2020-21 Enrollment Information and Deadlines

To: Students and Families 
CC: Faculty and Staff

From: Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dean of the Conservatory, and Dean of Students

Dear Students and Families,

We hope that you and your families are staying healthy. We look forward to working with you to approach the return to campus with a balance of flexibility and focus, so that we can reconvene as a scholarly and artistic community in as safe a way as possible. This will also necessitate some careful and intentional planning—and two-way communication as the summer evolves—so we appreciate your efforts to work with us through some specific decision points.

To that end we write to let you know about some upcoming dates and deadlines as we look toward the start of the academic year. Because we know that students and families are considering many factors in making decisions about the year, and given our limited dormitory capacity due to our single room only health protocol, we will be asking each of you to share your intentions for enrollment either on campus or remotely off campus. The revised academic calendar has been posted, and the updated schedule of classes will be published around July 15. Shortly after the class schedule is available, you will receive a message asking you to communicate your plans. 

Students will be able to indicate one of three options for each semester:

- I will be on campus as assigned. 
- I will not be on campus as assigned this semester, but I plan to enroll at Oberlin remotely. Note: If you have already indicated your desire to study remotely via the survey distributed to students on June 26, please select this option to confirm.  
- I will not be on campus as assigned this semester, and I plan to take a leave (continuing students) or gap semester or year (new students).

Arts and Sciences and Double Degree students will also be able to indicate their plans to appeal to attend in a term other than the one to which they were assigned. There will be a relatively short turnaround time, so we encourage you to think now about your plans and what information you may need to come to a decision. The date to declare your intentions for the fall will coincide with the deadlines to apply for a personal leave, gap semester or year, or appeal to study in a term other than the one to which you were assigned.

As part of our efforts to make campus as safe as possible for all community members, we will be asking all students who study in person to commit to a set of community agreements. You’ll have the opportunity to review these agreements before you reply to the College with your intentions about enrollment. We will follow up with a separate email when this is available for you to review. 

The Office of Residential Education has contacted new students and students returning to campus in the fall with information about housing. For those who will return in the spring semester, you will be contacted separately to participate in housing selection. Students with approved off-campus status will not receive an email about housing. Please also look for an email asking you to sign up for a time to return to campus to participate in initial COVID-19 testing and move into your campus residence. Unlike previous semesters, return to campus must be scheduled in advance, and you will be required to arrive at your scheduled time. We appreciate your understanding of the steps necessary to ensure that this process is as safe as possible given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Please consult the Office of Residential Education website for updates, which will be posted as they are available, or contact ResEd with your questions. 

For information on other topics, we encourage you to review the Fall 2020 Reopening FAQ and the Conservatory FAQ for 2020-21. If you have questions that are not addressed there, please contact 2020-2021planning@oberlin.edu for general questions, health.info@oberlin.edu with health-related and student life questions, or the Conservatory Dean’s Office (conservatory@oberlin.edu) for Conservatory-specific questions. 

Thank you for your patience as we navigate this time, and we look forward to seeing you soon. 

Sincerely,

David Kamitsuka
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Bill Quillen
Dean of the Conservatory

Meredith Raimondo
Dean of Students

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

July 15
Estimated date for academic year 2020-21 courses to be available.

July 20
Deadline for all students to submit their declaration of intentions for enrollment in the 2020-21 year. Students should submit this form regardless of whether they will apply for a leave or a gap year.

July 20
New Students: Deadline for new students to request a full gap year. You may find more information about requesting a gap year here: go.oberlin.edu/gap-year.

Students should contact the appropriate admissions office (Arts and Sciences, college.admissions@oberlin.edu, or Conservatory, conservatory.admissions@oberlin.edu) with additional questions.

Conservatory and Double Degree students who may be interested in applying for a gap semester should consult with the Conservatory Dean's Office and their Conservatory advisors as soon as possible to discuss academic arrangements.

July 20
Returning and Continuing Students: Deadline to request a personal leave of absence.

July 20
Returning and Continuing Students: Deadline to submit an appeal to attend in different semesters. Due to the need to de-densify campus, the College will only be able to grant a very limited number of appeals.

July 27
Students who appealed will be notified of the outcome of their application via email and will have until July 30 to communicate their plans.

Week of August 10
Returning and continuing students register and new students finalize their registration.

Each student will receive a precise appointment time closer to registration.