<p>My son will be a freshman at Denison this fall. Move-in day is Thursday. My question is: how big a deal is the freshman induction ceremony? Is this a must-attend for parents? We're a six-hour drive and already booked in a motel to arrive for early morning check-in and would prefer not to book an additional night (ceremony starts at 7:00 p.m.)...but would if this is an important rite for the student. Thanks.</p>
<p>NYHC – We went last year and really enjoyed it. We thought that both the President and the faculty person (chair/president of the faculty last year, I don’t know if he is this year) who spoke did a terrific job, so we were glad to have garnered a positive impression of the leadership of the school. I know our D enjoyed the ceremony too.</p>
<p>The students do dress up a bit, so it’s somewhat special. I’m sure the entire class was not there, but a lot (probably the majority) were. Similarly, I’d wager not all the faculty come either, but many were there (in their academic regalia). I don’t know how many parents stayed, but it seemed to me that there were probably more students/faculty than parents. (There is a picture on the website where you can sort of get a feel for numbers – students are sitting on the right, in front, as you face the stage).</p>
<p>To sum up: we were quite glad we stayed. But I don’t know whether I’d say it’s an absolute must. We had a flight out the next morning, and couldn’t have left that evening if we’d wanted to. In our case, it was a serendipity to have been there.</p>
<p>(But you have to say goodbye to your student right after the ceremony … and that was difficult for all three of us!)</p>
<p>Thanks, Z.</p>
<p>Must be new. They didn’t have one three years ago.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s that new – I remember reading about the induction in a press release (on Denison’s web site) to get some idea of what it would be. I don’t know what year’s class that was, but I did find an article about the induction of the class of 2009 on the web page; maybe that was the one.</p>
<p>I wish the ceremony was a little earlier for those of us that have a long drive home. I’ll be stopping overnight somewhere in Wheeling since I usually can’t stay up past 10:00 pm and I’ll probably not be able to see through the tears…Whaaa!!
It’s not my first child in college but it’s my daughter and she will be missed!</p>
<p>Allegheny has a similar ceremony - they call it a matriculation ceremony on Sunday at noon. It was quite nice and very well attend. But the timing is much better then being in the evening. I would try to go, it makes for a nice transition.</p>
<p>DH attended two years ago and I think in hindsight was glad he listened to my urging to stay for it. (We’re ~7 hours away but he was likely going to spend that night in OH anyway.) Not an absolute must, but make sure someone grabs a few pics for you.</p>
<p>Yea, it’s been around awhile, as I understand it. We were unable to go as the road home beckoned. It sounds like a really nice idea and they seem to take it with some soberness/seriousness. I’ve seen the pix and the video and while we’d not stay another night for it, the ceremony gets our vote for nice idea and nicely done. </p>
<p>Conversely, my view is that DU falls short in nurturing a warm fuzziness to the degree I’d think the kind of highly residential community might nurture. Maybe I"m just unrealistic about ol Siwash these days. </p>
<p>But I confess, it seems to manifest in rather low-level financial participation/support among alumni. Anyones have perspective? Is it a backlash from the closing of frat/sorority houses for living? </p>
<p>And while I’m a fan, the one monumental issue that we’d learned about on this forum …and has been far more pervasive up close …is the failure to offer sufficient #s of classes. First the company line for refusing to admit students to classes …“sorry, upperclassmen get 1st dibs.” And now that ours is in what would seem should be the head of the line, it’s …“sorry, we have to save spots for incoming frosh.”</p>
<p>This is one of the major scams at many campuses, and DU’s no exception. More and more faculty, being paid more to teach less and advise fewer. Not a good thing.</p>
<p>If you have 100 faculty teaching let’s say …5 classes vs. 7 classes annually, that’s 200 classes/year no longer available to students. In addition, DU (and other places) have ginned up previously 3 credit courses to now 4 …without a single change in many/most course syllabi. So…students have fewer classes available and in the end, take fewer because they are effectively given one extra hour for generally no more work. It’s a racket.</p>
<p>For D, the issue has not been her inability to get into certain classes, but the lack of sections to choose from at times that suit her schedule. For example, she can’t take German this fall because the German courses she’d be eligible for meet during times where she wants/needs courses for her major and/or minor. It’d be nice if they offered a couple more options, but I wonder how different it is from other LACs.</p>
<p>The other thing that is hard in her field (sciences) is that most courses that are two semesters (chem, physics, etc.) start in the fall only, so her course work is pretty tightly regimented. She can’t start a sequence in the spring. (Bio is an exception here.) There is hardly any flexibility for her major.</p>
<p>But she has no complaints about the classes themselves or the profs. She has had small classes (intro to science courses have been the biggest, ranging between 25-30), and others have been smaller (9, 15, 20 students), and she has loved her teachers. </p>
<p>WP, do we need to watch out for gen ed courses, though? Is that where your D is getting shut out?</p>
<p>PS: I understand the problem with converting everything to four units/hours; it does limit the variety of courses students can take. I can’t imagine, however, her taking more units per semester than she had last year (she did carry several units of dance as overload each term too).</p>
<p>My DD has also complained about not being able to get classes, and the change over her time there from Seniors getting first pick to not having that ability now that she is there. In the college’s defense, they can’t run an unlimited number of classes or sessions to meet everyone’s schedule requirements.</p>
<p>I have to agree with everyone’s complaint about not having enough classes offered. For most humanities classes, some of them only has ONE class/section offered each semester. I had mentioned before that my son had a terrible freshman year as far as class selection goes since he did not attend the June O, but it got better starting sophmore year. Sometimes I think it is luck more than anything else. The registrar office once told me that they “shuffled” the cards once registration is closed, so that no one is at any advantage over the others. </p>
