<p>My son was also unimpressed with Discover DC, but has kept busy with various activities and parties…</p>
<p>My S was the first of his friends to leave for school. He was very resentful that AU started so early, and Discover DC would have to have made a huge impact for him to feel it was “worthwhile” to leave home so early. I also think the hot weather has put a real damper on his experience. He was looking forward to exploring the city and playing sports and its just been to hot to do much of either.</p>
<p>I was ready for son to depart…he was restless and a little weird this summer. I miss him of course, but there was a lot of friction in the last weeks before I drove him to school.</p>
<p>Daughter has complained of kids drunk in the hall making loud noise, screaming falling, outside of her dorm room, in the halls, every night until 4 a.m., since she was there. RA looks the other way and doesn’t address the problem. Inebriated kids bothering others in lounge.
Kids are going to frat parties at University of Md. by subway and other places. Coming back drunk.</p>
<p>Hi Cadmiumred,
I was wondering whether your daughter had kept with her decision to attend AU or if she had decided to pursue one of her other options. I’m hoping AU works out for her. Did her class choices end up working out for her? What dorm is she in?</p>
<p>The behaviour you describe seems common on all college campuses, especially during a week when there are no classes. I have yet to hear of a campus welcome week without drinking, parties etc. It’s not a good thing but I don’t think AU is different from any other campus in the US in tis respect and I don’t think your daughter’s experience would be different any where else.</p>
<p>I’m betting that the dorms quiet down some beginning today with the start of classes. Most kids at AU are pretty serious, ambitious people and I think a lot of them just let themselves go a little bit crazy this past week. The first time with no parental supervision, total freedom, not living at home, no academic or other obligations…</p>
<p>I know my son drank for the first time because he told me so. He said it was “fun” but that it wasn’t something he planned on doing again, that it was just one experience he wanted to have when he didn’t have any other obligations. I’m not happy he did it but I am happy we could talk about it. He said it’s now out of his system and he is ready and looking forward to getting down to academics. I am willing to bet a lot of other first year students are like him.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the RAs can do about kids going to off campus parties, etc. They don’t have that kind of control over students, nor should they. I am sure that they will crack down on loud and obnoxious behavior now that classes are starting.</p>
<p>My son said his floor was going to be having a meeting to establish floor rules/standards as far as quiet hours, etc–that each floor individually does this. This should help too.</p>
<p>I think caliumred might have meant the RAs are addressing the noise problem in the halls. My guess is that “school nights” will have a tougher noise standard. Alchohol is, and has always been, a major player on college campuses…</p>
<p>Dear Boysx3:</p>
<p>That is good that your son told you about the drinking. My daughter did eventually get all of her class choices so she is excited about that. She just hopes that the loud noise and wild behavior in the halls, all night, changes as it would not be conducive to sleeping, studying or socializing in the lounge as the inebriated kids came in there to bother the others.</p>
<p>I’m glad things are working out better for your D. The obnoxiousness generally dissipates with the start of classes. Kids generally start breaking off in to their various groups and pursue their separate lives. </p>
<p>My two older boys both lived in dorms where each floor enacted “hours” rules. For example, on class nights, from Midnight-8 am, quiet hours with no noise in the room unless both roomies agreed, and the noise not allowed to be heard outside the room; open hours from 8 am-7 pm; and study hours from 7pm to midnight–noise ok in the room but not to be heard outside in the hall.
