According to NC State’s 2021 spring semester plan, a mix of in-person, hybrid and online classes will be available for undergraduate and graduate students. They also plan to enhance testing and tracing, as well as vaccination research, in hopes of a vaccination being accessible. 

Like many other students, I miss being in a classroom and being on campus like a normal college student, especially with all my classes being online this semester. However, as much as online classes make learning difficult at times, I cannot help but wonder if I should choose to take any in-person classes next semester with COVID-19 still alive and well.

In the beginning of this semester, I took two in-person classes — that is, for the two weeks they were in-person. In my experience, I felt like there were more disadvantages than advantages to taking in-person classes during a pandemic. While it was nice to be in a real class and be on campus again after so long, I could not help but compare it to the online courses I was taking in the comfort of my own home.

Everyone in my in-person classes wore their masks, which was great, but we were not seated 6 feet apart. At best, it was about 3 feet apart. The masks did make me feel safer, but, overall, I felt almost naive and irresponsible for being in big classes full of people during a pandemic. I do see the appeal of in-person classes, as they provide a better learning and social environment, but it is pretty unrealistic to think that is a completely safe decision right now. 

Again, my professors did put precautions in place with spacing us out, requiring masks and doing assigned seating in case contact tracing was needed later on. However, in the two weeks that we went to in-person classes, students were already “dropping like flies,” as one of my professors said. Several students in one of my classes were placed in quarantine or had to stay home from class due to being in contact with someone who had COVID-19. 

This definitely shocked me because we had not even been in classes for a month, and people were already not able to come to class due to the virus. It really made me take on a different perspective on my online classes. I felt, and still feel much safer, with online courses, and it is nice to not have to wear a mask for hours in classes. 

It is unfortunate that we have to make this decision for ourselves though because an online semester creates quite a different learning environment for students. I would like to take at least one in-person class next semester just to experience some normality of college again, but how normal is it?

I realize that if you are responsible and safe on campus, you are likely to be fine going to in-person classes. But, at least for now, I am leaning toward taking online courses for the spring semester in order to be safer. Plus, campus is open, so even with online classes, you can still go to the library, grab some Cup A Joe on Hillsborough and, hopefully, feel like a normal college student during this bizarre time.