Something Wicked This Way Comes

Parents Forum
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<p>MOWC, I feel so bad for your son. I hope everything works out for him- understanding professors and the time and motivation to redo all the work!</p>

<p>As for finals, DD is almost drowning in all the work she has. Two research papers, a lab report, two oral presentations, and two finals. She’s really looking forward to coming home, though she says she doesn’t want to think about it too much or she wouldn’t be able to concentrate. I think she backs up all her work on a USB key. I’m going to email her to make sure.</p>

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<p>Cur, our students are in a somewhat similar orbit, about to enter their last college semester had applying to post graduate colleges. Fortunately all his applications are complete/submitted and the GRE taken the Wed before T’giving. When is the evil MCAT happening?</p>

<p>As “unfair” as it seems, this next to last semester has been a brute, both because of ths sheer workload and the difficulty of a particular course, his being Quantum Computation and Communication. What is it? Well the syllabus he showed me listed things like fidelity, reliability and entanglement. Oh yeah and quantum compression too. Sounds quite hot to me!!! He is struggling in it but hopefully he will get a B which is very touch and go.</p>

<p>Seriously, the workload this semester has been frenetic but fortunately it is coming to a rapid conclusion. He had to put his club and society activities on a total hold to maintain his sanity and health. In addition he is ramping up to begin his sr thesis research as soon as the term ends in a few weeks so he will only be home for about a week between Christmas eve and New Years. This in addition to his 1-1/2 days home on Thanksgiving.</p>

<p>But fortunately his most time consuming course is adv game development which is also his favorite class. The last project was demo-ed/graded yesterday so that one is fini(no final!) with a certain A. They are thinking about enhancing and entering one or two of their projects in the Institute’s annual Game Festival and Symposium this spring</p>

<p>MOWC, that is very bad news. Hopefully his profs will accomodate him but oh my, all the additional work it will entail. Hopefully he will learn the importance of backup, even if it is to paper. __it happens.</p>

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<p>D’s school starts finals late - the week before Christmas. This week she has a dance show, and then the real studying for finals begins. “Mom, I have no time!” </p>

<p>MOWC, that’s the absolute worst! So sorry this is happening to your S. My d broke her computer after Thanksgiving, and it looked like they wouldn’t be able to get the part she needed. And of course no backup. “Mom, I need it to study for finals!” Luckily, it’s been made whole and will be returned to her shortly. I love Apple - they go above and beyond! I hope she’s now learned the importance of back up and why I got her the 8GB thumb drive!</p>

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<p>MOWC: Update, please! I hope your son has now spoken to all his professors who have negotiated reasonable accommodations. (How likely is that? Well, I hope a miracle has occurred. I do.) We are with him.</p>

<p>Curm and WashDad: Adding playwright to your notable accomplishments. Your playlets are priceless.</p>

<p>D: Only one insignificant final. Papers: One six page, one ten page, one fifteen page, and one twenty-five page paper all due. Oh, and she was mistaken about the due date of the twenty-five page paper. It is actually due today, a week earlier than she thought! To be fair, the prof. gave date, but then said it was due during reading period, which is next week! Argggh. The first two done and handed in; the twenty-five page paper, well, she should be up and working on it right now. Fat chance. Here’s my call:</p>

<p>D: Mom, you won’t believe it! I’m up to page twenty.</p>

<p>MM: Honey, that’s great. But you know you have to read over it and edit it.<br>
Leave time for that.</p>

<p>D: I know Mom. But really, I just don’t think I’ll be up for editing a 25 page
paper. I’m doing it as I go along.</p>

<p>MM: Yes, but your sections may not fit together well. It really is important.</p>

<p>D: Yes, but I know my limitations. And I need a break so I’m walking over
to Nate’s and a guy who came to last night’s poetry slam is going to
make me latkes. The don’t think I eat enough.</p>

<p>MM: Are you going to stay long?</p>

<p>D: Well, if worse comes to worst I’ll wake up and finish in the morning.
Bye Mom.</p>

<p>MM: Wear something warm!</p>

<p>So, Is my girl a guy?</p>

<p>And news from Camp Williams.</p>

<p>S: Okay. I forgot to tell you. I have a concert of Sunday. At a church.
We’re singing two movements of Bach’s mass.</p>

