At my daughter’s school the kids are tested weekly. The school is asking the kids to schedule their last test for shortly before they leave. We haven’t really discussed my daughter’s testing plan with her but we likely will this weekend.
We live 2000 miles from her school. If she tests positive she won’t be flying home. There is no way I’d let her do that and she wouldn’t want to. The school hasn’t formally said anything about this but I assume if she tests positive she goes into isolation and I don’t think they’d let her just walk out to catch a flight.
So they are not saying you can’t comeback. They suggest you don’t and stay home. But if you come back you have to do these things. They also suggest students to not to come for the fall over and over. They are just trying to decrease the amount of kids in the dorms. If someone didn’t like their experience then they have options and many of them. I bet some might stay home for part of the winter then come back as the weather gets better. That would be my take. Once they come home for Thanksgiving they will still have a week or two of classes then midterms at home so they can see how that pans out at home. It’s very hard for some to be home and do well at a very hard academic school.
So when your kids come home… Give them their space… Lots of space. They might sleep in long and late and stay up to 3:00 am. Unless their grades are in trouble, let them be. Be flexible. They might not want to eat dinner at 6:00 pm. They might have gained /lost weight. Their hair might be long and unkept. Clothes wrinkled etc. . Let them be. Guide them…
I swear in Freshman year when my son came home he slept for 18 hours straight coming home after midterms. Then the next day he slept really long for like 3 days… Lol… Then he was like normal.
I know this isn’t the right thread for my question but hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Is there a forum/thread to discuss the 2020-2021 application season? Like how COVID is affecting admissions and enrollments?
I don’t think there’s a thread discussing the generalities of that yet because very few admissions decisions have been made for these seniors yet. Some rolling admissions have happened but ED decisions not due until Dec. You can start a thread!
@circuitrider I think that Wesleyan and Ct College will fare well with their current spike. Trinity had a larger spike a few weeks ago that was tamped down rapidly after going online for 2 weeks, students confined to their floor at the whole college, aggressive contact tracing enlisting CT DPH, isolation and rapid quarantine. Trinity was able to get it back down to green where it has remained for the past few weeks. Not easy when rampant community spread in the state’s capital city is in the red zone. New London CT (where CT College is located) has similarly been in the red zone for a while now as a city as well. Hamilton’s spike (one of the rural nescacs) also seems under control. In my estimation I would want to evaluate how a college responded with 100% of students on campus to a spike. Were they able to get it under control, if so, how quickly. Once again I think mandatory twice weekly testing of students, employees with Broad Institute with rapid turn around time in results delivery was a first essential ingredient in that effort.
I am dealing with 3 different state schools with my kids and all 3 have offered optional free testing in the days before leaving for the holidays. Students and their families have as much responsibility as anyone to figure out how to make this transition safe for their families. Why would a school need to put out a directive on not getting on public transportation with covid??? Why is that not common sense??? We will not be spending Thanksgiving with grandma this year again common sense for our circumstances. College students are not the only people on the move this holiday season.
To be clear, Wesleyan experienced a slight uptick of 6 positive student test results the week that included Halloween. It’s dashboard still shows a positivity rate of 0.02%. That may change with the next update, but right now the elevation in alert levels has been due to the increase in positivity rate in the surrounding community (i.e., the State of Connecticut.)
My D is at Hamilton and putting together her schedule for next semester. If all goes well with registration, 3 out of her 4 classes will meet in person. She could have had all 4 in person, but the Creative Writing professor she wants is holding her section remotely. If any of her planned courses fill before she gets to register, she has two backups–both are meeting in person.
This semester, only 1 of her 4 courses meets remotely. It hasn’t changed all semester.
@TheGFG So how many weeks does each group get on campus? Are they moving in for just a short 7.5 weeks? I wonder how many students will even bother coming to campus, knowing they have to move everything back out in less than two months. I guess it depends on how well they’ve been doing at home.
Because common sense does not have a common definition.
Some people do not think COVID-19 is serious enough to warrant any additional action.
Some people do not care about others enough to do anything to avoid imposing risks onto others.
When a non-trivial percentage of people (college students or otherwise) continue to do voluntary activities (e.g. parties) inside closed indoor spaces with crowds in close contact (the three Cs of risk), it is not surprising that the virus cannot be stopped.
ProfsSD: yes, each group will only be on campus for 7 weeks. Obviously, this especially stinks for the kids who are coming from far away. The plan seems to be very unpopular with the students. D says there’s a lot of griping on social media. I saw an editorial complaining about the plan’s glaring flaws, and someone launched a petition against it as well. The administration had polled the students a few weeks ago, and apparently this was the proposal which received the least support, so that’s a bone of contention.
I won’t pay room and board on campus for her to have remote classes. I suspect most will end up being offered by Zoom, regardless of what they’re saying now.
