<p>Thanks C. R. for letting me know how your daughter feels about the classes. Dorms can be a challenge. The reason I am on this site is because we made mistakes with our eldest and her college experience that we can never change. She has matured and now knows that she is responsible for some of those mistakes. Until we let go she couldn’t grow.</p>
<p>Having said that helping to vet the universities up front is part of what we feel we should do. Learning to deal with the consequances of their final decision is how our offspring grow.
We will ask questions about the role of RAs as a consequance of this forum and that is only fair.</p>
<p>I think that vignette where my son saw the three card players was the cherry on top for my son. He says he realized that he didn’t need to fit into just one mold when there are so many facets to his personality, and that he could have all kinds of friends too. And that he could be a different person on different days.</p>
<p>He was excited about all of the opportunities AU offered–just like the other DC schools-- but as an observant Jewish boy didn’t feel quite comfortable with the idea of Georgetown (not that he had anywhere near the stats to get in!) and wouldn’t even look at GW because he wanted a classic college experience complete with frisbee on the quad. AU hadn’t really been on his list but we added it because he was visiting the coach at the University of Richmond and then his older brother who lives in DC. He went to the info session and tour one afternoon and got really, really excited to the point where we came back to check out the campus again the next day.</p>
<p>He applied ED even though AU was a safety=to-a match for him because he truly felt that AU is where he belonged, and he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. And, of course, because he could be done with the whole college thing with his first choice in his pocket and just enjoy senior year.</p>
<p>So far, no regrets. Except that he took Latin in high school (best teacher in the school) and is taking Spanish now…and he is the only student in his class that did not take Spanish previously, so he feels somewhat behind the curve. Which is not AU’s fault. A lot of students retake the language they took in high school to get an easy higher grade (at least for the first semester) so he just needs to work a bit more than the others.</p>
<p>If your daughter is looking for a babysitting position, have her check with the student employment office, or with one of the religious organizations on campus. I remember Hillel had some babysitting postings</p>
<p>Someone posted earlier about a student jobs link on the student part of the AU website. I don’t remember where but your D can likely ask around if she can’t find it. I understand that there are many of them, some steady, some when needed.</p>
<p>my D found a job on campus a week before school started. she is working in a office. she loves her job, her classes, her friends, her roomate, her hall(McDowell)! everything is just perfect! i’m a happy mom!</p>
<p>Sorry to be a downer, but although my daughter does love her classes, the dorm situation is
so out of control that we may have to find her living off campus. Do you think it is too late to obtain a refund for housing? The kids on the hall are up until 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. making noise. Her roomies who have late classes stay up until 3 a.m. and have been harrassing her when she has to go to the bathroom or get up early in the morning to go to her classes. They also take and rummage through her things when she is not there, because they brought so little including staplers, printers, fridge and such. My husband and I provided everything in the room, and they treat her like garbage? What brats!! The RA told her that she lives too far on the other end of the hall to watch or enforce the rules and contracts over on my daughter’s side of the hall. She also said that there is currently no existing resident director for this dorm, and the regional director cannot be reached usually? The room is miniscule with 3 kids. Kids are laying in the halls coughing from the flu. I believe these crowded rooms do not meet D.C. housing codes.</p>
<p>The kids are living like animals crowded in filthy cages for $48,00 a year!!!
Our friends and colleagues are disgusted when I have told them about the crowded triples and unhealthy conditions at this school.</p>
<p>My son is tripled in a north side dorm. He gets along great with his room mates, hanging out with them outside of their room. I specifically asked him about crazy drunks and obnoxious loudmouths that are rude and unruly and up all night, but, if anything he feels his floor is too quiet, with much more action at Anderson and Letts.
I’m trying not to be sarcastic and “mean-spirited” but you’re making it VERY DIFFICULT.
The majority of the posters here (actually ALL BUT YOU) feel that the dorm situation is fine, crowded yes, but doable.
