<p>So glad to hear your daughter is feeling better. I’m sure you are very relieved (and happy)!</p>
<p>Thanks for your support everyone. On a final note, my daughter told me today, after being so upset about the all girls floor on Sharpe, that now she is so happy she got the all girls’ floor. It’s much quieter so she can study in her room and if she wants to have fun, she goes to one of her friend’s rooms. I tried telling her that but she wouldn’t listen.(sigh) I am hoping that all the girls that were upset about getting JL (I think that’s the all girls dorm) are pleasantly surprised as well.</p>
<p>I’ve said this before but it bears repeating in light of your comment. Out of dozens of students I have met and talked to that got into JL and thought they were going to die, only one was still unhappy with it by the end of their freshman year, and the rest expressed sentiments similar to what Oliver’s D said. They liked the sisterhood, the fact that it was quieter, the sinks in the room, and for a lot of them they liked that it was closer to Newcomb Hall where a lot of the foreign language classes (among others) are held.</p>
<p>But mainly I am glad she is realizing that the glass is almost full.</p>
<p>S reports that “routine is hectic, plenty to do besides studying, homework is light and manageable, food is varied and delicious” his word! He has to return to Phoenix at the end of this month to accept a scholarship award (in person as stipulated in the award). He will miss two classes on a Friday and return on Sunday. We have the airline ticket and shuttle reservations, even stopped by the airport to familiarize him with MSY during move in week --first air travel alone. We’ve explored what we think is the correct protocol - clear with academic advisor/professors, notify roommate/RA, etc. is there something that we are missing?</p>
<p>No, that should cover him. Congrats, that will be a very nice day for all of you. Good that it is early in the semester and not at mid-terms. Very glad he is doing so well and finding everything to his liking.</p>
<p>Funny you mention about air travel alone. I was talking to my D last night and she was relating how she was talking to some freshmen and they related how coming to NOLA was similarly their first time flying alone (I think they meant for Orientation). My D told them how she and her brother flew alone starting when they were 5 (her) and 7. Going to see the grandparents. She said the other kids were amazed, but of course that was also pre 9/11 so we could take them all the way to the gate and their grandparents could similarly meet them right at the gate on the other end. She also mentioned how great it was that they had spent 3 weeks or so every summer on a college campus and had random roommates. It made transitioning to Tulane so much easier. Lucky us.</p>
<p>Well D went and dropped chemistry today. I feel a bit of relief as she had the consolidated calc, physics, and chem along with an upper level Spanish class and it seemed like too many hard classes to me. She did point out to me that even though she is down to 12 credits, as long as she does well in the calc class, she will get an extra 4 credits for calc 1 also. If only she had decided this last week, she could have picked up a Portuguese class…oh well.</p>
<p>Cyclone, my son dropped Latin because the class started at 8:30am and that was ‘too early’ for him. He’s down to 13 credits but I’m actually fine with that (I made him talk to the academic advisor before dropping the class). I think it’s better for him to start slowly. He will take it next semester. (I think he should take a ‘real’ language at this point, with 5 years of Latin under his belt it would be easy, but what do I know? Nothing, according to him. LOL)</p>
<p>Mavitale - my daughter took 4 years of Latin in HS and is now taking Spanish at TU. She really didn’t want to but needed the language to satisfy some business requirements. She’s doing ok - it’s not her favorite subject.</p>
<p>He really likes Latin, and as a science guy it’s actually quite useful. He just didn’t like the early schedule and also felt that 17 credits was too much the first semester. I’m trying not to get involved…my only requirement was that he speak to the academic advisor first.</p>
<p>That said… I talked to him last night and he got a 95 on a Calculus test which kind of blows me away. (the nice part was seeing the pride on his face when he told me…it was kind of like, “See? I actually DO take care of business when you’re not breathing down my neck.” Or something like that. ;)</p>
