<p>"Inappropriately placed human waste" generally means that the girls aren't throwing away used sanitary products properly. They are supposed to be put in the trash can, not flushed, since flushing can kill off a toilet really quickly, but since there never seem to be receptacles in the actual stalls, the girls often leave what should go into the trash on the floor instead. Gross, but almost understandable. DD was charged a fee one year when the girls on her floor consistently left their unflushables behind, and I was very irked. I suggested to her that she talk to the RAs about getting appropriate trash receptacles in the stalls, but to the best of my knowledge that never happened.</p>
<p>Makes sense. Thanks for the heads up marcyr. How does your daughter like UDel?</p>
<p>I heard the math department is the worst</p>
<p>If i sincerly want to major in math, should i attend UDEL?</p>
<p>I would do some investigating on your own (visit, speak to the faculty). The smartest thing one can do in the admissions process is not base any decisions on hearsay when you have the opportunity to find out if the place is the best fit for you.</p>
<p>Wealth, DD loves UD and can't believe she's graduating in May. LOL, neither can we. There have been things about it that made her crazy, mostly within her major, Early Childhood Ed., but all in all she feels she's gotten an excellent education and has had terrific teaching opportunities that began long before her actual Student Teaching assignments this semester. And hey, she got to go to New Zealand last year over Winter session! Who could be unhappy with a school/program that allows that?</p>
<p>Marcyr,</p>
<p>My daughter is considering UD for Early Childhood/Special Cd. Can you coment more on your daughter's experience, in particular with respect to her major? My thanks in advance...</p>
<p>artiesdad, DD has pretty much had good experiences within her major. The thing she liked most about UD is the fact that, starting freshman year, the ETE kids are placed in schools and work with kids of all different ages prior to student teaching. She's been in the Honors program all along, and because of that has had the opportunity to be in small section study groups for the majority of her courses, which she said often made the difference between learning and understanding the material and NOT learning/understanding it. She was generally able to find the coursework that she needed and make it fit into her schedule, although she wasn't able to begin her "block" courses - the "how to teach" courses - until second semester junior year, which messed up her senior year. She would have preferred to do her blocks during first and second semester junior year, which would have allowed her to do her student teaching first semester senior year. Unfortunately that didn't work out - partly because of her advisor, who was not wonderful - so she's student teaching now. That is a problem because she has to put her job applications on a temporary hold, since she won't be certified until she finishes her student teaching. Grrrrrrrr. However, she's not the only one in that position, and I must admit that DD seems to be the only one having a hissy-fit about it. Her area of concentration is Social Studies/History, and she has enough credits to actually graduate with a minor in History. Other than one history prof and one math prof., both of whom she detested, she's been pretty happy with her profs. LOL, there is one history prof. who I think DD would actually take a bullet for. </p>
<p>From what I've heard, UD's ETE program has an excellent reputation. DD said that everywhere she's gone to teach or intern, the teachers were thrilled when they learned that she was from UD. Apparently there are other colleges in the area whose students aren't as well-trained or prepared, and the teachers in the elementary schools are not bashful about complaining about some of the student teachers that they've suffered through. DD has never felt unprepared yet while in a "real" classroom, and she credits her profs. at UD for that. </p>
<p>Other than that, I'm not sure what to tell you. If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to pass them on to DD, although it might take a while to get a response - she's a trifle overwhelmed at the moment (partly due to her participation in a student-run theater program on campus).</p>
<p>When you talk about sections, does that mean that there are large lectures? How large? Are the sections taught by grad students? How about for the kids not in the honors program?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Is there a good online listing of cheap non-dorm housing for either Newark or Wilmington? I'm an out-of-town grad student who will probably have to pick a place without seeing it first.</p>
<p>marcyr,</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to write all these details and the positive outlook. We are down to two schools (St. Joe's is the other one) and this kind of insider information is really valuable.</p>
<p>My daughter wants to get into the classroom as early as possible into her studies. Your comments confirm what she heard in one of her visits. I am sorry to ask but what is ETE?</p>
<p>Perhaps one thing you can check with your daughter without taking too much time is whether she feels there is a noticeable difference in the overall experience between honor students and non-honor students. Our daughter is in the latter group.</p>
<p>Again, thanks a lot for the feedback...</p>
<p>artiesdad,</p>
<p>I was talking to someone who works in the psych department at UD. Supposedly it would be very beneficial to get into the honors program. I plan on working my ass off next year to get into it in sophomore.</p>
<p>Benefits,
1. Professors more inclined to help you
2. First priority (in general) when it comes to hands-on stuff like lab work
3. The program is more prestigious.</p>
<p>ETE = Elementary Teacher Education.</p>
<p>Andreaw779,</p>
<p>Thanks for the advise. I will encourage my daughter to look into it. I can see the benefits.</p>
<p>WealthOfInformation: thanks. I can see the reason for your screen name.</p>
<p>Have a nice weekend...</p>
<p>Artiesdad, I IMed DD and passed your question on to her. So that I don't mess up her thoughts (which I will, if I try to "translate" them into my own words), I copied the IM and will print it here. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent:</p>
<p>Mom: sorry to bother you - question:
DD: no worries, i'm not doing real work at the moment. shoot
M: do you feel there is a noticeable difference in the overall experience between honors students and non-honors students? question from a CC parent
M: and are break-out sections of larger lecture courses taught by graduate students?
