Official AP scores finally arrived. As I mentioned earlier, we knew in some sense what they were based on the Alabama portal credit given. Nice to see 5s in CalcBC, Econ, Stats, Gov. And it was actually just as nice to see a 4 in Latin. He said that was tough. Folks mentioned it feels like AP is the last remnant of High School for the kids. I agree, and on that note he heads off to orientation Wednesday, closing one door and opening another.
S found out today he has completed his core math requirement, thanks to his AP Calculus AB score. I’m very proud of him! I told him today this will allow him to take an extra theology down the road or some fun class. He replied, “Theology WILL be a fun class for me!”
:))
@icbihtsu Congratulations to your DD on the IB! Fantastic!
I’m wondering whether you all have established expectations regarding your kids communicating with you while they are away at college and whether those requirements will be different regarding responding to calls and texts.
I currently have “Find my Phone” on my S18’s phone, although my husband and I are pretty lenient about letting him do pretty much do what he wants, which has not resulted in any real problems from our perspective. I’m thinking of deleting Find my Phone when he goes away and am wondering about other people’s plans. I was super independent as a college student myself . . . I easily went weeks without talking to my mom . . . but I have been a much more involved parent with my son and am not sure about my role going forward.
DS18 moved into the dorm the first week of June and I “thought” we had a clear expectation about communications but clearly there is a misunderstanding. If I send an email I expect a reply, even if it’s just OK or I’ll look into that. This has not been happening, he does answer the phone when I call but I’m not thrilled about having to call to say, “so did you get my email?” Most of these emails have been about things ordered that he requested or planning a visit with his GF that I’m providing transportation and lodging for, things he should be really interested in! I really don’t get it.
I’m bringing his GF up for a visit this weekend and dropping DS20 off for computer camp so we will discuss this issue in person.
We provide cell phones to all our children DD16, DS18 and DS20 and we share locations with everyone on our family plan. The kids can see where we are and we can see where they are, even works while they are abroad (like I can read the street maps in China!). They know they are free to go where they like when they like and knowing where they are is just a convenience so they don’t have a problem sharing their location. If they have an issue with sharing their location they are free to get their own cell phone plan.
My daughter doesn’t have ap scores because she did all dual enrollment. She is attending a private school so there were no guarantees that any of her classes would be accepted. The official transfer review was done. They asked for some syllabi etc. It turns out they gave her credit for all her classes - a bit over half are direct transfers with the remainder being free electives (which don’t really have a use). Officially my daughter is a junior though she starts as a freshman with advanced standing and she is considered a freshman for financial aid/merit. We don’t know yet since it depends on double major, internships, study abroad and taking graduate credits but there is a chance of graduating in 3 years.
The one class we aren’t sure about is English composition - she has credit for it but since she is in the honors program they don’t accept AP/IB/DE English credit and instead you need to take their honors English class. My daughter is starting in the honors program and will see how it works out. It requires some extra classes long term but she will see how it fits with everything. By doing it freshman year at least, she was assigned to a suite vs traditional dorm. Many traditional dorm rooms ended up with more than 2 people in them so she is happy. Her suite is 2 rooms with 2 beds each and a small living room in the middle (no kitchen).
I don’t share phone locations when the kids are home and will not when they are away at college. For communication expectations, my older D has always been good at communicating with me. The younger one, not so much. I don’t have a requirement for either of them. I will ask for proof of life if they go more than several days without communicating.
My DS to this day is pretty good at checking in every few days and will usually respond to my email within a day and texts within a few hours.
I’ve never enabled the GPS thing on our phones, it has never really occurred to me to do so. While son is on our plan, he pays his portion so I stay out of his cell phone/tablet business.
DD is not as likely to communicate regularly so I must spell out what my expectations are. If I send you an email with a question, I expect a response in a timely fashion which can vary depending on what she is doing or where she is but always predetermined and agreed upon.
Unless I ask a question or specifically ask for acknowledgment, in her opinion it is not reasonable for me to expect a response so I have had to think about how I word an email. (She does have a point, if I want acknowledgment, I should just include a read receipt). In her mind, if I send her information, she doesn’t need to tell me she got it, she only needs to respond if I am in need of a response.
When DD went to NYC alone for a month last year I asked her to text every evening when she was back to her airBnB so that I knew she was in safe and I could sleep.
