<p>Is “Upsetmom” a continouse condition? Have you always been upset? Do you anticipate a permanant state of upset?</p>
<p>Cadiumred, how about if those interested in your plight, PM you instead?</p>
<p>Hello again:
1-Concerning the opportunity to take studio art classes as a Freshman: Your opinion and ideas were reasonable and they were considered by the AU administration. It seems that both parties agreed and resolved the problem!!! It shows that AU evaluated your petition in a timely and fashionable manner. Some of the posting suggested that you enrolled your daughter in a different university. People remember that “New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. - Locke, John”
Congratulation to your daughter, the students should have the right to take the required freshman courses to graduate in the four years as announced.</p>
<p>2-Concerning moving the admission center to the art building:
As “momwaitingfornew “said “I think it is absolutely brilliant of AU to house the welcome center in their new arts building….” You probably might find different reactions and opinions concerning this particular situation and probably not too many of the posting will agree with you. I like this thread because I see in you a desire to improve the Art Department and it seems that you have many ideas. However, I have to assume that AU performed surveys or studies before taken that decision. AU should have the experience, data and knowledge to support their decision of where is the best place to locate the admission center. At this time even though I agreed with your first concern (item 1) mainly because it affected your daughter directly, I’m not sure if I could agree with your second opinion (item 2). Other opinions of current students and parents concerning moving the admission center to the Art Center?</p>
<p>Seems that it would give more students an exposure to art…which is great. I don’t think it is degrading to the dept. of art at all. And I would agree with several posters who said that it is likely that AU did some research before moving the department there. My D is a bio major and if it was moved to the science building it wouldn’t bother me. The art and theater building is lovely and from a marketing perspective its a good idea.</p>
<p>^^Much too rude. She does not deserve your sarcasm at all. This was a tough situation. If I was a 17 year-old and this happened to me, I’d hate to be on my own trying to fix it.</p>
<p>BTW, when I was in my 30s I came across a business opportunity in Florida, where my parents had retired. I called them and they looked into it for me. Then my wife and I visited and we checked it out and decided not to do it. But I’m glad they were there to help.</p>
<p>Have you read this entire thread? If not, I suggest you do so. The scheduling problems were resolved in about a week. Then Cadiumred complained about having her full tuition subsidizing students with financial and merit aid. She then berated the administration for moving Welcome Center to the Katzen Art Center. Enough is enough.</p>
<p>DierdreTours (post 201) and Hello5 (post 202 and 207): Thank you so much for posting exactly what I was thinking. AU does not deserve to have its entire reputation colored by one unhappy cadmiumred who posts continuously and negatively. People new to this discussion should also hear that many students, and their parents, are extremely pleased with the education and the life experiences that are available at AU. It has been a great choice for my son.</p>
<p>I wonder if some of this is about Cadiumred having trouble with the change from being the parent of a highschooler living at home to being the parent of a competent young college student…I am in a similar transition and am experiencing all sorts of internal worries (what if he doesn’t go to class without me to nag him? what if he doesn’t deal effectively with the beauracracy that is present in any large organization without me to advise, nag ,etc.)</p>
<p>When my son and I first read this thread we were somewhat upset but as it has continued I have come to realize that the problem is more with the parent than with the school.<br>
Not getting required courses IS a problem but panicking before getting to orientation on campus and meeting with the advisors is counterproductive.
Then voicing unhapppiness with the school choosing to showcase its newest, showiest gem of a building, while at the same time gaining exposure for the students’ works…
Complaining that the child artiste should get priority in her wants because she is full pay…</p>
<p>I am wondering what the parental reaction will be when the artistic child gets less than a rave review/perfect grade on a project from a professor, or horrors…a lowly grad assistant ???</p>
<p>I am sure the child is a very talented artist. But the life of an artist can be hard and filled with a lot of hard knocks and criticism and this child might need to gain some experience in rolling with the punches.</p>
<p>Well, just when I thought the process was running more smoothly and more hopeful, more surprising issues have surfaced. Today my daughter finds out that she has no housing assignment because more upperclassmen are returning than AU planned and cannot get them to get off-campus housing. They said she will definitely be tripled possibly 3 weeks from now. and may never be de-tripled because she is not an honors student and indicated her housing choices the last week of April? Excuse me, but that was still before the established AU enrollment deadline. Here again, we are paying full tuition, but apparrently honors students are only treated fairly for housing??? Blaming her lack of housing on returning upperclassmen and honors studenrs is ridiculous. It is just a lack of planning!!!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this happens at most schools for those who send in their housing deposits close to the May 1 deadline. State schools are USUALLY the worst and many applicants send in housing deposits as soon as they get accepted (before they decide if they will definitely attend). They want to hold their place. Colleges actually encourage students to do this. If the students later choose to attend other schools, they simply give up their spots and lose their deposits. Unfortunately, housing deposits usually aren’t refundable so not eveyone can afford to do that. </p>
<p>cadmiumred, I think this year many, many schools are having difficulty determining who will attend. Many forecasters predicted privates would have less students attending due to the economy and publics would be overflowing. Privates may have “over accepted” expecting their yield to be lower than prior years and publics may have “under accepted” expecting everyone accepted to show up. With all the waitlists this year, I think students and schools are still scrambling…</p>
<p>I would disagree that it is a lack of planning.</p>