DD: at UD, you mean?
M: yup
DD: ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
DD: not being a non-honors student, i'm not really sure
DD: i guess, based on the one semester that i didn't have a single honors course, that academically there wasn't a huge difference, but i was already into my specialized upper level courses, so they were automatically smaller in size and more complex
DD: intro-course-wise, yes, i think there is
DD: and living situation-wise, definitely yes - the upperclass honors dorms are REALLY nice, and of course you know how i loved russell
DD: the break out sections are not taught by TAs, either - every class i've had that there's been a separate honors section, we've met with the professor
DD: the honors intro classes are nice because they're much smaller than general classes. they aren't necessarily better classes, i found out the hard way, but they're certainly more intimate, which is nice
DD: for example, my honors anthro 101 was a class of 21 instead of a class of 201. of course, i only know that because our prof told us about her general class all the time (and treated us the same way she treated them, generally, except in giving us an extra book to read and essay to write on it), but still
DD: even if she wasn't a better teacher in our honors class than she probably was in non-honors, having the rest of the class think like me was great. we had some really interesting student-directed discussions
DD: (the ones she started weren't so great, but our tangents were really fun ;))
DD: some of the other honors experiences were much more valuable - for example, in human development II, the other 4 honors kids and i met with dr pemberton once every other week and took turns leading discussions on articles on specific topics WE'D chosen. then, later in the semester, we each taught a lesson to the entire class of probably 60-80 kids on a second specific topic
DD: (it was really intimidating, lol. and of course i ended up doing the one on problems with adolescent sexuality...)
M: so you would encourage a student to go for Honors if it was within the realm of possibility?
DD: i would, yeah. if she doesn't get it, then it won't make a gigantic difference, but for the relatively small amount of extra effort (at least for me, who's used to killing myself all the time anyways :p), it's worth it to have the nice dorms, smaller classes, conversations with people who think like you do, and the stronger personal connection with professors
DD: and then of course there's also the possibility to get involved with the UHP itself if you're honors, like i'm a fellow or like one of my floormates works for the UHP
DD: and that's rewarding in and of itself
M: um, what's UHP?
DD: the strong connection with professors is probably the nicest thing, i think. it's fun to walk into the ERC and be able to chat with my old 310 prof about how his baby's doing because my partner and i had private meetings with him and got to hear about the newborn last year while we talked about class stuff
DD: university honors program
M: Oh, right, sorry - senior moment, and I don't mean your kind of senior </p>
<p>I'm not sure DD adequately answered your question as it pertains to non-honors students, but hopefully she at least gave you a feel for what she likes about the honors program. LOL, I know that isn't what you asked for, but I guess it was the best she could do. Hope it helped a little bit.</p>
<p>MaryCeleste -
I checked with DD, and she (and a friend with whom she was IMing) said that you can go to the UD Daily and click on Classifieds (here's a link that hopefully will work: <a href="https://chico.nss.udel.edu/classifieds/)%5B/url%5D">https://chico.nss.udel.edu/classifieds/)</a>. Click on "Housing" and you should find quite a few rentals listed there. The friend also said that you can check out <a href="http://www.apartments.com%5B/url%5D">www.apartments.com</a>. DD is one of the few seniors who is actually happy to still live in a dorm - that way she doesn't have to worry about cooking - so we don't have any personal experience with apartment hunting in the UD area. She did say that just about every business along Main Street has apartments over them that are available for rent, but that generally you find out that there's an opening when they hang up an "apartment available" sign. DD's friend said that there is Graduate Housing available, but didn't know how expensive it is. If you don't have any luck with either of the two options above, call the Residence Life Office and ask if they have any suggestions. Happy hunting!</p>
<p>marcyr,</p>
<p>That IM session was terrific. The feedback is really useful. Please convey my appreciation to your daughter. Based on her comments it really makes sense to push hard to get into the Honors program. I will share this thread with my daughter and ask her to try as hard as she can ("psych herself up" as she would put it) to move into the program if she decides to attend UD. So far all the feedback we have gotten from UD (including from another girl from our township schools that is now at UD) is very positive. It will be a tough decision for my daughter to make but I can see she cannot wrong with either UD or St. Joe's.</p>
<p>since I got in does it significantly increase my little brother's chacnes of getting in in 6 years?</p>
<p>hi guys,
I am from india. I have just received admission from UD and will be attending it this fall to major in engineering. I wanted to know if freshmen are 'required' to stay on campus for their first year??</p>
<p>Yes, freshmen are required stay on campus.</p>
<p>Andrew,</p>
<p>I don't think it ''significantly'' increases your brother's chances, no.</p>