@roycroftmom Most medical experts I have heard believe that a widespread vaccine will most likely be available by summer 2021, with late 2021 being the worst-case scenario. I find it very hard to believe the situation with colleges will not be greatly improved by this time next year.
I’m fervently hoping the same thing! And I completely agree about the experience this year and paying full price for it.
That does not describe what is happening at my son’s campus. Three in person classes plus working for his advisor in one of her in person classes, dining hall is open but limited (my son doesn’t eat there), lives on campus in 8-person townhouse and is allowed to have guests only in common area and no more than 10 total, no sports but his team has workouts (he is in a pod with three of his roommates and four others). But that said, I’m not paying the Bowdoin premium. Though I wouldn’t be willing to pay that much without COVID either.
What bothers you obviously does not necessarily bother the thousands of college students who have returned to campus willing to live with these conditions. My son just broke his hand two weeks ago on campus and is now in a cast for 3-4 months. He cannot use his hand at all and the cast goes nearly to his elbow. Just the other day he said, “thank God I am at school b/c I would be bored out of my mind if I were home right now.” He can’t play xbox, can’t play golf, can’t fully participate in team workouts, wouldn’t be able to work at his summer job if he were home, and would have zero friends at home (all are away at school). So not only is he dealing with a broken hand/wrist, but he is also adapting to a new and different college experience. Yet despite all that, he still would rather be living with his “sub optimal experience” on campus. I’m glad he is resilient and looking at his cup half full rather than half empty.
@4kids4us I’m not sure where your son is at school but Bowdoin and most of the schools (which are all 4-year residential and mostly LACs) D21 is looking at look like my description.
@homerdog a 4 year residential college with about 6000 students in the Northeast. I guess I missed that you were specifically referring to only Bowdoin-type schools. I didn’t realize your d21 had narrowed her search to LACs rather than the ones you were originally considering.
I think Williams and Middlebury have done a great job showing that you can invite everyone back, provide comprehensive testing and still have some campus life return; students hanging out and studying in the libraries, etc. Both schools have relatively larger student numbers (2,100 and 2,900) for the NESCAC schools but are still able to make it work. This should give greater confidence for the other schools to invite everyone back for the Spring semester.
So for his mental health, being at school is a positive thing. That’s great that he’s adjusting so well at college ?
So this is a newsletter we get at Michigan. It’s about covid, the RA strike and what kids are doing on campus. Please read all sections. They aren’t just staring at the 4 walls. Somethings I just learned about. This is their new reality https://studentlife.umich.edu/parents/newsletter/673/email
I just have to comment on this. Basically, what you are describing is my son’s life on Denison’s campus right now (although they do have limited dining in the dining halls with separation). And he’s fine with it, having fun and enjoying his classes (all remote at this point). Although there will be no indoor track at least until next year, the track team is still practicing every day and doing their conditioning, just in smaller groups. He’s also leading tours, one family at a time, masked and socially distanced. I think all of that helps, and other kids who don’t have a sport or a job or may be in a single (my son’s in a triple) might not be having the same kind of experience. The school acknowledges that and is working actively with the students to find ways for everyone to stay engaged, academically and socially. But I keep coming back to the feeling that this situation IS my son’s college experience, and I hope, and believe, that he will learn from it. We’re an ocean and a continent away from him, so of course I’m also nervous, but so far, so good - as of this week, Denison has no active cases.
We may see STEM heavy schools like Johns Hopkins, CalTech, Rice, CMU getting more applications next year than liberal arts heavy Williams, Dartmouth, Pomona etc. Uncertainty of future can push more students (or their parents) towards straight paths of easier employability.
Of course HYPSM would do fine as usual.
I think Denison is doing something like 100 tests a week. Bowdoin is testing everyone three times a week for another week and then I think they will move down to twice a week. So that’s 1950 tests a week just for students. Testing faculty and staff twice a week as well. Not surprised that Denison doesn’t have a positive case with almost no testing.
I’m glad that Denison has doubles and triples. At least kids can have a small “family”. Only singles at some schools has made life pretty lonely especially for freshmen. It’s interesting that the faculty there and the town of Granville is ok with this testing plan but it’s certainly a better experience for the kids. Let’s just hope no one gets really sick I guess. Obviously, I’m stuck between wanting students to have more normality but only when that’s safe. I don’t think Denison is doing enough testing. That’s why I was trying to say that rapid daily tests could move us along faster than waiting for a vaccine.
I hope that Williams and Midd have success. I believe both have all students on campus. Williams has a lot of singles so I think many of the students are living alone and they can’t have anyone in their room so that still seems a bit lonely. If they can go to class, that would be big.
And D isn’t just looking at LACs but she does have two LACs that are favorites. And a handful of CA schools none of which are on campus this semester so that’s not good either. 
She has a great setup - a double room as a single, so the online courses are fine. She’s in her dorm and for the hybrid courses, 11 students are in the classroom and the other 19ish are dialing in from their dorm. She had some in person classes this week and LOVED them.
