Some kids still made lots of friends and found ways to connect and meet people, so probably not every freshman had as isolating a time as my son. If you are in-state, you probably know quite a few people already, so that helps, I’m sure. It’s just that if your kid is not wired that way–is not likely to walk up to group of strangers and introduce himself or ask someone if he can sit with them to eat, etc., it ended up being a lot of alone time in your dorm. He ate most of his meals alone in his dorm room. The whole reason I wanted him in the dorm was to meet people and to have a roommate who he could do things with SOMEONE, but he ended up in a single. So, the stay in the dorm to make friends backfired completely. We had no way of knowing that at the time though.
I have 3 kids at U of M right now: law school, senior and sophomore. This year has been terrible. The school experience is nonexistent. One of their roommates is living in A2 but taking virtual classes from a community college, which is a smart economic move.
It is very sad and unfortunately the reality of what a lot of freshmen are feeling all over. I have seen it at both schools my twins attend also. A little less so where there are private dorms available because there is a little more freedom and the rooms tend to be suite style. Also, some schools just do a way better job with socializing the freshmen. While I have no students there, everything I have seen about Syracuse and how they welcomed freshmen was amazing. Their orientation was spot on. On my college fb pages it is depressing how lonely some freshman still are and how parents now are complaining about kids not making clubs they are trying to get on since many require interviews. It’s tough. Mine are sophomores and both live in sororities and while I was not a sorority girl, I have to say, this has been the best experience every especially this year. Without it, I’m sure it would make things a lot more difficult.
It’s tough. My senior is lucky since he’s extremely busy and runs a active club at Michigan. But there are active clubs at Michigan… Lol… It’s so easy for us to tell our kids to try to make friends as stated and introduce yourself etc but at some point they need to break out of their comfort zone and just do something… I told my kids to “bet” on yourself. Go out if your comfort zone. My kids like an extroverted introvert. Being stuck in a room being on like zoom is fine. Not great but he will manage…
There is still time to get involved with something. I am sure some kids are meeting to get a slice of pizza etc. Can still get together and social distance…
The fall should be somewhat better…
My kids are fine and have a lot of friends and activities, and the two oldest have great jobs in hand. Note I said “the school experience . . .”
My D is living off campus in a big place with 4 other roommates. All her classes are remote, but according to her, she’s having the best year of her 3 years in A2, both academically and socially. They do get outside to various places like the Brown Jug, outside of course, but keep distance and wear masks. Most of the time, they’re in their residence.
My sophomore just met Coach Harbaugh at the Brown Jug so there is that!
I met Coach Harbaugh and his kids at a local toy store when he coached at Stanford. Nice guy. I have a soft spot for him, even though most vilify him.
This is nice to hear about Syracuse. I know they came down hard on a group gathering in the early weeks. It is my son’s #1 (Falk) with UMich a close 2nd. I’m not paying crazy tuition for basically solitary confinement.
While I have sophomores, I paid attention to what I saw our schools do with freshman orientation and what they did and what they did was amazing considering. My daughter goes to school in NY where they are also doing a phenomenal Covid job, testing kids like crazy, but they just didn’t do a great job with orientation and thinking out of the box. Syracuse did. They had kids watching movies outside, ziplining, golfing, etc. There was an awesome video you should see if you can find it. This semester they’re having classes in the Carrier Dome (or whatever they call it these days) and other innovative spaces to have as many in person classes as possible. Like any other school they had trouble with greek life and other parties, but they’re requiring even more testing, just like my daughter’s is requiring 3x/week testing which we’re all for. My other daughter like UM no testing and it’s a joke. She’s somehow managed to not get covid and I am so thankful for that. She’s had one dose of the vaccine so I’m grateful that soon she will have dose 2 and hopefully never get covid. I don’t wish that on anyone or their family.
Good luck to your son!!
I have encouraged him to do all of that. Maybe it is better than my worried mom mind makes it out to be. He did, after all, want to go back to Ann Arbor for the 2nd semester instead of just staying at home (which he could have done since everything is remote this semester). He has been going skiing to Mt. Brighton. He is an expert skier and loves skiing, so I’m sure that has been a positive this semester. He could not have done that at home! I think freshman have had it the worst, by far, because if he had had one regular year of college or even 3/4 or a normal year like the current sophomores, he would have had a roommate, met people in the dorms, met people in his classes, gone to football games, joined clubs and things where you meet in person. At least sophomores on up already have their core friend group, but the freshman were basically left to their own devices, which does work for some, but is definitely harder for others. I think my twins would not have had nearly as isolating an experience even under the identical circumstances because they are naturally outgoing and extroverted.
This breaks my heart. Your S is my D21. We’re looking very carefully at how each school has handled COVID, and what Fall 21 looks like.
We are confused.
My son was deferred EA. Did Michigan close down it’s Expression of Interest link? We are in TX and had power issues. We tried to submit a statement before midnight and could not submit. It looked like the link disappeared before the deadline. The “checklist” used to have - submit ECI form. Now it says complete. Does that mean that there is already a decision?
Can the ECI form be emailed to admissions?
Was the LOCI due yesterday? If the button is gone to submit does that mean you should already have a decision?
@momofboiler1 Happy to read your post. My son was “postponed” at Michigan and deferred at Georgia Tech. Accepted at Purdue, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M and in state schools. I think he is bummed about it and so I am trying to reassure him that Purdue is a great choice for the $$$$. We did get merit there, but not at VT and he really is not interested in Texas. He could not bring himself to write a LOCI as I think he is in defensive mode and was already having trouble writing the Why This College essays. Will be glad to put this all behind us and can’t wait for him to finalize his choice.
The form was due yesterday. I guess it’s midnight EST, 11:00pm CST. You may want to reach out to the regional admission counselor to explain your situation. Good luck!
In state
I agree, the deadlines would be in Eastern time since that is where the school is. That’s probably what happened, and if you email the LOCI to admissions they might be willing to include it (especially since you’ve been dealing with the Texas weather emergency). Good luck!
Michigan is on Eastern time, so it would have closed most likely at 11pm Texas time. Did you try submitting it before then? Since you were in Texas with the power issues, perhaps they’ll give you a pass and you can try that. Although who knows if they’ll come back and say that’s why they gave 3 weeks to get it done? Although I doubt that would be that insensitive and if they are then who wants to go to a place like that as that is cruel.
Just email it if you can to the AO and then call admission tomorrow. Explain your situation. They are reasonable people. Don’t wait to email it do it now… In reality the Loci won’t be why your accepted or not. Your situation is unique also. Lesson to not or wait till the last minute. My son used to wait till an hour before to press send. I used to tell him (what if our internet goes out)…
Hope you and your family are doing well during this tragic event.