<p>
Yay! Of course, it now occurs to me some people would say that title is an oxymoron. Not much funny about the Soviet Union back then (or maybe ever). Dark humor, perhaps.</p>
<p>S “loved” two of his first day classes, but the jury is still out on a TIDES class - he wasn’t specific as to what the class is about or why but 2 out of 3 (so far) isn’t bad. BTW after spending several days in New Orleans, the return home was greeted by an immense dust storm (or Haboob as they are calling it now). I much prefer the rain.</p>
<p>Greetings to all of you. This year is my son last year at Tulane. Unfortunately, he has lost interests in BME but into Mechanical Engineering and will go to Vanderbilt Univ. in 3 + 2 Dual Degree Programs (Physics and mechanical engineering). He has been accepted by Vandy and now he is just enjoying every moment at Tulane and NOLA. Also, he told me that he has been offered a work-study job at Dean of Engineering Office helping with the admin and STEM programs etc. Life is good and be blessed to y’all.</p>
<p>Okla - that’s wonderful. As you know, I have been “pushing” those 3+2 programs on here for some time as a very viable alternative. He will enjoy Vandy very much, I am sure. It is a great school and one of my favorite campuses. We all wish him much success.</p>
<p>Mavitale -what is Success Coaching - it sounds like a great resource - please share where this takes place and how to sign up.</p>
<p>I’ll jump in for mavitale (since I am always shy about jumping in) but I feel like I dropped the ball a little by not promoting this section of the Tulane site more. [Tulane</a> University - Academic Success Center](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/advising/tasc/]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/advising/tasc/) All kinds of useful programs to help students and parents. Here specifically is the application for Success Coaching <a href=“https://fs7.formsite.com/tulanecsc/form107/secure_index.html[/url]”>https://fs7.formsite.com/tulanecsc/form107/secure_index.html</a> In short, it is a program to help students with a variety of issues, from relatively minor to significant, from issues about just staying focused to those relating to particular medical or social issues.</p>
<p>I found a fuller description: <a href=“http://tulane.edu/advising/coaching/what-is-coaching.cfm[/url]”>http://tulane.edu/advising/coaching/what-is-coaching.cfm</a></p>
<p>Well D did change to a different time for her Spanish class. The good news is that this teacher is also hot… </p>
<p>She still hasn’t told me much about her classes but I know she has been up late studying because she keeps sending me snapchat pictures of it. For whatever that’s worth. She also keeps sending me pictures of herself sneaking Icee’s out of the dining hall.</p>
<p>Yes… they talked about Success Coaching at orientation and how you can ‘nominate’ a student (it’s clear from the form that many parents end up doing this after the kid is struggling, but I chose to take the pre-emptive strike and nominate him before he started!).</p>
<p>Then the student has to fill out the same form (where they identify the areas they need help with) and a coach contacts them and sets up an appt. My son already has a slot next week. </p>
<p>I’ve gotten two texts “Classes are fine.” and “I’m fine.” Oh, and a third that said “Don’t text me. I’ll text you.” Hokey dokey, buddy. ;)</p>
<p>I did ask if he’s going to the football game tonight and he is, which is great because he’s really not a sports-guy. Should be fun for them.</p>
<p>I have a feeling Tulane’s going to have a surprisingly good year at football. There, I put it in writing. We can bring this back in 3 months and see if I am a superior football analyst or just another overly optimistic Tulanian. But yes, it should be fun. I am planning on listening via the Internet, assuming that works. I have been able to listen to the station in test runs, but I have no idea if they black it out for Tulane games.</p>
<p>Speaking of the football team, The WSJ had an article placing 125 D1 football teams on a grid - X axis (weakling to powerhouse) and the Y axis (admirable to embarrassing). Sadly the Tulane is in the weakling/embarassing quad. </p>
<p>[College</a> Football’s Grid of Shame - WSJ.com](<a href=“College Football's Grid of Shame - WSJ”>College Football's Grid of Shame - WSJ)</p>
<p>I didn’t see that, but I have seen a lot of preseason things similar to that which place Tulane towards the bottom as far as the powerhouse/weakling part. I am not sure why we fall into the embarrassing quadrant though. Maybe the Mackey thing?</p>
