The pandemic’s over, right? Or it will be soon? If you got into bschool to start in the fall, you’re allowed to quit your job now and go on an around-the-world adventure before school. Right?
Hmmm. Well maybe?
This is certainly a tough call. Most if not all schools have not yet announced their plans for whether to have an in-person graduation this Spring or not. Everyone wants to assume that we’ll be back in business and resuming our pre-pandemic programs by the time fall rolls around. But can we count on it?
Current estimates we’ve heard from government figures are to expect enough vaccinations to have been administered that things will be normal again by Christmas (though who knows what “normal” will mean) — but wait, Christmas?!!
What about like Fourth of July or something?
If you’ve gotten your vaccine, you may be feeling like you are free and clear and everything should be hunky dory again for any type of activities. The threat obviously is not really over yet though, based on all the stuff with new possible strains and all that, plus the horrible experiences that so many in the U.S. have had with the cold in the South over the past week. That caused so many problems for so many people, and it set back vaccination rollout at least temporarily in some regions.
So we’re almost at March now, and we’ve only got just over 10% of the country vaccinated, most with one shot only. Things are speeding up, yes, which is great! But we’re not quite out of the woods.
Is it safe to plan for a summer getaway, and if so, where would you go, and with whom?
Probably yes, and probably you’ve already been putting some thoughts into what that trip might be. It’s a time-honored tradition for BSers to pack the bags and do something adventuresome in the month before they start their MBA. Many schools have formalized these trips, such as KWEST at Kellogg and other such branded activities.
What could happen this year is that the schools may not want to officially sanction such trips, as they used to do in the past and one day will be doing so again. Instead, this year, they may tell incoming students that if the students want to organize something on their own, the school can’t stop them, but the school maybe won’t get involved in setting things up. That whole liability thing.
What if you haven’t been vaccinated yet? Should you go?
Getting vaccinated is a personal decision but we do hope all of you are planning on it, based on the safety profiles that have been published on these drugs and the efficacy rates. Should you travel somewhere if you’re not vaccinated? That seems unwise, even if you’ve been told everyone else has gotten their shots. These are individual decisions and you don’t need us to educate you — though we may issue periodic reminders like today, to help you remember that we are still in an active pandemic, even though it’s old news now and everyone is sick of it.
The good news is that we’re so far ahead of when these pre-MBA trips would be happening that you have plenty of time to decide. The world is moving quickly on all of these issues and who knows, perhaps we’ll get an “all clear” sooner than expected!!!
The other good news is that those of you starting your MBAs this year should have plenty of future opportunities to travel and do other “normal” things again. It’s really great that the world now has recovery in its sights. Who knew, a year ago, that this would go on for A YEAR — and at the same time, how marvelous it is that it’s now headed to the history books.
Hang tight, BSer, and please keep staying safe. We don’t have much longer to ride all of this out.
You may also be interested in:
“What should I do with my summer?” (pre-coronavirus)
Tell us what you think.