Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

[Bluestars]

Things have been really stressful around here. DH had a positive 6 month checkup at MDA and on the same day my grandpa got a terminal diagnosis.

DD will come home next weekend for her first visit since August. We are looking forward to a great week end.

I am sorry. That sounds very stressful.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your daughter. Maybe it will be a pleasant distraction from the stress.

 

[Bluestars]

Ds was home again this weekend to get his car (his friends from home went and picked him up) and when he got back to school he realized he had forgotten his student ID. Now he's probably going to have to pay $20 for a new one. But I sure didn't feel like driving out there to "rescue" him....even though his school is only 1 1/2 hrs away. He will be coming home next weekend as we have 2 family birthday parties. But I did take him shopping (food and clothing). He says his roommates/suitemates share food and supplies (except for one kid) so it makes me feel good to send him back with a bunch of stuff. He says he loves his one roomie and 2 of his suitemates (his 3rd roomie isn't an athlete like the rest of them are, so he seems to feel awkward around them, and one of the suitemates is kindof stuckup but tolerable). He also said when he goes to work out, he gets stared at alot. (Well, it's not because you're 6'5/6'6, blond, blue eyed with a chisled body, ya think? ). He is also playing club baseball as opposed to Varsity this year as he wants to acclimate to college and club ball is not as demanding. I am looking forward to his first game in a couple of weeks. He says he is doing very well at practice, and really likes the coach. He also got a 94 on a paper...so proud of him!

My son lost his ID, cancelled it, then found it again. Too late, he had to get a new one because the old one wasn't good anymore. I wouldn't have driven the 1 1/2 hours either. That's good that he likes most of his roommates. Club baseball sounds like fun. It was smart of him to choose something less demanding.

 

[Gina]

Congrats to your DH on his positive news, sk!mom, but so sorry about your grandfather. Must be an emotional roller coaster for you right now.


Sounds like everyone's kids are doing well and transitioning well! Hopefully y'all are too! For me, it has gotten easier. I still get to see him pretty often, and we text a lot. We were supposed to go to the Aggie-Ole Miss game this Saturday for my birthday (same game you're going to, right Bluestars??) but now the game isn't until 8pm... and DS & I found out guest tickets cost a lot more than we thought. And he can only pull 1 -- and it was supposed to be 4 of us going. So... no Aggie game. Ray & I are going to go to dinner and then go play some birthday bingo. I mean, you *have* to win on your birthday, right??

My friend and I got together Sunday night to stuff our plastic pumpkins for our boys. We put tons of candy, as well as some other fun stuff. I put in a string of little battery-powered LED pumpkin lights, an orange dry-erase marker for his board, a light-up spinny Halloween thing that will totally remind him of WDW, and a stress ball shaped like a skull. Then I had found a 6in-wide bolt of glitter-studded orange tulle at Walmart, and we used that to top off everything and kind of keep it from rattling so much, as well as just looking cool. Tucked the handle in, slapped a label on, taped the whole thing within an inch of its life. Going to try and get to the post office tomorrow to mail it.

We're having such a good time doing these mailers... we decided we're going to do it every month. Since we know now that the items go 1-day priority mail, next month we're going to bake cookies for the boys and send those.

Academic-wise, DS is faring pretty well... He got mid-80's on all his first tests. But he said that for one professor, the 80-something is an A, so I'm not sure how he's keeping up with his overall GPA. I know he has to have a 2.5 to stay in good with the scholarship folks and I think a 3.5 to stay in Honors, which is going to be tough! He insists he has a handle on it. Not much I can do anyway!

Back to work for me... Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!


-gina-

 

[Bluestars]

Hi Gina. Yes, it's the Ole Miss game that we will be attending. We were happy about it being scheduled so late because we aren't arriving until noon on Saturday. Now we have plenty of time and get to go to the BBQ before the game. I got good tickets a long time ago, but I realized the other day that they are for the visitor's side. Maybe it doesn't matter.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday dinner and yes, playing bingo on your birthday should bring you luck. :good vibes

I love the idea about the care packages. My son isn't allowed to have food in his room, so maybe it's something I can do next year when he has less restrictions.

