<p>The condensed version of a reddit thread from my D’s school -</p>
<p>Wait until she goes to the first class, ask the professor if the book is used or “recommended”, buy used from Amazon or rent from Chegg.</p>
<p>Hey Folks,
Our move in day is tomorrow. Any “make sure you have…” and “don’t forget…”?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Hope move in day went well for everyone that has done that so far. It went smoothly for us. Hoping that D is settling in. From her Facebook posts, it seems to be working out</p>
<p>It’s too quiet here! How’s everyone doing?</p>
<p>anniezz, I agree! How’s everyone surviving? My house seems so clean and quiet! The Duckling appears to be amazingly happy. She seems to like all of her classes, and really like the ones in her major. She has made a great group of friends. I think she’s even doing laundry. We’re making the 10 hour drive to see her mid October - I can’t wait!</p>
<p>How often do y’all text/call your kids?</p>
<p>I moved over to the regular 2013 thread to follow all the move in and adjustment stories. I figured as long as we finally got our great 3.0-3.3 kids into a college, move in, adjustment and empty nests are all the same :)</p>
<p>I’ve only called my D twice because I wanted to give her breathing space. She didn’t call the first week although she did text a couple of times with questions about something. But she has been a little more communicative the 2nd and 3rd week. </p>
<p>I know that she has snuck off to visit the boyfriend (I had asked her to please stay on campus for at least 4 weeks to engage and make friends). He doesn’t really start at UCLA until next week, he is lagging about 3 weeks behind her but he did move into an apartment right across from the campus. She doesn’t have her car but she keeps trying all kinds of excuses why she needs her car on campus. Not going to work - she has to prove that she is engaged, going to class, studying and getting decent grades before that car goes up to the dorm parking lot !!</p>
<p>We are going up 4 hrs away for Parent Weekend in October also. It will be my first college football game, either watching on TV or attending</p>
<p>I am in a jumble about visiting… parents weekend is late. I"d always planned to go, but now I am wondering if a different time makes more sense. Just trying to juggle it all. </p>
<p>Texting/calling - I find it goes in waves. We can go for several days without a text, and then a text or IM conversation. Regular phone service doesn’t work in the dorm at all but we’ve skype called several times. Generally every 7-10 days there’s a call, but this past week she actually called (skype) and we talked for an hour. And then the next day she skype called again for another 20 minutes to follow up on some of the things we talked about the day before. Since then, we had a 3 minute text exchange, then nothing for 2 days… What’s nice about skype - you can have a few down minutes too… it’s easier to keep a link without searching for what to say… With her older sibling, freshman year contact was limited, but by sophomore year he settled in to weekly skype calls.</p>
<p>I’ve been doing a weekly FaceTime with my son, with intermittent texts (mine usually go unanswered. Then I get an “I need…!!!” one from him which I’m supposed to drop everything and respond to. ;)</p>
<p>I’m going to family weekend at Tulane the first weekend in October. My son’s dad passed away so my sister who lives in Atlanta is meeting me there. They combine it with homecoming so that will also be my first college football game (in the Superdome, which is both interesting and horrifying to me).</p>
<p>Our tiny triumph this week is that my 3.3 GPA son got a 95 on his first Calculus exam…</p>
<p>We text almost every day - sometimes just a “good morning”. Phone call or skype about once a week. </p>
<p>The Duckling’s grades seem to be very good. Maybe it’s being able to choose (to some extent) what to take, and she finds her classes interesting.</p>
<p>Ok, I have a report on older DS, who was right there in range… he is starting his third year of college and we just had a good talk about his experience so far… his first year was fine, but he still had some challenges getting all his work done, etc. But his second year he made huge improvements and finally figured out what he needed to do. He ended the year near the top of his class. He’s going into his third year having learned from his mistakes and confident that he can do the work and succeed. So, even if our newly launched first years hit a bump or struggle, it doesn’t mean that they won’t be fine with a little more time and experience.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>
<p>Kinda jealous of you all…my son is STILL AT HOME! Freshman don’t move in until next Thursday! But I am enjoying the extra time with him as he works his way through the fun things he wants to do, (and eat) before he leaves town. But like that old country song lyric, “How can I miss you if you won’t go away?”</p>
<p>Anniezz: thank you for that good news. It’s a good reminder that we need to take the long view with these kids. Congrats to your son and all his achievements.</p>
<p>I just finished posting on the regular 2013 parents thread, too. Nice to see this one wake up!<br>
Parents Weekend at D’s college is next week, which seems really soon after the trip we all took to the other coast to drop her off, so we won’t be attending. We also agreed months ago that it didn’t make sense for her to come home for Thanksgiving since she has classes on the Wednesday afternoon, so it’s only a four-day weekend and only three weeks before she comes home for a month at Christmas. But December seems such a long time to wait to see her! H and I have a break in early Nov. and we’re seriously considering taking a CA trip… Meanwhile, she is very happy whenever we communicate, maybe about twice a week by phone or Skype, and a couple of texts or emails on top of that. We were all prepared for emptynestdom, but her older brother has come home this year. He’s actually teaching at the HS they both graduated from, and has many of her friends in his classes!</p>
<p>Great to hear the updates! D seems to be very happy. I’m trying not to ask too much about classes…I guess we’ll know soon enough. I know she is working hard and that’s all I can ask. Happy with roommate, keeping busy. Calling goes in spurts here too. She texted yesterday and asked us to call her after dinner. I was bracing for some big announcement but she just wanted to catch up. Well - she also admitted to procrastinating on a paper. Can you believe it was a year ago they were prepping their applications?</p>
<p>HL, I didn’t remember that your D ended up at Wooster! I loved Wooster, and I’m glad to hear that your D is doing well and happy! 
D has had a few bumps - several bouts of illness and I think her grades are suffering in at least one class and she is feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. I’ve encouraged her to avail herself of all the support services that they have… just hoping that she will do so. It will work out, just may take a little more time for her to find her groove.</p>
<p>I visited my D at RIT this weekend. I had the pleasure of meeting her friends, and I liked them all very much. It’s so nice to be able to picture her life a bit more! Only a bit over a month until she comes home for Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>I also want to reassure 2014 parents - it will indeed work out!</p>
<p>HeavyLidded- perhaps a mono test is in order.</p>
<p>I’m headed to see my kid the first weekend in November. His U started so late, he will just be done with midterms then. We don’t get a lot of details or texts ----so different from my daughter’s first year, now 3 years ago. I look forward to meeting some of his pals. He’s weathered his first wretched head cold/respiratory virus that did send him to the health center at one point. Not fun.</p>
<p>I DO remember my daughter’s need to sleep in the hotel whenever we visited while she was still in the dorms. They get so exhausted and crave quiet and a BIG bed, I think. And privacy.</p>
<p>Well now I feel a little bad for my D because DH and I are flying out to visit her in Nov and will actually be staying in her dorm! Her LAC has bedroom/kitchen suites for visitors and we thought we’d save a little by staying there instead this time. But now I’m thinking she might have preferred to get off campus and into a nice hotel bed for a few nights…Oh well, at least we’ve rented a car and will be able to take her out for a few nice meals.</p>
<p>HL, sounds like what my D dealt with this last round… she did go to the health center and had the strep and mono tests - negative… so it may just be a particularly rough “non specific” virus hitting them. I am hoping that my D will want to get off campus and sleep in the hotel for a night… I got a room with 2 beds just in case.</p>