Feedback from current college freshmen

[Anonymous]

As a general rule, the kids who join Greek life assimilate to college much faster and skip the whole homesick, awkward, fish-out-of-water stage you hear so much about from parents on this forum. That’s why I’m not a fan of the spring rush system that’s gotten so popular at small schools. Kids need something to immerse themselves in right away. The idea of having a semester to “explore” and try different groups sounds great in theory but fails in practice, hence all the “my freshman is miserable” posts you see here.

By the time my kid went back in the spring of his freshman year, he was an initiated brother who felt like a veritable god on campus, while his high school buddies at SLACs were just starting rush, a process that, by that point, meant scrambling the tenuous social order from the fall. Long story short, if you want your kid to throw himself headlong into college from day one, and you don’t want to field the “I’m homesick” calls, encourage him to pick a school with first-semester rush and participate in it.

[Anonymous]

I know that much detail too. I talk to my daughter daily and she talks to her closest half dozen high school friends almost daily too. They talk when walking to class. May share later if I have time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same. I’d like more data on a slew of schools (Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Duke, Cornell, Wake, Dartmouth, WashU, Michigan).

What the first semester felt like. Socially, academically, etc..

I have a freshman STEM major/pre-med at WashU. So far, it's been great along all dimensions.

Academically, the courses are serious and rigorous; she's working hard and learning a lot. She regularly attends professors' office hours and the extra credit study sessions, so there's a lot of support if you want it. Her class schedule is very heavy with the labs and discussion sections. But she wanted to go someplace where kids cared about academics, and she's found it.

Socially, it's been very good. She's a bit of an introvert so I was a little worried about how she'd adjust. She's the kind of kid who has a handful of close friends and slowly builds out that circle over time rather than making a lot of connections and then winnowing down. She doesn't go to a lot of big parties, I'm not sure if that's her or the school. She has gotten involved in a few activities but also values downtime. She says that everyone seems pretty nice and willing to help each other out. The South 40 residential area provides a great break between home and school, and the Loop and St. Louis is close enough that it's easy to get off campus for a break.

Honestly, no real downside. Some teachers are better than others, and she got some crappy advice from her freshman advisor, but no major complaints. She applied ED last year, and I'm sure she'd say that if she were a HS senior now, she'd make the same choice.