<p>I picked up my daughter yesterday afternoon (she lucked out and had her 3 final exams in the first 2 exam days). Her first words to me were "You know what I like best about this college? Everybody is so NICE". She went on with anecdotes about experiences chatting with the president of the college that morning over coffee before her first exam in the on-campus coffee shop, dealing with health services, financial aid office, cafeteria workers, and especially other students and professors. It is evidently common for the professors to "hang out" in campus spots and have friendly conversations with their students outside of class. The best news I could get is that this college seems to be a perfect fit for her. I'm so happy that she's happy!</p>
<p>I am thrilled with how happy my daughter is at school! After 4 years of HS where she was not that happy for her to be LOVING her college means a lot to me. As far as her grades go ummm I am proud of her keeping up the work ethic and would be if she had lower grades too..so long as she keeps up that good attitude. And if you want to consider that bragging then so be it.</p>
<p>Maybe I do brag about her. I am proud of her!</p>
<p>BTW you want to hear about my other daughter..well she is super smart also and sing..the girl has an INCREDIBLE voice and it doesnt hurt that she is a wonderful person and very pretty! </p>
<p>There you go more braggin!</p>
<p>Amethyst..how wonderful for your daughter!</p>
<p>Angstridden- It's great to hear that your D is doing well and enjoying school so much!</p>
<p>Angs:</p>
<p>You should be very proud of your daughter(s). I think everyone who posts or lurks on this board is guilty of that! The benefit of us all posting on a board like this is that we don't annoy our relatives, friends, and co-workers with our obsessive pride and uncertainty. We can vent in a positive way to a bunch of virtual strangers that we have something in common with. The common thread is that we are all proud of our kids and are learning from each other. We are all parents of kids somehow involved with the college process.</p>
<p>I followed your saga from last year and I am extremely proud of your daughter! In fact, I may be more proud of her than my own son! LOL</p>
<p>Momsdream - I don't know about Penn but at Stanford they intentionally pair freshman roommates are from geographically different places, to encourage meeting people from other backgrounds. People from California are usually paired with others. We anticipated my son would have a Californian roommate since we are from the East coast, but his freshman roommate was an Indian citizen from Kuwait. In addition to the geographic thing, they also try to pair them with someone with whom they have some common interest (academic or EC) but also have some different interests. I think they spend a lot of time doing this pairing, and it works pretty well. By the way, Stanford also has a tradition of not letting freshman know anything about their roommate until they arrive on campus. They wanted to prevent the students from forming preconceived notions.</p>
<p>I will say that, academically, my D went from being the big fish in a little pond (hs) to being just one of the school of fish in the ocean (college). I was concerned that she might have problems with adjusting to that, but not really. She says that it is great to be able to find someone to help HER with her homework!</p>
<p>Re grades: I'm reminded of a Blondie cartoon I clipped out of the paper earlier this year. Alexander, looking sheepish, is bringing Dagwood his report card. Before he looks at it, Dagwood says, "Son, what's important is not the grade, but that you tried your best." After he looks at the report card, he says to Alexander, "Please tell me this isn't your best."</p>
<p>Angst, I remember your angst in the old forum, so I'm very happy to hear about your daughter! Keep us posted.</p>
<p>Momsdream, UPenn has the best dorms! I went there to pick up my son from a summer session once and also to do a campus visit. I envy your son. Also, picking roommates, maybe the questionnaire he gets before housing decisions are made would ensure that. I don't know what UPenn's policy is. My son is looking forward to taking classes at Penn, especially language classes not offered at Swat. Hope it materializes.</p>
<p>Angst--I don't mind the braggin'. If either of my boys ever gets straight A's, this forum will hear about it! Like Sokkermom says, THIS is the place for it. . . Actually, if S2 gets better than a C in physics, you'll probably hear about that!--Can't wait for straight A's to do a little braggin' (not happening here!). </p>
<p>Kissy--how is your D doing?</p>
