@Chico Escuela posted:I'm sorry for you and your daughter, Gunner.
At this point, my son is leaning toward taking a gap year. He only has a few more days to decide.
I'm not sure what he should do. No question that freshman-year-from-home is going to be substandard (even at a 10% tuition discount). On the other hand, in 2020-21 a record number of college students taking time off is going to meet with a record low number of employment and internship opportunities (plus essentially no travel options). I think the next 12 months will largely be a lost year if my son doesn't start college. But maybe that price is worth it in hopes of a more normal 2021-22 freshman year?
For now, my daughter's school is still planning to have students back on campus in 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, Forbes says 20% of Harvard freshmen are deferring admission for a year, and only 25% are opting to live on campus:
That's the dilemma, what attractive or productive things can a kid do by taking a gap year vs taking online courses and beginning college?
All the usual pros of taking a gap year would seem to be extremely limited during Covid. Meaningful jobs/internships, travel, foreign language immersion abroad, service trips, etc. are just as limited as going to college in person. If the kid is just going to stay at home and watch movies or play video games all day, seems that taking online college courses would be a better option to maintain academic progress and stay sharp with learning. Perhaps kid could spend a gap year training athletically to get better prepared for whenever sports resume, but that should also be doable while taking college courses online. If spring sports in 2021 also get cancelled, the athletes would still preserve 4 years of sports eligibility whether they are taking online courses or a gap year but at least they would be further ahead in academic progression.