Fall 2020 Applicants - Tackling COVID 19

That time of the year has finally arrived when the admission committee is revealing their much-awaited decisions and applicants are struggling with impatience. Some of you may have already received acceptance letters (Kudos!). Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak is messing with your happiness.

Contrary to what anyone might assume, this acceptance letter can actually lure you into a trap. 

After notifying you with their decision, the university awaits your response to the offer of admission within the specified deadline. Do not give your decision right away! Given the circumstances prevailing all around the world, it is possible that you might waste money unnecessarily by taking the wrong decisions. Here's our advice to keep you on the right track -

The usual process that follows after getting the admit is:

a) Getting Your Education Loan Sanctioned to provide proof of funds

b) Finding Student Housing

c) Getting Flight Tickets 

d) Visa Approval

Based on how the world is grappling with the horrific COVID-19 infection, rethink if you actually have to go through this process.

Trouble of Offline Classes and Loan Sanction

Note that it is not mentioned in the admission letters whether the classes will be online. Depending on the severity of the virus, the university has the power to take online classes as and when required besides charging just the same amount of money for your education. Generally, you have to pay 1-2% of the entire amount to get your loan sanctioned which implies that if your education loan is worth INR 50,00,000, you must pay INR 50,000/- to get the sanction letter. We strongly recommend you not to get your loan sanctioned unless you receive a confirmation from the university that the classes will take place on-campus.

Online classes are highly disadvantageous as you lose networking opportunities and lack international exposure which is not worth the money you pay for. In addition to that, it gets harder to find internships which hampers the possibility of securing a job in a reputed company. 

What if you don't get a visa?

 Apart from that, you will also have to pay a non-refundable enrollment fee to reserve your seat at the university. This is done so that the universities can generate a document that signifies your visa status, like the I-20 non-immigration form in the US. But the Visa authorities are not working because of the global pandemic so it is highly unlikely that you would receive your I-20. Getting your loan sanctioned or paying the housing fee could be a fatal mistake if your chances are very slim for getting a visa. 

Accept only if it's worth the risk

However, you might want to reserve your seat by paying the enrollment fee (which ranges from $300-500) if you received admission into your desired university. Perhaps, you are an applicant for whom getting an admit next year could be extremely difficult for some reason. In such situations, you can consider paying the non-refundable amount because the pandemic might come to an end within the next 2-3 months according to some reports. This will give you a chance to proceed with the admission process as soon as things get back to normal. Please note that this amount could be frittered away if the coronavirus outbreak situation persists for a longer period. 

Conclusion

In the end, we want you to be patient and see what happens. Delay as much as you can so that you can streamline your decision based on the situation. You can even email the authorities to extend the deadline for giving the decision. 

Take a look at our Decisions page to find applicants who have applied to or have admits from universities similar to yours. Connect with them through our upcoming chatrooms and get to know about their decisions. 

Register for FREE to get more content like this and stay up to date with the latest news on Study Abroad.