<p>I know it's early, but just curious about the various summer orientation experiences out there. Has anyone gone and come back yet? If so, how was it. Give us the good, the bad and the ugly -- if you must.</p>
<p>Rather than start a new thread, can I also add a question about what students and parents (when they attend) tended to wear. I assume for dads, a nice polo shirt and nice shorts are ok? I assume students wear something casual and comfortable? Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi All…My D went to orientation this week and had a blast. She got home about an hour ago and went straight to bed…I am guessing that she got very little sleep this week. Her orientation started on Tuesday morning and ended today, Friday. They had a parent orientation all day on Tuesday and a BBQ with the kids in the evening. It was very nice but I can’t sau I learned anything new…with that being sai, I would not have missed it.</p>
<p>As far as what people wore, I saw everything. We are in Texas so it is hot here. Most parents wore shorts and so did the kids.</p>
<p>D has enrolled in 12 hours but is not happy with her schedule. She has put herself on the waitlist for two classes that she is hoping to change in to. I keep reminding her that it is a learning curve and only for one semester. We will see…</p>
<p>How could a college schedule a summer orientation when my kid is still in school for another two weeks and the senior prom just last weekend!!!?</p>
<p>Many colleges have orientations all summer.</p>
<p>And I suspect that many colleges have schedules that reflect at least to some degree the calendar of the k-12 schools in their area.</p>
<p>^^^This is the case in Texas. Most schools graduated last week or the week before. D graduated on Sunday and left for orientation on Monday.</p>
<p>“D has enrolled in 12 hours but is not happy with her schedule. She has put herself on the waitlist for two classes that she is hoping to change in to. I keep reminding her that it is a learning curve and only for one semester. We will see…”</p>
<p>Personally, I felt that the people at my school recommended far fewer credits than most could handle for that first semester. They seemed to go with the assumption that until they had a semester of grades, they should just assume everyone is the least capable person who got admitted.</p>
<p>Most colleges require 15 credits a semester in order to graduate in 4 years, but may advise 12 credits as “full time enrollment” for first year students to be able to study and get better grades. Unless you want to pay for a 5th year, I’d suggest having your D register for an additional class.</p>
<p>We got back from orientation last night and my son loved it. He is all registered (16 hours) and he’d leave tomorrow if he could. I was a little restless during orientation, because I’ve already sent a kid off to college and I’ve looked up everything I want to know on their website so I wasn’t learning anything new but it wasn’t about me. He was invited to visit a fraternity house so he went there for a little interview. My only concern is that he registered for Calc II instead of Calc I which they told him to do if he was anticipating a 4 or 5 on his AP test. I’m more of the opinion that he should take it again just to ease into college math just in case he missed anything in high school math but he doesn’t want to. It was nice to see that the school we (and he) thought was just perfect for him really does seem perfect for him.</p>
<p>Shorts and t-shirts were perfectly appropriate for dads and kids, shorts or capris for the moms.</p>
<p>S is going to orientation this weekend; His school has orientation sessions all summer, they’ve held one already.</p>
<p>Izzie, people at S’s school recommended he take his core (math & science) AP classes again in college. He could get credit, but they recommend the average student for engineering not jump into the more advanced classes straightaway.</p>
<p>Regarding the number of hours a first semester freshman should carry…</p>
<p>if most classes are 3 hours (some schools, classes are 4), then I believe 15 hours is a good safe number. If a student finds him or herself in trouble with a class, they have the option of dropping the one and still maintaining their full time status which is critical for keeping scholarships and financial aid.</p>
<p>JMO</p>
<p>We got back from orientation last night. Its been a month since son graduated. In fact the public k-12 system goes back to school in just over 4 weeks. Summer break is half over here.</p>
<p>For me, most of the classes were a repeat from our visit last fall. S is taking 18 credits. He’ll probably still need to take a couple of summer courses in order to graduate in 4 years. We are in the south and its very hot & humid so most everyone was wearing shorts and dressed casual. S wore one of his college t-shirts and they all seemed to like that.</p>
<p>Izzie,</p>
<p>My S was also recommended to take Calc II due to his AP score. What he found was that there were very few classes/sections for Calc II and as he progressed through the series, he had limited (and often not so great) professor options. The kids who were on the more ‘typical’ Calc I series had more options and better professor options.</p>
<p>Of course, this depends where your S is going to school. My S is at UC Davis.</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>Mine was so so it was just an all day thing, lunch was offered, tons of lectures. Nothin really fun in it :/</p>
<p>^Really? My orientation was like 2 and a half days.</p>
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<p>This was the same advice we were given - register for 15 hours and then if there is a need to drop one, you are still considered full-time. Often, kids attend those first few classes and find a class is too advanced for them, they hate the prof. or it wasn’t what they expected. Being able to drop one without losing a scholarship or being forced off a parent’s health insurance policy gives them some breathing room. That 5th class can always be something more ‘fun’ than academic. At son’s school, they highly advise freshman to take a ‘University 101’ class. It’s a fun and informative 3 credit hour course about adjusting to college life. Son plans to take it. I believe over 80% of the incoming freshmen take it.</p>
<p>We go to a one-day orientation next week. Seems like the small colleges do longer orientations while the large public Universities have to limit it to a day or two. At son’s school, orientations are daily through the month of June. There is a separate parent orientation that runs concurrently with the student orientation.</p>
<p>really? mines a small college and it was a one day thing…</p>
<p>son’s was last week, a day and a half, (bad mother here didnt go) with meals provided, overnight accomodations. He also had a social event for the honors program he is in. He said it was okay, didnt learn anything new. Registered for 16 credits</p>
<p>D2 has a 2 day orientation at her college next week, I’m going for 1 day, but not sleeping over. They have 3 in June and it gives you a chance to talk to your advisor, etc. early but you don’t have to go, they still have the regular orientation in August.</p>
<p>My S had his orientation this week. It was a one day event ~ I also attended but can’t say that I learned anything new. He registered for 17 hours. Regarding Calc I / Calc II - the program he is in pushed him to take Calc I again due to the rigors of the other classes he will be taking. The math department thought he should be in Calc II honors. He was bummed about taking Calc I again, but he needs to maintain a 3.5 to keep his scholarship. We figured it would be a good way to start out with a strong first semester.</p>