<p>RVM, rather than do the jewish mom thing and worry about his teacher recs, take a moment and enjoy the good report card your “b” student brought home. He is doing well. Celebrate that.</p>
<p>Since my sushi list was relatively well received, I thought I would refer another.</p>
<p>The link below is a parody done by ZBT students at UTexas. AEPHI sisters also were involved in making it. The sight has been up for two days, and has over 100K hits.
If you have a child in the greek system, they might enjoy it. The first 30 seconds, are slow. This is a spoof of the social network, called Brocial Network. </p>
<p>I hope you enjoy it</p>
<p>[500MillionBros.com</a> | The Brocial Network by Atomic Productions](<a href=“http://www.500millionbros.com/]500MillionBros.com”>http://www.500millionbros.com/)</p>
<p>Rockville Mom: Mazal tov on a wonderful report card. Give your son lots of praise. Perhaps look at where he is getting A’s and if that gives you a clue about future major.</p>
<p>I would not worry about teacher recommendations. Your guidance counselor will give a fine recommendation. All the schools want the guidance counselor recommendation. It is perfectly ok for your son to be quiet in the classroom. What counts is quality of work and getting along with peers.</p>
<p>I suggest you ask your son if he would feel more comfortable in a large lecture hall type of class where he does not need to verbally participate, or does he prefer small classes? Remember–it is easier to make friends in small classes.</p>
<p>I think you should let your son take the lead with college choice (class size, major, etc.) and you honestly don’t have anything to worry about.</p>
<p>Class size concerns</p>
<p>Called Binghamton and now have some concerns. First, I heard it is very hard to transfer to the Business school (SOM). Second, 400 student lecture hall classes are the norm for lower division classes (freshman and probably soph. years). I think a 400 student lecture hall class is not a fit. Wondering if we should see the school now. In fact, I can’t find anything about class size at Binghamton on its web site. </p>
<p>Any thoughts about class size here?</p>
<p>mdcissp</p>
<p>Try doing a google search for University of Binghamton Common data set. All the schools have a breakdown of class size. it is usually near the latter part. It will tell you a lot. You can compare it to other schools as well. A helpful tool.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>Here you go, mdcissp. Section I has a mini chart with class sizes (#13).</p>
<p>[Common</a> Data Set](<a href=“Office of Institutional Research - Office of Institutional Research | Binghamton University”>Office of Institutional Research - Office of Institutional Research | Binghamton University)</p>
<p>Looks like I was still typing while you were posting, Socaldad, and yep that’s exactly the way I go about it too.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the info. charts. I looked and the majority of classes are under 100 students. About 100 classes have 100 and above students. The info. was helpful but vague–no mention of how large classes can be and if big classes are a reason to cross Binghamton off our list.</p>
<p>I know that older son attends USC and he never had a class with 400 kids in it. Almost every class is small at USC.</p>
<p>Most classes at Towson are small. Not sure how large the intro. required classes are at Towson and will look into it.</p>
<p>mdcissp –
- the fact that it is hard to transfer into the school of management should not have come as a surprise – you have been told that before and you have expressed concern over it. it is very hard to transfer into the school of management. your son should not go to binghamton if he expects that he will likely want such a transfer. its not impossible – some kids do get to transfer – but i’ve heard that there are some semesters where they don’t take any transfers into SOM, and even when they do, its very very limited.</p>
<p>2) class size at binghamton will depend a lot on what the course is. intro psych, intro sociology, intro history, intro bio, etc. – large lecture classes 200+ (some as much as 450, but not all). most large lecture classes will also have discussion sections that meet once a week with a TA. most students end up taking at least some of these large classes to fulfill general education requirements. if your son is a math major (actuarial science), he will have smaller classes in his major – more like 40-60, and then maybe fewer when he gets into higher level classes. </p>
<p>3) fyi – even though your son may have indicated an interest in actuarial science on his application, i believe he would enter harpur undeclared and would have to formally declare his major from among any of the majors offered in harpur (i’m not sure when exactly students have to formally declare their major). so if he finds he doesn’t like math, he wouldn’t be stuck – but he would be limited to the majors in harpur unless he transfers to another school at binghamton – but as already noted, transferring into the school of management is extremely difficult. if i recall correctly, didn’t you once post expressing concern as to whether accounting might require a lot of calculus? do you and your son realize that actuarial science at binghamton is a track within the math major – <a href=“http://www.math.binghamton.edu/dept/ugrad/ugrad_handbook.html#actuarial_detail[/url]”>http://www.math.binghamton.edu/dept/ugrad/ugrad_handbook.html#actuarial_detail</a> and see links for either ba or bs in math with actuarial science – and requires calculus courses. (if you look under the link for the regular math track it will show you what the course numbers mean.)</p>
<p>4) for all those considering suny’s – this shouldn’t come as a shock – but gov. coumo released his proposed budget – it includes significant budget cuts to suny – not unusual for state universities in general. only time will tell how this will actually impact the schools.</p>
<p>I am sure a google search of towson common data set will give you a comparison.</p>
<p>RVM: I agree don’t sweat the recs. I assume you didn’t speak to every teacher, did you speak to S about whom he would ask for a rec? There may be a class that he is more dynamic in. Perhaps one of those A classes. Also, some schools will take an additional rec from a source outside of school. With all the work he has done in BBYO, a rec. from that organization could help colleges get a better picture of who he is. I agree, starting the day at 6:00 AM is too early for some teens. Part of the beauty of college is that kids have some control over their schedule. My S1 has taken full advantage of this. There are a lot of reasons why kids are quiet in class. I wouldn’t take that to mean that larger classes are better for them. I will tell you that my S1 who was a great student was sometimes described as quiet in class and he had some interesting reasons for being quiet when I asked him about it. He was also the one who really wanted to go to a school that had small classes. I agree with Mdcissp, ask him what appeals to him. In general, most people don’t say they really like large lecture hall classes. More often I hear that students don’t mind them or that the dicussion groups make it work. There are some professors that are dynamic speakers and their popularity contributes to them having large lecture classes. Sometimes those are the best classes that students take but that is different than the typical intro class. There are a lot of good reasons for going to a large school, but I wouldn’t see large classes with less expectation for participation being one of them. On the flip side of that if your S is not comfortable in a situation that he is expected to participate going to a school that stresses participation could be a mistake. My sometimes very quiet kid was the one that was drawn to his school because they emphasized the participatory nature of their classes. This is where visiting a college and sitting in on classes can help.</p>