<p>I think when it comes to the far less prominent teams, the writers get a little lazy and just figure there won’t be that much improvement from the past years, they focus all their attention on the Alabama’s and OSU’s and USC’s of the D1. I just have a feeling we are going to surprise some people.</p>
<p>This happened Off campus at 1am at State and Freret. So far daughter is having a great time and quite busy with initial homework assignments, but seeing this reminded her not to get caught up in all the excitement and forget to be cautious. [Tulane</a> Student Robbed By Masked Man Days After School Starts | WGNO](<a href=“http://wgno.com/2013/08/28/tulane-student-robbed-by-masked-man-days-after-school-starts/#axzz2dP8n7yjB]Tulane”>http://wgno.com/2013/08/28/tulane-student-robbed-by-masked-man-days-after-school-starts/#axzz2dP8n7yjB)</p>
<p>Right, I saw that this morning. Again, a student walking alone at 1 AM. Not the right decision. Use Safe Ride and/or walk in groups.</p>
<p>Left a short am text for S, “Morning, Success Coach”. I’m on it mom! “Phew” Seems to be transitioning well from Camp Tulane to TU and classes. First week seems to have gone well. He is excited for the river cruise and has made many new friends, likes his roommate, football team won. Good choices!</p>
<p>The only bad thing about getting to know everyone on CC is that now the confidentiality part is over and people know who my daughter is. ( Ok, maybe 8-10 of you.) The party is over here. She got off to a GREAT start than reality hit. Hopefully it will get better but it was a rough day yesterday and today is worse… to make a very long story very short, I had to threaten to cancel the credit because she told me she was buying a ticket home and transferring schools. Just had to vent. I’m not going to bring everyone down, I’m not going to post again until she is at least partially thru this. Very sad! :(</p>
<p>Oliver, so sorry to hear she’s having a hard time right now. Hopefully she will work through it all and things will get better.</p>
<p>Oliver: my sympathy as well. I think time is your friend, since homesickness fades.</p>
<p>Oh, that’s hard… is it homesickness or something else she doesn’t like about the school or people?</p>
<p>Hopefully it will pass soon. </p>
<p>xo</p>
<p>Freshmen always think they are prepared for college. It’s a much bigger adjustment than they realize. It does take some time. They are usually on their own for the first time, dealing with a room mate they may not like, classes that are demanding, time management, not having the comfort of their home to escape to and just a sensory overload of a new environment. I advise college freshmen and unless there are serious mental health issues going on I always strongly urge them to stick it out for the 1st semester. Often by Thanksgiving the things that were causing them so much unhappiness will be forgotten. I make them check in with me weekly with 5 positives from the past week, get them set up with tutors, counseling services, encourage them to join clubs and get involved in community service, help them set up a schedule for managing their studies and activities. It’s a process. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes one really bad experience can really sour them on the school/town. I hope your daughter is able to work it out and stay and enjoy all Tulane and NOLA have to offer. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>I think that is all very wise, dolphnlvr. I would only say that they stay a year (unless, as you point out, there is a far more serious issue) rather than a semester. I have seen cases where it takes a semester just to get their bearings and figure it all out, although the VAST majority of cases where this kind of thing happens does resolve itself in a few weeks at most.</p>
<p>I would only emphasize that there are counselors available to deal with almost any issue, including homesickness. It is more common than most people think, especially at Tulane where something like 75% of the students are from over 500 miles away and the average is actually something like 925 or 950. No driving home on the weekends to allow a student to slowly wean themselves from the more familiar surroundings and routines. A few years ago Tulane instituted programs to specifically deal with this issue and similar ones, and not surprisingly freshman retention went up over 90%.</p>