Each floor usually chooses its own hours.</p>
<p>My son has already decided that he is going to study in the library or in Kogod because there are just too many distractions in his dorm, even though his floor has both a study lounge and a social lounge. Your daughter may decide this approach works best for her too.</p>
<p>D attended an off-campus frat party the other night–this one provided transportation there via van . She had one drink, and then one of the boys from her floor, who had apparently been there for quite a while, drinking steadily, became horribly sick and was ejected from the house. D was so concerned about him that she followed him out. That’s when I got a call asking if I could find a taxi tel. number. However, she didn’t even know where she was, so I insisted she go back in the house and find another person to help. She did, and they hailed a cab on the street. D stayed up with the sick boy until he stopped heaving, called me to find out if she should wake him every hour to see if he was still okay. What a little mother! So, a little life lesson for both of them, it seems. I’m repelled by the drinking culture at colleges, and just hope a few experiences like this convince her that there are better ways to entertain oneself.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard any complaints about noise or drinking on her floor, and she’d definitely tell me. It’s an Honors floor, which may make a difference, though I’ve also heard that the “work hard, play hard” philosophy can make the Honors floors worse than the others. I agree that the start of classes may well mean the end of dorm craziness. D is in a forced triple, so I imagine she won’t be studying in the room anyway. She has ADHD and needs a quiet environment to focus, so even one roommate talking on the phone will make it impossible for her to get anything done.</p>
<p>You should be proud of your daughter-- she handled things very well. Sometimes it’s hard for kids to find their social balance. It seems like all the parties have alcohol and if you want to dance or party, alcohol is going to be present. </p>
<p>My son isn’t much of a drinker but he loves to dance and party–telling him to not go to parties where alcohol is served is not going to work. We have worked with him on making good decisions and being safe and what to do in various situations, including one in which a friend has had too much to drink. His personal rules? He drinks only beer and only beer he gets for himself because it’s the only way he is sure of what he is drinking; and he limits himself to 3 in any one night (he is 6’3") and knows to space them out over several hours. he knows to drink at least one bottle of water between beers. I’m not thrilled with this situation but we are trying to deal realistically with situations –</p>
<p>I talked to him briefly this morning before classes started this morning and he said his dorm was very calm last night…a lot of kids just chilled watching a movie together and turned in relativley early.</p>
<p>I think the worst of the wildness is over, at least on class nights. I’m sure weekends will still be loud.</p>
<p>And I thought AU was a “dry” campus!</p>
<p>Daughter mentioned that some kids were actually hospitalized this past week from drinking.</p>
<p>My son was a resident of George Washington University’s notorious Thurston Hall (700+ freshmen) some years ago. The ambulances were there like clockwork every weekend night (and that includes Thursday). He’s no teetotaler, but hated the culture of everyone feeling compelled to get blind drunk whenever possible (called me one night to report that someone he didn’t even know had just puked in his room) and changed to a saner dorm. I don’t know if AU’s dorms also have varying personalities, but I have heard that Anderson and Letts have more freshmen and more of a party atmosphere.</p>
<p>My d. reported last year that the south side dorms (Letts and Anderson) had all the hospital transports. She didn’t know of any from Leonard (which doesn’t mean there weren’t any; only that she didn’t know of them.) Much, much quieter on the north side. </p>
<p>She was up this morning and at the gym by 6:30 with her roommate, before her 8:30 class. Doesn’t drink (not our doing), but is considering fasting with the Muslim students, and breaking the fast in the evening with them.</p>
<p>Does American have a wellness dorm? My twins are the non-drinking types and do avoid parties where they know there are going to be heavy drinking, etc. They told me once, nothing is more unattractive than seeing guy and girls so drunk they can’t walk and vomiting, etc. They realize college will have that, but their brother had sub-free at his college and it kept down the noise and vomit from his wing. He had mild ADD and without some structure would have been miserable. My cousin had a dorm at UConn that had her in tears her first semester, things she told me weren’t surprising, but the amount and lack of common sense was disturbing. She moved to a quieter dorm and ended up meeting her future husband there, like sometimes does find like.
I know American has students that aren’t like that and I think in time, you find you own niche, but if they had a dorm or floor for students that want a more holistic environment, it would help.
RA’s do run the gambit, sometimes the “good” ones to the students, turn a blind eye, but they are also responsible if something happens and they knew about it, so you hope they keep things in check.</p>
<p>My daughter said last night there were the same behaviors and loud noise going on in the halls late into the night. She confirmed that there are floor rules, but none are being enforced. RA doesn’t care at all. Daughter said she barely slept and had 8:30 classes today. She loves her classes, but really wants wants to leave her living conditions. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Forgot to mention she had to try to sleep with the lights on until 1 a.m. because roommates have late classes and did not want to compromise. No agreement form or contract between the roommates have been given to the girls. Also, this is Northside where all of this is going on. RA is useless.</p>
<p>I’m sure this is something she is capable of working out for herself.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<pre><code> If the school doesn’t support reasonable behavior, ie the RA enforcing the rules, what can my daughter work out? She is stuck in a room with 2 girls who have very late classes and just don’t care about the 3rd.
</code></pre>
<p>I’m sure she is very capable.</p>