When Arun Swaminathan applied to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in early January, COVID-19 was just one of many world events. There were no known cases outside of China. In the United States, headlines were dominated by Donald Trump’s ongoing impeachment trial. Even Wuhan had yet to enter lockdown.
By the time Swaminathan was admitted in March, the virus was exploding across the globe, and countries everywhere were asking citizens to shelter in place. The U.S. had sealed its borders and suspended almost all visa processing.
Swaminathan was still excited that he was accepted into the program. “You see all your hard work has resulted in something tangible,” he told me. He sent in a $2,000 deposit to secure his place in the class of 2022. At the same time, he knew that the pandemic had radically transformed the shape of travel and education. If he couldn’t start the year in person, it would be difficult to do remote learning from Mumbai, which is ten-and-a-half hours ahead of Evanston, Illinois. It would be even harder to engage in the kind of networking opportunities and internship hunts that make business school so valuable. Eventually, he reached out to Kellogg to ask if he could defer his start.
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