<p>MM: Okay, well you can stay at school until Tuesday and finish your papers. There is officially a week of school
left to go, and all your friends will still be there.</p>

<p>S: Yes, well…</p>

<p>S: I still think I want to come home Sunday.</p>

<p>MM: Will you be done with your papers by then?</p>

<p>S: No, but I think I need a change of scenery. I can write them at home.</p>

<p>MM: Well, how will you hand them in?</p>

<p>S: Teachers said we could email. I just send them as attachments. It’s all good.</p>

<p>So, at least I get to hear Bach, which will make my week. Having mythson here working on papers? Not so much.
He’s the baby, gotta love 'im. (Courtesy of Dinosaurs.)</p>

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<p>The highest kids (multiple) in the state got “extra time” on the ACT (a test where time is critical). The highest kids on the SAT took it the day after the normal test date. How do these kids do when they get to college? Do they join the frats and religious groups with the large files of old tests? Or do they fail/ struggle in college?</p>

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<p>As far as what they report and what they don’t…</p>

<p>ONe of mine was the " Omigod, I’m gonna fail, I’ll never finish these papers, yadda yadda…" type. Graduated Phi Beta Kappa, almost perfect GPA.</p>

<p>Second one: the “Everything’s fine” type. After a first couple years when that was actually, um, true, we, the parents, are now just in a, “please pass enough classes to graduate this May” frame of mind. </p>

<p>Really is a teachable moment, for me…:eek:</p>

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<p>MOWC,
I hope your S has been able to work things out with profs. Filing the police report should help, though nothing can replace all that work! I showed DS this thread and he got the point without me having to say a word. So hard to let the fledglings take their lumps as they’re learning to fly…</p>

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<p>Sorry to have hijacked Cur’s thread. I had just gotten the news and was seeing red. I appreciate all your well wishes and will report back on what gets worked out. He already got a new computer and software at the Penn computer store. I guess it was sort of the “perfect storm”- no back-up, unlocked room in slum student housing, finals time… He’s not completely ruling out an inside job (these kids don’t even know each other in these houses), but the fact that it was ripped out of the housing etc. leads him to think otherwise. Also, this was not a new, valuable laptop.</p>

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<p>I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only person who “backs up” their computer files by e-mailing them from one e-mail address to another. I always thought this was laughably primitive (although it works).</p>

<p>I strongly suspect that your son goes to the college that my mom wouldn’t let me apply to thirtysomething years ago and that my husband discouraged my daughter from applying to last year. Maybe they had good reason.</p>

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<p>MOWC…so sorry to hear that your son has to deal with crime, etc. while in college. I live near Philadelphia and know a lot of kids at Penn…they don’t seem to mind the “craziness” of the city, but as a parent, I am sure that it is a worry at times. I would hope that, due to the circumstances, his profs would give him a little more time? This is a situation truly deserving of some consideration. Sure hope that all works out for him. The holidays are soon approaching and we will all have these college kids at home safe and sound.</p>

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<p>MOWC – another Philadelphian here apologizing on behalf of the city – fat lot of good that does you and WC, I realize. I hope the professors show their human sides.</p>

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<p>My son called my husband on Tuesday for Dad’s birthday. Son was complaining that he had written over 30 pages of papers within the last four days and had more to go. Meanwhile, study abroad deadlines are fast approaching but son doesn’t feel he has any time at all to go over and talk to the people that could give him accurate information. Arrgh!</p>

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<p>Zoosergirl finished her last exam yesterday and turns in her last paper tomorrow. She emailed me yesterday to proofread the paper because it’s such a huge part of her grade and she was anxious. Excellent paper. In even a few months, I’ve seen great improvements in her writing. She feels very good about where she is in all her classes, which is somewhat unusual for her. Remember the class she dropped with great hysteria earlier? Well, the department head talked to her about it recently and told her that there’s no shame in not taking a class that you’re not prepared for and told her that she would absolutely be wise to take the chem class that’s a step down, rather than the more advanced one since she didn’t take AP chem in high school. That seemed to life a great weight off her shoulders. Despite the two hospitalizations, it’s been a good semester. I lived, which I didn’t think I would, she’s made tons of friends and learned a lot. Who could possibly ask for more? </p>