It’s unfortunate that there is not a ton to do on campus (sports cancelled, so no football games, frat parties, etc) so the kids are spending time going into Boston/Cambridge (20m shuttle/uber away) that they probably would. They are making the best of it. She LOVES college and has made great friends, is enjoying her courses, and is living as independently as they will let her. Her (freshman) high school friend who’s college is online only is home in her childhood bedroom taking classes is SO SAD and depressed, my heart breaks for her. I can’t see this online school going on for 2 more semesters - sorry. I don’t buy that we will be in the spot 6-12 months from now, as we are now.
It’s interesting that we never see stats on who (what age groups) has died in the last 3 months from Covid - I think compliance would go down substantially if we did.
The kids at Williams have single rooms, but they are living in suites with their housemates. These housemates are considered their family. The family can hang out in their common area without masks or social distancing.
The weather has been nice and the kids are getting plenty of outdoor exercise. Formal practices for athletic teams begin sometime this month, but I can’t remember exactly when.
Haverford emailed at the end of the first week that they’ve had zero students test positive. Bryn Mawr is also transitioning to FTF classes next week, and Haverford has FTF classes this week as well. Not telling of the future but not a bad start for now. My daughter finally got her schedule settled (I had to step in and help in an advisory role because her advisor went on sabbatical without anyone telling her), and she is very happy with her final schedule. She’s hoping everything keeps going well as she really wants to feel secure enough to go back in spring- she found out that her would’ve-been room is still vacant, so she’s hopeful she can still get it in spring.
Singles are not necessarily lonely, because you can have others from your residence hall in your room if masked and common areas in dorms are open as well. Seems like most lac libraries are open as well.
@homerdog, you’re right, Denison hasn’t been doing a great deal of testing. They are going to ramp it up further next week and it’s certainly possible there will be more cases. My post was really meant more as a response to your comment that the experience you described is not worth the cost. I think that calculation will differ depending upon the specific situation and the specific individual. I can absolutely understand why your S19 decided to do something else this semester in circumstances where the Bowdoin sophomores weren’t invited back on campus. And I myself feel deeply sad that the idyllic college experience our son was enjoying so much a year ago is gone. But, in almost the exact situation you described, he himself is happy and learning, and his friends are as well. They all made the decision they wanted to go back and they seem proud that they are going through something important, and challenging, together. I really don’t think they miss what they had before nearly as much as I do because now they are focused on navigating this new environment. So, in our situation, we don’t see it as a suboptimal experience. We hope, of course, that track meets and parties and all of the other things they’ve lost will be back before they graduate, but in the meantime I think this year is going to be an important part of the fabric of their lives and will help prepare them for the post-pandemic world they’ll be graduating into.
@shuttlebus The pod setup sounds good for sophs, jrs and seniors, but I know of two cases of first year pods that are just three people, both are 2 boys and 1 girl. It’s been awkward and seems like a strange arrangement for first years. Today the college sent another mail to first years bc they have been gathering in groups of more than 10 students which isn’t permitted, even outside, socially-distanced and masked. I understand why the college has to take a hard line. I just think the isolation is real for many first years and I’m not sure how well it’s being addressed.
I recommend this article from the Middlebury student paper on the challenges faced by first years. https://middleburycampus.com/51900/news/unsure-of-what-to-expect-first-years-grapple-with-a-college-experience-marred-by-the-pandemic/
I wouldn’t say COVID has changed the job market that much yet, management consulting, private equity and Wall Street seems to be booming which is where a lot of Dartmouth, Williams and Bowdoin students are headed. The liberal arts degree has proven to be even more important as technology and investing increasingly require critical inquiry and multidisciplinary approaches, which are the basis for the analytical thinking promoted in the LAC environment. STEM is definitely important as well, but you can major in STEM at the LACs and also have a more well rounded education overall.
We’ve almost circled back to the beginning of this 16,000+ post thread, only now we are talking about what might school might be like in Fall 2021!
We now know a bit more than when we started. We know that the virus isn’t seasonal. We know that it is indoor, crowded situations that are the riskiest, and that outbreaks will happen on campuses. In retrospect, this seems obvious, as expecting young people not to socialise was always going to be a challenge. It will likely be more so as the weather drives people indoors.
So, to answer @homerdog 's statement it might be useful to ask: what will be different in 2021?
The virus will be the same, presumably.
There may be a vaccine, and this seems to be priced in by many already. However, we are not there yet (and the recent pause in the Oxford trial highlights this), and it is reasonable to expect that first vaccines might not confer 100% immunity.
What would certainly help is a reduction in the prevalence of the virus nation-wide. If there is a ton of circulating virus, it will always be a battle to keep it off campus. With a low level of virus, campus bubbles might be possible that allow some semblance of the normal residential experience in Fall 2021.
I meant to add (but missed my edit window) that if you’d like to geek out a bit on the latest science on Covid-19, Fauci gave an interesting update at the Harvard Medical Grand Rounds recently: https://partners.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/968f633a874c4f1a80c368496f49d4661d