<p>AvonFamily - my thoughts and prayers are with your entire family. Hopefully your wife will make a complete and quick recovery and this challenge will make your family even closer. Mathmomvt - Please extend similar sentiments to your friend.</p>
<p>Gsmomma - congrats on successful telethon</p>
<p>Students are required to live on campus all four years at Olin. Working in teams is a significant part of curriculum. This would be difficult if students did not live together. Dorms and facilities are very nice and I don’t think it is considered a negative.</p>
<p>RenMom - hope your mentee gets some acceptances real soon.</p>
<p>Finally skyped with DS for the first time since Tgiving. He has been super busy working on projects. No finals for him and entire semester is pass/fail, but that doesn’t mean it is easy just a little less stressful. It helps them focus on learning instead of their grades. It sets the tone for the next 3 1/2 years.</p>
<p>Question RenMom: did you find this girl on your own, or do you belong to a group of volunteers who help URMs with the college process? I think it’s terrific that you’re helping her.</p>
<p>There were a few comments on this thread about volunteering. I feel like we all have gained so much knowledge, we could help kids navigate the process. Especially kids whose parents don’t have the time or means to spend researching all this stuff. Does anyone know – is there an organizing group that helps kids (like RenMom is doing)? I’d volunteer for that.</p>
<p>Besides, now the admissions calendar’s in my blood. August is when the Common App comes out, November is ED deadlines, etc. It’s hard to shake.</p>
<p>AvonDad - my best wishes to you and your family. I know this is a scary time. I hope all goes well, and please do take good care of yourself.</p>
<p>Our trip to NY went very well - D’s play was great, a difficult project well done. Of course I thought D was wonderful! It was nice to see their freshman “family” and meet the kids, also other parents. D1 came up, too, and it was good spending time all together, and with each D separately. It’s a big time right now, such a huge shift in our family. </p>
<p>Bad news was that D1 had a bad academic experience this week, but she talked to the prof and is going to discuss it with the Dean. We think she has her head on straight about this and has the mature attitude that she is there to learn. She’s also very glad that she transferred out of this prof’s section for next semester.</p>
<p>In about 10 days they both will be home! I really can’t believe what a “big” semester this has been, in so many ways. </p>
<p>Happy Holidays to everyone - it’s a time to cherish family and friends, no matter what life brings.</p>
<p>Avon: I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s illness, but glad to hear that it is only stage 1. Unfortunately, my family has had too much experience with cancer. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts.</p>
<p>Mathmomvt: I’m sorry to hear about your friend.</p>
<p>Emmybet: Glad that you had a nice visit and that your D’s performance went well. </p>
<p>Vamom: That’s a tough schedule, but I’m sure your son can handle it.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of our kids as they take their finals and finish their first semester!</p>
<p>Boychild will be home on Saturday. He called last night sounding frazzled. Has been working non stop. He did share a bit of good news - he got an A on his debate and prof said one of his points was the best he heard. </p>
<p>Everyone at his school lives on campus all four years. I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with leases, furniture, etc.</p>
<p>AvonDad - I am so sorry to hear about AvonMom, but so glad that this was caught so early and is being addressed right away. Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.</p>
<p>D won’t be coming home until the 20th, which is the last day of final exams at her school. She has a final that day, and is catching a ride home from someone who won’t be heading out until late afternoon. I’m a little bummed about the short time she’ll be home (since she has to go back on January 2d for January term) but am looking forward to seeing her and her friends and having her home for the holidays. She seems pretty comfortable with her upcoming exams - she has really enjoyed all of her classes. She hasn’t decided on a major yet but is considering several options which sound fun, but not particularly marketable/practical. I am encouraging her to start looking for summer jobs or internships that would give her some experience in her areas of interest. Her school has a program devoted to gaining practical experience and while I would love to have her home for the summer, if she could find something at school and make the housing work, I’d be supportive. We shall see. I’m focusing on winter break plans at the moment!</p>
