Everything is currently a mess. Yes, it would mean everyone would have to re-register. I think the schools can manage that, its probably the least of their worries.
I guess I disagree. If you have 20,000 kids that all need to reregister including all probably needing advisor meetings again because the strategy of what courses to take has changed, its a major undertaking. You’d also need to restructure the entire set of class offerings, making sure that students can still get all the courses they need to move forward in their majors, making sure that classroom space is allocated properly, making sure there are profs to teach all the courses, etc. The level of undertaking to do this would be huge. I think there are much easier ways to solve the problem, such as the hybrid approach that has been discussed earlier in this thread.
Maybe the schools that are considering changing schedules haven’t registered yet? Some schools pushed out registration until July.
Almost every school has a very rough idea of what classes will look like in the fall. They’re still waiting to hear from the CDC and state health department about the rules, and then they can finalize how that will work on the campus.
From what I have heard class offerings will roughly be the same, especially for freshman and sophomores, but when and where will be different. Students taking small niche classes will have the most problems.
It is looking like Williams will be online for the fall semester. However, 70% of the kids responded to a survey stating that they would take the semester off if it were online.
The school is now looking into the possibility of offering three semesters this year - fall, spring, and summer. Students pick which two semesters they would like to attend, with spring and summer being on campus.
This is not official yet, though.
My daughter received an email yesterday from soccer coach at RPI. The school is considering having freshman and seniors on campus the entire year, while sophomores and juniors will only be able to be on campus one semester and the other semester will be online. My daughter not happy with this and hopes the school can find another solution. Based on Reddit responses, she is in the majority.
Did Williams admin say why they think the semester starting in late Jan/Feb would be different than Fall from a covid-19 aspect (assuming Fall is remote only)?
I didn’t see the email first-hand, but I asked my son the same question. He thinks they may release something official next week. The kids obviously have not registered yet for classes.
@shuttlebus Williams’ website says that they won’t make a decision until July 1. That’s a long way away. I don’t think any of the options you mentioned are “looking like” they will happen. Sounds to me like Williams is still considering options and trying to get feedback. Looks like they are having a virtual town hall with faculty on May 26th to discuss options they are considering.
S19 got an email from President Rose at Bowdoin today. They still have a lot of options on the table. The committees presented numerous options to him last Wed and they are presenting them to the students today to get feedback.
I have taken compressed summer courses as a student, assisted them as a Teaching Assistant, tutored them, and taught them as an adjunct. Not a fan. The pace is brutal, for everyone involved. I don’t see myself tackling my semester courses in that format at this life juncture.
I don’t know how you can say that an option that was sent out by the president of the college is looking like it won’t happen.
Williams already sent out and compiled the results of the student survey - that is how they know that 70% of students will take semester off if it is online. The president is now discussing the three semester option or a tri-semester option with the faculty. The kids believe a decision will be announced before the July 1st deadline.
@shuttlebus As for RPI, I really hope they won’t go that route with just freshmen and seniors on campus. I don’t see how a college can decide that some kids get an in-person academic experience (albeit with masks and social distancing) and some have to stay home. That’s all kinds of wrong.
My son’s major at a medium size public school is very regimented in its course progression. Each of is semesters is already laid out until graduation, but for some electives in his major and additional minor classes. I don’t think it would be conducive to a retooling of the semester model. Fall classes are only available in the fall, and spring is set up exactly the same way. Additionally, he’ll begin applying for internships this summer, for the summer of 2021, that require an intensive interview and testing process. He certainly can’t take any summer classes next year.
I am sure options will be available to him for the fall as well, even if online. Many students do take summer classes now.
@shuttlebus All I’m saying is that other NESCACs are taking more time and Williams’ official date to decide is six weeks away.
After reading Bowdoin’s email this morning, it’s clear that going back to campus seems likely if at all possible because the College is looking to lose 15% of its revenue. They only lost 7% in the great Recession and that led to two year freezes on wages and operating expenses. This Covid loss is more than twice that. When Bowdoin students were surveyed, they (like the Williams kids) said they would take leave of absences in huge numbers if class is remote. So, I doubt Williams will be remote in the fall since these schools need revenue. When I wrote that an option “likely won’t happen”, I was referring to the option that Williams is completely online this fall. I really doubt that will be their choice.
I’ve taken and taught compressed, and it’s, er…exhilarating. It does help to have the energy to be exhilarated. I also can’t remember what we did, afterwards.
I don’t teach many rich kids, so I guess I don’t have a sense of what…ahahaha.
Oh, this is rich.
I see what’s going to happen here. The kids at expensive schools and their parents will say, “that’s ridiculous, there’s no point in paying this kind of money for online school. Go to the local state university for a semester instead, come back and finish at Fancy U.” And they will. And they’ll find a few things: one, that the teachers have the same backgrounds and depth as they do at Fancy U.; two, that the pace is a tick slower unless they’re upperclassmen, in which case things will still move along pretty briskly; three, that the main thing that’s missing from the picture is privilege. There will be no casual assumptions made about internships and study-abroad and summers traveling and the like, and the expected world experience will be somewhat narrower.
At which point the parents will say, wth, why are we shelling out for Rip-Off U., then, because they’d genuinely believed that the ed would be massively inferior at State U. When travel’s a thing again, some will actually go visit. And then they’ll find out what they’re paying for, which is social class membership, tuckpointing, and boss landscaping. They’ll keep paying, mind, most of them. But it’ll do a little something to their heads.
@tuckethannock yikes. Well, here’s one family at an “expensive school” that does not believe it’s a rip off. No nice landscaping where he goes to school either. In fact, your comment is kind of funny because my husband recoiled at some schools where the landscaping was too over the top and kids had lazy rivers. He preferred the crabgrass at Bowdoin. Lots of kids there also do not come from privileged families. Do you even personally know any kids to go to these schools you despise? Maybe you’d be surprised.
And you’re correct about the rigor. S19’s friends who are freshmen at Big State U are out partying all of the time, say class is a breeze, and are getting all As. Not sure I’d want to pay anything for that. How about that for a sweeping statement? True from what we know but I’m sure it’s not true for everyone.
TBH, I think if you had surveyed NESCAC presidents six weeks ago, the biggest fear would have been that too many students would stay home, if they did have live classes. It must be very gratifying for them to be getting back such a strong response in favor of coming Back East in the Fall.
The Covid stay-at-home fatigue is real.
Exactly, there was poster up thread that was almost “giddy” that this pandemic would be the downfall of all of the private and expensive residential colleges. These colleges have been through a lot over the centuries and have survived. As Mark Twain once said “the reports of my (insert colleges) death are greatly exaggerated”