<p>For sophmore and junior year, he got into every class he registered for, as a matter of fact, he was all done with his GE requirement after the first semester junior year, even his adviser was surprised he got them out of the way that soon. I called it luck.</p>
<p>I wonder if a rising senior cannot get into a GE requirement class, and without meeting the requirement one cannot graduate, will the school or registrar office make an exception for the student and let him/her into the class? They’ve got to, right? Sometimes, you do run into schedule conflicts.</p>
<p>I think all of you have smart and hard working sons/daughters, I, on the other hand, is somewhat worry about my kid, hate to see “senioritis” happening all over again. Do you think it can happen to college seniors too? Looks like mine is going down that route, I am scared!!!</p>
<p>D went to June orientation last year and signed up for four classes; 2 were not her first choices. During the summer, she decided she wanted to drop one and add another – but both sections of the (math) class she wanted to add were closed. If I remember, she wrote to the profs, and both said she was welcome in their courses . I don’t know if that’s typical, but she did enroll in one of the courses. Turns out she absolutely loved the class and the prof.</p>
<p>She also had an issue in that she got switched out of her first choice chem class that fall into a time slot she didn’t want. She wrote the chair of the chem department, and she did get switched back to the section she asked for …</p>
<p>This fall she got all her first choice classes; hope it works out as well in the spring.</p>
<p>Are the issues more with Gen Ed or courses in one’s major/minor, etc.?</p>
<p>hopeful, my older son graduated Carleton last year and said that in the beginning of the school year they started working with them on planning for what happens after graduation. If DU does something along those lines I think that it sort of revs them up towards starting to think about jobs and/or grad school and keeps them motivated.
But, on the other hand, one of his 5 roommates who was senior did manage to flunk out during his senior year. I’m not exactly sure how that worked.
What is your senior’s major?</p>
<p>My son had schedule conflict with an intro Psychology class (for him it is to meet his General Ed requirement), talked to the professor, who had a 8:30am and 9:30am class. She let him stay registered for the 8:30am but let him attend the 9:30am class, so it worked out.</p>
<p>He is an English major, intends to go to grad school and at the same time get a teaching license, a field that has no good job prospect, but is his passion. He could have gone to one of the state schools that leads to licensure, but NO, he wants to go far. The only reason I let him is because tuition after scholarship at DU is less than what I have to pay for the in state college. Our state schools are pretty expensive compared to other states. So I promised him I would support his grad school tuition, which this time he WILL go in state, 20 minutes from home so he can commute!!!</p>
<p>Yes, he received information in the mail from DU regarding all the activities scheduled for seniors in the fall. Just hope he attends some of them. Well, he is putting off taking the GRE, without that, forget about grad school. Maybe DU can talk some sense into him. He said the vocab for the GRE is ridiculous. An English major flunking the verbal portion of the GRE, I can see it coming! :(</p>
<p>Well, what I perceive the class issue is about is …the convergence of several issues.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Desire for small class sizes/low student-faculty ratios.</p></li>
<li><p>Constant pressure to have profs teach less, write and research more. DU’s succumbed to this silliness along with many/most others, especially tier 1s. </p></li>
<li><p>Addressing this thru the slight of hand that many consumer fail to pick up on, i.e. changing 3 credit courses to 4 and having students thus taking 4 courses/semester rather than 5 or 6, the historically traditional number. (Our other child at USNA takes at least 5 each term.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>But in the end, especially at institutions proclaiming to focus on undergrads, I’m persuaded that this is all academic chicanery that we will never hear about from either profs who are the primary beneficiaries of less teaching work for more money; or our students who rarely/never view this from a consumer perspective. Just happy to be there, and be outta there, in most cases. There is great truth in the adage, “we can’t have everything.” So we pick our poison.</p>
<p>Ours has had very dismal success in appealing to profs (1 exception in 2 years)for “me too?” inclusion in already closed sections. </p>
<p>btw, the issue of fewer sections is in fact the same. No profs available to teach those multiple sections under the current model. We oughta be maddern bleep …but it’s tough fighting city hall. It’s definitely a national discipline-wide conspiracy that I’d bet not one, including me, have ever belly-ached to the powers that be. Most simply fail to even recognize the issue in our pride and pleasure of our students.</p>
<p>btw, all that said, I confess ours is graduating in 3 years …thank you Jesus!..having taken a full load each semester, adding a few pre-courses taken in HS, and a summer of local summer school. Conversely, if the credit/course load were where it was 15 or 20 years ago, doing such would have been much more difficult. Preparing a new “common app” for grad schools as I type. Life is good …if not always fair. The latter is a man-made myth totally void of any basis, as ours are about to learn, right? ;)</p>
<p>P.S. re my “no free lunch, can’t have everything, pick our poison” POV …One solution would be to hire more faculty. But …doing so would mean reallocating budget monies, most likely to come from DU’s generous student aid, which we’ve been grateful beneficiaries of …so …while I can vent to my fellow inmate/parents …given my realities, I’ll take the money AND a very respected DU diploma’ed daughter. :D</p>
<p>I just tried to answer a PM that was sent to me on 8/26, after I typed the whole thing (I was already signed int) and tried to send, somehow I lost what I wrote. I am so technologically challenged, it is pathetic! </p>
<p>I am not on Facebook, Twitter, or any other blog. It is a miracle I stumbled upon CC, but only after my son picked the college, and finally figured out how to post! My 2 kids tell me that I am so useless when it comes to the computer!</p>