 

[sk!mom]

Thank you for the kind words.

It's good to hear that everyone's kids are doing well. Enjoy your weekends with them.

I have a pumpkin stuffed with goodies and ready to mail after DD goes back.

Between DH, I, and her grandma, DD gets a lot of packages.

 

[disneymom2one]

Things have been really stressful around here. DH had a positive 6 month checkup at MDA and on the same day my grandpa got a terminal diagnosis.

DD will come home next weekend for her first visit since August. We are looking forward to a great week end.

I'm so sorry about your grandfather. I'll be thinking about your family.

Things are okay here. On a positive note, her grades are good - better than in high school. She made high A's on the first round of tests in every class (that had tests). She's also taking an intensive honors class (required for all freshmen in honors) and she's holding her own. The big midterm for that class is in a couple of weeks and it's a huge deal.

Socially, she's struggling - probably more than she's telling us but we can tell. The good news is that there is a fantastic counseling center and with our encouragement, she visited the first week. She's now involved in a group counseling situation and it's going well. I think (probably for the first time ever) she realizes she's not alone.

So we'll see. She has a round of medical/ortho appointments in the next week or so which means we'll see a good bit of her as she'll be going back and forth a couple times so that will be good.

I love the care package ideas. I'm so afraid of what our little post office will say but I have to try.

Have a great Wednesday everyone.

 

[SydSim]

My son isn't allowed to have food in his room

That's the first time I've ever heard of a student not being allowed to have food in their room. Is this a regular dorm or some type of shared house? Very interested to know. Thanks.

 

[Bluestars]

That's the first time I've ever heard of a student not being allowed to have food in their room. Is this a regular dorm or some type of shared house? Very interested to know. Thanks.

He is in the Corps of Cadets as a freshman. They can't have anything. No frig. No microwave. No posters. Nothing. My son is not a big fan of the Corps right now. . He loves everything else about his school and the Army ROTC program. The Corps for freshman is extremely strict and they have a lot of rules. I guess it's the way they teach the kids discipline.

I talked to him about how the first week (hell week) was supposed to be hard. He said that hell week never ended. Hopefully, he will get used to it.

 

[Bluestars]

I'm so sorry about your grandfather. I'll be thinking about your family.

Things are okay here. On a positive note, her grades are good - better than in high school. She made high A's on the first round of tests in every class (that had tests). She's also taking an intensive honors class (required for all freshmen in honors) and she's holding her own. The big midterm for that class is in a couple of weeks and it's a huge deal.

Socially, she's struggling - probably more than she's telling us but we can tell. The good news is that there is a fantastic counseling center and with our encouragement, she visited the first week. She's now involved in a group counseling situation and it's going well. I think (probably for the first time ever) she realizes she's not alone.

So we'll see. She has a round of medical/ortho appointments in the next week or so which means we'll see a good bit of her as she'll be going back and forth a couple times so that will be good.

I love the care package ideas. I'm so afraid of what our little post office will say but I have to try.

Have a great Wednesday everyone.

That's great that she is making such good grades. The group counseling will probably help her a lot in dealing with things. College is a huge adjustment. I am glad that she has a support system in place.

My son has had several things come up and I told him to talk to his advisors and he has done it.

 

[sk!mom]

I'm so sorry about your grandfather. I'll be thinking about your family.

Things are okay here. On a positive note, her grades are good - better than in high school. She made high A's on the first round of tests in every class (that had tests). She's also taking an intensive honors class (required for all freshmen in honors) and she's holding her own. The big midterm for that class is in a couple of weeks and it's a huge deal.

Socially, she's struggling - probably more than she's telling us but we can tell. The good news is that there is a fantastic counseling center and with our encouragement, she visited the first week. She's now involved in a group counseling situation and it's going well. I think (probably for the first time ever) she realizes she's not alone.

So we'll see. She has a round of medical/ortho appointments in the next week or so which means we'll see a good bit of her as she'll be going back and forth a couple times so that will be good.

I love the care package ideas. I'm so afraid of what our little post office will say but I have to try.

Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Good or you DD for seeking out support and good for her Uni for providing it.


Here's a new topic...

