<p>I don’t find it dumb either. Students wonder if it went onto their school records, but may be apprehensive to open Pandora’s Box and inquire. They are worried. It would be weighing on my mind if I were in this situtation. I have heard of situations where nearly half of a grade is suspended for bad group behavior. Students wonder if this will effect their college prospects.</p>
<p>As far as the free app question- Our guidance department has said that it is expensive to have too many applications. I think that students hear this, and think that it is smart to apply to freebies, not thinking that they may be penny wise, but dollar foolish. It may be smarter to look for schools that are a good fit, and where one will have a good chance at merit/and or a good financial package.</p>
<p>“Yes, no one ranks undergrad programs, except for business and Bus. Week’s rankings. But to rely on a metric that may be misleading is much the worse, IMHO.”</p>
<p>I agree, I understand, and that’s exactly what is so frustrating. But the question isn’t dumb, the problem is the answer isn’t anywhere to be found. And for some advanced students the quality of the grad school may have some relevence if you end up in graduate level courses. (About half the courses I took in my major for example were given by Harvard’s Architecture school.)</p>
<p>You have to admit this is a strange forum frequented equally by middle age adults and 16-22 year olds where the adults seem to stick around alot longer than most of the kids. So give them their questions, silly or not, and someone will answer them who maybe hasn’t seen them a hundred thousand times and gotten tired of them. You don’t see the kids harping on the parent cafe and sinners alley …so innapropriate for the site (and yet so fun and rewarding) that they had to have their own mini forums.:)</p>
<p>There is a new thread entitled “talking about dumb questions.” It’s regarding how to celebrate child’s birthday while away at school. It’s sad that people have to preface their cc questions by letting all of the “veteran” cc’ers know that it might be one of those stupid questions. </p>
<p>Also, NSM, that same question has been asked numerous times (yet you answered the post and said it wasn’t a dumb question) and it would have been very simple for the OP to have done a search like many of you have suggested doing. I’m guessing she’s new to the site and probably didn’t know how. So when all of you people complain about seeing the same questions asked over and over again, remember, not everybody is a seasoned cc’er like yourself. Rather than being critical, point them in the right direction.</p>
<p>In NSM’s defense (as well as the defense of any of us having a little fun on this thread ), I don’t think veteran posters find it “dumb” when a relatively new poster asks a question which has been asked <em>many</em> times before. You will find newish and veteran posters stepping forward to help such a poster in many ways - answering the question, referring to prior related discussions here on cc, guiding the new poster on how to search, doing the search themselves and posting the links.</p>
<p>However, when a young Internet-savvy, heavy poster here on cc asks “Does School X require SAT IIs? How many?” etc. etc., it is annoying to me. This type of question is legion on the Transfer Forum. Sometimes I feel patient and if I have the answer at my fingertips will share it; other times I am rather short with said poster in a “you do the work” mode.</p>
<p>BTW, it has been my observation that NSM is one of the veteran posters who is quite likely to help a new person here on cc, no matter how similar the question might be to others frequently asked.</p>
<p>I think the meaning is getting lost - a dumb question is one that has a direct answer - one just has to ask the right source, and this isn’t it. Examples are majors a college might offer, deadlines, what tests a college requires, etc. It seems easier to go to the source for the information rather than asking a message board. </p>
<p>I don’t think people who are new to the forum with questions that can be answered here are turned away by veterans. What I read is that they are directed to resources (sometimes previous threads they couldn’t have known about) and you can see their awareness of college topics grows. I think youngsters are also given wide leeway - people recognize they just don’t have the experience to know certain things. </p>
