Well, community college it is. She’ll still be dancing with her company, and she’ll graduate with her AA next summer… and we will go from there. She had a conversation today with the dance department head and found out that contrary to things she’d been told in the past, there is zero plans to grow their ballet- in fact the offerings have shrunk since she visited. On top of everything else, hanging up her pointe shoes just wasn’t something she was ready to do. What a frigging roller coaster life can be!
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Wow how disappointing for her. But—good for her for having another plan! Remind me again which college this is? D23 is a ballet dancer and we are starting to get hints more and more are cutting back on classical ballet.
It was LMU. They’re contemporary/modern focused, but did offer pointe. They’ve scaled back their ballet and it seems most dancers end up supplementing off campus, which wasn’t feasible for my daughter. It seems unless it’s a ballet program specifically, it’s so hard to find any significant ballet time and virtually no pointe.
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Wow! I haven’t even wrapped my mind around orientation or registration. We had zoom sessions with the school president, admission dean, and the dean of the college, but nothing since then other than a checklist of things to submit by 7/1. Orientation and registration is after move-in on 9/2. I feel like that’s so far away.
S21 just finished New Student Orientation (NSO) for Penn State. It was completely virtual. It was mostly pre-recorded. It was 3-4 hours of torture for him. All I will say is, “bless their hearts, they did the best they could.”
These kids are DONE with virtual, done with Zoom, done with breakout group icebreakers, done with asynchronous YouTube lessons, done with their screens (kind of), and done with their bedrooms.
They so badly need to interact in-person again. Penn State announced that Beaver Stadium will allow full capacity for football this season (107,000 fans) and while some people gasped at the thought, both my kids (and most of their classmates) can barely contain their excitement.
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That IS exciting! I want to go everywhere there are crowds of people. Lol. Bring it on.
Sorry about orientation but hopefully this virtual stuff will peter out a bit.
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It was a bummer but he’ll get over it. I’m just sad that he missed out on the experience S19 had at PSU NSO - it was fabulous for him and for the family. He made lots of new friends who he still hangs with.
Just hoping things get back to normal for next year and beyond!
SO true! My kid is so done with everything - zoom, virtual, school, last minute assignments and senior “to do” things like turning in textbooks, updating Naviance, etc. I hate that orientation is virtual too. Hoping his major case of senioritis resolves by late August when school starts, since it is coming fast.
School ends this week for us so I am finally able to turn my attention to shopping. I procrastinated and am now realizing I need graduation gifts this week!
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Hello, my son got a double room at Brackenridge (2nd floor). Let me know if your son would like to be his room mate. He’s a freshman in Chemical Engineering. Very nice kid. Half Asian half Hispanic. He’s from Plano, Texas.
Here is a note from him:
I love to play soccer, work out, and have recently taken an interest in cars(I drive standard) and investing. I would love to room with another engineering major or a business or finance major who could share some of their knowledge with me. I am a fairly sociable person, and I would like to get to know more people with similar interests.
Thank you!
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My daughter will have an in-person 2 day orientation in early August -school starts mid Sept. I would have liked to pick an earlier date, they have some in July, but I had to work around my own schedule since they are all mid-week and it’s too far for my kid to drive on their own, along with staying in a hotel the night before. They stay in dorms one night but we live too far away to just drive up the first morning. I chose not to sign up for the parent portion, I’d rather just find the info online and enjoy the area on my own instead of sitting in seminars.
For course registration, the school schedules all freshman their first quarter. Luckily any prereq classes she has were done through the CC so she has credit instead of relying on any AP scores from this year.
Great news! Duke has also announced full capacity athletics for 21-22!
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Welcome back Cameron Crazies!
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Did you mean to post that in the UT Austin thread? Btw, I grew up in Plano 
Oh! I made a mistake! Thank you for letting me know!!!
Plano is the best!!
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D had online live orientation today. Has successfully registered for every class and section she wanted with ease. All classes will be face to face. Calc 1 and Chem being taken instead of using AP credit to build GPA for scholarship). She got Calc 1, Chemistry, a Science Fiction literature class, and Honors Seminar class in the Honors college with cap at 25 students. Non Honors courses will be Python class and engineering seminar. OMG, it is getting so real now!!!
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D and I are flying out Monday for an in person orientation on Tuesday at UNH. Thrilled they were able to have the kids there. I will admit, I am not looking forward to having to spend the day at the parents version, but since I am there I guess I will go.
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Boulder had online orientation but they have done that for the past few years even before Covid. Looks like they have a few campus activities once they move in as well.
D just got her dorm assignment - she is NOT happy. They had you pick your top 8 choices, she spent a long time researching each dorm and putting them in order. She got a dorm that wasn’t on her list and isn’t even on the main campus, you have to take a shuttle (or a long walk in better weather.) D19’s BFF lived in that dorm and ended up loving it but she was upset at first too. Ugh, I really wanted her to at least be on the main campus even if she wasn’t in her top choice dorm. The good things about her dorm are that they are the newest and have A/C, a nice gym and their own dining hall that is said to have the best food.
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Even though you have to wait until August, I think that’s still better than remote. My son was o with it because even though they said it was 2 full days, it really wasn’t. He also was just reading something else while they were doing the virtual stuff the first day anyway. I think yesterday was more productive for him but mainly because a lot of it was 1:1 and he liked that. Also feeling like they were prepared and having reviewed his transcript and work. We’ve also been really impressed with their responsiveness. He’s emailed a few people/advisors and they have emailed back right away. He wanted to take an honors class but had to get special permission from one of the honors advisors who’s a professor and they have really been on the ball. It will be nice for him to get a taste of that also to see the difference between and honors course vs regular course where there is no honors option.
He is going back and forth right now as far as signing up for 4 Stem classes or throwing in one of the Electives he needs if he gets the 5 in Physics. The elective he’s interested in is some Egyptian History class. So over my head, but he’s been my history kid.
We also found out he will get to move in early on the first day of move in week so we can now relax on that and get our ducks in a row. 3 college move ins during August but then we can do something for ourselves finally after almsot 2 years since our big trip last summer was cancelled thanks to covid.
Starting next week, I think we can finally shift to focus on him and doing some real dorm shopping. The other two are settling into their internships nicely and already getting good experience. Hoping to see things continue to normal.
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Go Cameron Crazies! Let them watch Coach K coach in person since he’s retiring! Go Duke (fan since 7th grade).
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I double checked upload today. I was paranoid after reading about someone’s kid submitting the SIR for summer school vs actual fall enrollment. Tomorrow is the meningitis shot and we will have the full immunization record submitted. COVID vax card submitted, along with TB screening and minor authorization. I just need them to release the insurance waiver and for S21 to give me access to the bursar account for tuition payment 8/1. And that’s it. I think my official duties will be done. I’ll just be the ATM machine for college.
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