<p>I have said it on here before but this begs saying it again. While the students that party to the max and let their academics slide upon getting their first taste of “freedom” get more attention, it is under reported how many blossom as students. A lot of them, through a combination of thriving under the mantle of personal responsibility and maturing more about this age (and I do think this happens more with boys, since girls are generally more mature already at that age), really step up to the next level.</p>
<p>I definitely saw that with my son, who did OK in high school but had a fairly typical attitude of applying himself in courses he liked and blowing off courses he didn’t. In college he was far more consistent (at the positive end, needless to say) and obviously it has paid off.</p>
<p>Anyway, definitely nothing wrong with 13 credits, mavitale. Besides, he has those 4 AP credits. So he is completely on track. Congrats to him on his 95.</p>
<p>S home to pick up scholarship award this weekend. Has a case of “reverse homesickness” (his words). Misses Tulane and NewOrleans. How’s that for adjusting?</p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, by Fall Break that sentiment seems more dominant than the usual homesickness at the start of the year. In any case, I am sure you were very proud watching him accept his scholarship. Congrats on that.</p>
<p>I think things are starting to get much tougher for them now… my son sounded concerned about some of his quiz scores last night, said he’s not really enjoying the coursework in his Chem class… it was concerning. I hope he sees the Success Coach finally, because he missed his first appointment and hasn’t made another one. I’m getting a little worried. I also told him to look into tutoring if he’s struggling.</p>
<p>Glad I’ll be down there on Thursday to get a sense of how things are really going. I’m sure it’s normal for them to flounder at first, also balancing the social stuff with school stuff, but he was a kid who never had to study, so he’s also trying to learn how at this point which is tough. </p>
<p>Color me worried.</p>
<p>You are right, it is a completely normal part of the transition for many students. It is very important he get some coaching or other help now, because the time goes by so fast. Mid-terms are in two weeks, right? Also, they definitely won’t enjoy every course they take. Some hate chem or math, others foreign languages, and others find history tedious. That, of course, tends to be less of an issue as they focus on their major and can take non-major electives they find interesting for their own sake. But he really needs to not miss appointments with that success coach. It is exactly that kind of pattern that he needs to avoid.</p>
<p>Mavitale, In my experience, it sometimes takes that first round of quizes and tests to snap them into reality. It could be a good thing. It’s early in the semester and there is still plenty of time for him to pull it all together.</p>
<p>It’s good timing for me to be going down there. Do you think I should talk to someone while I’m there, or is that inappropriate? (sorry to be so clueless…it’s such a fine line between helpful and overbearing).</p>
<p>It’s a tough call, but I think you really need to talk to your son about taking that responsibility. Even if you talked to someone down there, who would it be and what would they do? In this situation, while it isn’t the same as talking to his boss if he were already in the work force, it is closer to that than it is to high school.</p>
<p>At this point I don’t think a parent can really intervene effectively in these kinds of academic issues. If it were medical or some other life altering situation where he might not have control that would be different, but this is where they need to step up and make the right decisions and follow through. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help him see what those best decisions are.</p>
<p>All of the above is JMHO. Others might feel very differently.</p>
<p>I would strongly encourage success coaching agian, it helped my dd a lot. They helped her find an Econ tutor which helped get her back on track.</p>
<p>OK, so I called and I’m glad I did. I spoke to the woman who runs the Success Coaching etc. and she told me what he really needs at this point is called Academic Recharge. She said what he’s experiencing is VERY COMMON, but this program gets the kids on track for midterms, helps them navigate tutoring, etc. She said that she would reach out to him directly so it’s not ME telling him to do it. </p>
<p>I have to say, the school has been great. She really made me feel like calling them was the right thing to do.</p>
<p>I think we all know our kids best, and if this were just an academic issue I probably wouldn’t have reached out. But he has pretty serious focus issues, and I know he just needs some help.</p>
<p>I am glad you made the right call for your son. I agree with you that Tulane was very smart to start this coaching center.</p>