<p>So sorry, AvonDad. Will be praying for AvonMom and your family.</p>
<p>D came home Friday evening after her very long math final (she had five hours for it and actually used four hours and twenty minutes). She got a 92 in it so she has a minimum of an A- in the class. All she had to do is a very short paper for English and the English final (online submission). We celebrated h’s brithday that day because Saturday, his actual birthday, he got to spend the entire day flying to Okinawa. Then this morning he was flying to Guam and then onto Kaui. I am sure he will be exhausted since he said he didn’t sleep in the long flight from Houston to Tokyo. </p>
<p>Yesterday with D was nice- she was singing while writing her exam and it was very nice to hear her beautiful singing particularly the Flower Duet. I was telling her that we need to get her younger sister with a somewhat lower voice to learn the mezzo-soprano part. That was yesterday- today I woke her at seven and told her to take her medicines. (she hasn’t yet set the alarm). I warned her that taking medicines in the dark was not a good idea but hey, she is a freshman and Mom is wrong. Well at 10am I went to see why she wasn’t working. That was a mistake. I then got about half an hour of non stop chattering, fiddling with papers, tearing papers into little pieces, etc,etc. After a bit, I asked her did she take all her medicines? She thought maybe she had dropped one of the smallest pills- one of her blood pressure raising pills. No, she had dropped her biggest- the Vyvanse. She took it, continues to chatter for a while, her sister locked her door to keep her out, and finally she decided to take a nap. Well at least she will be okay until time for her to go to sleep again.</p>
<p>AvonDad - sorry to hear the news. Sending hugs and positive thoughts your way…</p>
<p>D is hunkered down, studying for her finals. She sent me a txt yesterday “I hate finals!”. She has three this week and then a couple next week. This week’s finals are big - she so badly wants to do well in them. We are hoping to skype with her on Wed after the biggies are done!</p>
<p>I just checked in and am so sorry to hear about your wife, AvonDad. My prayers and best wishes go out to the Avon family. I am glad to learn that this was detected early. Nonetheless, this must be a time of great stress for you all.
Your cyber family here is hoping for a speedy recovery for AvonWife and many happier countdowns in the future.</p>
<p>Aaagh! DD2 got her 1st semester grades today and saying that we weren’t pleased is an understatement! One A, two Bs and two Cs… most of these moved slightly downward due to finals - she had three As and two Bs before exams. I’m trying to strike the right tone with her - I want her to learn from this and not just give up on her gpa - but I am so irritated. This is my child who just kind of floated through HS and graduated with a 3.5; she and we knew that her gpa could have been better but she had a full life with lots of interests. I need her to understand that this is REAL life now and she needs to buckle down… sorry, rant over!</p>
<p>Proudmom, I think that my D may be in a similiar situation as your D2 as far as grades go. The only expectation I have of her is to maintain her merit scholarship, which requires a 2.7 GPA. </p>
<p>I also told her that if she wants to go to medical school, then she needs to find out and maintain that GPA, but that is not something for me to nag her over. It is her life and if she doesn’t get into medical school it is no skin off my nose.</p>
<p>I think that first semester freshman year has a BIG learning curve and it depends upon my D’s attitude about it all whether or not I am annoyed at the grades that are yet to come. I have already discussed with her that if she gets into trouble early next semester then she either needs to drop from 19 credit hours to 15 or drop her paying job. She has thouht about it and knows which class she will drop if her grades aren’t stellar at the drop date.</p>
<p>Didn’t talk with kiddo Sunday as kiddo had tons to do–and two big finals today. Spoke with kiddo via skype briefly tonight–saw the room all decorated ;o)
Kiddo is happy exma sa re over…as luck worked it out–all exams were front-loaded…as opposed to being spread out.
So tom evening kiddo will be home for supper ;o) yay</p>
<p>Four more days of school for kiddo 2…so the holiday break doesn’t start til Fri evening…</p>
<p>Hugs all around.<br>
Cannot believe the first semester is over.
