<p>Our D is a sophomore and she is very happy at AU. She is an International Business with an accounting specialty major, studying Arabic and currently a International Service minor. She has a great roommate and they are planning to live together for the full 4 years. They had a 3rd roommate last fall who they both had some conflicts with but worked it out. Our D is planning to move off campus next year with her current roomie and maybe some other friends.</p>
<p>Our D has done very well academically, generally loves her classes, has a wide range of friends and social activities. We are particularly happy with the career advising and help with internships.
Ellen</p>
<p>Our daughter hasn’t settled on a major yet, but has loved her gen ed classes so far and has been impressed with her professors, especially with the individual attention given to the students–a pleasant surprise considering she is only a freshman. She was attracted to AU because of the strong programs international service and political science, and also because she loves the DC area. She has made a lot of friends in the dorms and gets along great with her roommate, but the dorms are of course pretty noisy, so she’s hoping to move off campus next year. She has found it pretty easy to get involved in the school and has been active in a lot of campus activities. She is really excited about the study abroad programs at AU and is already making plans in that regard. It really has been a great experience for her so far and we are thrilled because she is a long way from home and it’s always a little scary making that plunge! We haven’t been able to visit because of the expense, but it’s worked out fine because she has been so busy anyway with classes and social activities! </p>
<p>I hope that helps, Rodney. Hope the visit goes well!</p>
<p>Daughter’s bike was stolen last night. When she went to report this to the AU public safety/security office, she said there were 5 other kids also reporting their bikes being stolen. She said that the people in charge, the security staff blamed the kids(victims) for possibly not keeping their bikes safer??? My daughter locked her bike with a heavy metal cable my husband purchased as well as a padlock. Bolt cutters were used to cut through the cable. My daughter thought there should be security cameras, however, I feel there should just be more vigilant foot patrol or Segway patrol from AU? She was quite upset, as she depends on her bike to get around the neighborhood and for food shopping at Wagshals.</p>
<p>Why is your daughter biking to Wagshals? Students need to walk to develop healthy calf muscles and maximize their ability to run quickly past strip clubs and spy hangouts, and the strong forearms that result from carrying grocery bags are imperative for pushing away unhealthy pizzas and filthy tacos…oh, sorry, got caught up in cadmiumredmania there for a minute…</p>
<p>Bike thefts are a shame. A quick googling of the subject reveals: “Cable locks are not very secure. Thin ones can be snipped in one or two bites with a basic cutter, and the thick ones (which do look impressive) can be cut with a hacksaw in about 60 seconds. Don’t count on 'em to keep your stuff from being swiped.” Lots of recommendations online about how to best secure a bike. Campus security can’t be everywhere at once, so it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to research the subject and take the necessary measures. I’m not sure if typical dorm insurance policies cover bikes, or if the deductibles are too large anyway, but it’s worth checking out.</p>
<p>Thanks Momma J:
Thanks for the suggestions, and you are right about the cable locks. My husband did buy one of the thicker ones, but he told me that if someone really wanted to cut one, they could. He thought maybe a Cryptonite lock, not sure of the correct spelling might work for the next bike. What was particularly disturbing was that over six bikes were stolen yesterday. I think that warrants stronger patrols there. Also, the kids should not be reprimanded because they didn’t have heavy duty, expensive systems to lock their bikes. At my son’s school, bikes are kept inside in locked storage areas. She did use her bike to get around. I am concerned about the individuals wandering the campus who committed the thefts.</p>
<p>There was no bike, and no lock, and no patronizing statements from AU security, because there is no d. And she may be a he.</p>
<p>It is too bad that the non-existent mom won’t be able to afford to replace the non-existent bike (with a new lock) for the non-existent d. because she was so poor she was unable to afford the $35 fee for Parents Weekend, and even had to cancel the non-existent reservation at Citronelle.</p>
<p>I have followed up on AU parent thread quite some time, even before registering.</p>
<p>can we stop this “non existent daughter” meme? OK, Cadmiumred’s posts are bit off, a bit hilarious, a bit hysterical and yes, a bit annoying, and definitely do get on people’s nerve.</p>
<p>However, this “she is sick and the daughter does not even exist” line is getting quite old too. How do you know whether she is truly deranged and has no daughter? If she is really deranged, she deserves sympathy, not ridicule. If the daughter does exist, she is a person with a distorted view of the world and a generally annoying air. If so, the best way to deal with it is just to ignore outrageous posts and move on. </p>
