Campuses have hundreds of clubs. Some are selective, some you just join. Some are expensive, some are free. There are typically tons of options. I teach in a business school and we have a wide variety of clubs that students can join, most of which aren’t selective other than a small fee. It’ll be fine.
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I do think Brown searches out exceptional kids who are frustratingly non conforming. It’s their thing. (Which is good since their super laid back approach would not be a fit for everyone 
) My son has been doing zooms with other students and he commented that it’s funny to find out what each kid’s “thing” is. They seem super normal and then you find out that they have some super niche crazy skill.
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What is your son’s niche crazy skill? I’m very curious! 
Funny enough, I said the same thing to him…. And we just kind of stared blankly at each other. 
Though we did decide his was his math profile. While he’s not a tippy top USA math Olympiad kid (I think those kids go to more STEM based schools like MIT) he has accomplished more than most in high school in that area. I also think his utter disregard of the school’s typical curriculum and willingness to find his own path helped. Showed a desire to embrace Brown’s open curriculum.
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What dorm is your son in? I think mine isn’t about the national accolades and that is indeed intimidating and amazing (although he did score highest on AMC in the area but COVID so no national test that year). And it’s nothing even his passion area. He wants to go into health/med but he took four years of engineering academy instead of Biomed academy just so he can get that perspective and see how it would be useful to med because, “why not?” And he likes to push envelope and is scrappy on normal things. Every group of friends need a friend like him, right?
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Yes, one of my 3 college students attends UT-Austin and this is exactly what is going on there. About 2 weeks ago, Professors were given the option to go online, or to a hybrid situation and allow students to come 1x/week to reduce density for the first few weeks of classes. School starts tomorrow and the time period of this is until Sept 17. Professors were to email students with what is going on. My daughter only received an email from one Professor staying the class will be online during that time. She’s fine with it as it’s a 1 credit Graduate Level course that has weekly speakers only. I’m guessing they are on zoom regardless if the class were in person or not. I’m just happy her other classes for now are staying in person.
Professors and the school are strongly encouraging masks and the vaccine, but of course they cannot mandate it, thanks to the EO by Gov there. Her sorority however has mandated it for anyone to enter the house, thankfully. It’s the only sorority to have done that one campus and all members except 1 are vaccinated. Parents who helped their daughters move in had the same requirement. For Parent weekend in late September same deal. While she doesn’t live in the house, if there is something for us at that time, we can’t go in unless we’re vaccinated (we are), and of course she already is.
Their only requirement of the student population was a negative covid test within 72 hours of school starting or them coming to Austin which is a joke. She had an orientation today for her Masters program and again masks were encouraged and she said only about half wore them. I moved her in a couple weeks ago, and I’m amazed I didn’t get covid. It was to put it bluntly, such an “icky” site. Not a lot of mask wearing. Packed elevators with few wearing masks, stores with maybe 75-80% of people in masks, etc. No surprise covid is going crazy there. I worry they will be fully online soon or for a lot longer than Sept 17.
For comparison sake - I just dropped my freshman son at U-Michigan and while they have mask mandate inside, other than in common dorm areas and your own dorm, and vaccine mandate, they did not require any surveillance testing. They have a daily check app that for guests is horrible. Kind of disappointing considering the school. The high school I work at has an app a million times better that does what this one should be doing, but it doesn’t really mean anything. Anyway, they have no testing plans in place, no arrival testing, no surveillance testing, and no quarantine housing set aside for kids who get covid or need it, or at least they haven’t mentioned it. Without some testing, I worry that they will be right back where they were last year where it did spread like wildfire and they shut dorms down. My last child attends a school where they are fully in person, professors are not allowed to opt out either which is awesome, there is no online option for anyone, masks required inside, social distancing also required in dining halls though which is a bummer for those who use them, and everyone is required to undergo surveillance testing once/week at least for now and they have a dorm that is being used for quarantining for 10 days I think is the requirement, if necessary. They kept covid under control last year and will do it again this year no doubt. This one will have the most successful semester and I’m least worried about. None of them care about wearing a mask. I am sure this year one of mine though (probably the UT one) will get covid even being vaccinated. I just hope when it happens, it’s mild without any long term issues.
Also, in regarding to collecting money. I really disagree with that statement. Everyone has known that any school that isn’t mandating masks or the vaccine (or can’t) is in this position and will have to do this and is waiting until the last second. Anyone who thinks otherwise is living under a rock. If they’re worried about it, and paying, then they should’ve had their kid take a gap year, or been more forceful about mandating the vaccine but from what I’ve seen in our parent groups the ones making the biggest stinks are the ones who are anti vax altogether and anti-science. They can’t have it both ways.
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My son is in Woolley. I think there are a lot of scrappy kids at Brown…. He will be in good company!
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Son has two friends attending this fall. They are both normal bright kids, no awards, not special skills or niche. They are average HS kid that were involved in sports and clubs at school, worked part time jobs and hung out with friends. I hope they don’t feel like imposters when they get there.
