During the heat of the summer, students were getting ready to move into their new dorms and start a new phase of their lives. Usually during this time of the year, students return to or first arrive at their college campuses, but COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on the opening of colleges. In mid-March, coronavirus hit hard in the US and as a result, many universities switched classes to an online platform for the remainder of the semester. Now, for the fall term, colleges have two ways to continue: online classes or with some students back on campuses. Most universities are online and some college freshmen are debating whether an online only experience is worth it. 

Avani Kalra ‘20 was set to attend Northwestern University until she deferred for this semester. Northwestern was originally planning to bring the freshman on campus, but one week before move in, decided to only bring the juniors and seniors back. Northwestern gave students the opportunity to defer quarter by quarter. Kalra found an internship at New Moms which is a nonprofit organization in Chicago and a job working as the interview editor for “Another Chicago Magazine.” These opportunities aligned with her majors which are journalism and history. “Preserving my four years of college experience is very important to me,” Kalra said.  Many other people are deferring a year as they feel that online college is not as fulfilling and the tuition is expensive, so one should make sure to get maximum value. “I was incredibly lucky to find an opportunity for this year and a path that makes sense for me,” Kalra said.

The University of Michigan is one of the many schools that is bringing some of the freshmen on campus until Thanksgiving break. The school is taking many precautions for the students on campus including hand-sanitizer stations, frequent cleaning, coronavirus tests, and mandated masks on campus. University of Michigan 2020 graduate Ishan Goel is taking one in-person class in which there are ten people in the classroom, and everyone is spaced out. “It’s more like listening to the lecture rather than interacting with others,” Goel said. Most students at the University of Michigan are taking online classes in the dorms using Zoom. According to Goel, not much is different in the dorms other than that students have to wear masks and are not allowed to eat in the mess hall during lunch. The University of Michigan has fully opened its campus since the time of Goel’s interview. 

Some colleges are doing full remote for the semester. One such school is George Washington University. Sophie Besold ‘20  is attending the university but is taking most of her classes remotely. She has anywhere from15 to 300 people in her classes. George Washington University is having a lot of small orientations for the freshman to get to know each other, such as yoga classes and small group discussions. “George Washington professors are trying their best,” Besold said. Besold thinks that what is happening with colleges is very unnatural and that meeting people is taking a toll since group chats and Zoom can’t change the feeling of meeting new people in person. “It is hard with professors in their sixties who don’t know how to use Zoom,” Besold said.  She thinks that although during the pandemic meeting people has become hard, she sees herself becoming more self-sufficient. She is going to move into an apartment with a few of her friends from Chicago. Also, being online forces you to be on time for class and takes a lot of self-discipline. All colleges are closed in the city of Washington, D.C. due to the coronavirus cases in the area. “I am not sure what George Washington University is doing in the future,” Besold said regarding the university’s plans for the spring.