Homesick

Colleges and Universities A-Z Elon University
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<p>Warning: highly biased from a very happy parent back from parents’ weekend</p>

<p>Elon’s high ED acceptance rate is due to the fact that Elon truly wants students who want to be at Elon. This year, the average GPA of the accepted class was 4.0 and over 1860 on the SAT, hardly a group of slackers. It would be foolish for students and parents to go in to such a weighty decision thinking they will transfer after a year if they don’t like it just to relieve some pressure during senior year. The pressure to transfer and fit in as a transfer student is still intense and the chances of acclimating can be challenging. Not sure who these kids are but is sounds like they are just deflecting.</p>

<p>As for challenging courses, the first semester is a crap shoot depending on what your child is taking and who the professor is. Eng 101, Elon 101, Global might be very easy, but I can assure you my son’s lab science on physics and energy was excruciatingly difficult. (great prof though) I would tell your child to enjoy the ride now, because classes will be more difficult in just a few weeks when all the projects, papers, and tests all collide in two glorious weeks of challenge and frustration. Also very soon class schedules will be released and your child can start to plan for next semester where s/he will have control over professor and schedule. Of course there are some basic requirements as freshmen to still get out of the way, but I am sure if a student wants more challenging courses, there are many of us on this board that can point the way some.</p>

<p>I agree with RVM about large rah rah schools and seeing what their friends might have. ButIi can assure you the large lecture hall course freshman year don’t present much of a challenge. Once students get involved with all the college has to offer, they find that they are so busy and the next challenge is learning to balance it all. Also, remember that engaged learning is not all about what takes place in the classroom. There are so many opportunities on campus that are challenging, for example, my S put together a team of 4 freshmen to compete in a business challenge. They worked hard and came in 2nd, the only freshmen team entered and they did well. Students need to find their opportunities and challenged, whether it be a rope course, running for office, or learning to play golf. It is not all classroom driven. That is what makes Elon students so marketable in the workplace. </p>

<p>Like Embrace’s S, my son had a tough time socially first semester. Loved his classes and campus, but had a tough time figuring out where he fit it. I was shocked when he decided to go back to campus two days early to Winter term. He said it was his home. Second semester freshmen year, he started to find his groove socially and became more involved in a couple of groups; his grades suffered! He saw his high school friends all summer, but things were different between them. They all complained about their large boring classes and my S was talking about his habitat for humanity project or getting elected co-pres to his club. He could not wait to go back to campus. He is soooooooo happy this year and has so far found his balance. He is a completely different person.</p>

<p>What is the lesson? I would tell students to give things a chance. To carefully select the next semester classes and to participate in as many activities that interest them until they find something where the fit is just right. Every student goes through adjustments in every college and unless they are too drunk to notice, time has a way with pointing people in the right direction. Obviously, if these feelings of choosing the wrong college or homesickness persist and a student wants to explore other options, s/he should while at the same time with parents’ encouragement continue to take advantage of being where s/he is.</p>

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<p>I wish there was a “like” button here. </p>

<p>Great post Samtalya!</p>

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<p>Great post with some great advice!</p>

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<p>Just a quick add-on - my son was a mediocre student in hs. Basically hated his classes and teachers, openly slept in his first period class, and did as little as he could to maintain a B average. What drew us to Elon was the small class size and focus on engaged learning. I knew that my son could do better academically, but he had to be motivated to do so. He applied ED as we were unsure that he would be accepted in the EA pool. </p>

<p>Elon has been the perfect fit for him. No second thoughts whatsoever. He is doing great academically and actually enjoys his classes! He called last week specifically to tell me how much likes his intro economics class and that he might want to add an economics minor! So, while no one school will be the best fit for every student, we remain 110% impressed and satisfied.</p>

<p>I hope that parents of students who are unhappy advise them to give Elon a chance. Rushing to transfer basically ensures they will be miserable at Elon.</p>

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<p>Masondixonline how did family weekend go? How is your daughter doing?</p>

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<p>Just adding that several of my D’s friends talked seriously about transferring their freshman year, but only one followed through. Mostly it was due to homesickness. They’re all seniors now and don’t want to graduate. I think this is very common. </p>

<p>Our society builds college up to be this amazingly fantastic fun time, and sells the kids the idea that there is a “perfect fit” college for them. They go into it with the expectation that they will instantly make lifelong friends and everything will be peachy all the time. Of course, that’s not reality. </p>

<p>D also knew a few kids who really wanted to go to UNC-CH but didn’t get accepted as freshmen from out of state. So they went to Elon with the plan to transfer to UNC soph year (apparently it’s a lot easier to get in that way). There were 4 kids she knew of with this plan, but only one actually followed through.</p>

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<p>My son is a freshman and is loving Elon. I have to say that at first I was worried that he wouldn’t take advantage of all that Elon has to offer. He was a good student in high school, but never really took the initiative to do any extracurriculars (other than sports). In the past 2 weeks we have noticed a huge difference in his involvement and seeking out new opportunities. I think he is becoming more comfortable and putting himself out there a little more. I would suggest having your daughter follow all the Elon Twitter accts to get an idea of what is going on around campus. There are so many social events, S’mores cookouts, intramurals, etc going on that she may not even know about. Although this is going to sound very helicopter paren-tish, I began by following the feeds and texting him things he might be interested in. Amazingly he looked into some of them and had a great time. He is playing ice hockey, wiffleball, tutoring and a few other things. As she moves outside of her immediate friend group she will hopefully meet more people and become more comfortable.</p>

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<p>A little helicoptering never hurt! I think you did a wonderful thing and it clearly paid off.</p>

