@homerdog don’t know about your S19, but that’s exactly what my S18 and S19 are hearing. They are pretty confident they are going back in the fall and things will be somewhat normal. I’ve talked to them about it a bit, but both are stressed enough about end of year papers/finals, so I’m not putting that burden on them right now.
S19 is planning on going back for a couple of weeks in June to hang out with his friends. Needless to say, I have NOT bought a plane ticket for that yet. I think there is a 2% chance it happens, but he’s pretty confident that a month from now it will be ok to travel.
I wish I still had the optimistic attitude of a 19 year old…
@dadof4kids hanging out in June? We are in Illinois. Our kids have pretty much written off summer here. And college can’t possibly be normal in August. Who has said that? As a country, we have completely botched testing. You realize we need something like 20x the amount of testing per day in order to get a grip on where the virus spikes and that version of future events still includes social distancing. The UC system just told incoming freshmen that they can’t guarantee housing because they now need to spread kids out if they go back. We were warned by Bowdoin last night that, if they are back in fall, it will not remotely look like a normal campus experience. Bowdoin’s president says he’s in touch with public health officials and other university presidents daily and the outlook is not rosy.
@homerdog It is very hopeful to think they could return in the Fall. I had to listen to it rather than read the interview to hear her tone. I sincerely hope kids can return. I hope this is gone as fast as it seemingly came upon us. Above all I want our kids to be safe living at school under normal circumstances, including Covid-19. Time will tell and with some states opening up, we may know sooner than later.
Colleges want/need students on campus. Room & board is a revenue generator for colleges plus they want students/families to feel that the tuition they are paying is worth the cost of attendance. Even if they have to eventually go partially or full online from their campus housing. Unless there is a massive spike in infections in the fall/winter I don’t see colleges shutting down and sending kids home like they did in spring as they just were not prepared at all for this pandemic.
re: Texas football, some of these D1 schools generate $100s millions of dollars each season from football revenue so if the general students are back on campus I can’t see how the athletic programs (especially the Big 3 sports) will be sidelined, albeit probably with very decreased attendance (25% stadium capacity?) or no fans at all. The TV revenue will be substantial as always as the “show must go on” for many of these colleges.
@homerdog – can you share more about what you heard from the Bowdoin president or point us to a recording?
Bowdoin will decide by mid-June according to the town hall they had with the students last night. It wasn’t a very rosy town hall but realistic. I’m actually happy with that considering other schools say that they are OPEN for fall (!!) when how can they even know that? It’s wrong to announce that right now. Bowdoins’ task forces are still considering everything - online of course but then, if kids can safely be on campus, they are looking at all kinds of start date options (July, Oct, Jan). They said all NESCACs will not likely choose the same options. They are also considering the block system with just two classes at a time. Honestly, it sounded like they have a very long list of options and they are trying to be ready to choose the best option available.
They think mid-June is the latest they can wait and then they have to make a choice and move forward with that for planning purposes. They were asked if things could change if the virus situation changes and they said they will be as nimble as possible (like if they decide fall is online and then something happens to change that, they will try very hard to pivot and have kids on campus.) They were very clear, though, that this school year will likely be tumultuous. And, as much as kids are begging to come back and as much as they want them back, fall will not look the same as other falls on campus so the students need to be very realistic about this.
I feel awful for all of these administrators. This is so stressful. I believe they are working tirelessly and there are no good answers right now.
Bowdoin isn’t going to limit the number of kids who want to take a leave of absence and it sounds like they know it could be very high if class is online. They are going to give info around how to take a “Covid 19 leave of absence” in mid-May. Someone asked in the town hall if the school will make that kind of leave feel “punitive” in some way and they said absolutely not. They understand. But it will be difficult for them to figure out class distribution with housing and classes, etc., if large chunks of each grade don’t go to school in the fall. Some of the percentages we’ve seen for kids who would want to take a break are pretty staggering (50% in a school newspaper poll and 100% of S19’s friends he’s asked and that’s maybe 20 kids). What would Bowdoin do starting Fall 2021 when they have way more students than usual? And a decent number of kids graduate in January for three years straight? That’s not a thing there.
