Georgetown University is catching some flack for their handling of gap year requests from members of the incoming Class of 2025. In a Business Insider piece, one in which Ivy Coach is cited, Juliana Kaplan describes how Georgetown initially included language on its gap year application that stated “I don’t want to be in an online university” as an unacceptable answer to why students wished to take a gap year rather than potentially begin virtual coursework in the fall. But apparently the application language was changed. And while Business Insider wasn’t able to confirm the prior language on the original form, it all sounds a bit fishy to us.

But it seems some incoming Georgetown first-year students are a bit frustrated. As Kaplan writes, “On May 1, the class of 2024 group sent an open letter, asking that the [gap year request] deadline be postponed until after Georgetown makes its decision on what the fall will look like, as Moira Ritter and Liana Hardy first reported for The Hoya. But the deadline to submit a deferral request was May 1 – the same day students had to confirm their offer of admission. Seven of the students behind the letter told Business Insider that it has been received by administrators, and policy suggestions from the letter on the agenda for discussion by Georgetown University Student Association…The Georgetown letter goes into greater detail, calling for 2020 commencement to be postponed, as well as requesting that on-campus housing be provided to ‘vulnerable student groups’ and that staff and faculty continue to be paid.”

We’re not so sure why incoming first-year Georgetown students believe it their right to request the postponement of 2020 commencement — they’ve got some chutzpah! — but we support the spirit of their other requests. It will be interesting to see if Georgetown, like many highly selective colleges, ultimately allows any student to take a gap year next year that wishes to take a gap year.