<p>As usual the end of summer is rapidly approaching with just 5 weeks till Freshman move in. Perhaps some parents/students have questions about the move in or starting college at UD that they would like to get some answers to. In addition perhaps others have some suggestions they would like to make to new Freshman and their parents based upon their past experiences at UD. I can start with some of my suggestions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For parents-Once you unload and help your S/D set up their room I would suggest leaving as soon as possible. I know this can be very tough for some parents to do but it usually would be in the best interests of your S/D to begin to interact with their dorm-mates in order to establish relationships with their peers which will be of great help in their beginning to make the adjustment to college life.</p></li>
<li><p>Once you get your specific course schedule including the course sections and professors you can go to the course schedule site or bookstore site and find out what books are required for the courses. I would recommend that you consider going on-line to college textbook sites to purchase new or used books or to rent new or used books. Many of the large sites provide free shipping to students and often you can get the books in 3-4 days. Just make sure you use the specific ISBN numbers for the books to make sure you are getting the correct books. I saved several thousand dollars doing this over 4 years.</p></li>
<li><p>Once you know your professors you can check them out by going to Ratemyprofessors.com and getting evaluation comments from past students regarding the professors. While the comments are subjective (of course) our D found the comments to be relatively accurate for most professors. If you find the comments about a particular professor to be extremely negative you can attempt to change into a different section of the exact same course with a different professor during the add/drop period which begins in late august. Unfortunately for most of the Freshman courses there often will not be any available openings to transfer into. There is a "potential" way to get around this problem. If you find a section of the exact same course that you would like to transfer into but it is listed as having no openings you can email the course professor and request that you be allowed to enter their particular course section even though it is listed as being full. Some professors will allow this, others will not, but it might be worth a try. You don't need to get your advisors approval to switch into a different section of the exact same course.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Any other questions or comments?</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips. We have a freshman starting this fall.<br>
You refer to the Course Schedule Site in item #2. What site is that?
Do you recommend buying all (as many as you can) books prior to arriving at school in august?</p>
<p>The UD Courses Search site is located at primus.nss.udel.edu/CoursesSearch. It lists all the UD courses/course sections/professor(s)/course days and times/slot availability. It appears to be “down” today (perhaps they are updating it now that NSO is over and they are finalizing assigning students to course sections). It is a very useful tool if one is looking to possibly change their course section(s). It also is available on a student’s UDSIS site.</p>
<p>If you have the space IMHO it would be certainly be financially advantagious and subsequently less hectic to purchase the textbooks on-line and bring them with you when you move in. Books for some courses may be listed as “optional” or “recommended” but not identified as “required”. I would recommend not getting these books in advance (once a student starts the course they can subsequently determine if they need/want to purchase these books). In addition to the UD Bookstore (it is a Barnes and Noble) there are 2-3 other bookstores on Main Street in Newark that also sell/rent new and used textbooks. It was my experience that you can sometimes save a few dollars by purchasing some textbooks at these other bookstores but to get significant savings you would do best to get the books on-line in advance. An alternative thing you can do is to order the textbooks close to the move-in date on-line and have them shipped directly to the student at UD. Obviously you would need to use their UD student address (including dorm location) as the shipping address. Students would receive a notice in their UD mailbox that they have a package and they just would need to go and pick it up (at least that was how it was done in the past-perhaps now they use email/text notification).</p>
<p>Hope this info is helpful. Good luck. Moving in and starting at UD is quite an experience.</p>
<p>ltaylor: Freshman year, we pre-ordered the books from one of the stores on Main St. Since then, it’s always from Amazon (combo of new and used, depending). Saved lots of money on Amazon. Of course, DD always sells them right back after the class is over (I’m sure just getting a fraction of what we spent, but she just wants the extra cash in her pocket!). Enjoy! We are getting ready for our (DD’s) last year at UD!</p>
<p>Some additional suggestions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Bring a tool kit to move-in day, especially if you feel you might want to adjust the bed rails to allow for more storage. Obviously bed risers if you really want some additional space.</p></li>
<li><p>Room sanitizer liquids/sprays/wipes are useful to rub down the surface areas of the room.</p></li>
<li><p>Unless things have changed I would recommend bringing a large trash can with some type of lid. The trash cans in the past were pitifully small. Getting rid of garbage is not usually a top priority for college students and if too much of it is laying around uncovered it is a magnet for you know what (bugs).</p></li>
