First Year Experience Learning Community?

Parents Forum
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My daughter planned on going to community college, but after being approached by college coaches and being offered a Track scholarship to three, she decided that maybe she wanted to try going to a 4 year school instead. She recently suffered a shoulder injury though and the athletic trainer at the school and the orthopedic dr say that she has no future in sports, so she’s turned the offers down. They were from private schools and weren’t that large of amounts, so it’s no biggie. Plus dd worried about the demand of being a new college student and an athlete. So that’s now crossed off her list.

She was accepted to a few other schools but the one she really liked the best initially deferred her. They then contacted her and asked her to write an essay as to why they should accept her. I told her to be brutally honest. What I mean by that is the fact that she was lazy her freshman and sophomore year which left her with a 2.0 gpa. She is now a senior and has a 2.7. She’s taken all honors classes this year and has made all A’s and B’s.

The college accepted her, but her acceptance is contingent upon completing their 5 week summer program. She will earn 7 credits (only 3 of those credits will be transferable to the local community college). She is still unsure as to whether or not she really wants to go almost 4 hours away. I think this summer program is a wonderful chance for her to dip her feet in and see what it’s like to be away. Our family is extremely close and all of our extended family are in the same town. We do a lot together and dd keeps talking about how she’s going to miss so much if she goes away, but I think it will be good for her. She needs to discover who SHE is. She needs to grow up and become independent. Will going away do that? Who knows. It’s really all a gamble, imo.

I think that the summer program is a wonderful opportunity and was hoping that maybe some of you were familiar with this type of program and could give some feedback. She will go for 5 weeks, come back home for a few weeks and then return in August to begin the fall semester if she chooses to.

Here is the program:
http://www.wcu.edu/learn/academic-success/first-year-experience/learning-communities/fye-summer/

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Hi, Welcome to the forum from a fellow North Carolinian. Congratulations to you daughter for her acceptances. It It sounds like a great program. I think the support and instant small group would be wonderful. I especially like that the program continues into the school year.

Not the same thing but my son is a freshman in an honors college at another university and has really benefited from living with others in the program and the extra advising they receive. Another college freshman I know at different university who was home-schooled is currently in a program during the academic year that provides extra support and she is really enjoying the friends she has made and the activities they do together. When I asked how she liked her university she listed the program as the best part of the university.
I think this comes down to how you think your daughter will react. If you nudge her into going to the 5 week summer program is she likely to go make a bunch of friends and come home counting the days until she goes back OR will she be miserable for the summer and all academic year until she finally transfers back to community college? I think most kids would be happy if they tried it. You know your child best and will have to take your best guess. I think there are huge advantages to living away from home the whole going to school experience. We have told our kids the one school we don’t want them to apply to is the one four year college in our hometown.

Can you address some of the extended family things she is likely to miss? Remind her she will be home for long weekends and breaks and will see everyone then. Is anyone supportive? Can “Grandma” tell her this is an opportunity she never had perhaps and isn’t she lucky to get to do this exciting experience? It will be beautiful at Western Carolina this summer. She must like the area or it wouldn’t have been or top choice to start with.

Good luck!