<p>smoda61 - I learned about her death today from my D. It is so incredibly sad.</p>
<p>“It is just sad that only a handful of the ‘best and the brightest’ are in the joint Harvard-MIT ROTC unit” I agree, Fauve… it was quite an interesting ordeal for my son to try and keep his NROTC scholarship. To receive an ROTC scholarship you not only have to apply for the scholarship but also to the school you want to go to. Just receiveing the scholarship does not guarantee acceptance to the college. Son got into both MIT and Harvard and the Commanding Officer called him to convince him to come. Apparently of all the kids who had “won” NROTC scholarships only 6 had actually gotten accepted to either Harvard or MIT or those 6- 3 had already accepted appointments to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis so apparently my son was one of 3 this guy had left. Unfortunately he then found out he was colorblind and although the Naval Academy waived his colorblindness (you are limited as to what you can do in military if you are colorblind) NROTC wouldn’t. Tough situation for the head of ROTC and NROTC.
Thanks for the book suggestion, I will be interested to read it. And yes I realize Sewhappy was being sarcastic…not sure why she feels the need but oh well. I just always feel like I need to stand up for our US Military-they sacrifice a lot in my opinion.</p>
<p>Received a phone call last night from S, who is panicking because he is in way over his head in a macro-econ class; he says he doesn’t know the math necessary for this class. He requested a tutor within the first week of the class, but none are available; a group tutoring thing will be initiated this week. It’s too late to drop the class, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about withdrawal from a class? Can a kid drop below four classes a semester? Any insight/advice appreciated.</p>
<p>According to the Student Handbook, the last day to drop or add was October 5–see page 9.</p>
<p><a href=“http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/current/ugrad_handbook_single.pdf[/url]”>http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/current/ugrad_handbook_single.pdf</a></p>
<p>whatever4 - from the undergraduate handbook:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My understanding is that this past Monday was the “fifth Monday”. D also contacting the tutoring dept this semester. She was nervous about her math skills. Got the tutor the same day, terrific person but did not know the math at all. I’m not quite sure what that was all about.</p>
<p>Whatever, please have your child contact the school today! Harvard does a really great job at helping their students succeed and not fail. They want their students to learn. Please contact H right away to see about dropping or getting a tutor. best of luck to you!</p>
<p>My heart is aching for the family of the Cabot senior. How very tragic. </p>
<p>EAO1227-Your son must be a very talented young man, I can’t believe NROTC would not give him a waiver for colorblindness–what a mistake! Can he do officer school after college graduation? I was happy to read that President Drew Faust attended the commissioning ceremony in June for this year’s Harvard officers.</p>
<p>Whatever4,</p>
<p>Son is an econ/stats concentrator. He tutors micro and macro for the BSC. Here’s what he’s mentioned to us - </p>
<p>(1) Doing the problem sets in a group gets the problem set done faster but hurts your performance on the exams - best to go solo and seek help at section from the TF.</p>
<p>(2) Those cheesy books like “Multi-variate calc for Dummies” can really be helpful!</p>
<p>(3) If you’re freaked then so are others. Maybe it’s a prof new to the course or a TF who just doesn’t communicate well - but the likelihood is that others are also really stressed and making some noise. You mention there is tutoring being organized - that’s a pretty good sign that your son is not all alone right now.</p>
<p>(4) Faciliatating a withdrawal is not the best way to communicate your confidence in your son but of course sometimes it really is the right course. Just have to trust your instincts.</p>
<p>EAO1227,</p>
<p>A while back I drew a rather lame comparison between final clubs and ROTC. I was being ironic, sorry if I came off as critical of ROTC. I would be enormously proud (and financially relieved) if son were to win an NROTC or ROTC scholarship and I think Harvard should welcome the organization on campus. I think the current posture Harvard is adopting toward ROTC is quite intolerant.</p>
<p>EAO- so sorry your son had to give up the scholarship. I am glad that he still has the possibility of a military career if he wants one. It is more than a little surprising that the academy will take color blind students, but that ROTC will not. Go figure!</p>
<p>Glad to hear you clarify, Sew Happy. I thought you were a little rough here and must have misread your intentions, too.</p>
<p>Ronsard,</p>
<p>Dad, husband, and both brothers all attended college on NROTC. I am hugely respectful of the pathway. Son is very frank - supports our military but is not brave enough to put himself in the line of fire. Respects those fellow college students who do so, especially those at Harvard who must essentially withstand the disapporval of their own institution to do so. Those are brave and very special young people. Hats off.</p>
<p>A quick question for experienced parents/students: When should we make hotel reservations for graduation? I have heard that some parents make them a year in advance, and I would imagine that with the new calendar that started this year there are going to be many graduation ceremonies in Boston-area colleges at the same time as at Harvard. Again, do any parents/students have experience with making reservations a year in advance?</p>
<p>We already made them and had some difficulty getting a room.</p>
<p>DocT - How many nights did you reserve rooms for? We’re still not sure how many other days we need or will want to be there.</p>
<p>I think we stayed in town four nights for graduation and then packing her up and moving her out of her House. </p>
<p>How far in advance you need to book depends on how close to campus you want to stay - the closer the sooner. About halfway through our time as Harvard parents we decided we liked it better to stay out in the suburbs and drive into the Alewife station and take the T around town. The farther out hotels don’t need to be booked so far in advance and are cheaper to boot. Although if several colleges are holding their Commencements at the same time, even those could fill up.</p>
<p>Thanks, coureur. Graduation is Thursday, May 27th this year. </p>
<p>We’ll definitely be there Wednesday and Thursday nights, but our question is whether to arrive Monday or Tuesday.</p>
<p>We have reservations Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.</p>
<p>We have reservations for Tuesday and Wednesday nights and will be leaving late on Thursday.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, gadad and twinmom. I think we’ll end up arriving Tuesday as well. The little brother finishes exams at his school on the other side of the state on Monday, so we may as well just stay there Monday night and head east on Tuesday. It’s scary to think how soon next May will be here.</p>
<p>sewhappy-anyone who would take offense at your obviously ironic little joke is merely looking for insult. You don’t have to explain anything. And I say this as a prior military officer and Desert Storm veteran, whose spouse and most friends and family are current/prior military.</p>