<p>TheGFG, you’ve touched upon a topic that I would like to pursue further, either on this thread or a new one. My son is certainly not finding college to be easy so I question the relative difficulty of the same course at different schools. A high school friend who was not a stellar student back then has been on dean’s list at his university every semester. Anyone else care to weigh in?</p>
<p>Addressing theGFG’s question–my D did find the first school she went to to be “too easy”. It wasn’t that the material or the teaching itself were easy, but that there was no challenge or curiosity from her classmates, which led to dull classes and little sense of academic rigor.</p>
<p>That was one of the two reasons she transfered.</p>
<p>I remember that one of my frustrations as a freshman years ago was that I was working extremely hard at my college and was struggling for every A, while friends at other schools had plenty of free time, very little homework, and were pullling 4.0’s. I felt at the time that by being a top student in high school, then going to a good college where I had placed out of some intro. level courses, I had succeeded in creating a somewhat miserable existence for myself. On my better days, I appreciated the value of the education and tough workload, but on others…</p>
<p>My son had a rather rigorous high school education and predicted that college would be easier. For now, it is easier (mostly because of reduced workload, though in the case of one class the material itself is easy for him), but he’s only just begun so I’m confident that situation will change as he gets into the core courses for his majors. He also felt that a few assignments and the structure of some tests were juvenile and better suited to high school students.</p>
<p>Back to the thread:
Caltech: Mandatory Caltech health insurance for freshman. No waivers. (Soph, Juniors & Seniors: can get waivers. but I suspect next year it will be mandatory for sophmores.)<br>
Hazing. That in itself is probably a separate thread. Each of the hovses/dorms has its own “rituals” that the freshman must undergo. My son is not giving any details beyond “well, afterwards I had to take a shower.” I understand they can say no but I do worry - will peer pressure win over common sense? </p>
<p>Biggest pleasant surprise for me: the absolute beauty of the campus.<br>
Biggest pleasant surprise for my DS: the work load isn’t as bad as he’d been led to believe. Plenty of time to relax and socialize and get his work done too. Pass/fail the first term helps.</p>
<p>Actually, Benice, I don’t want to belabor the point, but I had the same reaction as Curmudgeon, and I am glad he brought it up. I also felt there was an opinion expressed with the reference to events “coming to an end” and “closure”… some of us do not believe that the killing of an additional human being brings “closure” to anything. In fact, as the post shows, all it is doing is resurrecting painful 25-year-old memories.</p>
<p>I don’t want to see this thread hijacked to discuss the issue,and I certainly don’t want to dump on doubleplay after what looks to me like an apology … but if anyone wants to start an appropriate issue thread in the cafe session, I’m sure that both Cur & I would be happy to weigh in with our feelings.</p>
<p>Anyway, the only point of this post is to let you know that Cur isn’t the only one who felt that way.</p>
<p>large intro classes at Yale - My DS loves Yale, but he was surprised by the number of large lectures classes he has had in his first semester. He has been assured both by the dean and upperclassmen that this is an aberration that occurs only during the freshman year. Other than that, he loves Yale. The opportunities that he has already had to talk to renowned professors and newsmakers are amazing. He knew that he might have one or 2 large lectures, but he has 3 classes over 150 and another smaller class taught by a TA. This is just something he will have to get through, but he has frankly been a little disappointed by some of the classroom experiences so far. He had a fleeting moment of wondering if maybe he should have gone the small LAC route instead. He loves the social scene and is having a great time.</p>
<p>I just spent a few days with my son at Williams and asked him and his friends what they would like to change about the place. Maybe it was the pre-post-graduation nostalgia kicking in, but really, they were overwhelmingly satisfied. For every “complaint” there was always a major BUT. E.g., the course selection each term is limited BUT you would only take one or two in each department anyway so it didn’t matter if there were 3 or 30 choices. </p>
<p>Transportatation to New York and especially Boston could have been better, though I don’t necessarily think this was the college’s fault.</p>
<p>Advising? It seemed to be excellent when my son sought it and non-exisitant when he didn’t. Again, whose fault was that?</p>
<p>As a parent I would have liked to see the career counseling office focus as much on arts related careers as they do on finance. BUT having said that my son did manage to land a spectacular arts realted internship last summer (for which he can thank Williams). . . so once again I guess that there’s a lot there for the having if you’re willing to probe.</p>
<p>Bookiemom,
When I was at UW, a lot of my friends were in Greeley at UNC. The biggest complaint then was the fragrant aroma from the stockyards. Is that still the case?</p>
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<p>My D hasn’t had this experience - her largest class is about 60, and her smallest, a Freshman seminar, is 18. When we were there last weekend I asked her if there was anything she didn’t like about Yale, and she said she was surprised by how much drinking goes on. Fortunately her suitemates are not big drinkers and she’s found many like-minded friends - not necessarily teetotalers, but those who prefer to do things in moderation. Other than that minor complaint, she’s blissfully happy. :)</p>
<p>University of south Carolina-
Utter lack of public transportation,and very erratic and infrequent campus shuttle transport.S has a 15 minute break between two locations and was unable to figure out how to get from one to the other on time w/o leaving early or arriving late. Shipped him his bike,solving the problem…bike was promply stolen,as were any others…a whole lineup of locked bikes cut overnight right in front of thedorms main door and reception desk.Hes now the owner of a way cheaper replacement bike and the best lock on the market.
