@marrast Super interesting that they seem to be saying they’ve made decisions about fall already with class on campus and study abroad a go.
@homerdog Yes, DS was happy to read that his freshman Fall semester is on, as was DD who has been worried about her senior year.
I was also pleased to see that the school will be issuing refunds on prorated housing and meals. Some will decline and contribute theirs to the Wake Forest Crisis Response Fund, but I know there are many for whom the extra money will make a substantial difference.
Forbes has a grim article on what to expect on campus this fall. In a nutshell, program cuts, layoffs, and a lot of upheaval.
I’m wondering how all this will affect grad school admissions for the fall. Will there be a glut of applications when seniors realize there are no jobs available or will there be a dearth of applicants when few can afford the cost?
I think it depends on what type of grad school. Over one-third of MBA applicants surveyed said they would defer or postpone their acceptance this fall.
Do you have a link?
“Super interesting that they seem to be saying they’ve made decisions about fall already with class on campus and study abroad a go.”
Any schools saying they have firm fall plans are BSing as per the BSers we are seeing in govt… More fool any of us that we would be reassured by wild hedging.
^^ I agree. I can’t see how schools are going to have class on campus in the fall – and study abroad for fall semester looks even less likely to me.
Well, they plan to hold courses on campus, as I assume every other college is planning to do. Until plans change.
(I wouldn’t read this as a “decision”; to use a popular word right now, its ‘aspirational’. August move in comes fast.)
Here’s the part part of the letter that deals with WFU Fall 2020 on campus and study abroad:
"We plan to conduct fall semester classes on campus. We plan to conduct fall semester Wake Forest-sponsored study abroad/away undergraduate programs as usual; if you have questions, contact the Center for Global Programs and Studies.
Please note that these plans are subject to change depending on evolving circumstances, and an update will be sent should changes be required."
I think the operative words are “We plan.” There’s a disclaimer afterwards.
I think most colleges are planning for the fall as the best case scenario. That takes spring and summer off the table for any campus activities. Gives the college time to concentrate on online for spring with the potential of extending into fall if conditions demand.
May be different answers for funded PhD programs versus expensive professional degree programs.
^If there’s any funding available. A lot of funding for doctoral programs comes from research grants. Departmental budgets are going to be tight and grants scarce. I can see a lot of departments taking in fewer students or cutting stipends.
Yeah i just thought it was interesting that Wake would flat out say “planning” to have fall classes on campus instead of saying they will make a decision later. I like their optimism but I don’t know how they made the decision to actually send that “plan” out when I haven’t seen that anywhere else. I wonder whose call that was to send that out. Do we think it was to calm fears for all of the kids they hope will accept their RD offer? That would be a strategic move for sure.
So I was on Michigan’s campus visiting my son the last 2 days. Pretty quite as expected. Once again he’s safer there then at home. I got to see the Michigan catering group bring in meals for students on meal plans. Students would sparsely come in and leave with their take out bag back to their apartments. That is the new reality. My son’s not on a meal plan since he cooks for himself but they said if he needs a meal he is more then welcomed. The price was cheap. Good to know since where they drop the food off is like 50 feet from his apartment.
Mostly the Asian kids were wearing masks every where including the markets. Just think (and know), it’s more accepting in their culture.
But life goes on… His conference was canceled on campus but it is still being put on next Sunday on Zoom.
On the other hand, PhD programs that are heavy with international students may lose many students due to travel limitations or travel hesitancy, so even if research grants fall, there may still be space for domestic students in PhD programs.
Grocery stores may be among the higher risk places that someone can go, because lots of people go there to buy food, and the aisle widths may make it hard to maintain six foot distance from everyone else. So someone may choose to wear a mask when going to the grocery store even if s/he does not wear one in other situations that are lower risk (e.g. just going outside for a walk or run where there are hardly any other people around).
^^^the mask wearing was pretty much everywhere not just the grocery store. Much larger numbers per capita then I have seen previously… Is my point… Sorry.
We’re starting to think we should be wearing masks everywhere. (Of course, we really don’t go anywhere ?.) They’ve been saying only people who are infected should wear masks, but at this point it’s clear that there are people who are infected and don’t know it. And, they’re saying it is aerosol, so you can catch it in the air. So, if everyone wears a mask, wouldn’t that reduce the spread?
We ventured out today, to the grocery and liquor stores, and we wore masks. I made some of those sewn masks to donate, so kept one for each of us. D’s also went to target yesterday to stock up on snacks, and they wore the sewn masks, as well. We were definitely in the minority. And we’re pretty sure we’re not infected, since we’ve barely left the house in 2 weeks.
I think the issue is supply. Medical professionals need all the masks at this point. The sewn masks are not as effective, but better than nothing.
In the news today, there are starting to be articles about people wearing homemade masks (saving the medical grade ones for medical personnel). This could be a official recommendation in the near future! It looks like they are still saying that the masks are better at keeping the virus in than keeping the virus out.