If I text, she will usually respond is some manner but the same rules as email apply.
I talked about this with S today. We agreed that I will mostly text when I need information for something I’m doing for him on my end (financial aid, taxes, etc.) I will email, We will call weekly, and he plans to write actual letters frequently. I don’t monitor his location on his phone.
With D16 it was no big deal - I’ll text “Hows it going” or “how was your test” and she’ll answer, and she will call 1-2 times per week to chat, no discussion about expectation required. Not sure how it will pan out with S18. Maybe I’ll ask what he thinks, but he won’t know what to expect, so I’ll probably send some “how was first class” type texts and see what evolves.
I know myself, and if maybe 5 days go by with nothing I will check in by text. We don’t do the GPS thing. I found that my D will regularly check her college email during the semester - they have to.
Apple student “free beats” promo is on…“The new MacBook Pro is also part of Apple’s Back to School promotion starting today and available to college students, their parents, faculty and staff through the Apple Education Store. The promotion includes a pair of qualifying Beats headphones with the purchase of any eligible Mac or iPad Pro for college, as well as education pricing on Mac, iPad Pro, AppleCare, select accessories and more.”
And regarding promos - Container Store will be starting their college 20% off. Registered online and coupon code will arrive by text on 7/20. I already have a list!
With my S14 (who just graduated college), we typically would do a face time call on Sunday evenings. During the week typical communication was via text. We have a family group chat going (includes his sister) so we hear from him at least a few times a week this way…often it is daily. (but it can be a conversation about some Sports trade!). He also started calling one of us when he was walking places…he would try to figure out who was available…knew when I may be driving home from work, etc… So lots of communication. By his Fourth year of college, the Sunday night face time calls weren’t as frequent. D18 is starting college in August and I am hoping it all will be similar. I have “find friends” connected with her (I only use when she is driving a distance from home) and we plan to keep it connected.
Ooh, I almost forgot, but one thing I learned when older D was at college was that if I wanted to hear from her, all I had to do was send a picture of our dog. Worked every time. B-)
Orientation is in the books.
Schedule complete, and looks pretty good to me. 16 credits which clearly not a burdened schedule is actually more than I thought he would take, but several of them are phantom credits: 1 for an advising class, 1 as a credit holder for an activity he is doing before the semester actually starts. Net is only 4 actual courses, Two 3 credit classes, and an extra Calc III credit hour (3+1) and the lab hour for the RRS program (3+1).
Duke doesn’t do a typical orientation, they have all the freshman move in a week prior to the other students and get them accustomed to the campus and life at Duke. They have them register in the summer, with academic deans available via email or phone. Daughter got registered yesterday and got the courses she needed/wanted. Duke only allows 4 credits the first semester (a credit is a typical class, with or without a lab component). She got both of the required first year engineering classes, her calc 2 class and a religion class that will go towards one of the 4 social science/humanities class requirements. She is fairly pumped about her schedule for the fall and feels like it will be a great way to start. After the first semester she can do 5-6 credits, so tentatively have the next math course, organic chem, molecular bio (required for BME majors), writing 101 (required of all freshman) and another religion class. Hysterically, her most important parameter in scheduling classes was to make sure that there were no basketball games on the one late day she has per week. 
W just got home from orientation a couple of hours ago. It was longer, and therefore more tiring, than S16’s. We came away feeling really good about the School of Communication at Ithaca.
DD school is very similar to Duke. As for monitoring, we have always shared location and that will continue into college and adulthood. Will I be checking it nightly, no. Will I check it when I get that “mom gut check” yes.
I’m not going to track the phone, but I do expect D to call me back or text me back within several hours of me contacting her. She’s really bad about this, and I have turned off her phone before, because OF COURSE she wouldn’t choose to blow off her parents, so it must just be that she simply doesn’t use her phone. And we don’t want to waste money on things we don’t use, right?
We have a D13 (graduated 17) and a D17, who just finished up her first year…I’ve been following your kids’ senior year and such before their launch, to see if it was similar to our and our girls’ experiences. You all have a great group of kids and parents!
@suzy100 has the right idea about students responding to pet photos. Another way to get them to contact you is to change the Netflix password, lol. Works every time!
Good luck to your kids!