A few days ago, the Harvard Crimson published an article titled, ‘Harvard Will Be Open for Fall 2020,’ Provost Writes, Ruling Out Delay Until Spring. The piece lays out Harvard’s current status on reopening campus, the different options they are considering, and how there is one thing they are definitively not going to do. Harvard will not be delaying the fall semester. “Whether on campus or virtually,” the Provost wrote, “Harvard will resume teaching and research in fall 2020.”
Why did they feel the need to clear this up? Well, there have been a lot of rumors going around — and not just among Harvard students. Current and prospective college students around the country are wondering whether they’ll be on campus in the fall, if they’ll be taking their classes online, or if they’ll be in limbo until spring. Is it possible that schools simply won’t start back up after summer? Is it possible that students will be left hanging?
At Harvard, the answer is no. If they have to start online in the fall, they may be able to transition to in-person classes over the semester. If they can’t do that, they will make the move back to campus-centric learning as soon as it is safe to do so.
While few colleges have been as candid as Harvard is being, we suspect that this where most campus-focused colleges and universities in the US are standing right now. If they aren’t, they’re headed in that direction, and we expect more schools to release statements aimed at assuaging student’s fears in the coming weeks.
One fear that Harvard didn’t mention in their statement, but that a member of the admissions team at the University of Texas recently brought up, is friendships. The question UT is getting from a lot of high school seniors, and their parents, is, “How will we make friends if we are online.”
It’s a good question, but it’s another place where it’s worth taking a deep breath and reminding yourself that college is four years, not one semester. Having to spend your first semester online would certainly be a bummer, but it won’t ruin your entire college experience unless you let it.
At the same time, colleges need to be putting as much energy into figuring out how to maintain a sense of college community as they are into optimizing for online learning. If students don’t feel supported, they aren’t going to be able to take full advantage of whatever snazzy new systems for online teaching they are cooking up.
Harvard, for one, definitely has something up their sleeve. In the statement reported by the Crimson, the Provost emphasized that the online learning experience this fall will be different (read: better) than they have been able to offer to students so far.
Whatever Harvard chooses to do, Ivy League universities punch above their weight when it comes to influencing the decisions of colleges across the United States. Once they’ve made a final decision, we expect to see other schools follow their lead.
If you’re concerned about picking a school that puts their students first in a crisis, send us a note. We help our clients design college lists that are perfectly tailored to their priorities.