My daughter is attending Summer LEAP right now and is first of all overwhelmed by the amount of work she has in one of her classes. She’s learning to manage her time and adjust to it, but the bigger problem is the unbelievable amount of partying and drinking there. Almost every night the kids are out at apartment parties and she sits in her dorm room and works alone. This past weekend, she was the only person on her floor while everyone else was out drinking all day and night. At home she has always been very social, very involved in school, and very popular. She has made friends on her floor, in her LEAP and gets along with everyone. The party scene is just so huge.
My question is this - Will this slow down come fall, or just get worse? is anyone else hearing this from their kids?
There will be more people there come fall, and I know for a fact that at least some of those 40,000 students don’t party. I’d imagine it’s mostly freshmen going crazy for the first time.
Also, where is she living in the fall? (Don’t have to answer, just consider.) East may be more of the same. South will not.
FYI: This weekend was Arts fest weekend. Many students come back to campus just to attend and party, mostly older students living off campus with better access to alcohol. Not saying partying doesn’t go on other times, but this is the most intense weekend of the summer. The second most was July 4th, for the same reason. Unfortunately for her she experienced back-to-back weekends of people coming back to campus to party. This draws the freshman out of the dorms.
Tell her to hang in there. Keep her pace and once the fall comes there will be more like-minded students coming to campus.
IMO the summer session is a double-edged sword. It is excellent for some students, like your daughter, who use it to properly to adjust to college style learning. Unfortunately, the lighter class load means less serious students feel more free to take part in these “other activities”. The summer session partly selects for students that might not be as serious. Doesn’t apply to all of course, but its no secret summer is enriched for students with lower admission credentials.
I’m in LEAP right now, and yeah, most of us go downtown and try to have a good time. We actually just had a floor meeting because the dorms were trashed (arts fest, everyone had guests), and our coordinator told us that this past weekend is “corny” compared to what it will be like during the fall. In the fall there’s a lot more people, and everything is open. And about her workload, she should have chances to go out during the weekend in LEAP; it’s only 2 classes and I don’t know anyone here who is so overwhelmed by their workload that they can’t go out on the weekend. If she’s having trouble now, the fall workload is going to get the best of her. Every upperclassman I have talked to says that the summer session for freshman is very easy compared to the fall in terms of the amount of work you get.
I can corroborate @bodangles’ assessment that at least some of those 40,000 kids don’t party :-*
Some positive takeaways:
First, your daughter called/texted, shared her concerns and knows that you care. Pat yourself on the back.
Second, your daughter is learning how to study at COLLEGE. Another pat on the back
Third, your daughter has been exposed to the college party scene (pretty much standard at any large university) and is learning how to manage it. Money.
Fourth, your daughter has (or is) learned(ing) how to manage her time prior to fall start.
There will be more opportunities for her to find like-minded students in the fall. That said, she will have to seek out those opportunities. Partying is the norm at almost any large university (and also smaller, which I can attest to). That said, there are a lot of exceptional kids at Penn State.
Best of luck!
ETA: Two superfluous points in this lengthy reply.
I’m not sure if she’s your first one off to school, but sometimes there are these “venting” calls.
Me – Great day. Answer phone call/text.
Son – Stressed. World is crumbling.
Me – Advice. Perspective.
Son – Still stressed. World will still crumble. Hang up.
Me – Now stressed. World is crumbling. Spiraling. Obsessive Problem-Solving.
Son – Relieved five minutes (+ or -) after vent (or after someone says let’s grab a coffee). Great Day.
Of course, these discussions can remain cliff-hangers until your next text. I can tell from your post that you know daughter well, but there was a learning curve of discernment for me. I did realize we needed Mt. Nittany Medical Center one day, so I did get better – it gets better.
These tips were given for successful studying by @Fischerman. Office hours really are a game changer
Taking detailed lecture notes. It’s not enough (for me at least) to just transcribe what the professor WRITES on the board – really pay attention to (and take notes on) what they SAY.
Avoiding study groups (you will have plenty of other chances to make friends), which can fool you into thinking that you understand stuff when you actually don’t. You’re not going to take a test in a group, so don’t prepare that way.
When you study, being honest (I would even say ruthless) with yourself. This could mean doing example problems without looking at the solutions, making concept maps to understand how ideas are interrelated, pretending you have to teach someone this material, etc. Whatever works for you.
Writing down your questions (however stupid they seem) on a piece of paper. This way you won’t have a bunch of nebulous, conflicting ideas floating around in your head.
Going to office hours. You may be a skeptic like I was, but trust me – they’re a game-changer. Bring your lists of questions and (respectfully) interrogate your professors.
I’m currently in LEAP, and yes during the past weekend, there has been quite a lot of partying. The whole floor would be really loud from 7-8pm( since it was arts fest) and afterwards the whole floor is dead. Not just the weekend but on some weekdays, there have been people who comes back to the dorm around 2am, loud and probably drunk.
My daughter is there now too. Fourth fest the first weekend, and arts fest the second weekend of LEAP means that there may be a skewed view of how much partying happens on a typical weekend. My guess is future weekends will slow down some, plus, when their schedules fill up, partying time goes down.
My daughter has been going out more at psu than she ever did at home. I think it’s truly a taste of freedom thing for now. But i have noticed it. Having gone to PSU I will say that the party school reputation is partially deserved,but the academics are difficult. So those who don’t learn to balance will have huge difficulties.
Those who don’t learn to balance generally go home spring semester But students who are horrified and shocked by three-times -a-week drinking need to find their people, and keep judgements to a minimum. You have 40K students and a lot of them have different norms and behaviors than whatever high school you came from. But keep in mind that with 40K students, some of them have the same ones, too
Just a comment about the summer work load…
Most LEAPs are six credits over six weeks, some are seven credits. Six credits over six weeks is the same work load as a full load = 15 credits over 15 weeks during Fall or Spring. And a seven credit LEAP is equivalent to 17.5 credits. It is not any lighter during the summer. My son was surprised about the amount of work he had during LEAP (seven credits - Stat and CAS, both of which were demanding.)
Maybe once the grades start coming in the students will be more studious.
I’d imagine it’s mostly freshmen going crazy for the first time.
But students who are horrified and shocked by three-times -a-week drinking need to find their people, and keep judgements to a minimum. You have 40K students and a lot of them have different norms and behaviors than whatever high school you came from. But keep in mind that with 40K students, some of them have the same ones, too