<li><p>On an academic note IMHO the first 4-6 weeks of college are a critical time frame to set the tone for the rest of the semester. You don’t want to begin to fall behind rationalizing that there is time to make things up and improve. Usually this results in the time continuing to go by and you end up running out of it. UD really wants all its students to succeed and a lot of resourses are available to help students who seek them out. The Office of Academic Enrichment offers free drop-in tutoring (math, chemistry, physics), free group tutoring in many subjects, and individual tutoring for a nominal fee. Math courses at UD (especially calculus) are notorious for being extremely rigorous, move very fast, and you can’t afford to fall behind. Don’t think that just because you took AP Calculus in HS and/or did well on the Math placement test that you can “coast” thru Calculus at UD-it isn’t going to happen. If you find yourself beginning to have difficulties in any subject seek out help ASAP. Unfortunately many students are very self-conscious about this and as a result feel that if they ask for help it is a negative reflection of their abilities. Don’t fall into this trap. Many students who end up on the Dean’s List have availed themselves of these services. It is the “smart thing” to do if you need the help. Good luck.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for all of the great tips. Just wondering, since your daughter was also a Nursing Major, did she keep many of her books. We are trying to figure out whether to buy new, used, rent, etc… Any insight into the value of keeping and storing books, if any in particular are better to keep, etc…</p>
<p>Thanks again Mwallenmd!</p>
<p>Hello again RGKovacs519;</p>
<p>For her first semester our D purchased all her books (for the last time as well) new from the UD Bookstore. After this she purchased used books (when available) on-line. Many of the “used” books were in great shape and some even looked like they were never even opened (most of these were non-nursing books). For non-nursing courses she purchased used books and sold them back after each semester. For her nursing courses she again purchased used books when available. She did sell back some of the less clinical books but kept many of the more intensely clinical books (2nd, 3rd and 4th years mainly) after I advised her to do so. Looking back on things later she was for the most part glad she did so as they were helpful to her when she had to prepare to take the NCLEX exam after getting her BSN degree (you cannot take this exam until after you graduate). So you might want to keep this in mind. Along these lines one other recommendation. Our D kept all her class notes from nursing courses as well, which she later also found helpful for the same purpose. She even used these things later after she graduated when she studied to take the Critical Care Registered Nurse certification exam (which makes the NCLEX exam look like a HS exam).</p>
<p>At UD most all of the nursing classes provide on-line Power Point presentations or some other type of class notes. Our D would just add in any additional comments the professors would make during the lectures (not uncommonly these additional comments were on the course exams) and then she would later rewrite the whole lecture with her additions (highlighting the additional comments). I don’t know how she found the time to do this but she felt it was a great way to help her learn the material (She felt writing things down registered the material better in her brain rather than just reading the material - it seemed to work for her anyway). </p>
<p>Best wishes to your D as she starts her nursing career at UD. If you have any other questions about nursing please free to ask here or PM me.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the tips. Quite disappointed in Udel this week. My daughter got a single room and was quite upset. Was told they can do nothing for her. In addition, she never got an advisor in time for drop/add and had to navigate the whole process alone. The classes she needs are not available. Not the college experience she envisioned thus far. We are concerned as this is a bad intro for all of us. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I am shocked that she did not have an advisor. May I ask her major?</p>
<p>Athletic Training Interest</p>
<p>Have you considered contacting the department? I have never heard of an unadvisedly freshman.</p>
<p>I heard the common reader isn’t required, is this true or do we need to read it for our fye course?</p>
<p>ltaylor, my daughter went to NSO and did not have an advisor assigned at that time, but did meet with someone from the CAS, not her major. Yesterday her profile finally indicated that a specific advisor was assigned in her major. Just an fyi. </p>
<p>In terms of the frustration with singles, if in Rodney most of the rooms there are singles so she will be like everyone else there, but I can certainly understand the frustration of not having a roomate to experience that aspect of freshman year. I think it’s important to keep our kids focused on the positives and that often the unexpected/unplanned parts of life end up the best. I hope that is the case for her with her single room assignment!</p>
<p>Thank you for all of the input. She is really warming up to the single and has contacted many of the other singles to share interests and ideas for getting together. My main concern is her not having a full schedule right now. The class she needs is closed. Any ideas? Do they open more classes if needed or over fill at all?</p>
<p>Penmom2, we did contact the department and went back and forth with who was assigned to contact us. One of the contacts was out of the country so there was delay and confusion. There is someone now who has taken our information again. Again, thank you for your input.</p>
<p>ltaylor03, did your daughter join the University of Delaware Facebook group? It might also be a good source of information for her and her peers might be able to help her with her concerns as well.</p>
<p>ltaylor03:
If the advisor she has finally identified is not able to resolve the class situation the only thing I could suggest is that your D email the professor for the class she needs, explain the situation (in a summary fashion), and respectfully request that the professor allow her to
enter the class. I have known students in the past who were successful utilizing this approach. Obviously I can’t guarantee success but you don’t know until you try. Good luck.</p>
<p>Also worth mentioning,</p>
<p>sometimes there are classes that require textbook codes. Usually you can get away with just purchasing the code to access the homework, so don’t be fooled into thinking you can buy a used text book that typically comes with an access code!</p>
<p>For example, in my pre-calc class we needed a textbook/textbook with code to access our homework assignments. I later found out I didn’t need the book at all and would’ve been fine with just purchasing the code. Also, if someone tells you that “you can just re-use the code that I had used from that book” they are wrong.</p>