<p>I think it would be really helpful for us who have high school seniors to know how your child likes where he is now. How is it going? Are you starting to see any great disadvantages if the college is far away from home? And about handling the work load at some of these top schools? Is it going well? Also, any changing majors yet ? Just wondering, hope you can share here. Thank you.</p>
<p>She loves Princeton, just loves it. Appears to be getting along with little sleep -- sort of quick catnaps when needed through the day -- and is totally immersed in her academics. Largest class has 22 students, and there is a huge amount of personal attention. Has written many more papers than she expected, coming out of public hs, but she is thrilled with the sense of how much she is growing and learning. The only thing that is surprising is that her main EC is taking some 30 hours a week and sometimes more, not that she is complaining; she loves it. She is also involved in several other ECs on a less intense scale. Has made a great group of new friends. Has attended numerous lectures and dinners with visiting luminaries in various fields. We couldn't ask for a more wonderful first semester and are very thankful.</p>
<p>My experience with two children so far is that a good high school background and decent work ethic makes the workload manageable, even with the dramatic change in sleeping habits and social life. I do recall that my older child, who graduated from a top LAC several years ago, had trouble getting to his 8:30 class in time first semester and the one or two other times he took a class that early, and that did have a negative impact on his GPA; he warned his younger sibling, who started at a similar college this year, about early classes and she followed his advice by not registering for an 8:30 class first semester. Starting the day at 9:30 seems to have been a good idea. Of course, sometimes you can't avoid an 8:30 class, but it was nice to do so the first semester.</p>
<p>Mine seems deliriously happy. Has a group of friends who want to get a suite together next year (4 boys, 4 girls); has become adept at getting around NYC, and has attended quite a few concerts and plays--saw the NY PHilharmonic at Lincoln Center for free because of a program Columbia runs to take groups of students to all sorts of great shows their first semester. </p>
<p>He finds the workload challenging but do-able; has discovered he seems to write faster than most students--which is good because he has three writing intensive classes. Also does not seem to sleep much.</p>
<p>He has been home the last two weekends unexpectedly (family tragedy I'm not up to saying more about), and my H and I keep looking at each other and saying -"He's grown up so much!!"</p>
<p>We were apprehensive sending our daughter 900 miles away to the New England area to attend Wellesley. If this first semester is an indication of how the college experience will go, we have hit a home run! Our daughter is the happiest I have ever seen her. That is not to say she hasn't been challenged by her classes, but she is doing very well and loves her professors. ("they are awesome!") She has a great roommate and has a fine group of new friends. She was admitted to the Wellesley College dancers and is loving that, as well.
She and her friends have discovered MIT and Harvard and the guys are making the weekend trek to Wellesley.......so life is good.
I am sure there will be some tough times ahead as there always are in college, but she is off to a good start. One more thing......she has found the weekend chapel services to be a great inspiration. We were with her last weekend to see a dance performance,
and attended the Sunday morning chapel and found her minister to be a wonderfully caring person, plus an uplifting speaker. She makes her first trip home for Thanksgiving weekend, and we are all looking forward to that!!</p>
<p>Pretty good as far as I can tell. He is interested in Philosophy and developed a relationship with the head of the department at Swarthmore because he is taking a seminar with him. They are talking about a seminar next year on Philosophy of Art and if there is at least a few more people interested, it would become a new seminar that these people can take. He doesn't know if it will materialize but hoping it will. Has decided to minor in art history, although Swarthmore has a very small department there and not much funding as compared to, say, Williams. But he finds it fascinating enough to pursue it as a minor. Did a paying job on campus raising funds for the endowment. That is over now. Needs another job. Applied for a job on the campus paper, hoping to get it. Goes to Philly often to eat.</p>
<p>Our son is having the time of his life at RPI and seems to be doing well academically with the exception of GATEWAY! He has taken road trips to Montreal, Hoboken, and Seneca Lake, likes all his professors and courses, and has found a good circle of friends. </p>
<p>During our visit during RPI's Open House last fall he stumbled onto RPI's interdisciplinary Minds and Machines program which is a dual CompSci/CogSci major. He has enrolled in it and has thouroughly enjoyed the intro M&M course offering. Here was a kid who had thought that LOTR's was the best ever and who now thinks Descartes mind body dualism is cool and will debate the implications of an animal's lack of self-perception. His M&M robotics team is using a neural network in its program to navigate a Wampus World maze. They hope it works because this project is their final exam grade!</p>
<p>BHG:</p>
<p>It seems hard to believe that a year ago we were so anxious about the college decision. We still lurk here sometimes, because like some others, we have another who will go through this in a few years. I have to admit, I was a very strong advocate of son being closer to home than he is. He is about a 16 hour drive, but a fairly easy flight home. I now think he has gained more independence by being away, and I also think we all appreciate each other more when we do get together.
So far he loves college (Duke). He has been challenged academically, and has grown socially. He has met some new friends from around the country, and like many students, hasn't found enough time to sleep (most of the time).
I think he is still "experimenting" with the choice of a major, which is not a bad thing. He doesn't have to declare a major until next year. He has a good pre-major advisor that is encouraging him to explore his passions by taking a variety of classes. In fact, he will be taking an acting class next term that is being taught by a professional actor who performs on Broadway and has bit parts on some well known soap operas. (We have reminded him that there are a lot of starving actors out there. LOL)
He is finding that particiaption in his sport (still pre-season with first competition in January) is a huge commitment, but he is probably in the best physical shape than he has ever been. He still hasn't figured out the meal system there completely. The freshman meal plan is somewhat limited, and I always worry about him eating enough. (I think that's what Mom's do best..)
