<p>My daughter will be attending in the fall....any parents of Dickinson students out there want to share about their experience at Dickinson? Any parent of the 2014 class wans to about what they liked about the college?</p>
<p>Welcome to the Dickinson family. My D is completing her second year there, and we’re still thrilled with the school. I’m hoping for a phone call soon to hear about her weekend, which included a Swing Dance Club trip to Glen Echo, outside of D.C., and a Harry Potter feast last night on campus. </p>
<p>What kinds of things do you want to know about the school?</p>
<p>Thank You! She is very happy with her choice and we have met many people associated with the school: admissions staff, president Durden, profesors, alumni, parents and current students. They are all very nice and enthusiastic about the school. Does it change after the student is enrolled? I’ve heard that at some schools where this happens the mood changes after the student enrolled. I don’t know if your D received financial aid, if she did, is it comparable the second year to the first year?
I am also completely new to college and anything associated with it, what can you tell me about orientation? Do parents just take the kids to school and drop them off or are there events for parents?
What is your daughter’s major?
Thank you again.</p>
<p>One of the nice things about Dickinson is that they encourage parents to be part of the experience. Most of the schools seem to want to deal only with the student, but Dickinson will send you things throughout the year that will allow you to feel involved. We got lots of postcards throughout the summer and her first year with little updates. There is also a family weekend in October that is a fun time to visit.</p>
<p>For orientation, you will take your daughter on freshman move-in day, which will be a few days before the other students arrive (although there are plenty of RAs and athletes already on campus, and they will help you carry in all her belongings; it’s very well organized). I think there was an afternoon session for the parents, which we attended. At around 4 p.m. there will be a reception for parents and students, and then the parents will be requested (nicely) to leave the campus and the students will break into orientation groups. </p>
<p>I don’t know the answer about financial aid.</p>
<p>Your daughter will receive info on her freshman seminar and adviser pretty soon. The school is good about advising on classes for the first semesters. She won’t have to pick a major until sophomore year.</p>
<p>I noticed Dickinson wants to keep parents involved, when an alumni left a voice message offering to answer any questions. I am also glad that they keep us informed. </p>
<p>Everyone I have met is so enthusiastic about the college, why do you think that doesn’t translate here in this forum, for example?</p>
<p>Also did your daughter do over the summer? Any internships or other opportunities? Is the college helpful when the student is looking on what to do over the summer? </p>
<p>Is your daughter studying abroad? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. you can PM me if you want to go into detail without revealing much here.</p>
<p>Don’t PM too much-- we prospective parents will want to read the insights, too! We recently did a college tour for my junior daughter, and the surprise was Dickinson, which is her #1 choice. She liked others, too, and much may change between now and the fall, but I can see her thriving there and would love to hear from current students and parents.</p>
<p>Acsvcr asked me to post this part of my PM because it might be of interest to other parents/prospective students:</p>
<p>As far as CC is concerned, the forum has always been fairly quiet. Things do seem to get more active on the facebook pages. Back when my daughter was applying and then was accepted, I corresponded a little with two moms on the Dickinson forum. Turns out, one of their daughters and my daughter had become great friends on their own. That was pretty funny. And the other woman’s daughter is very active in school organizations and government and so even though she and my daughter are not close friends, my daughter does know her, too.</p>
<p>Over the years we have discussed this, and we think some of the reasons that the Dickinson forum is so quiet is that the school does such a good job communicating directly with the students and families. So they answer a lot of the questions that get discussed in other forums. I know plenty of parents with kids at other schools who find it much harder to get info from those schools.</p>
<p>I have had to email/call the school several times about specific issues and have always received an answer in less than 24 hours. Sometimes it is within minutes, and a couple of times these were at weird times of the day (when I can’t sleep, I spend a lot of time on the internet. I have sent emaiils at 4:30 in the morning, and had answers back by 6 a.m.)</p>
<p>My husband and I were talking last night. We are very sad that her time at Dickinson is getting shorter. We are really going to miss the school. We can’t believe we won’t have an excuse to go to family weekend this fall. The junior year abroad means only three years on campus so our time there is running out. Waaah.</p>
<p>Thanks Peabodie! I think its great information anyone interested in Dickinson should know.</p>
<p>Hi, Peabodie! Acsvcr, you asked about study abroad. My D (just finishing up soph year at Dickinson, knows Peabodie’s D) is planning to study off campus both semesters next year. She loves Dickinson, but had always planned to do this time away. She plans two different semesters:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Fall semester in a country where Dickinson does not have a program or partner program. They do in many, many countries, but D speaks a specific language and spent time in this country during high school, and really wants to go for a semester. She has received permission from Dickinson to study at the largest university in that country next fall and transfer the credits back. The study abroad office has been quite helpful about the Dickinson side of things (eg, her letter of permission was originally lacking something the university wanted, so the study abroad office revised it for her). D and I spent time in the study abroad office on every campus visit because she wanted to do this, and Dickinson’s office really stood out as knowledgeable and accommodating (and we visited 20 campuses).</p></li>
<li><p>She plans to spend spring semester at the Washington Center, a program Dickinson is affiliated with in Washington DC. Consists of an internship, an academic class, and what I think is a lecture series. She is very excited about this, but is having a hard time deciding on an area of focus for her Washington Center semester.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Regarding summers, we live several states away and D has had a very good internship lined up for the past few summers, so she has not used the career office much herself. However, her boyfriend was struggling to pick a major, and he spent quite a bit of time there this year. I have the impression they really helped him get clarity on what types of jobs would fit with the different majors, and he was able to make an informed choice.</p>