yes. He chose a plan that wasn’t even one of the four presented.
And that’s good info about the headphones and hybrid class. Good idea.
“they can’t have a normal experience? I get that a college campus is different and bigger but they (and we) were comfortable with them being together right away.”
It would depend on your definition of normal experience, if it’s pre-covid experience, probably not for a while, social distancing and masks will be around for a while, even if or when a vaccine is found.
And as others have said, you can’t extrapolate Bowdoin (2K total enrollment, rural location) to other colleges, especially larger ones with different demographics. In bay area where I am, I’d say San Jose St or Berkeley are more representative of what’s going on - 35-40K including grad students, a ton of faculty and staff, most freshman, some sophomore classes are 4-500. Very hard to physically distance, that’s the typical experience.
For the many college students who previously commuted to the local low cost community college or state university, much of the experience you describe was not present to begin with. For just the classes / education, some may find the online / distance format less desirable, although at least they are now spending less time and money commuting.
Why would a LAC necessarily be better than a non-LAC in these respects for a student who studies the same major and chooses the same kinds of out-of-major courses at either a LAC or non-LAC?
Could they take single-seat rowboats out on the water?
Rowing ergs are also relatively easy to move outside to reduce the risk of virus transmission while rowing on them.
I really wish that NYT database were more accurate.
Yale appears as having 136 cases, but that is almost entirely due to the Yale New Haven Health hospital employees who contracted CV last spring. If you look at testing of students for the past seven days, there was one U/G and two grad students who tested positive.
The NYT article says that of U Conn’s 200 cases, 90 were linked to medical programs.
I am not in any way suggesting there isn’t an outbreak on college campuses, but that the data is not capturing student exposure if it includes hospital employees.
Practically speaking, they wouldn’t, but there are assumptions, beliefs, and biases that attribute LAC educations with a more well-rounded experience. No need to debate this factually, but if people believe it then they will act accordingly.
What’s more likely a driver of the belief is a bias that research universities (non-Ivy, S, MIT) are often seen as the “fallback” or “safer option” for kids who don’t get into the schools so often spoken of here. The NESCAC represents 1/100th of the US college population, yet it’s mentioned in 10%(?) of the posts here? They’re great schools, but they are statistically insignificant for the country as a whole. With such a strong interest on boards like this, you’re bound to have biased associations of superiority due to their exclusivity.
I think this is a major difference between schools. Many colleges have a “no visitors“ rule. Students are not allowed in any room but their own, or in any dorm but their own. That means they don’t have a pod or squad or friend-group that can be together inside. Movies, dinner, games, workouts, virtual classes and studying are either done alone, or outside. (Classrooms and common room are not open for gathering.)
Agreed, however, I think it’s important to note that the 7 to 1 student to faculty ratio, tutorials, socratic method, research opportunities, faculty symposiums, etc. all contribute to make the student experience more directly interactive with faculty. It’s the same difference between a large public high school versus a private day or boarding school.
The decision about residential college right now involves so many variables, which are different for each family. I think the people on this thread have put an enormous amount of thought, research and communication into making the decision with their kids (and even helping them change course if the decision isn’t working out after all). The discussions here got me to plan ahead this May/June, prepared me to listen to D19, and helped me support her decision (which was different from my initial leaning).
I truly think we should all be proud of how well we’re navigating a serious and long-lasting disruption in our lives. I also have a D21, and I use this thread as a way to sound out what her options might look like for college and how she might respond in different environments. I appreciate everyone’s shared experiences, down to the schedules of their kid’s typical day, and the challenges of different choices. I know no one is getting their ideal or expected outcome, but I’m also looking forward to the day when we look back and see all the positives that came out of this upheaval.
Always felt that if I were running a college (oddly, no ones asked me to so far) I’d have invited 1st and 2nd years back in singles, then have them choose classes first before assigning pods/bubbles/families strictly by at least one shared class, preferably f2f. 2nd year friend groups could have tried to coordinate. A couple of weeks in, they could have created study groups/share meals/hang out in a pod, then start combining pods…and then it would have all blown up after an illegal party somewhere. Sigh.
I don’t think you get to choose your pods and perhaps this is where some of the disappointment is creeping in. In most cases - I think Wesleyan is pretty representative - the pods are composed of roommates, suite mates and housemates. If your friendship circle falls outside of one of those living arrangements, you may feel shortchanged. This is one of those areas that could be reexamined in time for spring semester, if things remain as calm as they are now.
I live 15 mins from Hamilton College and 30 mins from Colgate University. Our area has had cases of the virus but has maintained the infection rate at less than 1%. Most of the school districts in central NY opted for remote learning as the school opened this past week. In our district, it will be re-evaluated again if the original hybrid plan will be implemented in late October or resume remote learning.
Both Colgate and Hamilton colleges are doing a great job of handling this “new normal” for on campus learning. Its not without any hassles and issues as I mentioned in my past posts that there are students who still don’t get it and break the rules (referring to Colgate). Only time will tell how the schools will hold up. It all boils down to students’ behavior and everyone in campus. As of last night, Colgate has one active case, down from 8 early this week and 31 at the early part of the school opening. Dining halls are open but with a lot of modifications. The school created a few grab and go areas around campus and even invited food trucks on campus. The food trucks is something that I also noticed at RIT when I dropped off my son a month ago.