So the timeline now looks like this -
mid-May: get info on leave of absence protocol
mid-June: Bowdoin makes decision on a plan
late-Jun: housing lottery (seemed like kids will have to make leave decision by then)
July: class registration
I do wonder what happens if a student decides they want to take a leave but then things change and school is on campus. I don’t know what would happen then. They won’t have registered for class. I don’t know for sure but I have a feeling this is the sort of thing that would be in the Covid-19 leave of absence info they are sending out in May. I would think they could say that, if you choose leave of absence, it’s a final decision for fall. I don’t know that for sure but I don’t see how they could continue to be flexible.
@homerdog – incredibly helpful info. Thank you.
I too have so much empathy for college leaders. We all want the same thing and there’s just so much for them to consider and weigh.
I think Bowdoin’s timeline make sense. Some colleges may wait until early July to make their plans, I’d guess, but that’s the latest. So we’ll be hearing from most the last two weeks in June.
The only thing that surprised me is that not all the NEASAC colleges will be the same – I’d think they’d be striving so that there’s strength in numbers, you know? But it’s probably good they aren’t, really, b/c every college does have its own factors.
Do you think your S will take a leave of absence? (PM me if you’d prefer…)
We are still waiting for the all clear to go to Clemson to get D18’s personal belongings in her dorm room. She left for spring break expecting to be back in a week. She left her car at the Greenville airport parking lot. A week ago my brother in law who lives in Charolette recused it. $280 bill.
She has her last two finals today and tomorrow. No job for the summer. Don’t know what she is going to do all summer. I told her she has figure out what she is going to do at the end of next year, graduate school, law school or work. Because if it is graduate or law school she should spend the summer prepping for the tests and begin to come up with a list of schools.
D21 had the first travel softball tournament cancelled. I think the whole summer schedule is not going to happen which is sad for her and her teammates especially since they lost their whole school season as well. The kids all worked so hard during the fall and winter to be ready…oh well at least we are all healthy…
My D16 (today was her last college class) has friends who are rising juniors, and a surprising number of them are asking for semester leaves. One of her friends asked for the leave two weeks ago, which is good, b/c if a lot of people do it, it’ll definitely impact the housing situation at the college, and they may limit the amount of leaves granted.
My S21 should hear whether go / no-go re: Boys State today.
For any kids who are taking APUSH - Lin Manuel Miranda has a APUSH Master Class tomorrow at noon.
Hi, everyone. New here and finally posting after lurking around CC for ages, since I have extra time on my hands while sheltering in place and all. 
With an exception or two, D21 is all about small LACs. She’s mostly focused on the east coast, but our planned trip to tour colleges over spring break was thwarted by COVID-19 shutdowns. So, thus far she’s only visited the LAC my husband and I both attended (which she’s been to a bunch and loves, but definitely goes into the unpredictable reach category for her and pretty much everyone else) and the women’s college where a relative works. D21 has been in all-girls schools since 6th grade and is NOT excited about the idea of a women’s college, haha. We live in Silicon Valley and she is fairly adamant about getting far away from California, though a couple of Claremont schools have recently landed on her ever-evolving list. We’re feeling fortunate and relieved that she took the Feb ACT and was pretty satisfied with her score. If she has a chance, she might retake to see if she can do even better, but she wouldn’t be upset if her February score is her only one.
COVID-19 has really thrown a monkey wrench into this whole process, so I’m looking forward to sharing thoughts and wisdom with you all as we hit the thick of things. D21 is our first, so we were already in over our heads even without throwing a global pandemic into the mix!
I’ve also been reading these boards for a bit, and thought I should introduce myself. I feel we’re a bit late in our college research, just now trying to put a list together. We’ve toured one tech focused school, but that’s all. The tour was less than stellar. We joked at the time that all other colleges would compare well in person after that tour. Ha! May never know until my younger kid starts her search.
My S21 took the September ACT and is pleased with the score. I poked and prodded him to take it in the fall, as his spring allergies always leave him a little fuzzy headed. He was cranky about it, but does concede that it was a fortunate move. He keeps rescheduling his subject tests, 3x now, but I feel this is maybe unnecessary. Or futile. We’ll see.
Welcome @zinnia203! It’s great that your S21 has a good ACT under his belt…definitely takes some stress off. Look forward to ‘seeing’ you on this thread.
Welcome @goldenstatecat @Zinnia203 ! Hope you enjoy the conversation surrounding our 2021’ers. I wish I had more to add these days, but there is so little going on with my daughter. Remote learning, finals and AP tests are where her mind is at, but without any other activities going on, I think she’s over preparing, to be honest. She seems to forget that she would have so much less time to prepare in everyday life.
