<p>Interested to hear from any first year parents that have students about how it is going so far. If 90% of the kids come back for their soph year, why do the other 10 percent leave other than family or financial issues? I know this melt down and transfers happen at every school and 90% is a well above average and a good number. I just wonder what the specific triggers are for Denison.</p>
<p>My D has had a great first year so far. At this point, a physics major contemplating a double minor in Math, English Literature with plans for a semester abroad Junior year. She is a bit of a nerd and has found a lovely niche, warm friends, helpful faculty, a job, and places of belonging. No organized activities, not a big partier, but a good circle of pals becoming friends.</p>
<p>Good to hear she has found a niche.</p>
<p>My son is a junior at DU. He has had a few friends transfer out and when I"ve asked him why, usually it was because they discovered a passion for a subject area and wanted to be somewhere where they were able to pursue it in more depth. (Liberal arts schools can’t have everything for everybody.) Interestingly however, he had a really good friend transfer away and then come back a semester later because he felt he was getting a better education at DU than at the somewhat more prestigious, larger place he transferred out to.
Also, a few members of his first year class washed out academically and one was expelled for very antisocial, blatantly racist behavior.
Overall, he has enjoyed his time at DU and even had mixed feelings about being gone from campus for a semester abroad coming up.</p>
<p>Parent alumnus here … daughter graduated from DU in 3 years w/ a de facto double major. She enjoyed her time there. Made some lifer friends. Was ready to move on and get more focused in her area. Felt she had some good profs, some typical totally ditzy, “out there” profs found at most campuses, especially LACs. Good FA. And she also was able to work and gain a sense of responsibility and organization. Seems one can make money and move up. Generally, it “worked” for her, got her into a handful of doctoral programs. And in the early sledding, she’s finding she is as well equipped and prepared as any of her class, many of whom came from big name schools with very specific, seemingly more appropriate and targeted majors. So again, not perfect, but a good overall experience and “good enough” to get her exactly where she wanted to go and ahead of her anticipated schedule. </p>
<p>She had a couple friends who transferred. One was a perceived need to focus on her newly determined area of academic interest. Another left for love that did not last. Our experience is there’s plenty available there to the degree one is motivated and willing to get it. </p>
<p>Our critical observations are in part specific to our beliefs and values. A pretty “loosie-goosie” liberal social environment (but we were fully aware of that on the front end. Don’t know where it stands but I’m thoroughly disgusted at the idea of availing co-ed rooms and lavatories. Call me whatever you want, it’s stupid and irresponsible, imo.) Our 2nd criticism was that ours never had a simple or fully agreeable class registration, no matter whether freshman or senior. She pursued this responsibly and thru the chain of command. They listened well and literally never responded or assisted beyond …“go talk to the prof.” And in most cases the answer would be, “sorry, we’re determined to keep classes small. Sign up next year.” The problem is simple … can’t have everything, and it seems the U chooses to direct its resources in areas other than having sufficient sections of many courses. In the end, as our results showed, it was not fatal. One final thought/observation … her advisor was excellent. Conversely the DU promotes some “joint” 3-2 type programs and has an advisor who was completely uninformed (is that an oxymoron?) and useless. Ours had to do most of the homework and in the end, it was of no real value, and the cooperating institutions noted their communication with DU was less than stellar. All that means is for those interested in these possibilities, be aware of over-sell by DU, at least in terms of being of much support in that part of the journey.</p>