeat it.
The college in New Hampshire that already has a large distance education program is Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU).
tOSU is sometimes used for “The” Ohio State University (as the school and many of its boosters like the call it). OSU can be ambiguous with Oklahoma State University and/or Oregon State University (neither of which uses the prefix “The” as commonly) as well as Ohio State University.
But then some abbreviations are pretty well known on these forums, such as MIT, CMU (possibly ambiguous, but these forums usually refer to the private one), JHU.
I’ve always liked the well known abbreviation for Stanford…Stanford ?
Or because the new land grant university (Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College) was renamed “The Ohio State University” in 1878 and the article is part of its legal name. The article helps to distinguish it from Ohio University which is older and located in Athens, OH.
That “t” in tOSU is silly.
TOSU better? 
I respectfully disagree. Of course the most valuable financial payback is graduating early (believe me, I appreciate the tens of thousands of dollars saved in our family due to DS1’s AP’s!!).
Other advantages are:
As you note, being able to go to a class at the right (challenging) level - but not only at a school with a “large core of basic classes” - what if you love chemistry; why take beginner chemistry if you could learn more?
And, significantly, in the college application process, APs give a more objective measure (to students themselves and to colleges) of achievement, compared to Subject tests (too easy, so there’s no data above 800), and compared to grades (all over the place, for various syllabi).
I don’t know if this has any impact on Emory’s plan, but the CDC headquarters is literally next to Emory.
What AP stands for (advanced placement) suggests that this is the original use of AP scores, and which can be useful for any student (even one not intending to graduate early). A strong student who was able to learn college frosh level material while in high school may not appreciate having to waste time and tuition repeating it in college, rather than moving on to more advanced material.
Of course, a college may offer advanced placement for some AP scores but not others, based on how it evaluates the AP material in comparison to its own frosh-level courses (i.e. it may not allow advanced placement by AP score for a course that it considers more advanced than that particular AP material).
Not much new to unpack here but some interesting tidbits re: Virginia Tech and Purdue’s plans for the fall: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/college-coronavirus-fall-campus-open/2020/06/10/f1537346-ab19-11ea-94d2-d7bc43b26bf9_story.html
Wake Forest University announces fall plans:
“On-campus undergraduate courses will begin on August 26 and run through November 24. Students will return home for Thanksgiving and not return to campus until the start of the spring term. Concluding academic activity, including final exams, will be conducted remotely from November 30 to December 18. The Law School will have a slightly different schedule, beginning classes on August 17 and concluding all on-campus activity by November 24. Any other slight deviations to graduate and professional school calendars will be communicated by degree program leaders. We also anticipate forgoing a fall break this year; Reynolda Campus students and faculty will be asked to limit travel outside the local area in accordance with forthcoming guidelines to help preserve the health of our community.”
More here: https://ourwayforward.wfu.edu/2020/06/our-way-forward-fall-2020-update/
Also the case that a course that can be used as credit for some majors may not be usable for other majors if the college wants their majors to take a particular set of material.
MIT released a report informing 2020-21 academic options.
https://covid19.mit.edu/MIT-team-2020-releases-report-informing-2020-21-academic-options
Detailed reports are only available under MIT accounts, but in brief, a range of scenarios has been considered (from 100% online to 100% return, as well as delayed start and three semesters). The current top-recommended one is partial return to campus: Fall - Juniors & Seniors; Spring - First Years, Sophomores, & Seniors, possibly switching to fully online after Thanksgiving.
While on campus under any of the scenarios, strict social distancing measures will be in force (with no visitors and large gatherings allowed and large common areas closed or restricted), and all instruction that can be delivered online will utilize that format.
The decision will be announced in the coming weeks, but it, of course, may change if the conditions warrant.
I’ll admit I thought “The Ohio State University” was a bit much, but Ohio University is actually The Ohio University, so maybe its an Ohio thing. (Full disclosure, my DS is an OU grad 