<p>As NSM said, this thread was to allow her to vent. I agree that if you read this for very long, you can become impatient with some of the questions. NSM has provided invaluable advice, IMO, and it would be a shame if she were to withdraw because no one understood her point of view. I admit her list made me giggle - and I was relieved to see that someone else thought some of the questions were a little off the beaten path. I’ve chimed in on wisdom teeth, dogs, etc. etc. but have never made critical life decisions based on what an anonymous person said on the internet. People can tell you about their experience, and you can guess as to whether they’re telling you the truth (we can’t really know) and you can incorporate that with all the other things you learn about a subject.</p>
<p>The OP of this thread starts with the comment:</p>
<p>“Without singleing out any individual posters, let’s list dumb things that have been asked on CC. I’ll start….”</p>
<p>It does seem ironic that one of the words in this sentence is misspelled!</p>
<p>A few posts later she states:</p>
<p>“After years of helping a lot of students on CC including many who asked very dumb questions that could have been answered with a quick Google search or by their simply looking at colleges’ on-line sites, I’m getting frustrated, and this thread is a nice way of blowing off steam….while also subtly letting people know what questions are a waste of time to post.”</p>
<p>Depending on the person’s background/perspective and support network/resources, a question may be dumb, not so dumb or insightful. I’ve also noticed that sometimes people post questions/comments to be provocative, humorous, etc. </p>
<p>I think one of the fun things about logging on to CC, is the real smorgasbord of ideas, commentary and perspective–that sense of a free-wheeling community forum might be diluted if people start to think that their questions will be labeled “dumb.”</p>
<p>jmmom, why be short with the poster and say “you do the work”? Why waste your time even typing a response? Is it to make the poster feel bad, dumb, unwanted on the site, stupid…? I just don’t understand that attitude? Why bother unless it’s to punish the poster for posting such a dumb question.</p>
It was only two years ago when I was an anxious senior, and I’m ashamed to say my first thread was a WAMC thread. I’m tempted to post the link, but it’s too embarrassing. :o </p>
<p>
The point isn’t to “punish” the poster; it’s to encourage them to do their own work. I’ve seen literally three threads ON THE SAME PAGE asking which schools offer ED. A good poster gives and takes; the posters I have a problem with are the ones that pop in, ask a question that can easily be answered with a quick search, and then leave. </p>
<p>Another question: What do I write for “Why College X” ???
Answer: If you don’t know, why did you apply? ;)</p>
<p>acinva - I guess you’d have to check my posts on the Transfer Forum to see if they “make the poster feel bad, dumb, unwanted on the site, stupid.” I don’t think so. And I don’t think the student posters on that forum find my tone anything like what you are suggesting. Not at all. In fact, you could ask them if you are worried about their feelings.</p>
<p>I summarized here. In a more cryptic tone. Thinking the posters on this thread could handle it. But, yes, warbler~ has it partly right. It is appropriate, sometimes, to teach a person how to fish, rather than catch the fish for him. I think I’ve read that somewhere.</p>
<p>Yeah, if I did not ask them, I certainly had all the dumb questions back in 2000-2001 when I first found this & the PR (:eek:) forum. It was such a foreign world, I knew not where to even begin finding answers. I think it is helpful to tell people where to go to find answers & how to use the search function, as it helps them to become more efficient users of the board.</p>
<p>I used to avidly read the chances threads to try to understand how the process worked with DD1…now, I cannot even stand to open them because they are so meaningless.</p>
<p>Hey warblers-
I went back and looked at your first few “chances” threads! LOL! Maybe they are like an initiation rite for newbie students. Start 2-3 “chances” threads, post a response on the “or” thread in the confidential cafe, ask what an “OP” is and stick a toe in a political conversation (then run like he–) and you’ve been initiated into cc!</p>
<p>I haven’t mustered up the courage to post in a political thread. Don’t forget the other initiation: finally being old enough to drink in Sinner’s Alley. :D</p>
), I don’t think veteran posters find it “dumb” when a relatively new poster asks a question which has been asked <em>many</em> times before. You will find newish and veteran posters stepping forward to help such a poster in many ways - answering the question, referring to prior related discussions here on cc, guiding the new poster on how to search, doing the search themselves and posting the links.</p>