<p>I’m just starting to help my son look for colleges and learning about everything that’s changed since my days in college (long, long ago.) One thing that I’m hearing locally and seeing on some discussions is how much more restrictive colleges are than I remember: students must live on campus, attendance required and checked for every class, and micromanaging advisers. </p>
<p>I went to a college where you were expected to sink or swim on your own. We could live where ever we wanted and choose the classes we wanted. Prerequisites were suggestions, you were expected to have the brains to figure out if you could manage it. Students were responsible for the material and if you could still make the grade when skipping lectures, it was on you. We did have advisers that would help, but the decisions were our own. </p>
<p>I know it takes a mature, self-motivated student to handle that responsibility and it’s not for everyone, but my husband and I thrived in that environment and I think my son will too. He does a great deal of independent study in the program he is in and it would be a step backward to suddenly have every move micromanaged.</p>
<p>So my first question on CC is: what colleges allow students independence and treat them like intelligent adults? And what colleges should we avoid because of their nanny-like treatment of students?</p>
<p>How about a big flagship state school? Very much a sink or swim environment, but with a lot of excellent opportunity for the motivated, focused and mature student. </p>
<p>Most academic programs everywhere have prerequisite courses not only to ensure student readiness but also for enrollment management and schedule planning purposes. There may be some places, like Brown, without distribution requirements. However, I don’t think you’ll find a place where a student can basically ignore prerequisites.</p>
<p>Actually my situation is the reverse. As an older parent, when I went to school, in NYS, the SUNY schools operated “in loco parentis” meaning that they did supervise you in a parental fashion with many restrictions. This was back in the days of curfew with twenty late minutes allowed a semester, restrictions on visitors of the opposite sex, we all had to spend service time in our dorm,there was basic required curriculum before the requirements of your major and so on. My graduating class initiated the first co-ed housing, curfew was abolished,and so on.
Neither of my d’s had any restrictions other than required freshman/sophomore years living on campus, open curriculum and more. I have a cousin who had one d who graduated from Wesleyan and another from Columbia. She felt that Wesleyan was very homey and someone would look out for your kid, there was parental communication as opposed to Columbia which was very impersonal, little communication with parents, rigid curriculum and she felt that her kid could have rotted in her room and no one would have cared…it didn’t seem to be a problem and both her kids, as mine, did quite fine.</p>
<p>Just be aware that even at Big State U, professors often are required to take roll in class these days. Why? So that when students stop attending there is a record, and the university has evidence in case someone wants to know why the kid flunked out.</p>
<p>NYU, where you can pay $60K a year to be ignored. I know someone there who wasn’t even notified when his advisor quit, nor offered a new one. I would say NYU (and NYC, for that matter) is the ultimate sink-or-swim environment.</p>
<p>This strikes me as a rather odd question. Yes, some colleges are more nurturing than others, but the vast majority of them expect students to be intelligent adults, make their own decisions, and be responsible for themselves. </p>
<p>It sounds like you want your son to be able to live off campus. Okay. Set him up in an apartment near any school that doesn’t require on-campus living and your criteria for sink-or-swim opportunities for independence will be met.</p>
<p>–Yes, some colleges are more nurturing than others, but the vast majority of them expect students to be intelligent adults, make their own decisions, and be responsible for themselves. --</p>
<p>That’s actually a relief. The couple of small state U’s I’ve visited seem to be pushing the idea that they will watch your child every second. It seems rather claustrophobic. Maybe it’s just what they think the parents want to hear now? </p>
<p>I’ve been surprised that most all of the colleges I’ve hit in searches require fresh/soph to live on campus, so I was thinking it was a new trend. </p>
<p>Is there a place to search for things like freshman allowed cars, allowed to work, allowed to live off campus? I can start searching on size, maybe it’s mostly smaller schools.</p>
<p>Most schools will allow freshmen to have cars. But you are right that many require freshmen to live on campus. The smaller schools tend to be the ones with this requirement. Here is a link to a USNWR article of the 10 universities with the most freshmen commuters.</p>
<p>Probably a mix of that (given the helicopter parenting that seems to be described here so often) and noticing that a somewhat supervised freshman year on campus may result in a smoother transition from high school to college life, with less flunking out.</p>
<p>Anyway, the schools that are just school for most of the students tend to be community colleges and commuter-oriented four year universities, like the local state university that your student can commute to.</p>
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<p>In some cases, heavily impacted courses have attendance taken up until the add deadline. Miss a class and you are automatically dropped, with your place taken by the next student on the waiting list.</p>