During the Fall 2020 to Spring 2021 school year, when the Covid-19 was in full swing, Bradley University gave students the option to defer for the year. These students would not attend school for that year, and return the year after with no penalty. Now in the Fall 2021 to Spring 2022 school year these students have returned. One of the students who deferred was Rylan Mueller, a sophomore at Bradley University and a creative writing major. When Rylan started his schooling at Bradley he was a game design major, and even after the deferral he started his sophomore year as a game design major, but he changed to creative writing after noticing some issues with his classes.
“I noticed that everyone was way ahead of me when it came to coding. I found out later that the curriculum for my major had changed in the year I was gone and no one told me.” said Mueller. Rylan decided to change his major after this incident in order to avoid falling behind. When asked how this has affected his schooling this year Mueller said, “It is infuriating that I took some time off in order to make sure I didn’t fall behind, and then when I come back the rug gets pulled out from under me. With that said though, creative writing is a better fit for me so it’s working out.” He also said, “While this whole ordeal was stressful and aggravating, I still think I made the right choice since online classes don’t work well for me, so I think avoiding them will be beneficial in the long run.”
So while Rylan’s deferral had some unintended effects on his educational path, it seems to have been beneficial for him despite the frustration it caused. His deferral allowed him to ensure he is getting an education worth what he is paying, and it helped him discover that he is better suited for his new major. When asked if he had any final thoughts, Mueller had this to say, “I got lucky all things considered. This is my second year so I still have some time to figure everything out, if the same thing had happened and I was a junior already then I may not have been able to graduate on time”. With Covid restrictions being lessened around campus in the last few weeks, it would seem that students will not have to worry about these issues rearing their heads again any time soon, and the students who have returned to campus for the year will be able to return to some form of normalcy.