Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best guesses as to whether/to what extent colleges will be virtual in 2021/2022?

Maybe I"m naive, but I'm not expecting 21-22 to be virtual. Assuming vaccine uptake is adequate things should look very different 8 months from now. My guess is that the fall will still have some restrictions in place, maybe in even masks for the first couple of months, but that we will be moving toward a post-covid normal by late fall. Schools got hammered this year, they can't continue the virtual thing for very long. THey can (and I believe should) require the vaccine for anyone on campus.

I doubt they can require an experimental vaccine when the military cannot require it. Once it goes through the longer approval process, then yes I agree.

Anonymous wrote:Since when does an ED application imply that a student cannot take a gap year? In my understanding, it binds the student to attending that institution, which could happen the following year, or the year after if they take a gap year. What am I missing?

I don't think the two are related. I don't know about all colleges but many of the ones my dc looked at did not discourage taking gap years at all. Some encouraged it.

Anonymous wrote:"gap year program"

how about your kid volunteer in a soup kitchen or helping tutor kids who have been falling behind because their schools are closed?

The idea of contemplating sending a kid traveling the world or country right now makes me sick to my stomach.

Well, my kid is one of those who has been tutoring kids with special needs and volunteering in soup kitchens and animal shelters so can he go on his gap year, pretty please? So freakin' judgmental.

Since when does an ED application imply that a student cannot take a gap year? In my understanding, it binds the student to attending that institution, which could happen the following year, or the year after if they take a gap year. What am I missing?

Anonymous wrote:Awful to take an ED spot and then defer for a Gap year. This year, in particular, that's not ok. If I were the school, I would revoke your ED.

So many deserving kids who applied ED were ready to make a commitment to the school in the fall. If your kid wasn't, then he/she shouldn't have applied ED.

+100

Anonymous wrote:Awful to take an ED spot and then defer for a Gap year. This year, in particular, that's not ok. If I were the school, I would revoke your ED.

So many deserving kids who applied ED were ready to make a commitment to the school in the fall. If your kid wasn't, then he/she shouldn't have applied ED.

Uh I don't think you understand how this works. Universities decide if deferring/gapping is approved or not. Applying ED has nothing to do with it. If anything it allows them to have a better sense of RD admissions numbers so I think the ED who request gap years right away are actually doing everyone a favor.

My kid is a 2020 grad and several of his friends did in person "gap" years this year (now). Some that I know are operating are remote farms and other outdoor adventure places and several different Israel programs. But many gap year programs did get cancelled so check the cancellation rules.

I also know a few doing "interships" but those are remote.

Why are some posters questioning the ethics of letting their kid take a gap year after being accepted ED? If the university allows it, what’s the issue? Getting accepted ED doesn’t mean a kid is bound to start the next fall any more than getting accepted RD. Once a student is accepted, why can’t they do as they wish next fall, provided its authorized by the university?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best guesses as to whether/to what extent colleges will be virtual in 2021/2022?

Maybe I"m naive, but I'm not expecting 21-22 to be virtual. Assuming vaccine uptake is adequate things should look very different 8 months from now. My guess is that the fall will still have some restrictions in place, maybe in even masks for the first couple of months, but that we will be moving toward a post-covid normal by late fall. Schools got hammered this year, they can't continue the virtual thing for very long. THey can (and I believe should) require the vaccine for anyone on campus.

Really?? You think school will still be virtual in fall 2021? I actually don't. I think masks and distancing will be around still but I think schools will be in person.

Awful to take an ED spot and then defer for a Gap year. This year, in particular, that's not ok. If I were the school, I would revoke your ED.

So many deserving kids who applied ED were ready to make a commitment to the school in the fall. If your kid wasn't, then he/she shouldn't have applied ED.

Irish Gap Year is running programs. Google it and check it out. Run by a great group of people. My dd had a wonderful experience. (Precovid)

OP, you will have better luck with Google than the answers you are getting here. My kid is doing several programs this year (although plans may change with the current surge). Good programs will require a negative test, follow up testing and a two week quarantine, so long term programs are better.

My kid literally found programs on Google and found reviews, then contacted the programs. After he talked to several, it was really clear who had their act together in terms of covid. He didn’t consider any program that gave vague answers about protocols or didn’t require quarantine.

To PPs who seem to think doing a gap year program and volunteering or working are mutually exclusive - they aren’t. DS is paying for programs with money saved from full time work summer/fall, and many programs are entirely volunteering (e.g. WWOOF).

Anonymous wrote:how about getting his hands dirty by working?

Hear, hear. Way more to be learned from this experience.

Putney will probably have some gap year programs. https://goputney.com/

Most professors and front line staff should have been vaccinated by the time the summer rolls around. There shouldn't be issue with schools resuming something close to normal in the fall.