Definitely. I think it depends on the school and time during their journey. I know 3 classes a quarter at the UW was enough for me the first two years but once I got into my major, it was a little easier to take 4 classes since one would require less time (3 credit hours vs 5 credit hours of a single class in the first year).
At my son’s school, they don’t recommend more than 4 classes per semester. 5 would be stretching and they recommend that for 3-4th year.
I think my S21 is moving out of shell shocked mode to just mildly uncomfortable. He has one professor who only grades in checks - plus, regular or minus - and he keeps getting checks. He also has two/four professors including the check person who aren’t really helpful with giving specific feedback despite the small classes. I’m hoping as more good grades roll in he will relax some more. Everything else seems pretty ok - he’s joining things, has people to eat and hang out with, and is trying out for a sports team. He lost some weight and works out a lot. Could use a little more fun sprinkled in IMHO. I think he will be grateful to come home at the holidays. It’s hard to say if the school is a very good fit just yet. 
Seems like a ditto for us too, except D still seems to be eating alone.
We have an inside family joke about dining alone. When D18 was a freshman she sent a pic of her empty dining hall table with a drawn-in stick figure for a friend across the table. Last week, D21 sent a pic of a drawn-in stick figure across the table from her at her dining hall, where no one was sitting. Yesterday, I sent a pic of our kitchen table with my spouse and TWO drawn-in stick figures for our two college kids. Empty nesters!
It’s been a week since drop off for D. Classes began yesterday. Of course, the school has loaded her down with work and she hasn’t found a posse yet. Way too early anyway. I think she said her freshman Psych class has 460 kids. It’s remote, of course. Holy cow 460!
She’s joined a club sport, which she played in HS.
Things seem to be going relatively smoothly so far with the roommate, but I kinda doubt they’ll be BFF’s. Just totally different schedules.
Apparently Econ 101 at her college is only graded as Pass/Fail, so the harsh test might not be an issue in the long run. She said the test was hard as expected but manageable. I don’t think she will major in econ lol…
Less than a month until Parents’ weekend! I can’t wait to see her. Classes are still going well…one is “too easy”(!), two are challenging but interesting, and the other is “the best ever”. (Four is standard course load, and max for freshmen). We don’t ask about grades, but the ones she has shared are all excellent so far. Covid numbers are way down, fun is back up and hopefully restrictions will continue to be lifted.
She got a writing position with a university publication!
@socaldad2002 Yes, that test and class are all the talk right now… they all need to relax and be glad they aren’t premeds or engineers.
Mom of a Duke engineering student here. Even without the typical engineering load (he didn’t have to take Chem and opted for “math” linear algebra instead of engineering linear alg. - so no extra lab and discussion section), S21 said it’s a TON of work, though he likes it all. Apparently engineering is almost 2x the amount of instruction time. But, he’s found time for a couple clubs and going out at night on weekends. I guess the Duke “work hard, play hard” is true in his case. We haven’t heard anything about grades. Here’s hoping he’s not shocked!
D21 at Barnard started way after him. She’s loving NYC, likes her classes, and got a position on a publication. She feels a bit intimidated in her small Barnard-only seminar as she says some of the women are brilliant. I guess she’s gone from being a bit of a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish in a big pond. Hopefully, she realizes she has much to offer as well. I’m sure it will come in time, at least I hope so!
@DramaMama2021 there is a store called Golden Goose that sells brand new sneakers that are made to look beat up and filthy. And they are only $560! I don’t get it!!! 
I feel for these kids coming out of various degrees of isolation and having to make friends. Joining clubs seems to be helpful, which D21 has taken full advantage of.
Even D18 has talked about this since being remote for part Sophomore year and first semester of Junior year has limited the opportunities to meet new classmates. I saw that Amherst College had a speed -friending (instead of dating) activity this week with food on the quad. I do hope schools are considerate and plan activities thoughtfully so that it can help make up for some of this.
We have already penciled the ND vs TAMU game on our calendar and that’s senior yr. I wish they were playing UT while S was there.
S is headed to Chicago this weekend for the game against Wisconsin with a bunch of friends. They are taking the train and I am sure I will be worried until he gets back to campus.
We’re going, but so far IU isn’t that impressive, lol. As far as the events, we were on early enough to get tickets for anything we wanted, but nothing really grabbed us so we took a pass and the ones we don’t need tickets for, we’ll check out. I would’ve done the tailgate, but my husband is the buzz kill on that. We have a parking pass so we may get some friends/family together and do our own tailgate since we’ll have our car, but not sure I want to deal with that either. My son already informed us that he is doing his own tailgating that day. He also has a midterm on the Monday so we will probably have brunch with him and get out of there quickly on Sunday. We just bought a bunch of basketball tickets so we will have many opportunities to go back! Makes it so much easier than dealing with flight schedules, that’s for sure! You’ll be back in the Big House for graduation don’t forget!