How many semester hours are most kids taking? DD took 15 this semester and feels that it's going well (she's predicting mostly A's with possibly 1 B- she says one class has so few turned in and graded assignments that she isn't sure.) Here is where her stress came in this week- She met with her advisor who recommended only 12 hours for next semester. This was her recommendation before this semester as well. The advisor told DD that she never recommends more than 12.

DD's stress is that her degree plan has 15 per semester. Her scholarship is renewable for 4 years only. And her University and our state are pushing "finish in 4". Under the "finish in 4" plan, her final semester will be at a $4,000 savings if she makes it.

She called me because for advice because she can register for 15 if she wants but the advisor is confusing her and making her doubt herself.

It's kind of irritating that the advisor doesn't seem to be on the same page as the University. I can see advising less if a student was struggling or maybe in the Summer before freshman year since success in high school doesn't always translate but once a student is doing well...I'm not sure that I get it.

Anyway, how many hours are others taking? And are they working or do they plan to work?

Have a good day everyone!

 

[mom2rtk]

Good or you DD for seeking out support and good for her Uni for providing it.


Here's a new topic...

How many semester hours are most kids taking? DD took 15 this semester and feels that it's going well (she's predicting mostly A's with possibly 1 B- she says one class has so few turned in and graded assignments that she isn't sure.) Here is where her stress came in this week- She met with her advisor who recommended only 12 hours for next semester. This was her recommendation before this semester as well. The advisor told DD that she never recommends more than 12.

DD's stress is that her degree plan has 15 per semester. Her scholarship is renewable for 4 years only. And her University and our state are pushing "finish in 4". Under the "finish in 4" plan, her final semester will be at a $4,000 savings if she makes it.

She called me because for advice because she can register for 15 if she wants but the advisor is confusing her and making her doubt herself.

It's kind of irritating that the advisor doesn't seem to be on the same page as the University. I can see advising less if a student was struggling or maybe in the Summer before freshman year since success in high school doesn't always translate but once a student is doing well...I'm not sure that I get it.

Anyway, how many hours are others taking? And are they working or do they plan to work?

Have a good day everyone!

It sounds like she's doing well with 15 now, so she should trust her instincts on this and do 15 again. Just have her be aware of what the deadlines are for dropping classes later in case the course load next time feels different.

Do be aware though that 15 one semester might feel different from 15 in another semester. My younger son sailed through first semester at 15 with a 4.0. Second semester with the same was a little rougher but he finished with A's and B's. The difference for him was the professors teaching the classes. He had one for Calc III who taught without ever doing examples for the class. . He's glad that one is over.

She is also wise to keep an eye on making sure she can finish in 4 years. My older son decided late in the game to go on the CPA track, which requires 150 hours and his tuition deal only covers 4 years, so he has been taking extra classes each semester plus 2 sessions of summer school this past year. For most kids, just adding on an extra semester or two is a financial deal breaker. Fingers crossed, he is on track to graduate this spring..... in 4 years.

 

[lvloopingbag]

My poor DS has 6 classes this first semester......Guess that is what happens to the engineering kids.....He is thinking about taking a summer class or two to lighten his load during the semester....

 

[disneymom2one]

Good or you DD for seeking out support and good for her Uni for providing it.


Here's a new topic...

How many semester hours are most kids taking? DD took 15 this semester and feels that it's going well (she's predicting mostly A's with possibly 1 B- she says one class has so few turned in and graded assignments that she isn't sure.) Here is where her stress came in this week- She met with her advisor who recommended only 12 hours for next semester. This was her recommendation before this semester as well. The advisor told DD that she never recommends more than 12.

DD's stress is that her degree plan has 15 per semester. Her scholarship is renewable for 4 years only. And her University and our state are pushing "finish in 4". Under the "finish in 4" plan, her final semester will be at a $4,000 savings if she makes it.

She called me because for advice because she can register for 15 if she wants but the advisor is confusing her and making her doubt herself.

It's kind of irritating that the advisor doesn't seem to be on the same page as the University. I can see advising less if a student was struggling or maybe in the Summer before freshman year since success in high school doesn't always translate but once a student is doing well...I'm not sure that I get it.