I grappled with the decision to send my two kids to college this semester as both are at moderate risk for having asthma. But having read the opening plans from Colgate and RIT, coupled this that NYS has been very strict with reviewing/approving opening plans from all schools across the state (and lots of praying lol), I decided to let them move to campus. My son was really looking forward to his move to RIT having spent two years at our local cc. He hated the remote learning aspect last spring. This child of mine is very introvert so I am not worried about him going out to parties and actively socializing. My daughter, on the other hand, is my social butterfly child. She attends Colgate. She was excited about her new jobs (yes two jobs on campus!!!) and misses her friends so she was really excited to go back to campus. My worry with her is her general health bec of her jobs and having a full load. She has 3 online classes and one in person. So far she’s holding up just fine. We are constantly in communication with them as this is not a normal year for everyone. We hope they get to enjoy their time on campus and at the same time we want them to always be careful and mindful of our current pandemic situation.
At Amherst when the sophomores and seniors who were invited back to campus chose housing, they chose with a group of up to 5 friends and they were guaranteed to be placed together on a hall. They also rank ordered dorms, so there was coordination between groups so that they could end up in the same dorm or section of campus.
Your daughter and her daily/weekly schedules looks like my daughter’s. I totally agree about our new normal until there’s a way to fight this virus either with a vaccine or something else. We all learn to adapt i.e., with caution. That is what we tell our kids.
D20’s SLAC did not open dorms. When it was first announced in July, she was ok with it. But when her friends all started leaving for college a month later, she became angry and despondent and really unsure of her ability to take on the challenge of her first year at home… I think she was concerned about staying engaged and motivated. And angry. Did I mention angry?
After lots of back and forth, she decided to start the semester from home with just three classes. (Those of you with music majors know three classes plus lessons, ensembles, and practice is still A LOT.) Her scholarships, no room and board, and a tuition break from the school made it a very appealing option to go ahead and knock out some credits.
My husband offices in a small house nextdoor to our property and we turned the upstairs into a bedroom and office/practice studio for her. The college is doing an excellent job with the online course delivery, and D loves her space. She says she’d still rather be in-person to interact with other musicians, but it’s been better than we expected. Hopefully they will go back in January… The stats look great for her college state and county, so I’m hopeful.
But what you said about independence to me is key. One of the main advantages of kids going away is their maturity level when they return. Just part of body and mental maturity. Like send one human being away and get a totally different and improved human being in exchange. He even would sit down with us and have total full conversations!!! Really…!! You will see , it’s coming, I promise you…LOL (as a senior he is totally great BTW).
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I get it. We have a 29 year old who frankly calls us TOO much and a 24 year old who lives in our area and we have to kind of shoo her away now and again. They were radio silent with us all through their college years.
Our youngest had a super rich HS experience since he was a two sport athlete and a musician. We have never ever had to discipline him (little different from his sibs), and there hasn’t been much to talk about, really. He just always took care of everything without our checking on it. Our concern is he’s in the same overall environment still, yet all of the work is in place but none of the fun (none of it is great for his friends still in HS, either). We wanted this semester to feel different to him more than just having different people on his computer screen. But it was hard to come up with things. Other than making him re-roof our house, there really isn’t much we could think of to push his personal boundaries. We’ve been the opposite of helicopter parents because he never really needed any monitoring at all.
So, he isn’t being challenged as a person outside of academics. He did learn a big lesson about laundry fabric softener this week, so I guess that was a win.
He went to OSU today to hang with his would-have-been roommate. Anxious to hear his impressions when he gets home tomorrow. He may decide that he made a mistake and the campus is not the prison he envisioned. I hope so.
Given their size, number of commuter students, and number of off campus students, UConn seems to be doing well. My son lives right off campus, and has 2 in person classes. He hasn’t had any complaints and is enjoying the semester so far (he’s a senior so already knew people, which helps, as compared to freshmen).
Someone posted earlier that there isn’t much universities can do if off campus students don’t follow the rules. UConn did get concerned with an increase in positives from a large off campus apartment complex area in their town center, and declared all those students need to quarantine for 2 weeks (not allowed on campus). Good for them! (Although I have sympathy for the students following the rules who get the same punishment as those not following the rules.)
We live near UConn. I do hope the off campus apartment unit follows the quarantine guidelines. We are traveling to Maine later this month, and I’m hoping there’s not an increase in cases that would preclude that from happening.
My D’s school invited everyone back. But many students chose to stay home for at least the first semester or live off campus so there are a lot more empty rooms than normal since they didn’t really space kids out into singles, especially freshman. D started out in a suite with 4 girls but they asked to spread out since there were empty rooms on their floor. That way they have privacy since they have some online classes but they can still visit one another.
D’s experience certainly isn’t normal but it’s OK. She has 1 in person class but she has groups that meet together for class projects. Last night she and some friends played soccer and then watched a movie in her dorm’s movie room (with masks and distanced) and tonight they are doing something else. They are allowed off campus with masks and distancing. There are less large group activities and less people just hanging out (mainly because a lot of people are living off campus) which she misses. And of course they aren’t all just piling into someones room to do whatever college kids do when they pile into someone’s room.
She thinks the freshman are probably having the best experience of anyone since they don’t realize what normal is.