Overall, the experience has been a very good one.</p>
<p>My daughter's a freshman at Yale and I've never seen her so happy. Oddly enough, I don't think distance matters: The school is less than an hour from home, but she's so wrapped up in college life--which she finds a kind of enchanted bubble, with the outside world receding into the background--that she could as easily be thousands of miles away. The work is much harder than it was in her fair-to-middling public school, but it's also more interesting; and after being intensely driven in high school, she's adjusting surprisingly readily to the idea that she won't automatically get A's every time. I can't say she's always eating and sleeping as sensibly as one might wish, but so far she's having the time of her life.</p>
<p>My son is very busy at Lehigh. Due to his own choosing, he is carrying a full load plus a 10 hour a week work job. Next semester he is increasing his credit load since he's decided to get the core courses out of the way now so he can study abroad his junior year. </p>
<p>On the social front, he doesn't really get along with his roommate (they were good friends in prep school) but wants to hang in there....figuring next year the roommate will join a frat and he will get another one. I tell him he should really talk to him about the issues. He's eating well, staying up until 2AM...you know - all the things college students do so well...</p>
<p>D is loving Harvard. We were worried about H's reputation for focusing on their graduate programs and giving the undergrads short shrift, but this has not turned out to be the case. One of her classes has seven students. She and her many new friends all seem to be working very hard but loving the whole experience. So far she seems to be doing okay in her classes, but probably won't get the straight A report card she so routinely cranked out in high school. She plays intramural sports for greater glory of her dorm. She audtioned for and made first chair bassoon in one of the several orchestras on campus, and she is liking that. She seems to be staying up late a lot, but that's just part of working hard and having fun in college.</p>
<p>It's tough to have her so far away --> she won't be coming home for Thanksgiving. But instead she will be visiting New York City with her friends, an exciting prospect for a girl who lived in SoCal all her life. For keeping in touch IM helps a lot, since she doesn't write letters nor even e-mail very much. We've got a long way to go, but so far the whole thing has been great.</p>
<p>To add onto Coureur's comments (same D):</p>
<p>I was surprised that so many of D's classes are so small (7 in Latin, 18 in Writing, 28 in Math). She does have one big class--150 in chem, which does break down into smaller 30-person discusssion sections.</p>
<p>One thing has proven true. I had read other students write that what makes Harvard so special is the other students, not necessarily the undergrad education. So far, I'd have to say that is true. D RAVES about her dormmates (and seems best friends with all 23 of them) but says very little about her actual classes (like, "I love Prof Smith" or "I find Subject XXX so fascinating."). A lot of the dorm have similar classes, so there are dorm chem study parties, etc. The kids are not cut-throat, but help each other out. </p>
<p>And I thought she'd be doing lots of things in Boston (after all, that was one of the criteria she used to pick a college in Boston). So far, she's been so busy having fun on campus (and studying some, I hope), that she hasn't ventured into the city at all.</p>
<p>And I'm surprised that she is keeping up with her high school friends who are still in high school. I don't expect we'll see her a lot over the Christmas holiday. . .</p>
<p>But all in all, I'd have to say that she is making the best out of her college experience. It is worth the time, effort and money to see her so happy.</p>
<p>O/T: Coureur and Ellemenope, if your daughter is interested in modern art, ask her to visit the newly reopened MOMA in NYC (reopened Nov 20th). I can't wait to go there, I work 2 blocks away but don't have the time. It looks very impressive, new architecture etc. We'll go this thanksgiving weekend, hopefully.</p>
<p>Facinating to see how well all are doing. I see future doctors, lawyers and Indian Chiefs here - that is, C.E.O.'s!!! And some Jeopardy champs, second generation, too!</p>
<p>And some rickshaw drivers too!</p>
<p>My D just got in from a 9 hour bus ride from CMU in Pittsburgh to NYC. She was laughing and scratching when she walked in the door!AMAZING! If that was me, I'd be mumbling and grumbling. Anyhoot, she hadn't been in the house one milli-second when the doorbell rang. It was most recent boyfriend left behind as he is only now a hs senior. Chattering and gesticulating for about two hours to him, I got tired along the way just listening and went to bed. Seems as if she LOVES the school, the kids, the activities, the classes...though was unhappy that one of her roommates consumed her only jar of peanut butter...at night after dark when everyone was asleep. Told her she was prob'ly one of those "closet" eaters...if no one sees you eating it, you won't get fat. She also proceeded to tell me how you can do 101 things with fancy albacore tuna to make it interesting and appetizing. I was afraid to ask "how" the new Smoothie blender was being used. But, she looked better than when I saw her on family weekend, has made a conscious effort to lose some "extra" telltale pounds, and now claims all those "new" clothes I bought for her on family weekend are too big! You can't win.</p>
<p>What do you mean by that Achat? Layoffs? </p>
<p>RPI - Son would not take the extra tests. Maybe he was tired. And CMU is still a consideration.</p>
<p>Maybe we should have planned to get all of the Boston kids together this week-end, since it seems most of them aren't coming home.</p>
<p>Nothing, BHG, not thinking about sad stuff like that. I am in a lighthearted mood being on holiday for the next 6 days. My dad used to tell my brother if he did not study, he would become a rickshaw driver. </p>
<p>Good luck with your son. CMU is great.</p>
<p>Rickshaw driver???? What a noble profession. In my family, it was the dreaded "street cleaner!"</p>