<p>This is a tad off-topic, but it's the right group to ask this...</p>
<p>How are y'all mainly communicating with your D's & S's at school & how often? Cell calls? Text messages? IM's? EMails? Reason I ask is that my D is a HS senior, trying to decide between a close and far-away school (St. Louis & Miami) and as a father who has finally come to the reality that he is going to dread his firstborn leaving da nest, I'm just trying to picture next fall if she's 1500 miles away & is only going to come home on the holidays, and how these newfangled (?) ways of communicating might make it somewhat easier.</p>
<p>jnm123: I use a combination of all those things - mostly emails, since I never know where she is (library, class, with friends) and a cell phone call might be an interuption. She usually calls me on Saturday or Sunday afternoon to chat. Email she can reply at her convenience, and we usually exchange an email once a day. If I happen to log onto AIM and see that she's online, I'll send a quick hi, but usually she's online later at night than I stay awake! Of course she's only 125 miles away, so it's only a few hours by car to visit if she wants us to come.</p>
<p>jnm 123, I'm a dad whose daughter is a few thousand miles away. At first, it feels bad. Then you talk on the phone a few times and IM many times and it is fine. I leave my IM on all day. I don't always use it to communicate with her, but when she goes on IM, I know she is alive. I probably actually communicate with her every three days or four days using IM. It really is OK.</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words all. I think I just feel such RELIEF that she is happy and doing well. As a worry wort..(hence the name) its just so good to know she feels she made a good fit with her college. And she is coming home today for the holidays!</p>
<p>Angst, I am so happy for you!!</p>
<p>jnm, the phone calls have tailed off as she has gotten busier but there are still occasional e-mails and then there are times I turn my IM on and, if she's on-line, we spend 2-20 minutes IM'ing. Not a bad way to keep in touch.</p>
<p>Ellemenope, LOL about Dagwood/Alexander. I have resolved that now my D is in college, I will not harp on grades...it's her life. In hs one "B" was a raised eyebrow, two would have been a shake of the head, each with some bit of accompanying dialogue. The point of hs was to get her someplace like where she is...the point of college is for her to make of it what she will.</p>
<p>We keep in touch with e-mail mostly. The last three times we called one of our sons, the second oldest, the one in Chicago, he talked for a good, oh, 30 seconds before saying, "I'm in the middle of something, could you call back later?" I did make the plunge a month ago and got four "free" cell phones and gave one to my oldest son who is in Northern California. The other two extra phones went to the girls. He had a situation where he didn't have a place to live, and was staying here and there with friends, and I had no idea how I would reach him/find him in an emergency. So now he has a cell phone. And he actually used it to call me yesterday to tell me he lost his car key. But then he called me back to say he found it in the back seat under some books--has no idea how it got there. Anyway, the cell phone, an extra $10 per month, gives me peace of mind.</p>
<p>Jnm:
I think the frequency & mode of keeping<em>in</em>touch has to be at a comfortable level for all parties. In our case, my wife & I wanted to call D2 every day, but she got really uncomfortable with that. We finally compromised on one call each weekend. As for email, it was a complete washout - for some reason, it turned into a one_way flow. On the other hand, D1 (just graduated) was really hard to contact by phone, but she was very chatty & quick to reply via email. Go figure.</p>
<p>Angst:
Bragging is very much kosher here. I think we all recognize that we don't do this as part of a game of one_upmanship, but we are just sharing good news with friends. Hey, that's one of the reasons friends exist.</p>
<p>We keep in touch by IM--she rarely calls or answers email. Don't tell her, but her little sister let on that she has an online diary, so I can keep up with a little of what she is doing by reading that (well, it IS in the public domain).</p>
<p>Also, I send her little clippings from the local paper, comics I thought were funny, a funny joke if I hear one, a little present (like socks), stickers, etc. Something SHORT and sweet, or else it won't get read. I have a sheet of address labels with her college address on it handy, so that I can just put stuff in an envelope and mail it immediately with little to no fuss. </p>
<p>She says that college kids love to get mail.</p>