@dyiu13 I know the struggle of filling out so many stupid forms for accommodations!
It is so hard at first, if you have been so involved in their daily life and then suddenly cut off. You wonder about all aspects of their new life. It is better to get a snippet of news here and there than trying to save it for a specific time.
The first time I saw my D in person I asked her so many questions about her roommate, new friends, classes, etc and she must have felt like it was the Spanish inquisition lol.
It got much better over time, I didnāt feel like I needed to know everything, and she started sharing more.
She has called more so far than the whole last year.
@dyiu13 Iām sorry your call didnāt go well. I know the feeling ā and sometimes I just have to walk away and say Iām done. When it is an hour of us pressing S14 about what he should be doing (going to the writing lab, or job counselor, etc) it isnāt fun. Iām just not a big fan of small talk. I have found that the logistics questions work better by text or chat, and what weāve been doing lately during weekly calls is asking about interesting school work heās been doing.
Which might be difficult at first for your D! I always found that the first two or three weeks of college classes were review and just as you were thinking a class was too easy BAM the new material started. Perhaps that will be your Dās experience. I hope she learns to like it, or that after first term it wonāt be so much intro material.
The accommodation process sounds hugely onerous and not in line with our experience. Does she have to do it exactly 7 days before each test or can she, armed with the syllabus, get all the paperwork done for the term at once? Seems like way too many signatures. Is the school known to be good (or bad) at accommodations?
@readingclaygirl What would you advise a student about staying on top of it and setting up a system?
Honestly, Iām still figuring it out. My biggest issue was that my math professor only gives one class notice for quizzes. So myself and the other students with accommodations went to her office hours and worked it out so she will give us 1 weeks notice so we can file the paperwork. My math class is the only one with regular tests and quizzes. My history class only has a midterm and a final and the other two have final papers/ presentations. Iād be willing to talk to her if she wants. PM me if so. @dyiu13
@dyiu13 Iām sorry your call didnāt go as well as you would have wanted. Is your daughter unhappy or is that just how you and your H are responding to it. I couldnāt tell. I found your comment about the lack of challenge in her classes interesting. That is one of the reasons we ruled out a couple safety level schools for my D. We were concerned that outside of the honors seminars she would be in classes that wouldnāt be challenging.
We finally got the full download from my D on Sunday. She called (!), we went on face time, and we probably talked for an hour about classes, profs, friends, her roommate etc. She reports that her classes are not hard but they are moving fast. Its definitely not a rehash of high school for her but that is also due to the fact that three of her classes are things she never studied before.
We tried to get the dog to look at the phone and see her but he couldnāt understand what we were doing, but she did get to see him. We also took the phone and scanned her room for her.
The latest non acadamic news ā¦ she got her nose pierced. And she is thinking about doing cheerleading next year because she had so much fun on Saturday and misses it so much.
We are really happy that everything is going so well for her. It was good to see her happy and involved.
@me29034 Our sweet girls āsafetyā school gave us the same concerns. Her safety was Loyola University-Chicago. We/she loved everything about the campus! While she was accepted very early to the schools Rome Start Program (1st year to be spent in Rome, Italy) and received a very good scholarship, she was not admitted to the Interdisciplinary Honors Program because she didnāt hit the required SAT score. Further, the school offered international studies, not international affairs, as a major. If she was not admitted to GW, we actually considered allowing her to attend American University (she was admitted to the Global Scholars 3 year BA/MBA program) or University of Georgia - (she was admitted to the School of Public and International Affairs). She received no merit from either. Thank God GW came through with flying colors.
@me29034 Itās that she feels her courses are āmehā but sheās enjoying the other aspects of college life although nothing seems spectacular (even the food). Oh, well. Such is life.
Her situation is that while she has a high IQ, she also has three LDs and missed a lot of education in her youth. And while she is in the right 5-year degree program at this school, she is on the high end of stats, despite her challenges. Too bad for the poor teaching, as itās such a waste of time, money, and student-potential. D16 was hoping for some inspired profs. Sheāll survive, I think.
