<p>My understanding is that Brown doesn’t have a core curriculum. I haven’t heard that about other Ivy league schools, but that’s just hearsay from this forum. Most colleges that we’ve explored do have some sort of core classes. My kids all like humanity classes, even my very techy son so it was not a negative.</p>
<p>We haven’t helped our kids with any drinking education, whether it’s legal to do so in the home or not. We don’t drink with dinner so it would be kind of strange to whip out a bottle just for that purpose.</p>
<p>I haven’t been able to figure out exactly what my son’s school requires. They have 40 something general concentrations and they need to pick two concentrations and complete 4 courses in each concentration and a certain # (2 maybe?) of those can be in their major. They need a certain # of courses which are writing intensive and a certain # of lab sciences. Then they need to pick a concentration within their major. and need at least 4 courses within that concentration (or something like that.)</p>
<p>The general concentrations are things like “Globalization”, “Environment, Place and History”, “Culture and Meaning”, etc., etc., etc. and many of the courses in each concentrations are also in other concentrations. It’s nothing like when I went to college and needed 4 English credits, 4 Science, etc., etc. </p>
<p>No language requirement at his school which he is thrilled about!</p>
<p>At UVa engineering, specifically aerospace curriculum, there are 12 humanities credits required, 9 unrestricted credits, and 12 credits required in STS (Science, Technology & Society) which take place of English requirements (they can’t use AP credit for English in SEAS). These are actually really great classes IMHO that plug engineers into society as a whole. They have 8 semesters to graduate. Although summer term is an option unless SEAS students are involved in research at the university most choose internships.</p>
<p>[msnbc.com</a> Video Player](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45031263#45031263]msnbc.com”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45031263#45031263) this is the link to the Today show. It is the second segment. Opinions ranged from “providing teens with alcohol in your home is child abuse” to “I expose my teens (not their friends) to drinking moderate amounts of alcohol at holiday dinners”. Our approach falls closest to the second one. We offer DS wine on Shabbat or when we have a holiday meal or party where it is served. So far he has said NO. He has pledged not to drink for all four years of college. Only time will tell.</p>
<p>I believe son’s (engineering) school has a fairly structured course of study; however, I believe there is flexibility within the structure to accommodate one’s interests. One humanities course per semester is required, but some of the options have a tech flavor such as the History of Technology. This class includes analytical reading, analysis, debate, science, history, writing and more. NO language requirement tho. That was a must when selecting a school to attend. No credit for AP classes tho.</p>
<p>BI and EmilyBee - You could not possible be the meanest mother - I’ve been wearing that crown for years. </p>
<p>And the term expensive experiment is an understatement! I get a stomach ache every time I think about it.</p>
<p>Pepper - I hope your D is OK, that must have been very scary for you. BTW, I think our kids are getting together this week…they have been circling but there hasn’t been time due to mid-terms.</p>
<p>I learned a new term at parent’s weekend. Trash and tramp…D and roommate at dinner…“We like to have fun but we don’t trash and tramp. It isn’t worth it. We have so much work we are lucky to get 5 hours sleep. We have trouble just finding time to go to the gym. Some kids don’t study at all…they just trash and tramp.”</p>
<p>Course requirements: Brown is known for having an absolutely “open” curriculum, so it shouldn’t be thought of as typical in any way - not for Ivies or anywhere else. My university had such a heavy Core requirement, on the other hand, that you could barely even start your major until your 3rd year (and I loved that, personally). D1’s school was about average for distribution requirements, and that suited her. D2’s school is also about average, except that her 2 programs are much more structured, and she likes that. </p>
<p>Adjustment: I was talking to a mom last night whose D has been not so happy these first couple of months. The mom said she thinks way more kids have a hard transition than they (or their families) will admit, and that it’s perfectly normal at least to have a mixed reaction. In some ways FB helps, since they do support each other and realize they’re not alone (that meant the world to my D), but on the other hand can get the false impression that “everyone else” is having the time of their lives. This mom said a friend who’s a sophomore sent her D an invaluable e-mail about how it does come together, just to give it time, take it step by step. And the mom said, “Really when my D talked about transferring I told her, you might as well just transfer back to your HS!” For some of these kids it’s just about letting go of their comfort zone.</p>
<p>D1 told me last night that she realizes she was just one of the lucky ones: She got into the college she really loved AND it turned out she truly did love it (because we know that doesn’t always happen). Then she happened to be on a dorm floor with people she really liked, AND she took a light load - by accident, not by design - her first semester, so she had time and energy to have fun and explore. She had an extremely fortunate convergence of circumstances. Yes, there is temperament, too, but she knows she would have had a harder time adjusting if some of those circumstances had been different.</p>
<p>“BI and EmilyBee - You could not possible be the meanest mother - I’ve been wearing that crown for years.”</p>
<p>Pfft. I took away his bottle, his crib, and his blankie with nothing more than "today we are finished with ‘fill in the blank’. And he was quite young for the first two - 10 months and a week before he turned two. The blankie I didn’t take away until he was five. </p>