Anyway, how many hours are others taking? And are they working or do they plan to work?

Have a good day everyone!

Our daughter took 13 hours this semester and will probably take about that many each semester. That was somewhat of a shock at first to me as I routinely remember taking 15 - 18 hours each semester. For her, the lighter load is probably the right call.

She plans to make it up by going to summer school. Next summer, I think she'll come home and use her dad's tuition benefit at the (mostly two year) school we teach at. As she progresses, she'll probably take online courses through her own place. As long as she lives at home during the summer we can swing it (although free this coming summer will be nice).

I still don't know if she'll be out in four years and like you, her scholarship only covers that much and our state also charges more after a certain amount of hours accumulated to encourage students to graduate on time.

 

[IDoDis]

Good or you DD for seeking out support and good for her Uni for providing it. Here's a new topic... How many semester hours are most kids taking? DD took 15 this semester and feels that it's going well (she's predicting mostly A's with possibly 1 B- she says one class has so few turned in and graded assignments that she isn't sure.) Here is where her stress came in this week- She met with her advisor who recommended only 12 hours for next semester. This was her recommendation before this semester as well. The advisor told DD that she never recommends more than 12. DD's stress is that her degree plan has 15 per semester. Her scholarship is renewable for 4 years only. And her University and our state are pushing "finish in 4". Under the "finish in 4" plan, her final semester will be at a $4,000 savings if she makes it. She called me because for advice because she can register for 15 if she wants but the advisor is confusing her and making her doubt herself. It's kind of irritating that the advisor doesn't seem to be on the same page as the University. I can see advising less if a student was struggling or maybe in the Summer before freshman year since success in high school doesn't always translate but once a student is doing well...I'm not sure that I get it. Anyway, how many hours are others taking? And are they working or do they plan to work? Have a good day everyone!

It's interesting that you posted this question/topic because DD called me yesterday after a meeting she had with her adviser to discuss her classes for next spring. She is majoring in Biology with a pre-med focus, so she has to take certain classes in order to apply for med school. This semester she took a required chemistry class which was a pre-req for the first biology class she needs, and also for the next chemistry class she needs. DD discussed her tentative list of classes with a pre-med adviser which included a biology class plus lab and a chemistry class plus lab. The adviser cautioned her against taking two lab science classes in the same semester! He got DD worried about this. He told her her grades could suffer and that getting into med school was very competitive and that she didn't want to lower her GPA, something DD is well aware of. But after looking at the bio and chem requirements and pre requisites, there is really no way around taking two lab classes in one semester. Taking one lab class a semester at a time would throw DD way off the 4 year timeline to graduate due to the pre-requisites.

Her scholarship also requires her to take 15 hours. If she drops below 15, she loses her scholarship. She has 16 hours this semester, and next semester she'd have 17 hours with the two labs. Taking one of these classes in the summer would mean 4 hours a day of class, plus several hours a week for the lab and several hours a night of studying and lab write-ups due to the summer sessions being shorter than a regular semester. She planned on working this summer to have spending money for next year and she wanted to start getting volunteer hours. She was also interested in a program where pre-med students go to Honduras for 2 weeks to volunteer in a health clinic. She can't do those things if she is in summer school.

So now this pre-med adviser put this fear in her about taking two lab science classes. She knows it will be very challenging because she'll also have a second semester of calculus, plus two other classes, one of which will be an honors class. Now she doesn't know what to do! Either way though, she has to take a minimum of 15 hours per semester. She is not working right now. School is her job. I suggested she go back to her biology adviser that she she talked to last summer, but she doesn't want to make another appointment because she already had to also see an adviser from the honor's college. She feels like she's getting too much information from too many people and it's making her head spin.

On a lighter note, we are all on fall break here for a four day weekend. DD will be home later today until Sunday. Tomorrow we are getting up at 4am to go to the International Balloon Fiesta for the special shapes rodeo day, weather permitting. We went last year and while the balloons all inflated, they did not take flight due to high winds. There are approx 540 hot air balloons in the Fiesta this year and over 130 of those are special shapes. If the balloons go up, I'll post some pics tomorrow. The weather for tomorrow is iffy.

