Last Monday, Whitney and I went to OCU to get her registered for classes and have Stars 101, their version of orientation. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this school. They take their motto of you are a name not a number seriously. The best advice was during parenting 101. We were told that the school's job was to get the kids off our payroll. That got a good laugh. But then they said that within the first six weeks, the student needs to bond with someone/something at their new school to be successful. So don't keep having your kid come home during that time. Let them stay there so they can bond. They have so many activities during that time, that there has to be something for the student to connect to. We were also told that we are only going to hear how miserable things are from our student and never the good stuff. But remember that they will be having lots of good stuff. Having been away from home to go to college, I can relate to that. I think all I ever told my parents was the bad stuff.
They had an activities far going on so the kids could see different kinds of things offered. I was impressed with the church activities. OCU is affiliated with the Methodist religion but is open to all. They have a Christian women's sorority that looks good. Whitney is going to go through rush, the school only has three sororities and it doesn't seem as cut-throat as some university rushes. We talked to the Study Abroad person and they have several choices.
The only problem seems to be Whitney's schedule. We are waiting on AP test scores to come in so she knows if she gets college credit for anything. The important one is the Calculus score. If she can score high enough, she can skip College Algebra (which I know is two steps back in her math education) and start taking business courses. If she doesn't score high enough, we are considering taking the CLEP test for algebra. I would think that after having Calculus in high school, algebra would be easy. And certainly after taking the ACT/SAT as many times as she did. Her English score would affect the Comp 2 class, so we can wait on that. And Spanish would just add hours. She doesn't have to take a foreign language because she had five years in high school (8th grade counts here if it is a full year). She would consider a minor if she could place out of the first two classes. She also is enrolled in the World Religion course that all students take plus Public Speaking, another requirement. I like that all students have to take public speaking; I think it will help all of them in the future.
We toured the dorms and they look different with no one living in them. The newest one of course looks the best. But it is extremely hard for freshman to get into it.She'll know mid-July which dorm she will be in and who her roommate will be. Then she can buy her bedding since the rooms have different size beds.
I feel very comfortable sending her to OCU. I'm so glad that she worked hard and got scholarships so we can afford to send her there.
I don't know if this whole thing sounds exciting or scary from a parenting perspective!
ReplyDeleteI thought the bonding within 6 weeks notation was interesting.
I think that may be why my Dad, so many years ago, dropped me off at my dorm. I remember as he was pulling away, he said, "Now stay here until I come and get you."
I thought, "nice, Dad."
But, I stayed until Thanksgiving, and I think it made a big difference in my perspective.
I'd say that's good advice.
Oh how I remember the days of visiting the lovelies' colleges--all four of them! And I remember the speeches and I remember them being so wrong about everything they said. LOL The lovelies always told me everything-good and not so good- as they always have...sometimes they tell me way more than I ever wanted to know and, a few times, I've looked and them and said, "You do realize I'm your mother, right?" LOL
ReplyDeleteWe have three grads, the youngest is beginning her junior year--how fast it all flew by!
College was the best time I ever had and the lovelies all enjoyed their years too!