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<p>Hi All,
I love all the support on this thread!
Family weekend was great! D seemed happy and positive. We all had a wonderful weekend. Like I said, she likes her classes and campus; it’s the social piece. I keep telling her to get involved in the clubs - that’s where she’ll connect with people, not at the frat parties. Hopefully she is doing that (seems like a no brainer to me). So, I left Elon feeling good, but just found out her roommate is definitely leaving after fall semester. So, January, D will be alone in the dorm and sometime in February she can adjust her living situation (new roommate, or she can request to move). She really likes the roommate and is pretty upset. Her biggest complaint is that the girls she’s meeting are all friendly in person but when she or her roommate text them later to get together no one responds back. This all sounds silly, but definitely affects the experience. Fingers crossed that something changes before January or it may be a long month.</p>

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<p>I’m glad you felt good after parents’ weekend. :slight_smile: So sorry that her roommate has given up already, but maybe it will be good for your daughter to be away from that negative influence; it had to be affecting her perspective. I don’t know the situation but if her roommate was that unhappy, people may have been avoiding her negativity, and so by default not hanging with your daughter either. </p>

<p>My daughter (also a freshman at Elon) is finding her friendships shifting. She sees people gravitating to those with common interests and dorm friendships are there but shifting to a less prominent position. She sees this as a good thing and is constantly meeting and enjoying new people, as are her other friends, so it’s definitely not too late. </p>

<p>Good luck with this. I’m sure she’ll find her groove soon, but in the meantime it’s no fun to be worried about your child at school. :(</p>

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<p>Kierans - I had to respond to your message as an email. I guess I haven’t had enough posts. Thanks for your message!</p>

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<p>My friend was having a similar problem with her daughter at UMiami. She loved the school but could not make many friends (very good student but shy and a commuter). She finally joined a sorority ( a new formed one) and her social life changed.</p>

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<p>Hi all, I’ve been following this thread with interest as my daughter continues to list Elon as her first college choice. Can any of you current Elon Parents address whether the freshmen housing choice could possibly impact the initial social adjustment at Elon. Are some freshmen dorms known to be more welcoming or close than others? Where are your daughters living and what has their experience been like …would they choose the same dorm as a freshmen?</p>

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<p>My daughter lives in the Historic Neighborhood and loves it there. Her floor is very, very social. It’s an older dorm so there isn’t a lounge, but students are always in each other’s rooms and really have a lot of fun. Plus it’s close to things so it’s easy to be engaged in campus activities. She would choose it again in a heartbeat. There are down-sides to that – it’s great socially but compromises sleep and quiet/alone time. My D has to study in the library because there’s always someone in the dorm who wants to hang out. So it might depend on the personality of your student.</p>

<p>Elon has really great residence halls all over compared to most campuses we looked at. My daughter says her friends who live elswhere like their dorms as well so I think they’re all good, it’s just a matter of preference. </p>

<p>I’m interested in hearing about the experience of students living elsewhere on campus. I’ve also wondered how much bearing housing has on the freshman experience.</p>

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<p>My daughter is in Colonades and has been very happy with the dorm. She has a nice sized double which shares a bathroom with another double. She has been very happy with the common lounge area and quiet study rooms on her floor. The lounge has led to some nice bonding time with the larger group of students on the floor. The dorm is also quite new and has a nice dining hall.</p>

<p>She has heard a few gripes from friends in other older dorms. The biggest complaint has been the lack of common areas or lounge which tended to decrease the group socialization activities.</p>

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<p>My D moved from Historic to Global…she is much happier. Although she liked the social nature, she struggled with the lack of sleep as well as the bathroom facilities…adequate but old and not always in working order. The sleep was the big issue, even with noise cancelling headphones. She visits her friends often and goes out several nights each week but then goes home to a quieter environment…her friends are not all in the same dorm but from 4 different dorms. She too thinks that joining a sorority will help connect people in a more structured way because once you are a member, you are invited to many social as well as community service events. She claims that some clubs have limits to their activities, so when they send out an email, if you don’t see it immediately and respond, you are shut out.</p>

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<p>I’m afraid I may have been misleading about the older dorms. Some students there do study in their rooms, and there are people on the floor who go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 every night. So that option is there to have whatever lifestyle you want. Our daughter and her rommate are just very social so they keep their door open – it’s their decision. I didn’t mean to imply that the older dorms aren’t conducive to study in general. </p>

<p>Her dorm is a 3-5 minute walk from most of her classes as well as the rec center and library, and also the bookstore. She loves the big trees and historic feel of that part of campus. McEwen dining hall is very close, and is open late night on weekends which is nice (unfortunately it’s not open for breakfast). </p>

<p>She says the social atmosphere there is perfect for freshmen to get to know lots of people. For sophomore year she and her roommate are talking about living in Colonnades.</p>

<p>Here’s a thread from last year that discusses freshman housing options:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/elon-university/1424727-freshman-housing.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/elon-university/1424727-freshman-housing.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and this one from the year before:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/elon-university/1250746-what-different-dorms-freshmen.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/elon-university/1250746-what-different-dorms-freshmen.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Watch out for older threads about dorms at Elon. They recently tore down several dorms and are building the Global Village in their place. 2 Global Village dorms just opened this fall, two others will open next year. Also 3 of the Colonnades dorms just opened last year. Any thread about housing at Elon that is more than a year old probably contains outdated info.</p>

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<p>It is my understanding that in the future they want to place more freshman in the Global Village area.</p>

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<p>1stKidtoCollege - I would consider a learning community for your D. This really worked out well for my S who is currently a sophomore at Elon. His freshman year he was instantly living with people who were his “type” and that really helped in the first year adjustment.</p>