Has had some manitenance problems in his room that they have been unable to fix,though not without trying.
A psychological feeling of “theres nothing to do” when its not a football weekend on campus,b/c of how charged the atmosphere is on the football weekends… though in reality hes plenty busy and has done many things.Drinking doesnt seem to be too big of an issue in his smallish Honors dorm,although its there if you want it.
One class (required “rhetoric”) S is finding mind numbingly boring…even though its an "Honors only " section,but its balanced by a new found interest in Marine Biology due to a “great” teacher, and hes loving the intro course to his major though its his biggest class at 85 due to the expertise of his instructor ( A Sports Management lawyer).
Hes finding the cuisine down South a little challenging for a New Yorker…has yet to develop the taste for sweet tea,misses NY pizza and bagels but has developed a love for bacon (wouldnt touch it at home),BBQ and has given in to grits at breakfast.
Had one advising problem that hes had to advocate through a couple of layers of admin with erroneous info.Has doggedly persued it and seems to have it solved…for the record in case anyone else has it…S is the first to present at the U with the new AP Italian(06 test) grade which would give him college credit.Has had to persevere to get a new code added to their system to get him the credit he deserves.</p>
<p>TheGFG, I don’t know if you are speaking of Writing 5 or Freshman Seminars, but those seem to be something of a waste, other than the class gives the faculty an attempt to be sure everyone is on the same page with writing papers of varying lengths, and giving presentations. If you are speaking of calculus, be glad that your son is placed where he is, my D placed up and it was tough, and the grade curve was a killer.</p>
<p>S at Penn initally had some issues with being shut out of sections of classes he wanted to take, but with just a little persistence ended up with almost everything he wanted. Location of the campus in the city means taking common sense precautions. Some may find this an expensive place to go to school as many kids take advantage of all the city has to offer, ie concerts, restaurants, etc.</p>
<p>Donemom says:
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<p>Which dorms was she in? As it is, my daughter is looking forward to junior year abroad and senior year offcampus. But that is more of a food thing, I think. She hasn’t complained about the dorms except for last year and how cold hers was. And this wasn’t just her – there was a petition circulating in her dorm last winter complaining about it. It hasn’t gotten cold enough yet to see if her new dorm will be any better. At least she has a complete set of long underwear now from her archaeological digging in the Bolivian mountains last summer (not summer there and high altitude).</p>
<p>College food runs a gamut now. You have the places where it is excellent (WUStL), average-to-mediocre (Brown), and positively dreadful (CMU).</p>
<p>TheGFG says:
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<p>My daughter has complained mightily about one course this semester, Introduction to Akkadian. Apparently this is the premier easy jock class at Brown – full of football players and such. She says there must be 100 people in it. This must be designed to get enough people to take Akkadian to justify having a professor or something. It is extremely easy and the class never even lasts the full 50 minutes.</p>
<p>This is very frustrating to someone that actually wants to learn Akkadian. D hopes that next semester it will get down to people who want to learn the language and things will get meatier. She is worried that people will look down on her for taking the class she is in. She’s actually had someone make a crack about her taking it. I tell her not to worry – graduate schools aren’t going to know that “Introduction to Akkadian” was a joke and she will have another three semesters in the language probably.</p>
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<p>Yes, but that’s true of any big-city school. Concerts and restaurants cost a lot less in Philadelphia than in New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, or the Bay Area.</p>
<p>(I posted this in the UMW forum – readership 0 – but this seems like a more appropriate place.)</p>
<p>I’ve seen the series of articles in local papers and on the web (<a href=“http://www.ncaahazing.com%5B/url%5D”>www.ncaahazing.com</a>) with photos of the Mary Washington women’s basketball team which depict, among other things, the drinking of a yellow foaming substance through beer bongs. Should that yellow foaming substance be beer, the UMW Student Handbook indicates that some corrective measures would be taken:</p>