<p>Drinking: My girls are both quite alcohol-averse. They’ve been around plenty of drinking, among adults (responsible and not so) and their peers (usually not so). They have tried alcoholic beverages, and they dislike the taste and feeling (as do I). </p>
<p>D1 says she had to spend college figuring out how to avoid people who were drinking heavily and find ways to socialize around it. Sometimes she found herself “babysitting” people, which really irritated her. Now as a legal post-grad she still finds it hard to socialize with people her age because it seems to be such a ubiquitous activity. Luckily she likes to dance, so she’ll go to clubs for that reason and just ignore the drinking part. She said her friends have always been respectful, that many of them don’t drink (much) and she was never pressured to drink.</p>
<p>On the train back from NYC D2 and I ended up sitting near some definite “trash and tramp” girls. It wasn’t clear they were from D’s school, but she said they might as well have been, that she sees people like that on weekends all the time. These girls were so unpleasant we had to move - they not only were loud and offensive, but they literally stank; it was like sitting near a gas pump that had sprung a leak.</p>
<p>This D doesn’t like clubs or dancing or being around drinking at all; she says it’s very hard being at college where it’s in your face all the time. But she’s making more and more friends who don’t drink and is getting busier and busier with her work and other entertainments. I told her it’s a challenge in this society living a non-drinking life, but we agreed that in college it’s particularly difficult, even at a non-partying school like the one I went to. </p>
<p>What scares me is the kinds of things I hear these drunk young women saying about the situations they get into and the risks they take - and what they don’t remember afterwards. At an airport this summer I sat near some girls in their early 20s (all of whom were wearing clothes from a quite highly-respected college) talking about their week of partying, the strange guys they brought up to their rooms, and dangerous behavior they only recalled while looking through their photos on their cameras. </p>
<p>I’m grateful my girls do not think of that kind of activity as normal, let alone “fun.”</p>
<p>“Brown is known for having an absolutely “open” curriculum, so it shouldn’t be thought of as typical in any way - not for Ivies or anywhere else.”</p>
<p>What I have heard about Brown is that it is brutal to get into <em>obviously</em> but once you are there you don’t need to do any work. The kids, of course, love it. </p>
<p>My friend’s daughter who went to Bryn Mawr did her jr. year in New Zealand and there were several Brown students there. My friends daughter thought her courses were a piece of cake compared to the workload she was used to but the Brown kids were completely overwhelmed by the same amount of work. Of course, this is only anecdotal.</p>
<p>Emmy - Ahhhh, yes the babysitting of hall-mates that have had too much to drink. I believe this has much the same effect of babysitting children when you are a teenager. It makes you much more likely to take precautions to avoid whatever behavior brings on this phenomenon…babies, hanging over a toilet, what-have-you. When bluejr said he’d had to ‘babysit’ a few times I was rather pleased (for him, not the hall-mates, poor things) as I feel it ends up promoting moderation for the babysitter in the long run. It did in me, that’s for sure!! While you are helping someone who is really hurting they are bound to tell you how they got that way. You tuck that in the memory bank of things NOT to do (ie do not mix XYZ, he didn’t eat squat, he mixed cold medicine and jager, he couldn’t taste anything in the punch).</p>
<p>DS has a core curriculum that includes 2 courses in science/math, social science, english/lit/humanities and freshman writing, history and theology. He tested out of 4 courses with his AP tests and was waived to the next course levels where the AP’s didn’t count. His biggest challenge is a fluency requirement in a language that is required of all students for graduation. He tested into intermediate Spanish and is hoping to get through it with two semesters this year. With the AP assistance, he will be in mosthly electives and pre-major courses in his sophomore year.</p>
<p>S has been permitted to drink at home for holiday dinners when wine or chanpagne is served. We were in Europe this past summer and S was permitted to have beer and wine with meals both on the cruise ship and at land based restaurants for dinner. Its better he learn at home than make mistakes at school or on his own. So far at school, he has very little time or opportunity to drink although there is a school wide party in the field house to kick off the basketball season and he said that the University provides beer to all the students who are “locked in” at the event. This should be interesting. :eek:</p>
<p>My DS also has a core requirement and a required freshman humanities course as well. I remember his GC saying last year that she was not sure DS would like this school b/c he’s a math/physics guy and the requirements might be excessive. But she didn’t appreciate that he’s more well-rounded than that and really enjoys the classics (studied Latin for 8 years), and literature - although reading more than writing! I personally am happy that this expensive endeavor will result in (I hope) a more complete education than one devoted primarily to STEM.<br>
Long talks about drinking in our house - DS is on meds that are dangerous when combined with alcohol. I know he was exposed to drink in HS and did not partake - far more worried now, but he generally has a good head on his shoulders so hope he’s making the right decisions. True about everything, yes?</p>
<p>Coming in late to the Brown discussion! My D’15 is absolutely loving her freshman year there. Yes, no core curriculum, which is a bit of a mixed blessing. While it is fabulous that she has an incredible array of courses to choose from, it can feel a bit overwhelming too. However, this only holds true until she announces her concentration (major), and then she will naturally have several course requirements related to that.
