<p>At Open House, parent’s from the Poly Parent Group introduced themselves and gave some great tips for parents of incoming freshmen. Here are the ones I remember (please add to them):</p>
<p>~Trust your child. You have raised them for 18 years.
~Learn to text!
~Enjoy this time…it goes fast!
~Have them call you every Sunday (make a plan)
~No cars for freshman. The bus system is great!
~Don’t stress about first quarter grades
~Join the Parent Group!
~Relax during Move-in Day. Your child may “snap” at you
~Print out your child’s schedule so you know where they are and don’t call during class</p>
<p>*I was so excited and enjoyed everything, but I had a killer headache from so much info. I have forgotten a lot, so please add what you remember from that night and any current parents can add on too!</p>
<p>As a current Cal Poly freshman, I agree with the tips, except for the car. The bus system is great (I take it all the time), but having a car can make things a lot easier. You have to pay to keep a car on campus, but it’s not super expensive (at least I don’t feel it is, but that may be because parking at my high school cost $300 a semester). Not a ton of freshman have cars, but it can be nice if you want to go to In & Out or to the beach or something. You definitely don’t need a car, but personally I think having one would be nice.</p>
<p>And this may sound a little strange and I don’t know how many people would agree with me on this, but I would suggest taking fewer units your first quarter, just to get used to the work and classes and stuff. I don’t know if this is possible for everyone, but I took 12 units my first quarter and my grades were quite good. As a result, my GPA was high and I think I was able to learn how to manage my time better so the next quarter when I took one more class and had 16 units, it wasn’t really a big deal so I was able to keep up my grades.</p>
<p>And just so you know, I call home just about every day. I usually don’t talk for too long, but I enjoy getting to talk to my parents, especially since I am out of state so I only get to go home at the end of each quarter.</p>
<p>You are a great kid! I am sure your parents love talking to you.
Thanks for the good advice for the incoming freshmen. keep it coming if you can!</p>