<p>“The laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia are clear and unambiguous: persons under the age of 21 are not to purchase, consume, or possess any alcoholic beverage; and that persons over 21 have these rights, but are prohibited by law from obtaining alcoholic beverages for the purpose of reselling or providing them to anyone under 21 years of age. The Universitys policy is not to have alcohol at any University-sponsored student functions.”</p>
<p>That all seems reasonable, sometimes people make mistakes and some combination of punishment and education are sufficient to pay for that mistake. However, in the case of UMW a vice president met the the implicated “basketball team members who said underclassmen were funneling apple juice in the beer bong.”</p>
<p>The beer bong photo on ncaahazing.com clearly show more than a foot of foam in the tubing. It’s easy for anyone who cares to find articles on the web that discuss the relationship between hazing in apple juice and foaming in beer. Here’s one for example:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/fa...bert/haze.html[/url]”>http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/fa...bert/haze.html</a></p>
<p>The UMW Student Handbook also defines lying as “a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth.” However, it doesn’t describe the act of believing any story, however implausible, so long as it is convenient. Just as one might believe that the photos depict apple juice, one might also believe that this is a coverup.</p>
<p>Is it possible that problems such as WorldCom, Enron, the failure to “notice” the alleged behavior of Congressman Foley, etc. start when students learn that there are people eager to believe implausible stories so long as they are convenient?</p>
<p>(I posted this in the UMW forum – readership 0 – but this seems like a more appropriate place.)</p>
<p>nvdad, what possible relevance does this story have with this thread? This thread’s premise is for each parent to name one or two things they don’t like about the college their kid is attending, while generally being happy with the school overall. Is this post really in that spirit?</p>
<p>Is your point that the admin at your kid’s school (if it is in fact MWU) are hypocritical about the drinking policy?</p>
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JHS, Thanks for pointing that out, I meant to make that clear. I definitely agree with you that this is true of any big city school and not at all specific to this one. I will say that although it seems counterintuitive, my experience is that it’s less expensive for a college kid to eat out in NYC than in Philly, though (talking restaurants, not food carts!). Not for top restaurants, I will grant you, but lots more choices in the more moderate to low price ranges. BTW, not a single complaint from S so far, who seems as happy as it is possible to be!</p>
<p>Agree that NVDad’s post is not appropriate for this thread…but I am very surprised at how many parents on this thread have indicated their kids are suprised at the apparent social “importance” of drinking, and the extent of excessive drinking on their campus.</p>
<p>A possible area where CC parents and kids do not appear to be part of the “mainstream” of college life. By the way…the extent of excessive drinking described on this thread, and so many other threads on CC…is just as disturbing to me now as it was 30 years ago…when drinking at 18 in most states was legal.</p>
<p>So many threads on CC have dealt with this issue…and my comments are not intended to hi-jack the very useful entries on this thread…but just an observation on a number of this thread’s entries.</p>
<p>The fact that social life revolved around drinking to a large extent was one of the major reasons that my daughter was unhappy as a freshman last year and decided to apply to transfer. The LAC she attended as a freshman was a rural one and fraternity parties were quite a large part of the social life. My daughter said that many of the freshman who initially said they were not drinkers ended up participating in the drinking quite soon. Also, in her terminology, “drinking” means getting very drunk - apparently, social drinking (having one or two drinks) was not common among her peers, unlike when I was in college. She said that most people either drink to get drunk or do not drink at all.</p>
<p>Back to the insurance for a minute- my DD did some time abroad this summer and had to see a physio for a sports injury, according to thte Berkeley plan, they will reimburse for pretty much anything the foreign country physicians recommend, without the usual limits, etc., because they cannot say what is or is not okay in a foreign country, recognising that standards are different everywhere. I have not yet seen them process the claims, as we had to pay first and submit the claims upon return to campus in the fall, but it seemed extremely reasonable to me that they would recognise the varying medical standards around the world and not make it a big hassle!</p>