<p>Rkvillmom - Congrats to your son. That is a great report card. I wouldn’t be too worried about the recs. Most of S1’s colleges only wanted one teacher rec, UMD wanted two, and some other schools didn’t want any except for the counselor rec.(Penn State, and I think Indiana.)</p>
<p>To respond: Towson notes most classes are small on its website.</p>
<p>Yes-I recall the discussion about it being hard to transfer to SOM at Binghamton. This is why I think my son is better off at Towson (among other reasons). Like most kids his age, my son has a couple of majors in mind (actuary science, accounting), and I think he is better off at a school where it is easy to shift majors if necessary. This is also one thing we love about UT Dallas–a place where you can study anything you want without applying into that particular school. </p>
<p>I am wondering if a visit to Binghamton is worth it given the difficulty of transferring to SOM. Also, I wonder if my son can write to Binghamton that he wants to be re-considered to SOM. He received a hand written note from Binghamton Admissions that they want him (very nice gesture).</p>
<p>Rockville Mom: I think the college essay, which your son has 100% control over, has more impact than recommendations. Don’t worry about recommendations or being quiet in class. Just praise and encourage your son’s strengths. You can be very proud of him.</p>
<p>You might also want to try to arrange for your son to sit in on classes in the schools of greatest interest (Elon, etc.) to see his reaction.</p>
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<p>mdcissp: I’m sure they do want him, but I’m also quite positive they want his OOS tuition.</p>
<p>Hats off to you for all the research you are doing, not looking at what is generally considered a better school but, more importantly, looking at what is best for your DS.</p>
<p>BTW, off topic, but did you all see that CC has a new app for Droid? I downloaded it last night – makes it so much easier to use CC on your phone. In case you just can’t get enough :)</p>
<p>Rockville - Congrats! Great report card. We have all a’s and one b in precalc. I am keeping my fingers crossed this is how the end of the year ends up! English could be a very high B :(</p>
<p>Mdcissp- That’s an interesting idea to be reconsidered for SOM. Let us know what happens. I haven’t looked at the Bing app - when your son applied did he originally check Harpur or SOM? or both?</p>
<p>We are still working on the senior year schedule.</p>
<p>rvm: your son is a junior, right? bear in mind that there is so much more to a teacher rec than just what is seen in the classroom. sometimes the best recs are from teachers who have seen how a student responded to unanticipated challenges. wasn’t there one subject (way back in the beginning of the school year) that your son really worked hard at improving? that particular teacher may have greater insight into your son, for example, than a teacher who sees him as just a quiet, A student.</p>
<p>Congrats on the great report card, Rockvillemom. My S2 got his…couldn’t be more of a B student: all Bs. Unfortunately, 2 B- put him just below the 3.0 line. Luckily, he’s only a freshman and has another semester to work on his final grades for the year…transcripts at our school only show end of the year grades, not quarter or semester. On a side note, we had his learning disabilities reevaluated this fall, and that information along w/ the fact that his semester exams really brought him down have given us more information to work w/ in putting together a tutoring plan for him.</p>
<p>On the subject of University size, S1 (who is dyslexic) is going to go to Engineering School. I was sure that he would want a smaller school, especially since he so loves his small private school environment. When we visited schools, however, he loved the energy of a larger campus, and especially like the idea of attending Engineering school on an Engineering campus, rather than the Engineering building at a smaller school. He is the type of kid who will go to office hours just so he can develop a relationship w/ his professor (as he really enjoys the personal relationships he currently has w/ his HS teachers). Sometimes they surprise us.</p>
<p>Rockville mom’s S and my D go to the same HS. So I understand her concern about teacher recs. Part of the problem is the kids can change teachers for most of their classes from one semester to the next. My D has new teachers this semester for all but two of her classes. That makes it hard to establish a relationship with teachers. Especially for the quiet kids. Which my D is. Actually, correction, she is quiet at school, loud at home and with her friends.</p>
<p>I told her that going into this semester she needed to focus on one teacher who she thought she could establish a relationship with and make sure she participates in that class. Lucky for her she has one teacher for two classes this semester (two of her favorite classes) and that teacher is the sponsor for one of her EC’s so she already knew him. She will be asking him for a recommendation. </p>
<p>Also, Rockvillemom, if I remember, your s has gone to teachers for help, so he has established a relationship with some teachers even if he doesn’t participate much in class. I actually don’t think that there are all that many kids who participate that much in class. So I wouldn’t worry about that part of it. And I agree, turnout at back to school night was pathetic. I coudn’t believe how few parents showed up. I don’t think that there were more than 5 parents in any class.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses on teacher recs. I’m not panicking - just something new to mull over. One of the drawbacks at our hs is that they switch their entire schedule 2nd semester - much like at college. So - while all of his classes are year long classes - he has 5 new teachers out of the 7. He did really struggle with his honors English class at the beginning of the year - ended up with a high B - so I would consider that if he still had the teacher - but he doesn’t. Kids usually ask teachers they have all year or in the spring of junior year. So - we’ll just see how things go this spring.</p>