@Aguadecoco This week hasn’t been the best weather here, but this weekend should be nice. It’s an easy trip between SB and Chicago so I wouldn’t worry so much about him making that trip. It’s safe, but I get it. I would feel the same way if my D was going to the UT v OU game especially since I know what goes on that weekend! But she’s never had an interest thank god. We are heading down to visit her this weekend for her sorority parents weekend. We’re skipping the game there though since we don’t want to be around 1/2 a stadium of 100k people that are unvaccinated, even if it’s outside, but also because no way in that heat could I wear a mask either. I was going to get my booster last weekend, but didn’t want to take a chance with the timing of any side effects, since mine were delayed after Dose 2, so I’m going to wait until Columbus Day weekend when I’m off of school to get it. My husband who is 62 is not yet eligible since he only finished his second dose in April so that’s yet another reason we are not going to the game. When I took my daughter to move in, it was not comfortable at all down there, so not much better now. Fortunately, the sorority has a mandatory vaccine requirement for parents or regular negative covid tests. This begins a slew of seeing my kids. My son comes home for Fall BReak in a few weeks, then we visit my other daughter at Cornell, then we go to AA to visit my son, then to SF to visit child #4 and then a real vacation in December! 
Can’t wait!!
Female students appear too sensitive to early grades in econ classes. A Harvard economist has suggested this as a reason why fewer women major in econ. Men get a B and say great, I will be an econ major. But women get a B and say oh no, this means I am not good at econ.
Female economics majors: Claudia Goldin study shows women leave economics to preserve their GPAs. I wonder if this is why that school uses pass fail grading for the first econ class - is it just for econ or all classes.
Hopefully, we’ll be through this pandemic by then.
Interesting. I’ve seen this effect in my own life and family. It also reminds me of the literature on men’s overconfidence and how that serves them well in the workplace.
Whose kid forgot to take pants to college? 
We got the barrage of texts yesterday. If only all the problems in the world could be solved as easily as this one was. 
@rbc2018 @CheddarcheeseMN I’ve seen this play out in the workplace and I’ve added to this, turning over every single page just to make sure I was 100% prepared and everything checked off before putting myself in consideration for an assignment or a role. In our own internal research, we saw the behavior and reaction of women vs. men (directionally/generally, of course). We’ve done a lot of work to support women to reframe the mindset so there’s more of an equal footing approach. More work to be done, but I’m really lucky to have supportive organization where we can pause and make sure our women aren’t putting unnecessary undo pressure on themselves. Unlearning behavior or traits you’ve picked up during a lifetime is a continuous improvement process, I swear. If we can teach our sons and daughters to have a more balanced approach, it’ll help to build them up and help them to support each other and the opposite sex. I don’t have enough knowledge to confirm if it’s wired in our DNA, but geez, I see how my daughter approaches academics and how my son approaches it. I often have to remind my daughter that it’s ok. She is just as knowledgeable with the prep that she’s done or just because the score wasn’t as high as expected that she’s just as capable.
Finally got S21 all squared away. Move in was pretty simple. Opening a bank account was a slight hassle (more hoops for internationals). Kid was happy and eager to get started. He was thrilled to meet people from Discord/IG in person and was able to click with several kids (we’ll see how he’s doing later on).
Talked to my S today and he seemed much more relaxed. I think he needed to get a few good grades in and make some good friend connections and he’s feeling pretty comfortable at this point - yeah! His roommate also seems to be less anxious about things. It’s nice to hear. An extra score - my son’s at a rural campus and made a friend from the state who has a car, so they went to the nearest city and enjoyed getting away for an afternoon. Fall is really nice but it will be interesting to hear about when the hard winter hits. Definitely will be a transition as he’s been outside a lot so far.
D has went and gotten herself not one but two on campus jobs. The first is with Risk Intervention and Safety Education program, about 20 hours a month and the other with the Electrical-Computer engineering admin office as a student aide.
She really needed to the way she was blowing through the money she had saved.
Good for her! Mine is also considering a campus job now that she’s figured out how to manage her time.
Hello everyone…it’s been awhile! September was crazy busy month for me with work and 3 back to back trips! Started off the month in Nashville for a sisters trip and visit to my niece. Then Hubby and I ended up in Italy for a whirlwind 4 days in Milan + Rome. Came back and last week went to Boston for 4 days with my gal pals for my birthday. I am tired lol!
S21 randomly came home for the weekend while I was in Boston 
…missed seeing him but he’s doing great. I’ve clipped the helicopter wings and just go by what he tells me, which these days isn’t much lol. He FaceTime’s every night though, so there is that. Classes are going good according to him. He’s been going to football games but hasn’t tailgated yet lol.
I’m a little dismayed that he hasn’t joined any orgs/clubs yet and is pretty much only hanging with the same 4 people from his high school, but I’m staying quiet. It’s his journey…hopefully he’ll broaden his horizons.
We won’t be able to go to Parents Weekend at the end of this month, nor attend any Tech football games because I’m in the throes of marching band season with S23 twins here at home. I am planning a trip to Lubbock in the Spring though for Siblings Saturday (or whatever it’s called lol) so that the twins can also get a campus college tour…life will be a lot easier for me if one or both end up at the same college as their brother!! (but of course I’m not going to force it…maybe just gently persuade 
)