So are these classes socially distanced? I can’t see how Hamilton could have enough big-enough classrooms and/or spaces to keep 15-25 students six feet apart unless maybe classes are running in the evenings and on Saturdays. If that’s how they are doing it, I guess faculty is ok with working these odd hours?
None of her proposed courses meet in the evening, but students have been told that they can expect each course to meet 1-2 Saturdays during the semester. She experienced that this fall too, but only with two of her courses. She wasn’t thrilled meeting twice on a Saturday (especially with the 9:30 course), but decided it was better than remote learning.
As for social distancing, her courses now have the desks 6 ft. apart. One even meets in the theater space, so it’s clear the college is not just using the traditional classrooms. She is not in any large intro courses, so that might have something to do with it. I’ll let you know how it works when she returns in the spring. For now, she is going based on the course plans from the Registrar.
FWIW, at my college, almost 3/4 of the professors plan to hold classes in person this spring. We are also a LAC and have scheduled classrooms so that students will get to attend at least one or two days a week in person. This fall, I have one course that can accommodate all students all 3 days/week. That’s because the course is capped at 20, and 8 students are remote, piping in through Zoom. Even with social distancing in the classroom, we can fit 12 students so it’s worked out great. My other two courses are hybrid. All students attend all classes, but they have to rotate who gets to attend in person, and who gets to attend remotely. (I have set up a group A and group B.) We have tech set up in the room (tracking cameras, built-in speakers, large screens) so remote students are still there and part of the conversation. It’s not ideal, but at least on-campus students get half of their classes with me in person. Honestly, they just seem grateful to be able to come to class at all.
Of course, as we know, things can change in a hurry. Several colleagues have made it clear that while they plan to teach in person this spring, they may change their minds if things take a turn for the worse. We are testing everyone 2x/week so that has given most of us the confidence to get back in the classroom. I prefer it over Zoom any day, but we all realize we need to be flexible. So far, our numbers have stayed low.
@TheGFG That’s frustrating. I admire Dickinson for trying to get everyone back on campus, but that’s a tough plan to swallow. I hear you with not paying 7 weeks R&B for remote courses.
I wish your D the best. I hope things work out for her and she is not too disappointed.
We picked S up tonight from Quinnipiac. They had an outbreak, likely due to Halloween parties as well as increasing number of cases in CT, and moved to level red (115 cases this week alone.) All classes went to remote, and most of his friends left/were leaving, so he decided to come home. We took two cars down and he drove one back. He’ll be tested tomorrow., and until results come in will be quarantining in his room and upstairs bathroom.
Isn’t there an opportunity in this to reduce student debt? If a student only has to be on campus full time 7 weeks a year, thats up to 45 weeks to have a wage earning job ( typical students jobs in the essential services like supermarkets and factories are still there).
I’m not sure I understand. There has always been an opportunity for students to work while going to school, and that will continue. For example, I attended a residential college, and in the summers I worked full time plus (~55 hours/week), and those restaurants and families hired me back over winter break when I was home. And while I was at college, I did everything from babysitting to working on campus for my school to waitressing to tutoring. I typically worked approximately 15-20 hours per week during the semester, and had plenty of fun, too, in addition to fantastic academic experience complete with incredibly educational on-campus activities. It is very do-able to save way more than needed for spending money to chip away at college tuition costs, especially if you try to be remotely frugal. I’m surprised and disappointed how many kids do not do more paid work during their school days to lessen debt. But I do not see the connection to the DIckinson 7 week plan. Kids can work in their home towns OR college towns. I imagine during the semester, 15-20 hours per week would still be reasonable whether on campus or living in parents’ homes. Perhaps your point is just about room & board reduction.
I’m not sure that I’d characterize it as “If a student only HAS to be on campus full-time 7 weeks”…I think there is a real recognition that this is a sub-par educational experience due to a pandemic, not a new thought that, “Hey, 7 weeks is plenty! Let’s keep this up after the horrible pandemic ends.”
Separately, it’s a creative solution Dickinson came up with to give everyone a chance to be on campus this year while reducing density, but I’m not surprised everyone isn’t thrilled. 7 weeks is not a lot of time to participate in on-campus activities and make personal connections and take advantage of campus resources, etc. But hey, it’s better than nothing. I wonder if the majority of their students are within driving distance. I guess it’s not too much of a hassle to move into a dorm for a mere 7 weeks if you have a reasonable drive, but I’m sure for those with very lengthy drives or pricey/difficult plane rides, there’s a real question of whether it’s worth it or not this year.
Obviously that means most students are not “ paying their way through college” to a significant extent.
My point was that 7 weeks on campus is much less than the typical two semesters between September and May that full time students had pre pandemic. So the opportunity to work is more than full time during the summer and part time term time. That balance would be appealing to some people looking to reduce their debt upon graduation. Not everyone is looking to have a lot of fun on campus. They just want the certification for career purposes.