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D was all moved in last week, I was and am still sad!!! However, she secured herself a paying campus job in June, she has made friends there and in her dorm, joined a frosh running group, loves classes so far(one is definitely hard, rest not bad at all yet), especially loves that two are under 15 kids , one is 38, one is 48. The two small ones are mostly upperclassmen so that is interesting , but she will learn a lot I am sure! Covid numbers look great BUT the kids all expect them to go up. They are all following rules but it is hard to see a way they dont go up given all the socializing in big groups. >95% of students are vaxxd so it shouldnt cause significant illness even in the breakthroughs.
Amherst’s short isolation of vaxxd positives is a great idea given the emerging data —I am confident Duke will be up to date and revise plans as needed. Durham county has a very high vaccination rate, so the local community is not nearly where the state of Nc is(though the state is peaking now so that will better in 2 weeks anyway).
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After being gone from here almost a month, I finally caught up on the hundreds of posts in this thread.
We just moved my son into his dorm yesterday at UM. Of course it just had to be 90+ degrees, in a non airconditioned room and he’s on the second to top floor! The good news is he has the room to himself until Friday when his roommate arrives. He’s doing a retreat program which has been great, including the plus of early move in. The most fun (not) was when we half lofted his bed, only to find out we had to flip the bed over lol. So there we were in the stifling room, flipping the bed after it was even all made, dealing with taking the mattress off then turning it over. What an experience.
The good news is that it didn’t rain like it was supposed to.
Classes begin on Monday, so he has some time now after his program ends tomorrow to acclimate to campus, go to some of the events for Freshman and students going on, hang with other kids he’s met and become familiar with Ann Arbor. He doesn’t know much about his classes yet as only 1 has shown up on campus. His Calc class which is his smallest only has 30 students, so that’s nice. I’m actually most curious to hear what he thinks of this course in Egyptian History that he is interested in as it is so out of his wheelhouse.
My girls start tomorrow and Thursday. Can’t believe they are actually all going to classes in person. So happy, although worried how exhausted they will be as they start to get back in the swing of things.
Good luck to everyone’s students and our Class of 2021 High Schoolers for getting through that crap year and on to new adventures! May they all have a great freshman year and stay healthy!
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@Aguadecoco Well, you son’s two friends will have another kid similar to them so maybe they are the majority 
@sqzhyg They’ll be close to the better dining halls :). My son is in Miller. Someone on another page said her daughter is also in Miller and same floor so I’m a little confused. Not sure why I assumed floors were single sex. Floor plan shows a bathroom on each end. One has two showers and the other one has one shower. Are bathrooms coed, I wonder?
@srparent15 I’m so glad you survived the move-in! That bed lofting sounds daunting! People have been advising to have parents bring a mallet. Whoa. I might just mess around with DH and have him pack one. He has no clue what I have packed.
D21 seems to be doing well. She’s now had all her classes. Honors definitely has its benefits - she had Art History yesterday which immediately brings to mind a giant auditorium and slides for me… her class had 8 kids!! She’s figured out which clubs she’s interested in. Next step is figuring out laundry and her first grocery delivery (apartment style living, no meal plan).
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We drive tomorrow and stay overnight for a Friday AM move-in. S still has to pull some of his stuff together. I am a Type A so his procrastination is killing me! I think the house will feel very empty without him.
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I believe all dorms and bathrooms are coed unless they specifically request a single sex floor.
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The bathrooms at Brown are typically coed or mutually agreed upon. My sons freshman year in Keeney there were 3 bathrooms on his coed floor (2 traditional 1 just a handicapped toilet). They negotiated the two traditional were coed and the 1 single seater was a “poop with privacy” zone.
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Aw not sure how she got my number but I got a nice message from a parent on my son’s dorm floor saying how kind my son has been to hers and it was comforting to them since they had to leave quickly to fly home. 
. Of course this just made me miss him even more.
His school has found some positives on arrival screening, but a manageable number given the likely small amount of quarantine space they have. Quite a few arrived yesterday and the first group tests again so it will be interesting to see the dashboard updated. 
they are able to clamp down so they don’t need to extend the mask requirement or postpone events. They lost a few freshman at the last minute but the vax rate is still steady at 95%.
@homerdog was fun to meet you. Hope move in went well.
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@Catcherinthetoast @sqzhyg Thank you for the explanation. I think we were watching some YouTube dorm videos and I prob didn’t see the part where the showers had doors and only saw curtains within the bigger bathroom (sink, toilet stalled etc) so was wondering how the women have privacy. My son is so used to walking around in speedos for swim so he doesn’t have any modesty sensors. Told him to pack a robe
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Coed showers with only curtains have been around for a long time. Here’s a link to an official blog describing the ones at MIT a dozen years ago:
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Had coed showers with only curtains when I started college 40 years ago. It was fine. I think there was a place to put towel/robe so you had some privacy to dry off/get out, but honestly it was a long time ago. And I remember no issues at all, though possibly that is a function of time also
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Same here. I was surprised by the handwringing about co-ed bathrooms in the family FB group for my D’s school.