<p>Wow! Many opinions to sort through. There's no early bird option at this school. It's a lottery system and she didn't win. She doesn't yet have the moxy of a senior, that's for sure. She's wondering about her choice. We were so unprepared for this happening at a school with such a great rep.</p>
<p>Anyway, no point in stepping in unless she isn't successful on her own. I have to let her get frustrated and discouraged. That's also a learning experience. I will step in, though, if she can't make any headway.</p>
<p>By the way, parents at this school have been a great source of advice and support. THey still send their kids there so it must get better, right?</p>
<p>Just got back from dropping D off at another LAC. Though they warned of possible schedule problems they also described how they would be solved. Kids put together schedules with 3 alternates for every class but sometimes still don't get any of their choices. Warned D and now have our fingers crossed waiting until tomorrow night, the day before classes start to hear what she's gotten.</p>
<p>College also said call us if there are problems, not specifically about schedules since that seemed pretty clear, but any concerns about your child. Introduced the academic, advising and counseling heads and gave us a flyer with phone numbers etc. They seemed very open to communication from home. I was quite surprised.</p>
<p>I'm curious about the schedule problems your D's LAC described. Is it a one-off problem or an ongoing one? What happens to students who need to take courses in a particular sequence (eg. math and science)?
Interesting that the LAC is not concerned about helicopeter parents!</p>
<p>My D is a freshman at the same LAC as SRMom3's D, and I didn't hear any reference to scheduling problems in the talks I attended, nor did my daughter mention anything about it when she IMed me about her tentative course selections last night. We had been previously told that students usually don't have difficulty getting their courses, and if there is a problem and they speak to the professor, they will usually allow extra students in the class. I guess we will know if there are problems when the students actually schedule their courses.</p>
<p>Marite,
Though MotherOfTwo didn't encounter it they did a skit addressing the issue during one of the orientations and it was raised again at the parent-advisor meeting. It seemed that in most/many cases students were able to go to the professor and get into the class they needed. The point of the presentation and conversation seemed to be twofold. First to be as flexible as possible, i.e. day, time, instructor, and second, to be open to unexpected possibilities. In the skit the student didn't get the honors chem class he wanted (I'm not sure there actually is an "honors" class but you get the point) and was placed in to a drama class ("Mom, DRAMA!!!! I don't even know what drama is?). After the paniced call and a conversation with advisor S talks to chem teacher and is admitted and finds that drama is interesting. We'll know more tomorrow night when we see how the Ds faired. </p>
<p>As to helicopter parents, they did reemind us that we really were expected to leave by 5:30. They also avoided the issue of parents involved in scheduling by making sure the process happended after we left. One thing I find interesting is the extensive preliminary process they use before registration occurs. </p>
<p>Thursday night students met with their advisor and upper class counselor, groups of 6 or so freshman with 2 UCC's and an advisor (I think). This meeting gave them a general overview and included student strategies/myths for getting classes. </p>
<p>Friday they took placement exams and attended presentations by different departments and professional groups, pre-law, pre-med etc. </p>
<p>Saturday they sit down with their advisor and put together a final schedule to submit.</p>
<p>I like that they have several days to think about it while getting more info as they work through the process.</p>
<p>I think about helicoptering as involving more than behavior on drop-off days. In fact, having parental assistance in moving to me is not helicoptering. It would involve things like calling profs about assignments, grades, housing staff about housing issues (before the student and staff had had a chance to try and resolve things on their own). You get the idea.
As for scheduling, I find it very interesting you and MotherofTwo had such very different experiences! I'm still concerned about students being directed to drama when they want chemistry. Most want it for a very specific reason, i.e., being pre-meds. As a patient, I reserve the right to engage in dramatics (j/k) but I want my physician to have a solid grasp of orgo. ;)</p>
<p>Well Ithink the point of the skit was that he not only got the chem class he wanted but that he was also opened up to an interest in drama. I have also copied the first year recommendations for pre-med students and though chemsitry is recommended there are other options. The total recommended chemistry sequence is 2 1/2 years so starting chem a little later, as long as some other requirement was being met would still work fine. This sort of thing is what they were trying to open the parents to. For instance I recommended my daughter take calc her first semester. She just had calc in hs so it is still fresh and there are very few fields where a semester of college calc won't fulfill her math requirements. She may get it, she may not. If she doesn't she can take it next semester or next year. Will it be harder, probably. Granted she is not planning to major in math or physics and the class isn't tied to a sequence but there are very few sequences in a liberal arts college that are 8 semesters long.</p>
<p>In order to apply to medical schools by Senior year, First-year Students should enroll in courses from at least two of the following three categories:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Chemistry
General Chemistry:
CHEM 121(Fall), 124 or 125 (Spring)
plus CHEM 123 ( Fall lab), 126 (Spring lab);
or
Honors General Chemistry:
CHEM 122 (Fall), 124 or 125 (Spring)
plus CHEM 123 ( Fall lab), 126 (Spring lab).</p></li>
<li><p>Biology or Physics
Introductory Biology:
BIOL 113, 114 plus BIOL 109,110 (lab);
or
Introductory Physics:
PHYS 140,145; plus PHYS 141,146</p></li>
<li><p>English or Foreign Language
English: ENGL 103-104;
or
English: ENGL 111Y-112Y;
or
IPHS: IPHS 113-114
or
Get started on a foreign language (to meet Kenyon graduation requirements).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks again, SRmom. This looks reassuring. My S will have to select a foreign language other than the one he wanted because of scheduling conflict (not related to size of class). He must fulfill the requirement in his freshman year. My older S had conflicts, too, and was pushed into a class that he did not really want to take; that one was caused by class size restriction and the peculiarities of the online class registration system.