<p>People who keep repeating this “the daughter does not exist” ridicule come across, to me, just as juvenile and immature. They are co-dependent with CR, and enablers. What is this, some kind of high school cafeteria food fight? The overall impression one is left with is somewhat negative view of the entire thread and whole AU parent community frequenters…</p>
<p>Please, we are PARENTS - the grownups, not the teenagers. If my kid had told me he had a really weird classmate with strange remarks and various kinds of histrionics, my advice would be “just ignore the kid and do your thing. don’t encourage him by responding”</p>
<p>That’s easy for you to say. Meanwhile this forum’s regulars are left to deal with a serial ■■■■■ hellbent on dominating and derailing every conversation. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away.</p>
<p>The contradictions by now are pretty clear: there is no d. I wouldn’t want anyone who joins this forum to be duped into believing that things are happening which simply aren’t. And I do think it is ADULT to make sure that other parents thinking about having their kids attend AU understand that, without having to read 750 posts.</p>
<p>Lizmane, thank you for posting what I’ve wanted to say for a long time. This thread is getting thousands of views, and I wonder how many others shake their heads at the rudeness. If all these adults were eye to eye I believe they would be much more civil. (sort of like the driving on the freeway syndrome). CR may be overly intense, but the d does not exist thing is very tiresome. The things CR gripes about are plausible, even if she is a bit neurotic about it.</p>
<p>My solution for moderators, regulars, and cadmiumred: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Create a new thread where cadmiumred can post any current and future complaints and where others can comment if they wish. </p></li>
<li><p>Prevent cadmiumred from making complaints in any other thread. </p></li>
<li><p>Lock cadmiumred’s original thread “Nightmare at AU, Distraught Parent” because its initial topic has been exhausted and because its title is misleading and sensational.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>To the people who think Cad’s daughter is real or that she is a real parent: have you seen his/her threads on the Cornell board asking questions and claiming to be a student there? Why would a real AU parent go onto the Cornell board claiming to be a student asking about classes, if they were real?
Its pretty clear from his/her posts that Cad is a ■■■■■.</p>
<p>dingledan, good idea, but I believe some here have contacted the mods for help regarding Cadmiumred and got nowhere. I think some posters who took her “Nightmare at AU, Distraught Parent” thread seriously for ages and went our of their way to be helpful and supportive are still quite resentful that they were taken for fools and wasted their time. They overlap with others who are upset she may be harming AU’s reputation. Responding humorously or reiterating that she’s a ■■■■■ is one way of coping with that resentment and making sure her posts don’t leave a negative impression of AU when read by a newbie to the thread.</p>
<p>I, for one have tried to get her posts blocked, (to no avail), to prevent the type of responses they inevitably provoke. For newbies to this board, please realize that the majority of posters here have tried numerous times to come up with solutions to CRs daughter’s various woes, (which no other student seems to have) only to have suggestions ignored, with the administration at AU the ultimate culprit no matter what the problem.
Her posts have no basis in reality, and if anyone is so inclined to read this and the AU Distraught Parent thread, it would soon become blatantly obvious. There’s nothing left to do but laugh and enjoy. Sorry if you think we’re being rude, but others thinking the same have read the threads and changed their minds. Hope you do the same</p>
<p>a parent? who has had trouble separating from her children?</p>
<p>a student? who is having major trouble fitting in at college?</p>
<p>the only thing I am sure of is that cadmiumred is a person in dire need of attention and that her own life is so incomplete and empty that she makes things up to get attention here.</p>
<p>What’s really sad is that she prefers negative attention to positive attention. She sort of reminds me of those kids on the fringes of social groups who will do anything–anything, no matter how self demeaning–to get the attention of others, and thinks that when they are egging her on that they like her and are giving her attention, not understanding that they are making fun of her. But then I realize my insight is most likely wrong because an adult would have outgrown that kind of behavior long ago.</p>
<p>Back to some more relevant topics…Any parents of HS seniors out there? Anyone applying ED? My D sent her app in early and was invited to apply ED, but too scary. She needs more time to make that final decision. She was really impressed by AU when we visited, but her top choice seems to change from week to week. We’ll see what happens in April!</p>
<p>Regular decision is a good choice if you are not really sure and or need financial aid. April seems like a long way off but it really isn’t. AU was a great choice for our daughter who is taking advantage of the help with internships and other types of learning than straight classroom learning.
Ellen</p>