<p>S and I went to FTCAP today. (It was the first of the year.) If anyone has questions I'll try to answer.</p>
<p>Were there long lines to get ID's and stuff?</p>
<p>What exactly do you do there?</p>
<p>We're going tomorrow. We wake up @ 3:00 a.m. to get there by 7:30; lucky us. 1more, we'll compare notes when I get back.</p>
<p>I thought the day was well organized and there wasn't a lot of waiting in line. As people came in they were greeted and sent off to the HUB, where they set up their email accounts, got IDs and had the opportunity to put money on those accounts (used for laundry, at campus eateries, etc.). PNC bank appears to be the back of choice (I have to wonder what they pay for that privilege), and they had reps available at that time for anyone interested in opening accounts with them. At 8:30 there was a general introduction and then students and parents split for the remainder of the morning. Both groups received the testing results, which were explained in some detail. Students then had a general meeting about academic requirements (and probably a few other things) and each met individually with an advisor. Downstairs the parents got information about housing, "health and wellness", the Code of Conduct, etc. All of this info is also covered in a booklet from the Division of Student Affairs. (If you don't have a family member attending with you I would be sure to pick up one of these.) Parents also had the opportunity to meet individually with a DUS advisor. Then we had an hour for lunch (at about 12:40) and anyone who hadn't gotten their email and ID was able to take care of that then. After lunch meetings were organized by college. In the COE there was a fairly long, but informative, presentation by one of the deans, which included information about advising, scheduling and application to majors. Then we were divvied up between advisors for individual advising and course selection. (I was a little disappointed that students were not matched with advisors in their intended majors.) As students finished those meetings they headed upstairs and registered for classes on eLion. While the students were registering Dean Pytel talked with the parents a little more, discussed ways they could support their students as they make the transition to college, talked a little about coop and study abroad opportunities and answered questions. We didn't finish up until after 4:30, in part because we are local and let those with long drives ahead of them meet with the advisors first.</p>
<p>when i went last year, it was a good experience and it made me more excited to come to penn state. Now a sophmore, i will be there for the second summer session. if anyone needs help just ask me, im pretty good with helping people with directions. You guys are going to love happy valley.</p>
<p>Was there any opportunity for parents to be there for the scheduling of classes? or do they keep separate all day?</p>
<p>Families are together much of the day, but when the actual scheduling is going on the parents are elsewhere, at least in engineering. By that time the students are just picking class times, etc.</p>
<p>We just returned from our FTCAP day. It was only the second day of FTCAP, and they aren't kidding when they suggest suggest that you arrive early. We arrived at 7:00 (b/c traffic was light when we left home) and there were PSU employees there at that hour to check us in. Please allow 30 minutes in the morning for your student to take care of business. For us, there was no waiting at the Student IDs, computers (to register your PSU email account) or at PNC bank. By 8:00 a.m. there was a line hundreds of people long. Most of those who arrived after 8:00 had to wait until lunchtime to take care of these things, and there's only an hour in the schedule for lunch.</p>
<p>I thought the morning breakout sessions for parents and students were a great idea. Parents, please don't worry; your precious darlings are well taken care of (after all, they'll be on their own come July or August anyway!) DH and I especially liked the "Partnering with Penn State" panel presentation but unfortunately the Q&A session at the end was cut short due to lack of time. My D thought the morning Educational Planning Group sessions were excellent and she was glad she wasn't in the same group as her 3 friends who also attended FTCAP the same day. She met some new friends and exchanged facebook and email addresses.</p>
<p>After lunch, we went to the the offices of the Comm school in the Carnegie building where there was a presentation for all followed by class registration for the students (and free time for the parents!) My D was very glad we weren't there for registration b/c it was a bit intimidating and she wanted to do it herself. She said the advisors who were helping were excellent and asked her some great questions about herself and made suggestions to stear her in the right direction as to what classes to take and how to arrange her schedule.</p>
<p>She finished at 3:30 so we went to the bookstore to buy sweatshirts and decals and then left for home.</p>
<p>Another suggestion I have for the students; please arrive with an idea of what classes you'd like to take. Do the FTCAP homework. Become familiar with the schedule of courses <a href="http://soc.our.psu.edu/soc/%5B/url%5D">http://soc.our.psu.edu/soc/</a> so it doesn't take as long to register for classes. And parents; please be aware there is not much hand-holding at PSU. Your kids will have to learn to become self-sufficient there. The time to start becoming self-sufficient is now. I thought it was great when one parent asked if there was a laundry service at PSU; the answer was "Yes, your student is his/her own laundry service."</p>
<p>I wonder if there was a smaller group on Tuesday; the seats in the Thomas auditorium were less than half full. (I don't think there were hundreds of people there in total.) We arrived a little after 7:30, got to the HUB around 8:00 and never had more than 15 or 20 students in line in front of us. No problem getting back in time for the first session.</p>
<p>Adding to what SpringfieldMom said, I thought it might have been helpful if S had made some notes about the elective courses he was considering. When the time came to make decisions, he couldn't remember which Econ was which (for example).</p>
<p>At my older S's private school one way to tell the "haves" from the "have nots" is to spot the students heading back to their houses with tidy bundles of fresh laundry.</p>
<p>SpringfieldMom, did you make it to the Creamery?</p>
<p>The auditorium was a little more than 1/2 full I guess, but the lines at the HUB were definately longer at 8:00 than at 7:45! A friend of D's arrived just after 8:00 and he couldn't get his ID or his email until lunch because the lines were too long. It's better to get it done before the FTCAP sessions start @8:30.</p>
<p>We didn't make it to the Creamery this time. It was raining and the we parked at the HUB parking deck so the walk to the Creamery was not on the agenda. It just was not an ice cream kind of day.</p>
<p>BTW I suggest the HUB parking deck if you can get in it and you don't mind paying; it cost $10.00 for us for the day ($1.00 an hour), it was raining and the car was great for stashing our bookstore purchases so we didn't need to carry much with us. You get in via the kiosk off of Shortlidge near Pollock.</p>