Have no clue how the grades will shake out…</p>
<p>Avondad, thoughts and prayers are with you and Avonmom, sounds like you are in good hands though and glad its in Stage 1 not that it makes it any less stressful.</p>
<p>R-mom, sorry to hear your URM didn’t get into Dartmouth but what a wonderful thing you are doing. I am sure she will get into a great school.</p>
<p>Re: Volunteering, the city I live in has 9 public housing communities but they are tucked into little corners of our city some next to waterfront communitites so its really strange to be driving through a historic waterfront area to drive a few blocks and be in a really impoverished public housing development. Anyway I have been volunteering each Thursday helping to stuff Backpacks with food for kids to take home so they have food to eat for the weekend. This is done in conjunction with a local food bank, anyway, my youngest D grade 9 was asked at one of these backpacking sessions to tutor these same kids after school at the community center in town and we are going tomorrow to help. Its not a big thing but its a start.</p>
<p>D2015 had a really stressful exam today and will have her last one Wednesday, coming home by train on Thursday morning, senior daughter comes home Wednesday night, can’t wait for all the chitlins to be home!!!</p>
<p>D1 has 2 finals tomorrow and 1 on Wednesday. She said that she can basically fail her Spanish and her Calculus finals and still get As in the class. I reminded her that she still needs to study for both of them. I really do not want her to blow it on the finals.</p>
<p>She is applying to be an RA. She called me today to ask for help on how to answer one of the questions. She then asked me if it would negatively affect her chances of being an RA if she requested a room change. She has complained about her room mates before, but never to the extent to request a room change. Both of her room mates are pretty quiet and not social at all. She can handle that without an issue. She said that she does not plan to be best friends with them. The issue is that one of her room mates is basically rude and extremely, extremely conservative and, she found out tonight - a bigot. She said that the girls and their BFs were all in the room together talking about hairstyles, as D1 was getting her books together to go study in the library. Roomie’s BF said to roomie “You should put your hair in cornrows.” Roomie replied “Why would I do that? Only N#%#^ wear their hair in cornrows!!” D1 was so shocked, that she continued to gather her books and left. She told me “Mom, I can deal with most types of people in the world, but I can’t deal with people who are totally closed minded and bigots.” The roomie is also a slob and pretty much inconsiderate. Won’t turn off the main room light when the other girls are trying to sleep- even if asked, doesn’t say hello or goodbye, etc)</p>
<p>There is a freeze on room changes for the first 2 weeks and the last 2 weeks of each term. I told her that she should wait until the next term to see how it goes. . I suggested that she speak with her current RA about the situation. I have heard many room mate horror stories about room mates, which mainly dealt with hygiene and personal habits, but never about personal beliefs. Has anyone else had to deal with a similar situation?</p>
<p>GSmomma, I and my daughter have both had run ins with bigots and both of us in different situations have called them out on it. Basically saying, “wow, can’t believe you just said that, do you realize how racist that sounds?” Both times the person in question (one an adult and one a teen) when called out got really embarrasses and very defensive but NEVER said anything racist in front of us again. I think your D ought to call her roommate out and just tell her in this day and age that kind of talk is unacceptable. Peer pressure works…if it doesn’t I would report to the RA, don’t think they can fault your D if she wants to move away from a racist…</p>
<p>ShawD calls me after each exam to let me know how it has gone, plus additional calls to share other things with me. I’ve gotten more calls in the last week than in any previous week. Three exams down, two to go but the remaining two are chemistry (this will be her toughest) and math (this will probably be her easiest). </p>
<p>The only thing she hasn’t figured out is that I’ve been in London and The Hague for the last week or so and so her calls have been at 2 AM. Remarkably, except for one at 3 AM which I slept through, I have been awake when she called.</p>
<p>gsmomma, I agree with EAO that a direct comment, while uncomfortable, is likely to work in the US for certain kinds of discriminatory remarks including those against African-Americans. Not clear direct comment would do the same for Arab-Americans, as discriminatory speech is not fully run counter to American cultural norms at the moment. Similarly, direct confrontation of anti-semitism in Europe likely wouldn’t do much as anti-semitism is pervasive enough in Europe that it might be the cultural norm.</p>
<p>AvonDad, sorry to hear about your wife’s diagnosis but echo others both in their wishes and in reflecting the good news that it was caught very early.</p>
<p>proudmom-expecting similar grad results from my D. This is really common first semester. College is a huge adjustment and the first semester is a big learning curve on expectations. It sounds to me that she is actually off to a good start- the majority of the grades are A’s and B’s…and remember a C means the work is satisfactory! I am sure that now she has a clearer idea of what is expected and will adjust accordingly. In speaking with her I would suggest focusing on the positives and asking her what she learned this semester about college work and if she has any strategies for doing things differently next semester(not telling her what to do).</p>
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