 

[SydSim]

He is in the Corps of Cadets as a freshman. They can't have anything. No frig. No microwave. No posters. Nothing. My son is not a big fan of the Corps right now. . He loves everything else about his school and the Army ROTC program. The Corps for freshman is extremely strict and they have a lot of rules. I guess it's the way they teach the kids discipline.

I talked to him about how the first week (hell week) was supposed to be hard. He said that hell week never ended. Hopefully, he will get used to it.

Oh ok, I totally understand now!

 

[Pembo]

As a music major, DS has 18 credit hours this semester. His school also pushes for finish in 4 years. I think at some point he will have less hours because he has 30 hours done from his dual enrollment in high school. Those hours are all gen ed classes and this semester is music heavy.

 

[Gina]

My DS is taking 15 hours. I just looked at his degree plan again (Marine Engineering) and it looks like every semester is 15 or 16 hours. One soph semester is 18 hours!

He is not working, at least for now. I'm hoping he'll be able to hold off on working for as long as possible, and focus on school. He only has about $30-35 left over from his stipend to spend each week after car insurance, but he has his budget all worked out on Mint and so far has been doing fine with it. I do know that after working 15-20 hours a week for the past two years (by choice), he's happy to just have school to deal with for the time being!

 

[madge]

Good or you DD for seeking out support and good for her Uni for providing it.

our Parent Weekend and the university's fall break weekend were back to back. (DS was home for 4 days last weekend. sending him back on Sunday was hard. but he loves it ... and is very well adjusted, so that made it better) an email came on Monday from the Retention Office basically updating families that they had gotten several referrals (from parents, for counseling) and visits from students after both those events, so I'm very thankful our school takes that seriously if we should ever need it. I've gotten that impression all along, but it's nice to know they seem to mean what they say.

Here's a new topic...

Anyway, how many hours are others taking? And are they working or do they plan to work?

Have a good day everyone!

DS is taking 15. His Honors College Dean won't sign off on more than that. 15 is the recommended amount of hours they gave him at Orientation. He isn't working, but is going to get a small part time job next semester ... at least I'm going to encourage him to. Fraternity activities aren't free

 

[SydSim]

My D is taking 17. She has rehearsal for a show five nights out of seven and volunteers during the campus tours.

She's handling the coursework so far, but since rehearsals started, she says she keeps sleeping through her morning alarm for her 8 o'clock class!

I'm thankful that she hasn't gotten sick yet. And she's having the time of her life!

 

[Bluestars]

Good or you DD for seeking out support and good for her Uni for providing it.


Here's a new topic...

How many semester hours are most kids taking? DD took 15 this semester and feels that it's going well (she's predicting mostly A's with possibly 1 B- she says one class has so few turned in and graded assignments that she isn't sure.) Here is where her stress came in this week- She met with her advisor who recommended only 12 hours for next semester. This was her recommendation before this semester as well. The advisor told DD that she never recommends more than 12.

DD's stress is that her degree plan has 15 per semester. Her scholarship is renewable for 4 years only. And her University and our state are pushing "finish in 4". Under the "finish in 4" plan, her final semester will be at a $4,000 savings if she makes it.

She called me because for advice because she can register for 15 if she wants but the advisor is confusing her and making her doubt herself.

It's kind of irritating that the advisor doesn't seem to be on the same page as the University. I can see advising less if a student was struggling or maybe in the Summer before freshman year since success in high school doesn't always translate but once a student is doing well...I'm not sure that I get it.

Anyway, how many hours are others taking? And are they working or do they plan to work?

Have a good day everyone!

Where my son goes to school, they advised the students to take only 12 hours the first semester, but I think that is more geared toward the students in engineering. My son is a political science major, so taking 15 hours is not the same as the kids who are taking advanced math courses. Since he's a political science major, he really needs to take 15 , but I don't think he needs to take more than 15.

I believe the ROTC program takes four years, so it's not like he could graduate early. He might take some classes in the summer, depending on what other opportunities he has with the army. He does not work. Since he got a scholarship, he will get a stipend from the army each month.

I think it would depend on the major whether or not it's a good idea to take 12 credits.