One never knows how life will play out.
I did not find this, another CC parent did, but boy did it strike a nerve with me. The article made me realize that in person I understood when my D just needed to unload. Via text and 5,000 miles away, Iāve been taking her complaints much more seriously than maybe I need to.
In other news, D has been working out every day at 8am and usually sends me a text or snap to see when I wake up. Unfortunately, my body now spontaneously wakes-up at 2am our time to read it. Stop that body! I need my sleep!
You and me both @palm715 . I wake up on east coast time now to receive her first āGood morningā text. Sometimes I can get another hour or so of sleep, but most of the time not. I want to be available if she has questions. Like today āhow much milk do you put in 2 eggs omelet?ā
Love the article @palm715! Now I really feel supported in saying āmaybeā rather than āyesā. DS will decide how important this trip home is. I would love to see him but I can wait until the timing we agreed to before he left, if the need was more about unloading than anything else.
@dyiu13, also I would hope that there are different kind of professors at a school. Who knows what the future brings.
and todayās text was that despite his attempt to do healthy things (eat right, exercise) S16 woke up with the āfreshman plague.ā Stinks that we canāt do more than offer advice - tylenol, fluids, rest and eat something. At least he only had one class today.
Blah 
My D and I take emergenC and zinc lozenges and it usually helps shorten a cold.
It was tough being so far away when D got a cold right as we moved her in and spent most of orientation suffering. But unlike at home, she actually listened to my advice and took care of herself.
@dyiu13 sorry the phone call did not go well and that your D is unhappy with her academics. Mine went to a very hands-on project-based HS and lectures seem so foreign to her. Itās not a style or pace she is used to, but the material is new. Hopefully your Dās classes will get more interesting and challenging as time passes.
Thank you for posting the link to the NYTimes article. I forwarded it to friend of mine, and it was good timing.
I can remember saving my quarters for a Sunday night call home from the pay phone in the basement of the dorm. I probably gave no thought to dumping my problems on my momās shoulders.
D just told me the other day that the reason she often calls or texts with a quick bit of information like āItās free college pancake day at IHOP!ā or āDid we buy or rent my X bookā? or āHereās a video of what my math classroom looks likeā is that when she has a few minutes before class or is walking to class, a short call or text gives her something to do.
These are rarely complaints and I had been wondering why sheād call and then say she āhad to goā after just a minute or two. Now I know.
Sorry to hear that everyoneās kid is getting sick! It does seem inevitable. I probably need to remind mine to actually finish her antibiotics.
Iāve managed to hear next to nothing about my Dās classes, but lots about new friends. Every time she sends a photo, she seems to be sitting in some really pretty location reading a novel that has nothing to do with any class. Iām glad the social anxiety is in check and she enjoys the campus, but Iām not really shelling out $35K/yr for the nice views! She hasnāt really had any complaints about anything, but then again, most of our conversations are cut off. She once again called, said she wanted to hear our voices, and then stopped mid-sentence and said she was going for a walk with her friends!
I tell my mom about my classes, about my assignments, if Iāve hung out with anyone recently, what club meetings Iāve been to, anything interesting thatās happened.
Iām so nervous for our sweet girl! Her Intro to Comparative Politics class requires she complete a mini internship. All of the organizations offering these mini internships made presentations to the class. The student was required to submit a resume to the organization of interest to them. She immediately texted me with excitement and asked me to review her resume (which we had to shrink down from the 2 1/2 page one she attached to her common application for
college to 1 1/2 pages for this opportunity). A lot of her classmates are going for the same organization! She submitted her resume and has been offered an interview with the organization!
Starting Friday is also sorority recruitment weekend. She sent me a link to the GW Panhellenic 2016 Look Book and Iām so excited for her! She will be meeting with and being interviewed by members of each sorority throughout the weekend and sheāll narrow her choice down to a few and hope to get a ābidā on āBid Dayā.