Best of luck to your D!</p>
<p>marite,
I went to a different session than SRMom3, so we heard different presentations. (SRMom was organized enough to make it to the 11:00 one, while we barely got our act together for the 5:00 one for stragglers :) ) As far as "helicoptering", they emphasized that students should try to solve their own problems through several channels before parents intervene, but that parents should call if they had concerns about their child. Some of the examples they gave seemed kind of silly to me, like if the child had a maintenance issue with his or her dorm room, the child should try to resolve it, not the parents. I can't imagine a parent calling about something like this, but I guess some would.
As far as helping to unpack, my D's roommate's family helped her unload her stuff into the room and then departed and said they would meet her for lunch, and did not assist her at all with unpacking and setting up. She did it all herself. On the other hand, my husband, D, and I, were all working full speed at different tasks - e.g. H-computer, me - bed and clothes in closets, D - clothes and other things in drawers, and barely finished unpacking in the allotted time. It took all three of us to unload and organize all of the stuff she brought :) My D actually asked me for my opinion as to where to put things, etc. I guess each family does things differently, but I was sort of surprised that the roommate's parents didn't assist her at all with unpacking.</p>
<p>MotherOfTwo,
Didn't you have football players to help unload your car? They were all over the place at D's dorm. It was terrific, she and I carried up one or two light items and they took everything else. We were similar to you. I assembled while she unpacked with occassional requests for advice. She took care of computer later while I was at the advisor meeting. Roommate and mom got there later but seemed to have a similar approach though Mom was out more because of the timing.</p>
<p>With our older S, we did pretty much what you did. H helped with computers, I made the bed, put away clothes in closet and drawers, etc... H drove S to store to buy things we'd forgotten to pack. Roommate's parents did the same, so it was a bit crowded as the 2- person room (with bunkbeds) had to accommodate 6 people with lots of suitcases and boxes.
With S2, it seems we'll just bring his stuff to the common room as he and suitemates need to discuss who will occupy which room. Thankfully, he is a whizz with computers and he is close to both home and stores in case he needs to get more stuff. I anticipate we may drive some suitemates to buy stuff for themselves.</p>
<p>The football players descended upon us with their offers to help, but my D complained that my H kept telling them we were fine without help. I think it was terrific too - the guys might as well have their daily workout doing something useful instead of just lifting weights in the gym :) I kept thinking of my nephew who is a freshman football player at one of Kenyon's rival schools, wondering if he had to do this too! I think they did carry up the fridge for us, I was unpacking at that point.
My H is an engineer and likes to jerry-rig all kinds of weird computer stuff, so that is why he had to help set up the computer. Eveything is fine with it though.<br>
The room my D is in has a lot of storage space - we were glad of that!</p>
<p>At Kenyon, the upper limit (and the ones they rent) are 4.3 cubic feet. They cost about $135 not on sale or $100 on sale. This is large enough to share, with room for 2 quart OJ container on door, ice cube trays, etc. There are also smaller ones and also much smaller cube shaped ones (not rectangular). You can get them at walmart, target, sams club, etc. My D and her roommate did not want a microwave and the fridge is between the two desks against the window wall. My D has a rather large printer with a scanner which the girls are going to share and since there is no microwave, they put the printer on top of the fridge next to their desks. It should work out well, I think.</p>
<p>One of the 5 has already announced that he'll bring his own fridge. I'll wait until everybody's arrived to see whether S should get one for himself and possibly roommate, or whether they should get a big one for the common room. I'm also interested in finding out whether there is an elevator, as S will be on the 4th floor!</p>