What her biggest impression has been so far is how very bright all of her classmates and study partners are - a bit of a reality check for her, for she was a big fish in a little pond previously, as were seemingly all of her classmates. She is continually impressed by how well read, educated, etc. they are - and sometimes feeling a bit inferior in that department! Any academic arrogance she might have felt from her former prep school life has long gone…</p>
<p>I’m glad that Pepper’s D is okay. I hope Arisamp’s S gets some good news also.</p>
<p>My D1’s school has a complicated set of core requirements. She spent her first two years completing those requirements while she tried to pick a major. D2’s general requirements look pretty easy to meet. She is in the COM school, which is nicknamed the College of Optional Math. She does have to take one statistics course, however.</p>
<p>Bumping us up to avoid hitting the dreaded second page. Must be a busy day for everyone. </p>
<p>We got a call from bluejr yesterday. He had the interview for the summer internship. He wasn’t upset and knew he’d done his best given this was his first experience with a college internship interview (two years with a local internship), however he was very surprised with the format. As he described it we realized he’d be through a behavioral interview! We were pretty shocked ourselves. No other freshman were interviewed and the woman conducting the interview clearly realized he had not done this before so was very patient and gave him great feedback. They called him in after seeing his resume so he has some experience they were interested in. If nothing else it was an excellent opportunity and experience to go through and he is looking at it as just that. No worries at all. I was impressed at his positive attitude and we are really proud of him. :)</p>
<p>Today is D’s birthday. I sent her a package on Monday - two day delivery guaranteed by 2:00 today - with a birthday cake, plates, napkins, candles and a few little presents (I had her main present shipped direct from Amazon). Texted her this am to make sure she checked her mailbox this afternoon! Hoping the cake arrives intact: it’s a chocolate pound cake made in a bundt pan, with individually wrapped chocolates filling in the center hole. I wrapped it in several layers of foil, and packed the box with lots of crushed newspapers - I think everything was wedged in pretty well. We shall see. </p>
<p>I am fairly confident that alcohol will not be part of her celebration. Our kids are allowed to have a little wine with dinner during big family holiday celebrations and she doesn’t generally finish hers (although she likes being allowed to partake). She has mentioned that her school’s dry campus policy is widely ignored and that kids frequently show up at school functions intoxicated, but said that since she doesn’t drink, it doesn’t matter to her much one way or the other. Her dorm is big on late night board games and movies, and she’s already been in outings to the “city” for concerts and an art exhibit.</p>
<p>Been a while since I have posted. Scanned a little here and there but mentally too tired to keep up with everyone. My Father had a mild stroke mid Sept. He has been home for a few weeks, but trying to coordinate his care and keep him busy and happy is very tiring. In addition my nephew passed away and my car, with 255K miles on it decided to go to that junk yard in the sky. </p>
<p>So S has been at school about 2 months now. Just had midterms and he is not doing as well as I hoped. Whenever we asked about schoolwork he sounded bored and indicated he had too much free time. Well, now I know why. I told him I am not going to jump up and down and try to micromanage him from 1000 miles away. It is up to him to make this work. I will help if he needs me, but I can’t guess what he needs. sigh… </p>
<p>We traveled out to parents weekend a few weeks ago. It was nice seeing him but I think next year we will probably fly him home for the 4 day fall break instead. S committed to work extra hours during break several weeks ago. In the meantime, one of his friends invited him and a few other guys to go back home with him for the long weekend. Because he had already committed to work he couldn’t accept and said he was on of the few kids left on campus. I am sure that wasn’t true, but he didn’t want to hook up with any of the kids staying. </p>
<p>Although he gets along with his room mate they are not buddies. His room mate is fairly local and goes home a lot. Most of S’s friends are in other dorms, which I think helps to account for the “I’m bored” attitude. Hopefully, he will start to spend some of that time during which he was bored studying. haha.</p>
<p>We booked his winter break flight home a few months ago, guessing what his final schedule would be. We tried to plan for worse case, but in order for him to fly out that Friday we made the assumption that he would not have the absolutely last final on the last day. Yup, you guessed it, one of his finals is on the last day and goes til 5:30. His flight out is at 6:45. There are no later flights that night so I think we will cross our fingers, order him a cab and hope that traffic between his school and the airport is not too bad.</p>