<p>MOWC, I’m so sorry.</p>

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<p>As far as stolen computers go, it’s really awful. I wish we didn’t rely on them so much. Here’s another thing to do to help protect them. Lojack, the people who enable people to find stolen cars, make a similar product for stolen laptops. I don’t know how it works, and it does cost about $100, but apparently, it is able to locate a stolen computer as soon as it’s turned on. We bought a cable lock for D’s computer too, and I know that after I put it around the sturdy desk and showed her how to use it, it has collected dust and is probably lying coiled at the back of the desk-- unused. But the lojack is operable, and while it won’t keep the computer in the room, maybe it will help if it gets stolen. Sigh…</p>

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<p>Curm
Here’s an experience from the “other side”. D is 3rd year PhD program and H and I still get what I call a “dump” call at least once a semester. It can be about various academic things and we’ve been getting them since freshman undergrad year…in fact we’ve witnessed them since the years when they needed to write sentences for their spelling words and she threw fits over perfecting her sentences.
This semesters was about a certain professor who she just doesn’t “get” who is senior in music theory and will surely be on her comp committee next fall and also will be advising her next smester when mentor prof is on sabbatical.We listen and commiserate. Got to the point where she said she envisions a scenario where she quits the program and writes a scathing email to all levels of administation. Then she starts to calm down. we wonder why live in boyfriend of three years isnt the dump recipient but I guess historically she knows the system works well with us.
Next phone call a few days later was perfectly fine. Her “kids” (the class she TA’s) gave her great evaluations,etc.etc. Not another word about mean old music analysis guy ruining her lifes work. We are so used to it by now.Also we know she’ll do great.
The other one (S, soph) completely the opposite. I wondered out loud in a phone call how all is going for the end of the semester. Not a problem was the reply.Workload?Papers?Projects? Oh, thats all next week says he.I know not to panic,maybe from years of experience. He’ll also wind up doing well.</p>

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<p>I grew up in the Phila area and wouldn’t consider Penn for myself, despite that most of my family had gone there. All the efforts at solving the crime problem are simply not working. It was not the right choice for my son, but he was making the best of it (this year- not last :slight_smile: ) until this thing.</p>

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<p>Sorry to hear about SOWC. We can only hope for a better future for both him and Penn…</p>

<p>[Penn</a> Connects :  — Home](<a href=“Penn Connects : A Vision for the Future.”>http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/)</p>

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<p>I have one of those I am going to get an F types and it is always an A. She also stresses out about everything. It is not a good way to live.
My 2nd is the everything is fine. We barely hear from him. I am hoping everything is fine. I know social life is fine. School work I have my doubts. The first big shocker the other afternoon when I called him was that he actually answered. The 2nd was when he told me he was in the library. (I think for the first few months of school he didn’t even know where the library was). The third was when he talked with his Dad later in the evening he was headed back to the library.
He of course has not even told us when his finals are. Have my doubts if he has any clue beyond the 3rd week of Dec.
He has to have a 3.0 for his scholarship he assures me he is going to keep it. As he says No worries.</p>

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<p>'highest" what does that mean- I understand slang, but in this case…am confused!!</p>

<p>anyway, D is seeing Rockettes tonight and a play tomorrow, and then its finals crutch</p>

<p>her dorm is into studying, she says if you take a break and walk around or go out, people ask “hey don’t you need to study?”</p>

<p>peer pressure in a good way</p>

<p>my D have been emailthing themselves papers since they were freshman in HS…it started when our printer was funky</p>

<p>also save it periodically annd make a hard copy</p>

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<p>Oldest has finals next week. Have absolutely no idea when he is done. Since he has an apt. and a car, he can come back anytime that works for him. I am just hoping he passes everything.</p>

<p>My 2nd has finals week before x-mass. One is on Sat., two on Mon., and one on Thursday. So far, so good in terms of grades. Two of the three finals are not cumulative, and one is in a math class he has a 97 average in. The other is 25% of his final grade (on Thursday). Last test was Weds., and he has two papers due in the next week or so. One is freshman writing, which seems to ok. We’ll see. I suggested that he pace himself. Will need to fiqure out how to study all on his own.</p>