A photo of George Mason University campus in Fairfax, Virginia
Photo credit: https://universitysupplies.co/blogs/college/gmu-packing-list-what-to-bring-on-move-in-day
At the beginning of March 2021, the office of Academic Affairs at George Mason University Korea sent out an email regarding the Fall 2021 Fairfax campus transition application to students in their fifth or later semester at the Mason Korea campus. For students to apply for the campus transition, they are required to submit the application form to the Office of Academic Affairs and then have a one-to-one meeting with their academic advisor from 18 March to 26 March. Despite the announcement and pre-planned info sessions, students still have concerns about going to the Fairfax campus due to many uncertainties: COVID-19 vaccine, visa process, and overall safety.
Planning to transition to the Fairfax campus has been a worry to many students, especially those who never had experience with studying abroad. However, with the continuation of the global pandemic, students are facing more concerns. One of the main concerns is the opportunity to get vaccinated. According to the South Korean government, young adults who have Korean citizenship may have to wait to receive the vaccine until later this fall. However, on 15 April 2021, the Office of Academic Affairs in Mason Korea announced via email that all members of the Mason community, including international students, are eligible for free vaccinations when they go to the Fairfax campus. Despite that, the students are still concerned about the rise in the number of confirmed cases in the United States. During an interview with The Voice, one student mentioned that “Since COVID-19 cases in the United States are rising again, I am afraid to go to the home campus. I really want to do distance learning to protect myself from the global pandemic.”
Another concern is the process of applying for a visa and the documents students need to fill out. Mason Korea sent out the email containing what documents students need to submit to get I-20 and F-1 with deadlines. However, students are still concerned about getting a visa due to possible requirement changes from the immigration office due to the pandemic situation. Youngseo Park (Conflict Analysis and Resolution, ’21) also pointed out, “The only thing I can think of as of now is that it might take time to get a visa than before because the number of students wanting to go to America might be increased for the fall semester.” Since more than 100 students applied for the campus transition for the Fall 2021 semester, the school should prepare proper measures and ensure the applicants get a student visa in time.
The last concern students face is safety when transitioning to the Fairfax campus. Many students worry about how the school ensures students’ safety. Also, the students wonder if they have to do mandatory quarantine for 14 days (2 weeks) from their arrival date. According to the Virginia Safety Protocol, quarantine is not required for international travelers. However, it does not guarantee that the quarantine will not be mandatory in the future due to possible policy changes. To prevent the chaos, Mason Fairfax should come up with appropriate alternatives to how the school will monitor the quarantine period of more than 100 international students. Also, the school needs to prepare how they will manage students who live off-campus.
After the outbreak of COVID-19, many students could not transition to the Fairfax campus because of the policy forbidding entry into the United States and the extremely high incidence rate of the virus. Some students chose to take a leave of absence until they can go to the Fairfax campus with a safer environment. The other students took Fairfax courses online but complained about paying the same amount of tuition fees. As the pandemic situation continues, students are left with a barrier to continue learning. Even now, Mason Korea should figure out how they should handle changes of the global pandemic to make sure students’ sustainable education and alleviate students’ concerns about the campus transition. So far, the school provided the visa guidelines and schedules for three sets of pre-departure orientation, but students are still concerned about the overall safety protocols and detailed information about the vaccination and housing.
Jeongeun An, Staff Writer
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