Stanford Offers Students Leave of Absence

With the exception of students with special circumstances, members of Stanford University’s Class of 2024 spent no time on campus this academic year and these students are now being asked if in lieu of online classes for the rest of the year they’d like to take a leave of absence and return in the fall. The deadline to accept this leave of absence is January 19, 2021. This deadline, of course, affords admissions officers evaluating applicants to the Class of 2025 enough time to factor into their decision-making the total tally of students taking leaves of absence. If lots of students choose this option, one can safely surmise that admissions officers will admit fewer Regular Decision applicants to the Class of 2025.

As Tammer Bagdasarian and Benjamin Zaidel report for The Stanford Daily in a piece entitled “‘They’re harming people with this’: Students react to cancellation of in-person winter quarter,” “Stanford’s cancellation of an in-person winter quarter for half of the undergraduate population comes after the University repeatedly reiterated its plans to implement a phased arrival program for frosh, sophomores and students with special circumstances. Days after RAs and students with special circumstances began arriving to campus on Jan. 4, the University reported that 43 students had tested positive for COVID-19, nearly four times the previous high. Stanford announced Saturday that it made its decision ‘after assessing the continuing surge in COVID-19 cases, the lengthening public health restrictions we are under, and how those restrictions likely will affect the on-campus undergraduate experience this quarter.’…Students have until Monday to apply for a leave of absence with a full refund. After the deadline students will be charged prorated tuition based on their days of attendance.”

Do our readers think this policy will lead to a smaller pool of admits to the Stanford University Class of 2025? What do our readers think of Stanford’s Class of 2024 — with the exception of students with special circumstances who applied for approval — spending no time on campus this academic year? Let us know your thoughts on the matter by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you!