I wonder if all these students will end up taking gap years? Of course kids/parents are looking into it now as it is nice to know all of your options but I would be surprised if many students end up taking the year. My son took a gap year in 2018 and it was fantastic but he was in Europe. A full school year is a long time without a solid plan.
My daughter is a junior in high school and I am not super worried about her applications next fall.
I doubt that hs seniors will have an easy time finding meaningful work experience for the coming year. My husband’s hospital furloughed a large portion of employees in all different departments due to lack of people getting non emergent care. Another few health care facilities I know of are on a hiring freeze. So 18 year olds will be competing with seasoned workers for the few available jobs. Any research or internship/projects going on would likely go to current students before being offered to future students. There could be some volunteer opportunities or Amazon/uber eats type jobs but I hardly doubt these would be enough for thousands of college students to defer enrollment.
It may not affect the teens but it most certainly affects their parents, their high-risk siblings, their grandparents who they are asymptomatically bringing the virus home to. I’m not saying there are no opportunities, but certainly not every high school senior can do this.
But 18 yr olds can do this, as a gap year. 18 year olds are going to have to leave their parents’ homes and establish communal houses together, in order to safely have lives without killing their older family members.
When it comes to the highly competitive schools, the 35% looking into a gap year figure seems about right. If they’re approved for it, that means about a one third reduction in chance of admission for this year’s juniors. Yes, this IS significant. You cannot base the percentage on the entire cohort applying to college - most of them will attend less competitive schools, who will be less affected by gap year requests. Most juniors applying to less competitive schools will get into a match school for them. It’s the ones applying to highly selective schools who will be adversely affected by this.
Interesting thread but what has become apparent with many recent stories about the financial hit colleges are taking is that state colleges are going to be more dependent on OOS students and their higher tuition costs to make up some of the shortfall. That will change the admission decision process more than gap students.
In California, there have been attempts to limit the percentage of OOS admits, but in this economic environment, the schools are going to do what they need to as a means of maximizing tuition. The state is broke, so politicians are certainly not going to send any more money. And what people don’t realize is that many current students cannot stand online classes and will likely skip a quarter/semester if this continues on into the Fall (which it already has at several CA schools). So there goes more tuition dollars.
I suspect the budget impact and shift to OOS students will have a much bigger impact on the class of 2021 than the gap year impact. It’s not just going to be California, but other states with public schools that are difficult to get into will be even more difficult for in-state students (see Michigan, Washington and so on). People will gripe all they want, but all bets are off when public school funding and tuition dollars are reduced so dramatically.
It seems right because it’s no different than any other year. 20-30% of seniors end up taking a gap year. Sure, this is different for more competitive schools, but as has been previously stated, they aren’t allowing for COVID-related deferrals.
They won’t be. As many other posters have stated, colleges aren’t allowing for COVID-related deferments, and will more than likely come out with fall semester decisions after the deferral request deadline.
You’re putting way too much weight on “facts” that either aren’t true or that are exaggerated.
I teach at a state flagship, and parentologist’s ideas are coming from a Quora-like reasoning vacuum, not the world of admissions and budget offices. Universities don’t operate in one-year isolated increments. They’ll limit deferrals and maintain their recruiting relationships and class cohesion, keeping their eye on projected enrollment drops several years down the line. The juniors will still get hit by walking into aftermath, including loss of staff who knew how things operate. But they’ll live, which is the important thing.
I understand the outrage at paying $55k for online classes when really you’re paying for an extended cotillion that isn’t happening, but (a) hey, you were the ones who considered paying that ridiculous kind of money in the first place, and (b) that gap year is likely to mean a 6-year BA. I wouldn’t.
Now since it is more real that some colleges ( which are going online) are offering Gap year for their incoming Freshmen, does anyone know anything about the impact on 2020- 2021 admission cycle
I have only heard my daughter’s school address this question–Yale’s Dean of Admission says they will still admit 1550 freshman for Fall 2021. I think they expect some attrition and an increase in off campus housing to balance things out. Many are skeptical…there’s bound to be some impact. But many schools still stuck to a pretty strict deferral policy–like USC. I think the Ivys and many private LACs were the most flexible with allowing gap year and semester requests. Yale encouraged it no doubt.
The number of high school students is going to start dropping in 2022 so things could get a little easier, not sure about this year’s juniors would benefit. Many selective colleges reported increased admission rates this past year, so the trend could be happening now.