I get that thinking, but there are kids who will infect themselves so they can live with their friends.
Maybe if the school places students with antibodies with random roommates who also have antibodies it could work, otherwise there’s too much of an incentive to have antibodies.
Tulane’s visits not exactly normal
I don’t have an issue with it. I like the idea of self tours and limiting the people. It’s a first step trial run type of thing. I think it’s a good place to start and build from there. If this is our new reality then have to adjust to it somehow.
@Knowsstuff I agree. They say all that they can guarantee is a meeting with someone in the admissions office and a map for a self guided tour. They are kind of offering tours but it sounds like they could be cancelled. They ask people to not make a reservation for a tour unless they fully intend to show up. I think they’ll get some local kids but doubt anyone would be flying there to tour. I could likely Zoom with someone in admissions there (Tulane’s online presence for admissions has been one of the best we’ve seen) and their virtual tours are really good.
Denison is accepting visitors for an “extended tour” (I guess that mean just no info session?) and is offering in person interviews too.
https://denison.edu/campus/admission/visit-campus
https://connect.denison.edu/COVIDvisitFAQ.pdf
I’m holding out for fall for D21 I think. If students are back on campus, I hope the schools will have tours (with masks of course!)
@homerdog. To be perfectly honest. After doing like 2 school tours we more or less stopped and did our own thing. We did the rah, rah “this school” talk (lots were the same). The walking tours were basically all the same also. It all came down to if you had an energetic bunny tour guide or a mopey too tired I was up all night tour guide… Lol ?
I mean evey tour let you know they had a 3d printer and how large they were ??️. Plus as my son said all the chemistry buildings with the company sponsored “clean” rooms all looked the same at one point
We got a better feel just walking around and actually talking to some students
Of course though…everyone loved their school.
I wonder if tours will be cancelled once students are on campus. Seems like it would be an easy path for further contagion.
@knowstuff I agree but getting on campus matters if the tour does not. There were a number of schools that checked all of S19’s boxes that he didn’t love once he was on campus (and not because of a tour guide or an info session). And I really thought D21 would like Wisconsin. We spent a whole day there on a beautiful summer day and, although bigger than she wants, I thought it was awesome. For her, it just cemented the fact that she doesn’t want a big school.
Anyway, I’m sure there are kids who want to consider ED and haven’t visited campuses yet so I hope schools will have something available in fall. Want to see the kids on campus. Obviously energy might be different that “normal” but maybe we will all be used to the new normal by fall?
I found every campus tour was helpful. Either leading me to really like/dislike a school. A very important part of deciding where to apply were from tours and info sessions.
I posted it a way back but I don’t recall which school it was.
They could easily evolve to “electronic” self tours that people wear their earbuds and the enthusiastic (recorded) guide activates at certain on campus locations. Like they do with foreign language self tours in museums. They can have a short or long version. I would love that.
Why bother doing this, though, given the greater sentiment?
Wearing masks and social distancing reduces the transmission rate, that keeps cases below an exponential growth rate that can overwhelm hospitals.
My daughters feel as you do. There were a few on paper that I thought D21 would love, only to have her tell me “this doesn’t feel right” once on campus. There are a couple on her list that don’t make sense given her other choices…except that when she visited them, she just really liked the vibe. So for my two, the campus visits were important.
Absolutely! That is why I think walking around and “seeing” the school is more important. One reason my daughters at Beloit after Illinois Weslayn is she wanted a small liberal arts college. My son wanted large Big ten type college with sports.
After we got size down to me besides the school was checking out the adjoining neighborhoods /city etc
Some schools just weren’t walking friendly or seemed safe to me. They both liked getting to know the neighborhoods in the area etc etc.
But no question gotta get out there and if one can check out the schools. We started the tours but then when going to the chemistry building to see the clean room ditched it (quietly). Also our kids had meetings with professors /departments and they both got so much more out of that.
Suggest this!! I have done many art museum tours like this. I know they have this in Virtual reality at some schools but that’s a great idea. Somebody should be or is already doing it… Great idea ?
As of right now, there are few areas where 20% of the population has been infected, and those areas have gone through hell to get to that point. So, maybe you could have 20% immunity at a place like Fordham, where a large proportion of the students are from the New York Metro area, but not at a school outside the New York Metro area, and not at a school like Columbia that draws from all across the country.
I’m confused about the “wear masks and social distance” combo. Aren’t the masks for when you can’t social distance? It’s one or the other, no? When you go in a grocery store, you can’t be sure you can stay six feet away so masks it is. When I’m out walking or running on a trail that’s not busy and I can stay far away from others, I don’t wear a mask.
So couldn’t schools do tours with masks and those people don’t have to stand six feet apart?
They could limit tours to ten people since that’s where most states are right now on their limits on groups. And kids are only allowed to bring one family member.
Maybe it’s just a little too early. I have to bet that schools are going to do tours. They need applicants.
I guess they would require masks to be on the safe side of this discussion. Plus most likely a legal factor in play. If the leader of the tour is talking loudly then the aerosols can spray and stay in the air as your walking through.
I could see tours this summer/fall where they do very small groups, everyone has to wear a mask and they spend time just walking through some buildings but do the talking bits only outside. The info session could be outside under a tent in the summer and when the whether turns it might just be online again.
In my county when we’re outside exercising, we are not required to wear a mask, but we are advised to bring one along in case something happens where we have to be close to people. That happened twice yesterday when I was on a mountain bike ride.
The first time was when I was near the bottom of my big climb. I encountered two hikers who asked if the trail we were on led to the parking lot where their car was. I had to deliver the bad news that they needed to turn around and climb the 2000 feet back to their car. I stepped back and put on my mask. On the narrow steep trail it was difficult to get 6 feet away.
The second was a steep gravelly section, where I was surprised to see 8 or ten people gathered around a couple of bikes laid down in the middle of the trail. I was about to be disgruntled when I discovered someone had just crashed and broken her arm. I couldn’t help out, but I had to wait around a bit while the situation was dealt with. I stepped back and put on my mask.