Corona virus's effect on graduate admissions

[holographic universe]

Over 15 of the 20 top US physics PhD programs have canceled their open houses with no plan to reschedule.

Some are intended on running "virtual open houses." Other's are just sending links to information that could be found on the internet regarding their program.

Is the April 15th requirement of a decision regarding accepting grad school offers of admission still ethical?

Is it reasonable to propose that April 15th be moved a month or two later to let corona virus paranoia burn out and for departments to redo their open houses?

A STEM PhD could take anywhere from 4-7 years in the US. That is a non-trivial amount of your life.

It does not seem ethical to require students to make this decision without meeting (in person) the PIs at these institutions they intend to work under.

[LadyWolfshadow]

I agree with you 100%.  One of my visits this week just got cancelled for sure and I'm pretty sure that the other one is on its way to being cancelled.  "Virtual open houses" really aren't a substitute for having the option of an in-person visit.  There's a lot that doesn't come across in that kind of format that people may need to be able to make their decisions.  I'm already wrecked at the thought of having to try to make a decision without any face-to-face interaction or having walked both campuses.

I would love for CGS members to agree to some kind of "extenuating circumstances" clause for the April 15th Resolution, but that's like asking for fair weather.  Right now I'm trying to brace for the possibility of making this huge decision without the information and interactions I really need to commit 5-7 years of my life to being somewhere.

[Arthistoryiscool]

completely agree. They gave me 3 weeks to decide and now the campus is closed...seems messed up.

[LadyWolfshadow]

1 hour ago, Arthistoryiscool said:

completely agree. They gave me 3 weeks to decide and now the campus is closed...seems messed up.

It really is.  One of my programs is hoping that IF this situation gets any better, they MIGHT try and figure out a way once the campus opens up again, but that would be RIGHT before Decision Day and having less than a week left to sign and date the offer doesn't leave much time.  I'm sure the departments aren't happy either because those of us with offers are frozen trying to see what the heck is going on and hoping that we can find SOME way to make up our minds, so they can't do anything with the waitlists, either. 

I'm not going to lie, I straight up lost it when I found out about the visit cancellation today.  This is too important of a decision to have to make with so little to go from.

[zomhud]

14 hours ago, holographic universe said:

It does not seem ethical to require students to make this decision without meeting (in person) the PIs at these institutions they intend to work under.

Nearly all the international students take their decisions without even stepping at the school. They have been doing this for years. I know the situation is totally different. You can still email your potential PIs, contact the current and ex-students of the PI. 

[NotaBene]

I agree that it's hard to make decisions given this development and am equally freaked about potentially having to decide withoit visiting but want to offer that if an entire country and enormous portions of another large one completely shut down, it's serious. I also encourage people to read up on some of the papers coming out on how this thing kills. Protecting the community is paramount. My $0.02 as a public health professional. 

[holographic universe]

6 hours ago, zomhud said:

Nearly all the international students take their decisions without even stepping at the school. They have been doing this for years. I know the situation is totally different. You can still email your potential PIs, contact the current and ex-students of the PI. 

This is the only thing that has been on my mind as I've been stressing about this and it is helping me relax. Many east Asian applicants aren't allowed a VISA even for the short open house visit, and yet they make the best of whatever school they accept at and do amazing things with their advisers regardless of "checking out their potential advisers personalities" before accepting there.