The party’s over…D24 has been in a designated quad, but with only 3 inhabitants. It has been lovely. The room is huge and she and her roommates had taken over the 4th bed as a couch and used the extra drawers as a pantry. She got an email at 9am this morning that someone is moving in at noon 
, so there’s a mad rush to get the room ready for her.
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Some update here - S24 found out that the initial tryout pass/fail criteria was based on the “opinion” of those judging without having actual matches.
Great learning for him that in real life sometimes perception (and not just data) does become reality. He’s moved on and figuring out a strategy for the spring tryouts.
It was heartwarming to see his buddies and his GF’s outrage to be much more than his 
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Well, my son and wife made the journey south down the CA coast for move-in. Frankly, that went quite well. Swimmingly. It provided a bonding opportunity for the two of them and let my wife adjust to him not being home during her drive back. There is still an empty room at our house but everyone is thankful mom made the journey.
I do believe the team made the right call on what to bring/not bring vs. ship. His room is well, but not over, equipped at this point. There is an Amazon order headed his way but it is minimal. The funny part…neither my son or his now roommate felt the need to connect prior to move-in so no coordination on who was bringing what. Why? No clue and wasn’t going to question it yet it appears to have worked out with each bringing “room” items that the other didn’t bring. For example, fan + vacuum handled by my son where an air purifier was handled by his roommate.
We now start the period of a communication blackout as the kiddo goes through his orientation and welcome session over the next few days. Or at least we thought. Admittedely we are only 2 days in but we have received 1 phone call, a few texts and an email. A bit floored as none of these connection points appear to be from a kid that is home sick but rather enjoying himself and simply providing updates. Shocking.
Next Monday is the start of classes. 17 units on a quarter schedule. That should be a journey in and of itself!
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sounds like things are going well so far! That’s great!
Agree and thanks!!! That is part of this thread that I dig. The general theme: of it working out for everyone’s kiddo’s. I think it speaks volumes about everyone that is involved in this thread.
There is still the need to find his people, which I assume will come with time. But so far so good!
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So apparently S24 feels like he underperformed on his first Chem quiz due to nerves (not lack of understanding the material). Fortunately they can drop two of their quiz grades (humane policy), and he feels like the second one went much better.
But just a little reminder that the academic transition to college, particularly one far from home, is challenging for most kids.
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And a reminder that so society coddles kids too much.
It’s grade inflation.
And it’s wrong.
And remind your kids not to panic until they see the mean and standard deviation of the exams/quizzes. I clearly remember my D calling me in tears after an early exam where she got a 74. Turns out that was an A since the mean was in the 40s.
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Yeah, D24’s 1st chem quiz grade was bad. Most of the students in the class bombed the 1st quiz. Grades on the test 2 days ago were much better!
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S24 is finally launched! He made three separate groups of friends before orientation, and that has helped ease his transition tremendously.
He said orientation is not so much about ice breakers as it is about large lectures about different things, so he is grateful to have friends. His roommate is v nice but they may not become besties (my word, not his).
S24 did a pre-orientation trip that was ALL about bonding and deep talks. He had been reluctant to do the trip but is so glad now that he did it. (Incidentally, I also pressured S22 to do a pre-o trip before starting college, and his tripmates are still his closest friends.)
He has finalized his classes. He’s psyched bc he was on the waitlist for a course he really wanted but that had been initially filled by sophs and above. Older students shared that it’s wise to email the professor for courses you’re on the waitlist for. He did so and the prof emailed back promising him entry into the class.
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Emailing the professor while on the waitlist is some good advice. Glad to see your son did it. Most kids won’t as a freshman.
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Loving all the updates here! So good to hear the stories of kids settling in well, adulting and finding their way around. It’s hard to believe it’s been 5 weeks since we dropped S24 off. He seems to be adjusting well-finding different groups of people to hang with, not sure they are “friends” yet. He went to his first football game, has joined a few clubs, has applied for a job working with a student events team, even attended his first job fair.
He even dealt with first visit to Urgent Care outside of campus-figured out how to get there and back by bus, get antibiotics etc. Rite of passage for us parents too-nothing we could do other than call and check he was doing ok. I am not so sure he was diagnosed correctly at the urgent care as the issue is not fully resolved. With 40000 students on campus, it has been very hard to find full time practices that take new patients. E-visit with his home doc for now.
We decided not to go to the parent’s weekend as the prices are $$$. But, he is coming home for a few days in two weeks for Fall break. Yay! Thanksgiving plans are set too. Finalizing winter break plans now. Can’t believe we are looking at end of semester plans already. Makes the distance a bit easier to bear…
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Purdue - right? Glad to hear he is settling in well. I hope his first game wasn’t Notre Dame last weekend. Brutally disappointing.
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D24 just turned 18–she was pre-registered to vote so they literally mailed her confirmation of registered voter status on her birthday. She’s 300 miles away so absentee ballot is her best option–when I called to double check on the mailing address our town clerk told me that since college mailrooms are “notoriously unreliable” to have her request it be sent to her home address and then Fedex to her. Since there have been concerns already with GWU mail, we’re opting to do this. Just food for though if your kids’ college has lousy mail.
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Great to see all the updates on how everyone adjusting at college.
S24 is is doing good and he seems to be settled in. He is been away for 4 weeks and has stayed in touch so it has helped me get adjusted. He is planning to come for the weekend in two weeks and very excited about that. This week is parents weekend but we opted not to go since he will visit soon.
He is having first set of tests and has not yet gotten the results so have to wait and see how he does.
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What’s that gpa adjustment we need to do between college and high school gpa without weights for honors and AP classes and grade inflation?
S24 seems to be doing fairly well, but has been battling a bad cold for the past two weeks. He is feeling a little better now but it has put a little bit of a damper on things. Because the housing situation is so crazy at UVA, and they start looking so early, he is already in the process of looking for an off campus house for next year with 6-7 other friends. Seems nuts to me . . . Academically, he doesn’t seem phased - did really well on his first couple of calc 3 quizzes. I think papers will be more of a challenge. Frankly, they haven’t had a ton of graded work yet.
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S24 is definitely in the depths of school work and getting stuff done. S21 is in an arts program where nothing happens until the spring so I am not only surprised by how much work the LACs have but that it is time to look for internships and summer programs already!
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S24 let us know he had been “initiated” into one of his club sports.
???
I guess what they say is true–you can’t spell “club sport” without C-U-L-T.
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If it’s ultimate, the initiation seems to be a big deal (and sounds like fun from what I’ve heard)
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