<p>AU is currently in the process of turning the economics building, Roper, back into a dorm, which it used to be, because there are so many students.</p>
<p>The big problem is that last year, there were many more students that decided to come to AU. This was because in that year, AU went to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the first time, had the Kennedy’s come endorse Barack Obama in primary season, and many other things that got American University out into the news.</p>
<p>While there had been occasional tripling in the years before, it put a bigger strain on housing than before, which led to a number of students being tripled. Now, these students are sophomores, and still in the system, which is important to remember.</p>
<p>I was in a triple my freshman year–it’s not so bad. There is still a lot of room for all three students, but since girls tend to bring more that guys, it can be a little less spacey. However, everyone learns not only how to deal with it, but they learn how to store things creatively. Also, while there are times that the roommate situation does not work out–as even in doubles–many people enjoy the roommates they were placed with, and many opt to stay in a triple in the Spring Semester, even when they are offered to de-triple. Many students also like the fact that housing is cheaper.</p>
<p>I would also like to point out, as many people have, that just because you are paying full tuition, does not mean that your daughter should get preferential treatment. That is not how American University functions, nor should that be the way it functions. Also, please keep in mind that tuition does not have anything to do with housing; it only deals with academics. Housing costs are a separate matter.</p>
<p>It can be frustrating that she does not even have a housing assignment–I sincerely sympathize with you. However, she will be placed into a room. If it is a triple, yeah, it’s a bit of a pain, but it’s not the end of the world. I got through it, and I am still friendly with the two people I roomed with. I actually think it helps out first semester freshmen in two ways: the first is that you start off knowing two people, and the people they meet. The second is that since at first the room may seem a little cramped, students are more willing to leave their room and explore the resident halls, the campus, and the city, meeting new people along the way.</p>
<p>It will work out. Just have your daughter call every few days to see if there is any progress, and I’m sure Housing and Dining is doing all it can for her and the rest of the students at AU.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m in honors and I was put into housing that I didn’t request (I am in a double however). I sent in my housing deposit early for RD too, mid-March.</p>
<p>I’m not too unhappy about it though, it is what it is, and I can’t see the university setting things up to purposely frustrate parents and students.</p>
<p>Thank you. all. Your comments make the situation slightly better than it seems. Although you may think my comment about paying full tuition is not acceptable, I feel bad for my daughter when they tell us in the housing office that HONORS STUDENTS get preferential treatment in regards to housing including being detripled. At accepted students day, being tripled was explained as a temporary status and an email my daughter personally received on Friday said it was temporary. However, the housing people today said that it could be permanent because she is NOT an honors student. Does that mean only the honors program is respectable and not the rest of the school’s programs??? We also received an email personally, not too long ago, that said that all housing assignments would be up June 15? Poor planning I’d say??? Why send out emails that just aren’t true??</p>
<p>I see cadmiumred is also sharing her misery on the Cornell forum. At least we’re in good company. If you wake up in the morning determined to find something to be upset about, you will certainly succeed in your quest.</p>
<p>Jerz:</p>
<pre><code> AU is not a state school. It is an extremely expensive private especially when paying full tuition. I don’t appreciate hearing my daughter getting worse treatment regarding housing than honors students. It is demeaning and we are paying for this? They are connecting academics, the honors program to housing?? She should have the right to be detripled if it truly is first come first serve in regards to placing housing deposit, not Honors gets good housing, rest of you who cares???
</code></pre>
<p>Saranac:</p>
<pre><code> I have twins at different schools.
</code></pre>
<p>No offense cadmiumred but I was beginning to miss you on this thread. Good to see that you have returned.</p>
<p>My d. started in a triple. They offered to de-triple her about a month in, but they liked each other so much, they were interviewed by the school paper and tv station about why they weren’t detripling (they finally did, after Christmas). </p>
<p>We appreciated the lower costs.</p>
<p>I think you may have misunderstood what they meant about the Honors Program.</p>
<p>The Honors Program, like the University College Program, has space set aside for students in those programs, because both those programs are a “living and learning community”-style programs. Both work similarly.</p>
<p>There are about ten different University College programs, each of which will take a cluster of rooms on a floor so people in the same program can live together.</p>
<p>The Honors Program, however, is different. The program will take a floor or two in certain residence halls. I think there is one Honors floor in Anderson, and two in Hughes Hall. The Honors program has done this for years. However, unlike University College, the Honors Program takes up the entire floor–this has been in place far longer than my tenure at American University.</p>
<p>Just as non-University College students will not get placed in any rooms given to UC, students who are not in Honors will not be placed on an Honors floor. Now, I think the reason that Honors students are less likely to be in a triple (though it does happen) is that the Honors Program keeps its numbers limited.</p>
<p>You say that this kind of treatment is “demeaning,” and I could not disagree more. The program has successfully used this model for years, and I know that the program is explained on every tour–so if you did not know about it, your daughter should have known. She is not getting worse treatment by any means. In fact, she has more freedom than University College Students. It is harder for them to de-triple for the first semester because they must stay on the floor they were put on. Your daughter, on the other hand, if put in a triple, then de-tripled, would be free to move where she wanted, with the exception of University College rooms or an Honors floor.</p>