@Lindagaf - Is Fisk a website or a book? I watched a youtube last night about a prospective school and it made me believe that this is not the place for my DD. I know opinions are subjective but I’m still waiting for a decision from this school and i’d love to get another objective opinion about it. This is one of the few schools that we did not get to visit in advance because the college counselor suggested it pretty much at the last minute after all visits were done. Thanks.
@Sarrip Fiske Guide is a book. You can buy it or look at the most recent edition in a library. You can probably check out last year’s version, which will be pretty similar to the current one. It’s a very useful resource.
There were two colleges on my list that I really had no interest in. After visiting, they are now in my top 5. (waiting for decisions)
I had one college, which I thought would be my first choice. After visiting, I changed my mind…just to make sure, I did a summer program…I wound up not even applying.
Now I have 3 colleges which I did not visit at all…offering large merit. With the economy changing with this virus…these are now legit choices for me.
Yes, visits are extremely important. you will never get that from online reviews, google maps, chat rooms etc…hopefully this passes and we can all visit before making our decision.
@Luckyjade2024 - I agree with you that the visit can increase or decrease interest. During my daughter’s junior year, we made visits to all of the colleges that she was interested in because our agreement was that she would not apply to any schools that she would not be happy attending. We thought we had done all of the visits which actually increased interest or removed a few from her list. Out of the 4 that we were unable to visit because they were last minute additions, 2 have already been eliminated. Still awaiting decisions for more. I’m hoping that once all decisions come in that the decision is made clear but like you said if large merit is offered from the remaining schools it will definitely be a hard decision if we can not revisit.
@Sarrip We did the same. I only applied to schools that I visited plus a few late additions as safeties.
Of course as luck would have it, my late additions all offered merit.
If my top choices come in, then hopefully all this stress is for nothing.
PS this has been a stressful senior year…waiting for results. Now as we are supposed to enjoy the second half and look forward to celebrations …it has all been taken away.
@Luckyjade2024 - I agree. My daughter attends boarding school and came home on springbreak last Thursday and has no idea when or if she is going back. We have already purchase a Prom Dress, outfits and shoes for the senior breakfast, awards ceremony, graduation etc. We even paid in full for a graduation vacation 2 days after graduation which we may not go on. We are just trying to be optimistic and have positive thoughts.
As a college instructor in the midst of transitioning to online, I frankly think this would be a terrible idea. These classes are being cobbled together, after a first half of semester as f2f. What you see wouldnt be what the class would be like if it were designed as online from the start, and certainly won’t be what the class will be like when we’re back to normal next fall. I don’t think you’d learn anything from it, honestly.
Not to be a pessimist but you’re assuming fall will be back to normal? What if this becomes more the “new normal”. I’d like to see an online class.
I remember “remote learning” back in the early 90’s. Our MBA program had a studio that would broadcast lectures to satellite branches. If you were on main campus you could attend live. It actually worked fairly well. I was surprised how interactive it was. I would still prefer an actual classroom experience.
But again, if this does become the new normal, which we don’t know yet, those classes will be PLANNED as online classes. You can’t imagine the scrambling that is going on behind the scenes to quickly but not at all seamlessly transform classes that have been meeting f2f for half a semester, into online classes.
None of this is the way a planned online class would be structured.
@garland , I assume fall 2020 will not be on campus, hopefully I am wrong. Has there been any chatter of tuition being changed if that is the case. I doubt it but was wondering.
Just an instructor. Not at all privy to those conversations.
I truly believe things will be back to normal for college operations by Fall and likely by summer. We can’t just freeze the entire world for 6 months without even greater consequences than a pandemic.
I think it won’t be back to normal in Sept.
“You can buy it or look at the most recent edition in a library. You can probably check out last year’s version, which will be pretty similar to the current one. It’s a very useful resource”
Not sure how to bring this up, but libraries are closed, at least in CA. 
Maybe an independent bookstore to help them out, if they’re open for online orders? Otherwise I’m sure you can get it from amazon, barnes, etc.
We are planning for our daughter to take online classes for now due to the pandemic.
We are in Southern California and daughter accepted to UC Davis among others and needs to physically see the school.Therefore, with a van toilet in van, so as to not stop and use any restroom up to Davis, we will drive, stay at hotel that current has only 10 guests, has been triple sanitized, practically empty, check in, get up next day and walk the Davis campus, staying away from anybody we see, and do a self guided tour which is ALLOWED. Then that night we will hit the road home. Daughter cant be expected to make such an important decision via a virtual tour. Nor do I expect her to… I just wonder if school does open in fall if they will require negative covid tests for every entering residential student…
And yet millions of students have done that over the years. I did it at two different schools. Foreign students do it every year.
Really, what you will be looking at is a bunch of buildings from the outside. What is that going to tell your daughter? Nothing about the classes, nothing about the other students, nothing about how crowded the walkways usually are. I think you’d get more information from a virtual tour.
I’m not a huge fan of social media but my son used the admitted student Facebook pages to get a feel for the type of students that might attend. It actually cemented the deal.
I’m 50/50 that the fall semester will be online. If not, I doubt tests will be mandatory. Cost and availability are issues plus the incubation time could make them useless to keep kids away.
Hoping they don’t go with the typical ‘online class’ route and bombard students with (additional) assignments. Just because course lectures are online, it doesn’t mean students suddenly have more time. Add on the distractions from being at home and social distancing preventing us from going outside for quiet, it really is unnecessary added stress.
One of my professors joked how we “got nothing better to do” and “nothing else to do” - no, actually. Maybe that is the case for you, Professor, but not everyone…
I feel for senior parents. Change is a pain. I feel pretty strongly that Fall in person classes will resume. I’m an optimist.
Have you seen the study from Stanford that came our Friday? The actual infection rate could be 50-80 times greater than currently reported for Santa Clara County (1.9 MM residents). That means the denominator grows and the fatality rate drops to seasonal flu levels. It was a fairly small study with some design issues, but it mirrors some of the data out of Europe. This fuels my optimism that we are starting to understand this better. That will help the politicians make more informed decisions.