I think once tests are over in the next couple of weeks, she’s going to look for a new, hopefully busy food related job. She has/had one, but its business model does not work well with today’s environment (serve yourself frozen yogurt/toppings) and they are open very, very minimal hours. She has given up the single weekly shift they could still give her to more needy coworkers for the past few weeks. I think she’s going to look for something else that will keep her busy and where she can work more than 4 hours a week this summer.
D21 was officially “furloughed” from her retail job a few weeks ago. A non-issue since she hadn’t gotten hours since late January! She hadn’t quit so she could still use the 60% off discount! LOL She’s been trying to decide if she should just keep the job with minimal hours (once retail reopens…who knows when that will be???) and add a 2nd job. I’m a little nervous about her going to a grocery store or Walmart with all this…same for S17. He’s had a great landscape construction job the past few summers, but now looks like business is down so much for them that they won’t need him this summer. Maybe a few projects here or there, but not the 40 hour work week he had. That money got him through the entire school year without a job, so now we need to figure something out. Slim pickings outside of Walmart or ShopRite with everything still in shut down mode here.
I heard an interesting college tidbit from a friend yesterday - said her son applied to Appalachian State in December but was contacted and told they had reached capacity and he could reapply as a transfer next year! Said largest applicant pool in history. I’m wondering was this an out of state thing, since NC limits the numbers they will take OOS? It’s on D’s list, so I guess she needs to apply sooner rather than later!
@Zinnia203 Very, very few competitive schools require subject tests anymore and even those that recommend them are changing their policies due to COVID-19. I would have your child check the websites of places of interest for their current requirements. Congrats on that ACT! And welcome to you and @goldenstatecat
Hi, everyone! I was essentially a professional lurker when D19 was in the college application process. In the last couple of weeks I’ve jumped back into watching threads. I expect I’ll contribute more this time around. Even with the craziness in the world, I feel like it’s going to be an easier process with our second—both because we did so much research the first time around and because D21 has an easier time with decisions, including eliminating options rather than worrying about whether she’s missing something. D21 is primarily interested in LACs with decent support for creative writing and opportunities for internships with publishers. Like so many others here, she’s concentrating on prepping for APs right now and wondering how that’s really going to work out.
Random observation on a Friday afternoon when I am unmotivated to do real work from home so I’m browsing college info for D21 instead.
TLDR: Applications may skew away from Universities and towards LAC’s for 21’s.
I was just looking at the list from FairTest of schools that are test optional (at least this year). 40 of the top 50 LAC’s are test optional for 2021’s. And most of the ones that aren’t test optional are poor fits for most kids anyway. (i.e. Carleton & Grinnell for location, Harvey Mudd, and the military academies). Point being that the vast majority of selective LAC’s are test optional this year.
Meanwhile only 17 of the top Universities are on the list, and 4 of them are UC’s, which are for different reasons not on the list for many applicants.
They used USNW lists for rankings. It is probably a fair although not completely accurate stand in for selectivity. I stopped at top 50 because I think after that it frankly becomes less of an issue, most top students have scores that are at least in the ballpark for the lower ranked schools. So test optional matters less, at least for the offspring of the uberparanoid parents on this board (myself included).
Thoughts? I’m honestly worried about applications next year and thinking that game theory may play a larger part in D21’s application strategy that it would normally. Part of that is because she is in the good/bad postion of not really being focused in on what she wants. Tulane today, Hamilton tomorrow, MHC on Sunday. I think she will be happy in a variety of settings, but all of them are at least somewhat selective. Partly because she wants the less motivated students screened out. She is sick of being the only one working hard.
I’m kind of the opposite @dadof4kids - D21 is sick of the pressure cooker where kids would throw their best friend under a bus to get the best grade in the class. She wants to be challenged, but collaborative and not uber over the top competitive. I think we’re in a good place. She’s got her SAT score, which gets her above the honors college limit at her safeties. Our biggest concern is getting into the price ballpark!
@theirchoices, welcome! My D23 is also interested in Creative Writing. (S21, on the other hand, detests it). We have started compiling a school list with D23 recently - she doesn’t necessarily want to major in Creative Writing, but she does want good support for it (and potentially a minor in it) probably at a LAC. What schools have gotten your D21 excited so far ?
@nichols51 and @theirchoices My older D is at Oberlin, which has a very strong creative writing program. Message me if you want more information!