Cadium Red, I find your remarks about AU, once again, offensive. My son and his roommates are certainly not living like filthy caged animals. If your daughter’s room is filthy, I suggest you tell her to clean it, like everyone else has to do. I actually feel sorry for her roommates who have to tolerate an interfering helicopter parent directing her daughter’s every move.
Rather than find your daughter off-campus housing, please find her another college campus. She has nothing to gain by remaining at AU.
I fear YOUR reputation has preceded HER.</p>
<p>I am not going to hide and lie and sugar coat this dorm. Your kid is lucky!!! The roomates are filthy. The sick kids out in the hall are spreading the flu. The roommates are keeping my daughter up!!! Late!!! Every Night!!! They are yelling at her for going to the bathroom.These are kids not adults. There needs to be laws on this campus!!!</p>
<p>Folks, I know you all have shelled out lots of money to send your kids to AU, but I’m here to announce a cause–bigger than all of us–that needs your support.</p>
<p>With all of our help, I’m sure we can raise enough money to refund all of cadmiumred’s expenses (tuition, room, board, books, travel, pilfered staples, ear plugs, you name it), plus a 10% kicker if she gets her daughter out of AU and stops posting on the AU threads.</p>
<p>I concluded a while ago that cadmiumred is leading a very complex fantasy life, with one fictional twin at Cornell and the other at American. I think it was the “sterile needles” comment coupled with the claim that 3 of the daughter’s friends had already dropped out of AU this year due to intolerable dorm conditions, that finally convinced me. Not sure if it’s all an elaborate game, perhaps orchestrated by a student, that is somehow entertaining to her/him, or if there is some delusional thinking going on, which would be very sad. I fear it’s the latter. It would all be no more than a bit of entertaining reading if not for the fact that some newcomers to the AU forum may get a wholly distorted impression of the school from cadmiumred’s posts, especially if only reading a few. For that reason, I hope most of you would agree that the CC administrators should delete cadmiumred’s posts and revoke his/her account here. Anyone know how we can submit that request?</p>
<p>How’s this for a novel idea - ignore cadmiumred’s posts and don’t get caught up in her psychodrama. At this point I really don’t care what happens to her kid - I’ve got one of my own to worry about who, by the way, is perfectly happy to be at AU</p>
<p>I have a a feeling that( assuming cadmiumred has a daughter that actually exists and is living in a dorm at AU), at this point, things have deteriorated to the point where the daughter’s roomies, floormates, and RA have reached the point of deliberately antagonizing daughter, probably because she has taken her mother’s advice about how to make friends and influence people. </p>
<p>Are the students on daughter’s floor rioting in the hallways until 2 am or are they sprawled in the hallways unattended dying of influenza? And are those rioting ignoring those who are dying?</p>
<pre><code> My daughter’s dorm has no resident director, which anyone can confirm at AU. They are still looking for one to hire.
Her roommates stay up in the room until 2 to 3 am , in the room itself, making noise with lights on. My daughter is suffering from lack of sleep and harrassment when she must get up in the morning. There is absolutely no enforcement of rules because a 19 year old sophomore is in charge of the floor on the opposite side of my daughter’s room. She has admitted repeatedly she can’t do anything. I have received many private messages from parents who say people on this thread who have kids at this school, bully those on this thread like myself who have problems with the University and they try to cover up and brush it under the rug. In other words, only those who are happy with the conditions there are allowed to express their opinions. Someone who is being honest like myself gets derided. And yes, 3 of her friends left completely, moved home, or live at the Archstone apts. in Friendship Heights because of the unhealthy tripling of the dorms. These are not suites at AU, but small rooms not in any way intended for 3 three people. And yes this is outrageous for paying 48,00 a year.
</code></pre>
<p>Oh, and anyone can confirm this, that the designated areas for study in my daughter’s dorm are being used for “Greek Life”" events and residents can’t use them. What a joke. We were told during orientation kids could study quietly in the extra lounges and rooms but in “reality” the extra spaces are used for Greek Life and club events. The other parents who private message me said they have discontinued posting on this site because of the parents who don’t like to hear the truth bully them off of the thread.</p>